Archive by Author | Jenny

Agu Ramen – Moilili, HI

This post highlights two visits to Agu Ramen recently. The first visit was on Valentine’s Day and they had very cute little flowers for the day. It was a very nice touch! My last visit, I took two of my little brothers there. They really enjoyed the ramen. I was really unhappy with the service. Our waiter basically ignored me at the end – all I wanted was the bill. He just kept helping everyone around us and avoided my gaze. Why? I would think you would want me out of your hair when we are done. I was very put off and now I don’t want to return for a while. It’s too bad when the wait staff can have such a big influence on wanting to return or not. They are pretty pricey anyway so I’m okay with not going for a while. I will probably come back from Japan ramen’d out anyway.

Cute valentine’s flower

Jidori Kawa – Deep fried Chicken Skin. Was it good? Would it be rude to say duh? Duh!

Shio Jidori – I really enjoy this one. The light ramen broth is great!

My brothers enjoyed it too! They swallowed it up!

The youngest one likes to put the noodles on a plate and then eat it. It’s a good way to cool down the noodles..hehe

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Kakaako Eats

Mar23

Kakaako has some great places to eat! The art scene is burgeoning there too and it’s so great to see all the art as I drive through the neighborhood. I was a bit disheartened to read about Fishers having to move from their current location, so many changes going on. I also find myself saying, “I remember when…” a lot more lately which is showing my age. Ahh…let’s talk about happy things like food. Hehe…

150323-02 This is it Bakery & Deli

This is their hot pastrami on whole wheat bread. I am drooling as I look at these pictures. This sandwich is the best pastrami I’ve had mainly because the meat is so nice and fatty. It’s definitely a treat, a luscious treat. They provide a pickle slice and a small scoop of potato salad with this sandwich. I enjoy their potato salad too! And usually, they throw in a small little pastry with your sandwich as a treat.

Tsukenjo

Of course, when I order a plate outside of my comfort zone – I get disappointed! Tsukenjo is known for their Roast Pork plate and that is definitely what I would get next time. I actually saw a picture of their baked salmon plate and that’s what I wanted…but they didn’t have it that day. I ended up getting their miso salmon and it was…junk. Over seasoned and over cooked, I really didn’t enjoy this dish.

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Happy Sunday!

Mar22

By the time this is posted, I hope that I have settled into my trip nicely! Adjusted to the time change and did some great exploring. I hope you folks had a great week and I will try my best to document my trip! I just wanted to share some random eats from the Ala Moana Food Court a few weeks ago.

Jollibee’s Spaghetti – kids love this stuff. It’s a bit too sweet for me, it’s like sweet ketchup with hot dogs. I prefer their chicken.

Here is my short rib bowl from Bangga Bangga. Have you folks tried this place? They are a little kiosk located in the food court but this bowl is DELICIOUS. Nice and tender short rib slices over a big bowl or rice with lots of fried garlic slivers. It’s so good, I would definitely recommend it!

Okay, not sure how you folks will take this. My immediate thought when I saw this chicken nugget was a heart, others might just see deformity. Hoping you folks take it as a heart, sending my love from Japan!

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Uahi Island Grill – Manoa, HI

Mar20

Uahi Island Grill started up their food truck at UH Manoa a few months ago and I finally got to give them a try the other week. Their menu is a bit limited but I really wanted to give their kalua pig with kale plate a try. How was it? I thought it was pretty good, what I did wish was that the kale was cooked down a bit more with the kalua pig. Perhaps it was on purpose for them? I know that as vegetables cook down, they lose their nutrients right? Their kalua pig was very flavorful. They offered a papaya salad as the option for your side, I went for it. It was okay too, it didn’t taste great with the kalua pork but it was still good!

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Baby Coffee Hour

Mar18

We had a Baby Coffee Hour for a co-worker about a week ago for her second baby! She’s having a girl and that’s great! It’s much easier to plan events when it’s for girls…I love girly things. We went for a Cherry Blossom theme and it went great! I made a cherry blossom origami ball, it took a lot of time to make it but it came out great! Here’s more pictures from the coffee hour!

Nisshodo Chi Chi Dango Favors

My co-worker picked up fallen branches and made tissue paper flowers, isn’t this cute?

Diaper Owl. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this. As if diaper cakes aren’t cute enough!

I had a very cute cherry blossom bowl so I used it to serve up my teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs. These meatballs are the best, you can find them at Costco. I also had these cute bento picks which add such a cute touch.

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Vegetable Shot

Mar16

The one time I’ve tried V8, I think I spit it out. I heard there’s a spicy version now but I am still not convinced to try it. Last week, Don Quijote had this Ito-en Vegetable/Fruit Juice on sale. I saw an older man stocking up on the juice a couple weeks back so I was super curious. The label says that it doesn’t add any sugar or sodium to the drink, so all the sugars that are in this come naturally from the fruit. How’s the taste? Delicious! Addicting. I could drink a lot of this but I don’t think I should drink it like water. Anyhow, just wanted to share about it in case anyone wanted to try it!

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Aloha Loop – Honolulu, HI

Mar14

Hi folks! Wow, it is so cold this morning! This whole week has been super windy and for some odd reason, my office has been COLDER than all the other parts of the office. I should not complain, I much rather be cold than hot any day of the week. I hope everyone is doing well. This was a hard week for me. I had a presentation to do for class on Wednesday and I had such a hard time working on it. I had so much information to cover on the presentation but only had 10 minutes to do so. I just know I flashed through that thing. I hope my instructor recognizes how much time and effort I put into it, it was a lot of material to cover. But in the end, it’s over! I do have a paper due on Wednesday but I’m not too worried about the paper.

So JAPAN. My trip is coming up on Thursday. I will be gone for 10 days! I’ll try to get some posts scheduled up for posting while I’m gone. I’m very excited but also pretty nervous because I haven’t had any time to plan out the trip. I got the Rail pass yesterday and I am going to try to get my yen on Wednesday. Everyone is running out of yen because it is such a good rate right now, everyone is buying it up for future trips! I’m pretty excited for my trip, I really hope I get to see at least some cherry blossoms!

So today, I just wanted to share a quick post with sandwiches from Aloha Loop. They set up shop across our campus so I decided to walk over one day to try them. A bit pricey and shame how I tried to frame the photo. Lol…I wanted a nice background so I put my file folder but you can still see the background behind the folder..hahaha. Anyway, here are the pictures!

Pastrami Panini – $9.00

Pulled Pork Panini – $9.00

$9 is a bit rich for my taste, especially for a sandwich like this. But what they try to focus on is local, organic, fresh, healthy, etc. We know that it costs more money to eat healthy. I just didn’t think the food was that great, it tasted like an average sandwich you can get anywhere. They also sell salads for a hefty price but I think I’d rather make my own from our farmer’s market.

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Hai!

Mar10

Do I remember that right? When roll call happened in Japanese class, you have to answer hai! Right? Gosh guys, sorry about the complete silence the past week. Last week was insanely busy. Busy work and school schedule but I got through. Whew! It’s gonna be tough until Wednesday is over because I have a class presentation! So I was going to work hard on it tonight and totally forgot my textbook at home. Insane right? And this just dawned on me but I’m going to Japan next week! That’s insane. I haven’t even started planning. This is like my nightmare coming true (not being prepared for a trip). I haven’t even started packing. I AM STRESSING MYSELF OUT WITH EACH WORD I TYPE.

Okay, breathe. It was a hard day today, very hard. I got through it and here’s to a better day tomorrow. I hope you all have been doing well. I’ll try to get a few more updates this week. Quick update of a drink I got from Jugo Life. This was 9 dollars and not worth it. Sorry. I should just buy my own super blender and make my own smoothies.

Like the tag line? Stay hungry, not thirsty. Yes, I agree with that.

I didn’t get to drink it until the next morning. Here is how it settles. Suffice to say, I drank all of it because it COST NINE DOLLARS. I thought the taste was okay. Don Quijote has that Itoen Veggie Shot on sale this week for $2.99. I’m going to get a couple of those because they taste delicious!

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Happy March!

Mar1

Hi everyone! It’s already March! And you know what that means? I am weeks away from my vacation! Oh my god! Yes, I only came to that realization today…haha! I haven’t done any planning. I know, this is bad. I’ve been so blah about everything lately, not sure what it is. It’s spilled over to my school work, work, and just general living. Trying my best to get out of this slump! I’ve had some super senior moments lately. I went to Waikele last weekend to buy things, and I found a pair of shoes I liked and the holder said my size but when I got home, the actual pair of shoes was a totally different size. I usually check everything so meticulously. Serves me right because now I have to drive myself back there to exchange it. I hope they even have my size left! Then I ordered some clothes online and they came in this week and I order two of the same exact tops. UGH. If I were to return it, I would have to send it back to me. The Chinese in me does not want to pay to get something returned, ahhh what to do.

Well just wanted to wish everyone a Super Sunday and I hope you folks have a great week!

Our coworker went to a wedding and since everyone flew in from the mainland for the wedding so he got to keep all the flower centerpieces. Isn’t this beautiful?? I was able to keep one of them and it was sooo nice to look at this everyday. I think I should start buying fresh flower bouquets every week. They’re not too pricey and I get to look at something pretty to lift my mood.

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Izakaya Naru – Honolulu, HI

Feb27

Have you been to Izakaya Naru? They’ve been around for a few years but exist in a bit of a non-descript location. They are located in the same building as Sushi King but when they first opened, they had like no signage. I didn’t even know they were a restaurant until I noticed customers inside as the door opened and closed. I seriously thought it was some kind of secret society, lol. This is a sweet place run by sweet Japanese people. Their crowd is a mix of locals and Japanese tourists, they are very artistic. Their menu is handwritten by the staff and if you make a reservation, they hand write your name on a sign. Very nice and personalized touch. The lighting in the place is a bit dim so I apologize in advance for the dark pictures!

Garlic Fried Rice with Squid – $9.50

The rice was definitely tasty and I liked the little crispy rice on top. Just a bit of a small portion for $10.

Salmon Carpaccio – I think this was a special for the day. It was good but not something I would order again.

Gyoza Pizza – $8.50

This is one of their signature dishes. Very interesting concept. It’s pretty much the gyoza skin as the crust, topped with gyoza filling and cheese and baked. I think this dish is okay but not great. Definitely something to try once to say you tried it but not something I would want again.

Shoyu Pork Belly – $9.75

First of all, what’s up with the egg?! Japanese restaurants are the very place I expect the egg to be cooked on point. The gray ring was disappointing, not that it stops me from eating it. The pork belly was not great, it definitely could have been more tender than it was. Felt very dry, good thing had the fat to help out the dryness. I wouldn’t order this again.

Okinawan Sweet Potato & Mochi Ice Cream Parfait – $7.00

Very interesting dessert. I was not a fan at first but I really did enjoy the sweet potato mochi. The title of the dish was a bit deceiving, it’s actually sweet potato mochi so don’t be like me and start looking for separate mochi. They added frosted flakes cereal on the side which really threw me off. It did not go with the dessert and the dessert did not need that. I do actually want the mochi again so that’s a plus.

This is definitely not one of my favorite izakayas. I guess I should try some other dishes next time because the staff are really nice! I had a really nice and refreshing drink and I can’t remember it! Maybe that’s a good excuse to give them one more try…

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!