Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!
Yes, I have returned safe and sound from my trip to Japan! The trip was AWESOME! I enjoyed it very much and am excited to share with you folks! In fact, if you don’t want to learn about Japan – you may want to avoid my blog for the next few weeks. I’ll probably have to do a general tips post and then of course a food post for the day! Can’t be in Japan without eating. I hope you are all doing well. I’ll leave you with a picture of cherry blossoms I took from the Imperial East Gardens.
Is wanting to eat better a sign of maturity? Actually, not even just wanting to eat better but a craving for fruits and vegetables! I’d say so! A recent Friday at work included tofu for breakfast and salad for lunch. It was SO good. Just wanted to share quick pictures from it.
Tofu Watercress from Don Quijote – my absolute favorite and the best I have ever tasted. They sell this in the ahi poke case and it’s not much to look at in the case but it’s absolutely delicious. Every morsel is so flavorful. I highly recommend it. In fact, have I talked about this before? Anyhow, give it a try!
The salad I whipped together. I got the ingredients from our on-campus farmers market. My coworker brought some tomatoes and feta cheese which went very well with the salad. I think the salad dressing I used was what made the salad extraordinary. It was Kewpie’s Wafu Dressing – you folks should give it a try! It’s so delicious!
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!
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.
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!
Posted in Snapshot
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!
Posted in Snapshot
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.
Posted in Snapshot
I cockroached two pictures from my cousin to share with you. I am completely jealous of the snow she gets to see and play with in Chicago! And I really enjoy cold weather so I think I am living in the wrong place. But I love the people in Hawaii so much that I will continue to live here. Oh and the food in Hawaii too…hehe. I hope you folks have a wonderful Aloha Friday!
Ahhh….
Posted in Snapshot
I am scheduling this post a few days early so I hope that by the time this publishes, I am booked for my trip. There is a really cheap flight right now for my trip and I would love to book it but I haven’t found a hotel or apartment to stay yet. It’s pretty hard to pull the trigger. I haven’t done any planning for the trip which makes me even more afraid! But Japan is great, and I have been there once so it shouldn’t be too bad. I’m excited for the cooler weather and sakura!!
Here’s just a random updates post. And what does it center around? Food of course.
Win-Spuntino Linguine Clam Sauce – $10.25
Look at all those clams! Yes, it’s worth it. Yes, it was good. Felt a bit clammy afterwards though, get it??
Koa Pancake House Scottish Bangers Plate – $6.55
Have you ever had Scottish Bangers before? The first time I tried it was at Anna Miller’s and I’ve been fan ever since. There’s something about the seasoning that I like but I’m not quite sure what those seasonings are!
Tango Cafe Crab Hash Benedict – $12.25
Tango Cafe Gravlax Pytt i Panna – $10.50
This was my recent breakfast. It includes red and green bell peppers, house-cured salmon, potatoes, and sunny side up eggs. I thought it was good but I guess I’m not a “meat” and potatoes kind of girl. I like breakfast with rice!
Yes, today is Friday the 13th. But I know you’ll have a good day, I can just feel it! Did that work? I hope so. I went to the Ala Moana food court this past weekend and wow, it looks great! I haven’t been in there in forever but the renovations looked great! Ala Moana has such a great food court, I should go there more often. The parking and construction at Ala Moana is just so atrocious that I try to avoid them at all costs. I know Foodland closed down but I didn’t realize Sanrio closed down too! That’s super sad. The mall sure is changing. Sorry for that random rant, especially since my post has nothing to do with Ala Moana or the food court…lol. Just a post with random updates again!
Oops. This was a plate from the Pearlridge Food Court – Hanalei Chicken Company. I wonder if they are owned by Lahaina Chicken Company? Probably not, it’s probably a play off of it. The plate was pretty good. Nothing great but definitely good and I would order it again. This one has roast pork with gravy and fried chicken.
Sometimes I get a hankering for cold soba salad. It’s really something I slap together for lunch at work. And I cook like a whole week’s worth of lunches and I get super sick of it. I definitely don’t eat it plain like this, I add Kewpie’s Goma dressing to it. Definitely pretty healthy and the wakame will clear your system right out!
I’ve been on an Acai kick lately. I honestly would like to know where to go to get the most authentic one. These two were from Jamba Juice at UH Manoa. Very different ways to put them together…very different tastes. And I thought I had ordered the same thing! The kids there don’t even know which acai bowl has what ingredients. I’m confused enough as it is! I would not recommend getting it here because it was just TOO tasty. I felt like I was just eating one of their smoothies which must mean a super high sugar count. I do love myself fresh fruit though…