When my mom came to visit last week, we road tripped it down to Portland. We had one goal... shop, SHOP our little wallets out. With no sales tax (seriously EVERY state should have no sales tax), we headed to the Woodburn Outlets because they had a The North Face store! When I was in Hawaii I'd see all the mainland kids with North Face backpacks, and think, North Face, never heard of it, is it big or something?!? Moving here, I learned just how essential AND expensive North Face is. Everyday at work, I'd pass our sportswear department and longingly gaze at the down and weather proof North Face jackets. I just started working, there is no way I could afford one, even with discount! Unfortunately tho I left both of my debit cards and ID at home, thank goodness I had my credit card. We were able to find a nice North Face down jacket, an amazing Nike 6.0 raincoat, and a few pairs of roxy jeans. I also scored some good accessories too. We got both jackets for under $200! Amazing right? I was in shopping heaven, until we headed back into Portland and hit up Lloyd Center. Now I haven't been to Lloyd Center in 6+ years, and it wasn't how I remember it. I remember this great big mall, hustling and bustling with great stores, the ice rink in the middle. But when we went, it was kind of... well how do I put this politely... ghetto. It was worse than Pearlridge, and it was empty, lots of stores had closed down. and it seemed smaller. I told my mom I think it's because Ala Moana expanded, my mall standards are too high. So far my favorite malls/shopping areas I adore are (in order): 1, South Coast Plaza. 2, Fashion Show Mall. 3, Ala Moana. 4, Walnut Creek. 5, Soho. 6, Irvine Spectrum.

Thank goodness for facebook status updates, because my friend Kaliko commented on my Portland update and reminded me to hit up Voodoo Donut. I had seen the donut joint many, many, many times on The Food Network and Travel Channel, and me being a donut lover I had to try it out. I had the Maple Bacon Bar, and yes it did live up to the hype. There were so many interesting flavors, I'll have to go back soon for a visit!

 
Yes my first Pinkberry experience gets it's own blog entry. I'm not the biggest froyo lover, I'll eat it once in awhile, usually just yogurtland with roomies or an after work snack with Chaz at the Waikiki location. I'm also a non-adventurous yogurt eater, my favorite flavor is plain (is this a reflection of my personality?) and my toppings consist of fresh fruit and chocolate chips, AND never does my cup go over $4 at yogurtland. haha... but Pinkberry, oh Pinkberry. I think if a Pinkberry opened here in Honolulu (other than the airport!?! grrr) it could change my relationship with froyo drastically.
Now I never ever go to California seeking Pinkberry. I know I know you'd think I would with all the hype and celebs gushing about it, I just wasn't something I felt I needed. Anna and I just had to stumble upon the shop after some shopping at Ross and Nordstrom Rack. We looked at each other and were just like, "Let's do it!" I ordered a plain with waffle cone chips and hot milk chocolate with crisps for my topping. IT WAS AMAZING. The yogurt wasn't too tart, and just enough of the creamy taste, it just blended so perfect. After I finished my cup I immediately texted my friend Ross, also a Pinkberry lover, "Sorry won't be able to make it back to work, I've died and gone to Pinkberry heaven."
Looks like I've added another eatery on my please open one in Hawaii list...

Yesterday Priya and I checked out Makitti, a new Sanrio themed buffet in Waikiki. It's in the old Smorgy's on Kuhio. I saw it in the paper last week, and as soon as we heard that it was Sanrio themed we HAD to visit, if you couldn't tell we're big fans of Sanrio. So we decided to check out their breakfast buffet.

The food was all right, it was a Japanese breakfast so the only eggs that they had was omelettes. They did have lots of fish, arabiki sausage, a salad bar, crab, sushi, tofu bar, and natto. They had a full case of desserts, I enjoyed the coffee jelly and tiramisu, Priya had something with Matcha which she loved. On a scale of 5, I'd rate the food 2.5, it was ok, not super awesome, just ok. It was pretty empty when we went, and it seemed like the staff was still getting broken in. And as for the whole Sanrio theme, they need to step it up. COME ON, our bathroom has more Hello Kitty than this. It seemed like the decor from Smorgy's was still there, they just added lots of Hello Kitty stuff in the back area (where we were not seated). They are still pretty new so I hope when we visit next time for afternoon tea, there will be more things added.

All in all, it was fun and any Sanrio fan will definitely want to check it out.

Haven't done this in awhile... Here's last week's lunch! GYROS! Inspired by a dinner at Olive Tree. My sister helped me out with this one. She made the marinade for the steak (lamb was a little too expensive). I mixed it with grape tomatoes from Ho Farms (farmers market bought of course). I made the tzatziki yogurt sauce (according to an Alton Brown recipe). I found the good pita bread at R. Field at Foodland, I looked in the bread aisle, but all they had was that whole wheat dry crap. I wanted some goooood pita bread, so glad I found it at R. Field. Top everything off with some feta. It was delish.


This week's lunch is Japanese Beef Stew... pictures to come!

North Shore advenchas with my besties last Sunday. After church we hit up Cholo's for lunch and this really cool ice cream place for dessert! I had to beg both of them to make the journey up country, Wayne to drive us there (because my poor car is dying) and Anna to actually come (because she rarely ventures past Waikele). The weather was horrible, raining off and on, so that pretty much ruined any plans of getting our food to go and having a picnic at the beach. I'm not much of a mexican food eater and ever since Compadre's closed down, I haven't found any good ones in town yet (there are a couple of taco places I still need to check out), so to satisfy my cravings I went to Cholo's. Of course while I was there I had to get a li hing mui margerita, but sadly I had to drink by myself because Anna didn't want to drink. Poo.

This past couple of weeks I've been trying to make small and big changes in my lifestyle. I've been really trying to save money by not going out and drinking as much, rather spending time with friends watching movies at home, hanging out at Ala's, etc. Also I'm really trying to get in shape... slowly. I've been working out/running at least three times a week and doing the Hip Hop Abs DVDs Courtney let me borrow. The next step is finding a new job, I applied for four today, wish me luck!

I'm sick, and I really shouldn't be eating a hot dog, but when my mom offered me a dog from Hank's Haute Dogs I couldn't resist. After stopping by Fisher Hawaii to get some supplies for my sister's graduation announcements, we went to Hank's for a Chicago Dog combo. It came with fries and a drink, for around $8, a great deal! I got the garlic aioli dipping sauce for my fries and my mom got the Wasabi Tobiko, I wonder how that tasted. The Chicago Dog comes topped with a pickle, tomato, peppers, spicy mustard, and some other awesome goodness.

If you love hot dogs as much as I do , I really suggest you stop by Hank's. They have classic dogs, as well as some specialty dogs such as lobster, rabbit, alligator. I haven't been that daring to try those dogs, but the bf has tried a couple and seemed to have liked them. They also make killer mac'n'cheese with truffle oil. Today they were offering Chicago deep dish pizza but there was a 15 min wait. Hank's was also featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. They're only opened during the day 10-4 Mon-Fri, 10-5 Sat-Sun, so go on your lunch break, it's so worth it.

I have the meanest headache right now, but looking at those pictures again is making me hungry for another Haute Dog.

P.S. I love my new nail polish! It's called Poppy, from American Apparel. Made in America! Yay. My coworker Peter, told me that a lot of clothing made outside of the U.S. uses a LOT of weird dyes, that probably aren't approved by the U.S. It started to make me feel itchy and want to buy only made in the U.S.A. products. But I think that's pretty impossible.

This week dinner... grilled chicken sandwiches with Giada De Laurentiis Garlic Parmesan Vinaigrette. I actually had the t.v. on when I was cleaning my room and saw Sandra Lee make grilled chicken sandwiches on her show Sandra's Money Saving Meals. Now I dislike Sandra Lee (why? because one she takes ridiculous short cuts, like buying minced garlic in a jar, buy a clove and mince it yourself, lazy ass), but I do like saving money where I can. So I saw that she just cut one chicken breast in half and was able to use that for two sandwiches, and it cooked so fast since it was thinly pounded out. Fast and homemade, can't beat that. Sandra Lee made this herby mayonnaise, not a fan of the mayo I decided to go with Giada De Laurentiis Garlic Parmesan Vinaigrette from her new line a Target. I love Giada! It turned out to be a real great Italian chicken sandwich!

Next week I'm going to try making chicken katsu! I think I'm going to try and learn how to make more Japanese foods, since it's me and Mike's favorite. I've been watching a lot of "Cooking with Dog" on youtube.

OH! Last week Friday I ate at Highway Inn with my parents. Look at that spread rice, beef stew, pipikaula, laulau, kalua pig quesadillas... oh man I'm getting hungry just looking at it again. My family loves Highway Inn, we have been going there for YEARS, when I was younger I didn't like going there. But now that I've lived in town for so long, and there isn't really super great Hawaiian food in town other than Yamas (in my opinion of course), NOW I crave it. CRAVE some good Hawaiian food from Highway Inn. They recently renovated, and were featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

It was a full moon a couple days ago, caught it with my camera! It has been super windy lately, and I hate it. It's sunny, but windy, so it's hot/cold. Can't go to the beach because you will be ambushed by sand, and it will be too cold when you get out of the water. Not too mention looking like an idiot trying to walk through wind. Weather please get better soon.

Those are the avocados Mike picked at the farmer's market last Saturday. I'm impatiently waiting for them to get ripe. I've recently discovered eating Turkey, Chedder, and Cracker Lunchables with avocado. It's like a turkey avocado sandwich but on a cracker. Everyday I hand Priya the small avocado and ask... "Is it ready yet?" Nope, not ready yet. :( Avocados please hurry up and get ripe.

Random thoughts:

• MLB season starts tomorrow! EXCITED. Not excited about the fact that Victoria's Secret is ONLY selling VS Pink/Yankees gear. Hello VS we are NOT all Yankees fans here. Still cheering for my Mariners, can't give up on them. I also love Boston and the Phillies (mostly for Shane, go St. Anthony's! And mostly because Mike graduated from St. Anthony's too.). Today on SportsCenter I discovered Clayton Kershaw of the LA Dodgers, super hot, super awesome lefty, and super too young for me (he's the same age as my little sister). Will be keeping my eye on them Dodgers too.
• One month and a week til Vancouver vacay. We're going biking in Stanley Park, yay for family biking trips.
• Hachiko: A Dog's Tale was released on DVD last month (how the heck did I miss this), I saw the trailer for this last March but it said it was only going to be released in Japan in August 2009. YAY for releasing it to the U.S. It wasn't the greatest movie, but if you love dogs (especially cute Akitas) you'll like it. I liked it better than Marley and Me, the movie not the book. It's based on a true story, here's the preview:

One reason to get up early on Saturday mornings: KCC Farmer's Market. I love it here, everything is fresh and local. I try to plan my weekly dinner ahead of time so I can buy my veggies here instead of the supermarket. That is if I get Saturday mornings off... which is hardly EVER, if I don't make it to this one I try to go to the one at Blaisdell Center on Wednesdays or the one up at Manoa Marketplace I think it's on Tuesdays. But lucky me, I got the last TWO Saturdays off so I took advantage, I went with my mom and Mike. I always get a ginger ale and Kahuku Sweet Corn on the Cob with Lilikoi butter.... SO ono. Last, last Saturday when I was with my mom, a booth was selling really small bouquets of flowers for like $3-$5, I wanted to buy one for my room, but when I went with Mike it wasn't there! Argh.

This week's dinner: Ratatouille. Well... sort of. According to Wikipedia the main ingredient of Ratatouille should be tomatoes. I didn't have tomatoes, so I improvised. This is my version, actually Mike is the one that gave me the idea to make this. Over the past two weekends I bought a whole bunch of fresh veggies from the KCC Farmer's Market, zucchini, potatoes, kahuku sweet corn, basil and thyme from Nalo Farms. I added in carrots, onions, one garlic clove, and apple chicken sausage from Foodland. Chop all ingredients, saute in olive oil with salt and pepper and mix. Add in herbs at the end, serve with French bread. Simple and satisfying.

This week's dinner... Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, recipe from Barefoot Contessa: Pasta Bella. Yes I cheated on Giada and made Ina recipe. BUT it's oh so good and pretty easy. It's a cold pasta dish. Well I suppose you can heat it up and make the mozzarella all gooey, maybe I will try that tomorrow night. I got to use the Magic Bullet my dad gave my sister, mom, and I to make the sun-dried tomato dressing. I will definitely be making this pasta dish again!

AHA I've found THEM! Kit Kat Cookie from Japan, only the best candy EVER. Last year when my family went to Japan my sister and I were OBSESSED with Kit Kat, we still are. Went to Nijiya market today and low and behold they were on the shelf (the second to the bottom shelf I'd like to add, FYI Nijiya market Japanese Kit Kat deserve to be at eye level). Last May my friend Courtney went back to Japan and I gave her 2000¥ to bring me back Kit Kat Cookie. These bad boys are SO good. I've been missing Japan lately. I miss everything the subways, food, candy, shopping, walking everywhere. I get terribly jealous when I hear someone is going to Japan. I can't wait 'til me and Mike go, he's going to love it because he loves Japanese food as much as I do. I want to make Japan an every other year trip.

Today I woke up incredibly TIRED. I thought to myself it's going to be one of THOSE days. But in actuality it was pretty darn good. I worked with Theresa, always a delight. Parker came by to change our lights and he gave Theresa and I each a plumeria. How sweet is he! Guys take notes from Parker on how to treat a girl! Nice little gestures can really turn my day around. Like the Honolulu Coffee Co. guy knowing my order. I also made my sales goal... cha-ching BONUS!

I also got my package from Urban Outfitters in! They had a big sale... of the six things I got:

3 of 6 LOVED

2 of 6 Liked

1 of 6 Hideous

Online shopping is such a gamble, sometimes I figure it's not worth it to buy clothes unless its a t-shirt, sweater/hoodie, or something that I owned before (like if I ordered more Vans authentics). Urban Outfitters please just open a store here already geez. Save us all the trouble. There is a nice space vacant where Banana Republic used to be on Kalakaua Ave. Please, I'm begging you.

My boots say hi. Went to Shokudo with my mom and dad for Girl's Day. After we went to Shirokiya and I bought mixed berry Pocky and some Japanese magazine's from Book Off. It was a very Japanesey day.

At church today they talked about fasting. Wayne is fasting T.V. and Internet for three days. He suggested I try to fast too, so starting Tuesday I will be fasting junk food and snacking. I'm a real sucker for cookies, chips, and other snacks, so this will be quite hard. I don't eat a lot of junk food, but I'll eat like one or two throughout the day. Maybe instead of three days, I'll just see how long I can last. Though I don't think I can last over a week, hello it's Girl Scout cookie season. DAMN you THIN MINTS!

I've been missing Mike a whole lot lately. It sucks. He's coming for a quick visit next week, two days and I have to work at Billabong on both days. Oh well it will be nice just to have him here.

Also I've been loving Train's new song Soul Sister or whatever it is called. Enjoy:

On Monday night we had a last minute bbq at Ala's new house. It was great fun times with the old school bong crew, Ala, Priya, Gav, Cory, and Rissa (we go way back 5 years at least). And Anna came too! Cory and I were in charge of the grilling (burgers and dogs) and Priya was our bartender, she found a GREAT recipe for lychee martinis and li hing margaritas. Ala has been living at her new place for over a month or so, but me and Priya bought her these nice daisies as a little housewarming, don't kill them Bala! We need to have more of these mini-bbq house parties, next time tacos and even more margaritas!

On a more somber note, The Honolulu Advertiser has just been bought by the owners of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. It will be an interesting next 6-8 weeks and hopefully everyone will be able to keep working, we really have no idea what is next. Hoping for the best. Maybe it's finally time to really consider going back to school.

Otto Cake

Otto from local punk rock band The 86 List makes cheesecake. This bassist know his cheesecake, it's light, not heavy like other factories, the crust is crunchy and sweet. This photo is of the lilikoi cheesecake, I forgot to take a picture be for I started eating, hence the half eaten cake. I went to his shop again today since the bf is in town and we tried the key lime, which was also delish. Visit him on Smith Street downtown!

Homecookin'

Mike's here for the weekend and is cooking dinner right now! YAY! Today we did some major Christmas shopping for his huge family. We hit up Waikele and Ala Moana and scored some good deals for the kids. I wish he was here all the time!

Asagohan

Ume musubi, karaage chicken!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Andagi

Nothing says summer like andagi from grammsy's church bon dance!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

I heart sandwiches

Especially from 'wichcraft!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile