Art by Afi

I would like to share some recent pieces I purchased.  I like to call them art because they really are!  My coworker creates ceramic pieces in her free time and she does wonderful work.  Every year when we have our craft fair, she donates them to benefit a scholarship fund.  EVERYONE loves it and buys them.  I truly think she undermines her own skill, every piece is so pretty and creative.  Here are two pieces I bought this year.  And happy end of November everyone!  Can you guys believe it?  Did you guys go Black Friday shopping?  I went and my pants were inside out, I didn’t know until I was driving home.  I’m awesome.

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The planter has slits on the bottom to let out excess water.  This one included the cactus!  Yay!

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Gift Wrapping

Every year, my friend Kristian overdoes himself wrapping gifts.  And I’m not trying to sound negative by saying overdoes because he is insanely creative and talented at it!  So I can confidently say he is constantly on his game wrapping presents while I am a big mess.  This year, I thought of a cute way of wrapping his present which utilized my high school skills.  Back in high school, I loved created photo collages of my favorite singers/actors and used them as book covers.  I also used it in my old planners – if I ever dig them up one day, I will definitely post it!  So here is what I created:

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Like a new car with the red ribbon…

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Failed Recipe: Lemon Mochi Doughnut

I’ve been super busy this week preparing for our bake sale.  I was pretty excited to do two recipes.  First was a good standby, chichi dango.  I’ve made it before and it’s a great sell for any bake sale.  I played around with the colors and made it purple, pink and white.  Was really cute.  Well sort of.  I was told that maybe I should put white in the middle next time since the purple and pink kind of blended together.  Then, since chichi dango is super sticky, I had to cover it in potato starch.  Well the potato starch then masked the colors even more.  It’s okay, the taste was great so I’m fine.

My next recipe was this lemon mochi doughnut recipe I found online.  Sounds intriguing right?  Well as you can judge from this blog title, misery follows:

131127-01Cute yah?  I got a great pan as a gift a while back and finally got to use it.  Aren’t they cute?

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Veggies!

131125-01Looks awesome yeah?  I made my Udon Salad for an office get-together and let’s be real, I don’t organize my food like this for myself.  All for show.  I still eat udon salad for lunch but it has been whittled down so much.  Like seriously, I just make soba noodles and reconstitute wakame.  Hahaha…that’s not even salad!  Don’t be like me.  

Little Oven – Part Losing Count

Haha!  I think I need to stop saying part this and part that for Little Oven…as long as they stay open – I will be going as much as I can!  So I went to Little Oven again this past weekend.  It’s always magical.  Come join me.

131124-04Lilikoi Pavlova!

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Cafe Sistina – Honolulu, HI

Sometimes, I think Cafe Sistina gets a bad rap.  I wouldn’t recognize the restaurant as the best Italian restaurant out there but it certainly isn’t bad!  Some people are a bit ruthless in their critique.  I had dinner here last week and I had a great meal.  Let me share with you the pictures of the food.

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Fresh bread served with pesto flavored butter – yummy

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Wailana Coffee House – Honolulu, HI

Today is just a quick post of a dinner I recently had at Wailana Coffee House.  I originally felt like a steak but they ran out so I got their Roast Pork dinner.  It’s a pretty good deal because it comes with the all you can eat salad bar!  I like salad so that’s a big plus for me.  Service was not great so I can’t exactly recommend this place but it’ll feed you just fine (lol).

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Pongo’s Kitchen – Honolulu, HI

We did a lunch order for the office this past week!  Since I had to run an errand in Kalihi, Pongo’s Kitchen was the perfect choice!  Have you folks tried this place before?  Great plate lunch spot that is frequented by a lot of construction workers, that’s a pretty good sign that this place is good.  Kalihi remains the mecca for some mean hole in the wall grinds.  Let’s get to the pictures already!  A lot of pictures are coming, you have been warned.

131121-01Grilled Mahi Mahi Sandwich with Lemon Caper Sauce – $6.00.  FYI – they don’t serve french fries here.  My coworker thought this sandwich was delicious!

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Snow!

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My cousin sent me a picture of Chicago about a week ago and they have snow already!  Aren’t they so lucky?  🙁  I really liked the weekend we had cold weather.  Now it’s back to the muggy humidity.  Bleh!

The Willows Restaurant – Honolulu, HI

The Willows Restaurant is a great option if you’re looking for a good place for a buffet.  Buffets are usually the best option for company lunches/events because it’s the same price for everyone!  If you go to a regular restaurant, you could spend forever figuring out everyone’s tab.  I don’t go to Willows often but the few times I have, it has been good food!  When I came before, the parking lot across the street was free.  Apparently it is now a paid/valet lot.  I learned that there is a private paid lot close to this restaurant, $2 for 4 hours.  Not too bad!  I honestly hate restaurants who have a small little lot and start up a valet service – Chef Mavro would be a good example.  Have you see their lot?  Once you pull in, it’s like you’re parked already but you have to valet!  Shouldn’t valet be for parking that is kind of far away?  Okay, I have started to ramble.  Sorry!  Anyway, the food we had at the first birthday party was spectacular!  Another graphic heavy post!  It’s worth it because it’s food…:)

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Yup that’s my plate…no shame.  Hahaha…was sooo good.  I skipped breakfast for this – is that good enough?

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