Eat Drink Style Aloha Aloha! Day Three

Friday, October 21st
Yesterday, we went over to the Mega-Walmart to buy snorkeling gear and alcohol. Our safest best for snorkeling was Hanauma Bay, although Shark’s Cove seemed to be the favorite of the locals. Once we paid for our entrance fee of $5, we were forced to watch this terrible video on the history of Hanauma Bay. It even had this Disney-like song where the girl sang about reefs and corals. So stupid.

We didn’t want to leave the bay and ended up eating at the snack bar. $4 for shaved ice sans vanilla ice cream and beans. Boo. The garlic fries were good, but not as good the Gordon Biersch ones from Dodger Stadium. But I’ll tell you what made my trip. I found $100 at Hanauma Bay! All of a sudden, the crappy shaved ice, mediocre garlic fries and horrid Disney video were long forgotten.

On a sad note, upon arriving at Hanauma, we stepped onto the set of Baywatch. A few lifeguards were setting up the CPR equipment on shore and watched as another lifeguard on a jetski cruised down from the mouth of the bay. He was towing a lifeless woman on a gurney and bounced on the waves like a flag on a windy day. They spent a good 35-45 minutes on her, and sadly, I don’t think she made it. I’m not sure what happened out there. God bless her.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9809115/

Dinner? Take a wild guess. We decided to take L&I to that awesome ramen shop, Ezogiku, because they had missed out. They loved it.

Eat Drink Style Aloha Aloha! Day Two

Thursday, October 20th
With the company of a crappy, soccer-mom van and a friend who just moved out to Honolulu, we were out for a gorgeous day at the beach and better direction in finding good eats. We decided to head away from Waikiki Beach, and traverse the world-famous North Shore. We hopped in the car, rolled down the windows and immediately turned the radio to KCCN 100.3 FM for local Hawaiian music. We drove by the Dole Pineapple Plantations but skipped that once we saw the many tour buses there.










Our first stop in the North Shore was Romy’s, a small shack situated on a shrimp farm. We had to pullover because the scent of the garlic/chili was overwhelming. Romy’s is known for their garlic/chili shrimp with soy sauce over rice. At $12 for about 10 pieces of shrimp, it was quite pricey. I don’t know if it beats the Chinese fried shrimp with green onions and salt though. (Jeew Yeem Ha) I had the fried shrimp, which was basically shrimp wrapped in egg roll skin and submerged in oil. Now that was tasty. Overall, everyone was content with the meal.




























We then headed to Shark’s Cove, hoping to snorkel, but the water was way too rocky. We then stopped over at the beautiful, Waimea Bay and hungout. After that, we headed to the small town of Haleiwa for some traditional Hawaiian shaved ice at Matsumoto’s. Matsumoto’s has been around since 1951 and has been punching out their famous shaved ice to fanny-packed tourists like me.



For $2, you can get the large shaved ice cone with any assortment of syrup, vanilla ice cream and beans. The vanilla ice cream serves as the condensed milk in the Taiwanese version. I don’t like sweets at all, but Matsumoto’s proved to be quite a delectable treat. I only wished they served it at the beaches. Where can I get this in the LA area? I’ve heard Gardena and Torrance has it.


For dinner, we were sans automobile. My lovebird friends decided to deprive the three of us and took the car to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for exquisite dining at the beautiful Hoku’s. I actually don’t know if it’s beautiful, since our friends deprived us of transportation haha. Just kidding L&I. Congratulations to them. After the dinner, L proposed to I after waiting 11 years! We then headed to Tiki’s Bar & Grill on Kalakaua Avenue for a few drinks. This tourist trap serves a nice healthy plate of Kahlua Pork Nachos. Awesome. I couldn’t sleep because I was so full.

So while they were eating delicious food, we trekked down to Ezogiku for, you guessed it, more ramen. Now this place was awesome. It was setup like a diner with the servers in the middle. The menu was simple to read and had a good variety of ramen. They were best known for their Miso Ramen, a huge bowl of chasiu pork, bean spouts and miso-flavored broth for $7.89. Ezogiku also has some killer combos for the hippos like me. For $9.89, you can get a bowl of ramen, 4 pieces of gyoza and fried rice. Awesome. We ended up eating here TWICE. Sorry, Ramenya & Kinchan’s, this place whoops your @$$.

Eat Drink Style Aloha Aloha! Day One

***Please bare with this long entry. This is a 7-Part blog.***

For the longest time, the thought of Hawaii has crossed my mind. Teasing, tingling my mind. At 27, I’m probably the last person on earth to have traveled to Hawaii. When I told people that it would be my first time, I was given a puzzled expression. What? Are you from another planet or something? Yes I am. And I am broke.

The First Calling
I remember sitting in some shanty business office, like something you’d see at an auto body shop, watching the 13” black and white TV while waiting for my car. It was always some lame program you didn’t want to watch, like NASCAR. And the remote control was nowhere in sight, and it would’ve been too audacious of me to get a chair to reach up for the channel buttons, in case the other patrons were interested in NASCAR. Perusing through the limited magazine selection, my eyes caught that ubiquitous sweepstakes box. The kind with the out-of-ink-since-last-year pen TIED to the box. I didn’t know that Bic pens were in such high demand. They freaking cost a dime anyway. “Win a Free Trip to Hawaii!” it screamed. The box had a stock image of this couple obviously from the late 80s walking hand in hand down Waikiki Beach, besides a photoshopped palm tree. The guy had a slight mullet and wore some black Vuarnets and yellow trunks, and his new wife wearing a leopard-skin, one-piece bathing suit. I don’t believe in sweepstakes because I know it’s just a way for companies to send you crap you don’t need. Bored out of my mind, I said, “Why not?” I wanna be wearing black vuarnet sunglasses and yellow trunks with my freshly-grown mullet.

The Second Calling
A while back I had to take my mom to the hospital for a checkup, and again I found myself situated in the waiting room with other people who didn’t want to be there. With my iPod on me, I laid back and watched the 20” color tv. A man got up and politely asked if he could change the channel… “John Johnson… come on down!!!” Yep, it’s everyone’s favorite game show The Price Is Right, with the still living, Bob Barker. What is it about this show? The contestants only consist of two species of human life: old people and military people. I can’t help but cheer for them though. The way they run down to the bidding booths and bounce around like they’ve never seen a Montgomery Ward or Sears catalog. So this guy that gets the winning bid, ends up in the next stage, where the prize is, you guessed it, a trip to Hawaii. It was great how the showcase transformed into a faux-Hawaii setting with the models playing beach ball. I suddenly envisioned myself on that bidding booth winning that trip to Hawaii. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I probably would’ve bounced around like I was on ecstasy and maybe even threw in a few backflips. I needed to go to Hawaii.

The callings finally took me and my friends to Hawaii this month. It worked out perfectly because three of us were Hawaiian-Island virgins. The others had been a few times and knew exactly where to take us.

After a quick 5 hour flight, we landed. Okay, keep in mind that I had MANY expectations in Hawaii. I’ve obviously been exposed to too much television and sweepstake boxes. Expectation #1: UPON GETTING OFF, I expected to get lei’d. (Yes, laugh you dirty people.) I was like, where the hell are the two beautiful Polynesian beauties with the purple orchid leis? I wanna get lei’d. We then checked into our 2-star craphole we got off Expedia. My package was about $500, so it wasn’t bad. I wasn’t planning on spending most of my time vacationing in the hotel room anyway.

I couldn’t complain though, Waikiki Beach was directly across the street from us, but intensely crowded. And that leads to Expectation #2: the water is warm, but not crystal clear!!! Waikiki Beach is way overcrowded by tourists wearing fanny packs, including myself, and has gradually become dirtier over the years.

Wednesday, October 19th
On the first day, with no car, we were limited to the surrounding restaurants on Kalakaua Avenue, the main street in Waikiki. And I was glad to know that there were plenty of Japanese restaurants to dine at. After passing about 19 ABC Stores in that 5-block walk, we decided to head to the International Market Place for the food court. They had every type of cuisine imaginable but I already had my mind set on ramen.










I ate at this place called Hokkaido Noodle House, a Vietnamese-runned ramen shop. I expected it to be a bowl of heaven. Nope. A pure bowl of crap. I don’t know if any type of soup noodle can taste good if it's served in a styrofoam bowl, or any food in general. I won’t be eating at the International Market Place again. We didn’t have any means of transportation, so we had no choice really.














For dinner, again with no car, we relied on our own instincts and ended up at this so-so sushi joint called Run, which is right by the Tiki Bar. If it weren’t for the conveyor belt gimmick, I don’t if this place would last too long. I ordered the $10 platter of sushi, which looks good, but as the saying goes… you get what you pay for. My friend had the ramen, which was as bad as Hokkaido’s, but without the savory taste of Styrofoam. I couldn’t wait for the next day when we would have a car.

***A note to Kirk and Reid, the Hawaiian-natives, I know you guys are shaking your head at me right now haha. I know, I know, I should’ve done the research with you guys BEFORE I landed. But trust me, the food gets better!

Eat Drink Style A Gluttonous Night with Daily Gluttony & Friends...

First off, I want to apologize to Mrs. Daily Gluttony for taking so long to write about her special evening. I've been meaning to, but work has been EXTREMELY crazy. Anyway, we had our local LA food blogger dinner a few months ago at Manna Korean BBQ in Koreatown. She asked if I would like to cater her wedding party and I gladly accepted. After all, Daily Gluttony is one of the funniest personalities in the food blog world and simply enjoyable to be around. Don't be fooled by her potty mouth and sometimes, brash writing... she's really great haha.

A few months later, the event really felt like it was just around the corner. With the help of J and Yoony of Immaeatchu, this was going to be a fun and smooth night. Pam decided on two seafood dishes and two vegetarian. Ugh. We were both irritated by the fact that we had to throw in some kind of veggie dish. No matter what, it was good practice. Things could be worse... I could be dealing with vegans and non-glutens. The good thing is, I could pretty much go outside of my place and collect all my ingredients.

"Yes, this dish is made especially for you. I've deep-fried this oak leaf in panko flakes and topped it w/ bark that I've braised in soy sauce, garlic and cilantro. The garnish of freshly-mowed grass should really bring out this winter's flavors. Enjoy."

Yoony met up with J and I on a Saturday afternoon and we were simply fascinated by Pam's place. It really had the Brooklyn loft feel that you see a lot in movies. The place was huge and could easily hold a 100+ people. We immediately set up our post in her large kitchen. With two fridges and a 6' foot fold-out table, we had an ideal setup. In addition to that, the bartender was set up right in front of us, forming a blockade from nosey, finger-happy guests. Two hours later, the guests started to pour in. Music on, food being cooked, drinks pouring.... party time.

Ahi Tuna Poke with Yuzu and Green Apples on Wonton Crisps
I'm no longer making the avocado mousse wonton crisps. This version blows it out of the water. The microgreen garnish adds a nice bitter taste that balances with the sour green apples and sweet fish.

Crabcakes with Roasted Red Pepper Remoulade
I don't think I can bury this dish just yet. I've made them smaller and used a different panko crust and it's now edible in one crispy bite.

Truffled-Edamame Hummus on Parmesan Crisps
This was my first time dealing with parmesan crisps. I cannot stand baking but had to try this dish out sometime. The crisps had a nice cracker-like texture to it and made a nice appetizer. The truffle oil really brings out the tastes of the garlicky hummus and cheesy crisps. Unfortunately, this dish takes FOREVER to make. Goodbye, off the menu for good haha.

Yoony's Harissa Dip on Pita Crisps (Not Pictured)
My photo was so lousy and blurry that it wasn't worth putting up. Zteve of Gastrologica did a nice interpretation of the dish. Sorry Yoony! I first had this dish at AOC and fell in love with it. I could not stop eating it. Yoony was kind enough to help me out and prepare this dish at home and it was awesome. Spicy and flavorful... a good kick to the bunch.

Victor of Zarape Tacos
Pam's genius idea of hiring a taco guy really made the party fun. Who doesn't love tacos? Victor had a nice choice of carne asada and pollo asado with all the fixins. After cooking for two straight hours, the last thing I wanted to eat was anything I cooked. I treated myself to three tacos. Yum.




It was a really great experience catering for someone that first got me into blogging. Thank you Pam for giving me the opportunity to do this. I was really stoked to be able to cook for you as well as our other food blogging friends there that night... Jonah of LA Foodblogging, Best of LA and Gastrologica. Colleen Cuisine, where were you??? J, Yoony and I had a blast. Hope you don't mind that we were all buzzed from drinking on the job haha. Congratulations again to you and Mr. Daily Gluttony.

Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style Stroke of Ingenuity - Introducing the Food Pyramid Lunchbox

Found this on notcot.org and I was immediately hit with the 'why didn't i think of that?' hammer. Check out one of Li Jian Ye's many fun and unique inventions/concepts/ideations. Unfortunately, one can misuse the food pyramid lunch box by adding chili, cheese and fries in the respective tiers. Or simply, gravy soup.

Eat Drink Style Hawaii: Good Aloha Eats - Oct. 19-25, 2005

Day One: The Calling
Day Two: Shrimp Trucks and Hawaiian Slush
Day Three: Sad Day at Hanauma Bay
Day Four: More Shrimp Trucks and Poke
Day Five: Sunset Beach
Day Six: Angelo Pietro's and Alan Wong's
Day Seven: Portuguese Sausages & Eggs

Eat Drink Style The Village Pet Store & Charcoal Grill - Banksy's The New Chef in New York City

One of my favorite artists has to be the political/controversial, underground street artist known as Banksy. Most consider his art vandalism, but I think it's pure genius. With over 500 counts of vandalism in less than a decade, it's obvious Banksy has something he really wants to tell you. A few years back, I went to his show in Los Angeles in the downtown warehouse district. I waited in a line with over 700 people along with Immaeatchu underneath the beating sun. But man, was it worth it. His biggest exhibit was a real elephant set within a living room environment. The elephant was painted with a brick pattern to match the actual warehouse brick walls. Banksy was addressing the issue of homelessness, saying that literally, "homelessness is something big that we choose to ignore."

This time, Banksy has hit something that you and I would be most interested in... food, or the lack of 'real food' or treatment of 'food'. Banksy rented out the space in a real pet store in Greenwich Village called "The Village Pet Store" and tacked on the 'charcoal grill' part for irony, as you will see in a few moments. He even hired people to work as store clerks to play the 'parts'. I haven't seen anything more genius. Enjoy. "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" is on display till Halloween.

I must admit that seeing the chicken mcnuggets really hit me but for processed meat like spam, I'm not sure I can veer away from that!