Oahu

November 2, 2017

I have been attending this event for a few years now and continue to love it.  The lineup of chefs change every year but they have a lot of the same events year after year.  Thursday night is on the pool deck at the Modern Hotel, Friday is on top of the Hawaii Convention Center, Saturday is in Ko Olina and Sunday (and of my favorite events) is the Brunch at the Outrigger Reef.

I started coming to this event with my friend Cindy. Unfortunately, she could not make it last year due to the timing of it.  Both of us were glad that she made it this year.  It is one of our favorite events and even though I continued to go without her, I felt bad she couldn’t go.

One of the best things about the event is that it raises money for local culinary schools, agricultural programs and other organizations.  Not only am I attending a great event, I am contributing to something I believe in. Continue reading →

November 1st, 2017

We said goodbye to Kauai and boarded a short flight to Waikiki.  As we boarded our flight a girl who was in her twenties, turned around and asked a Hawaiian guy how long it would take to drive to Lihue to Waikiki.   I thought the guy was very nice with his response indicating that we don’t yet have cars that allow us to drive across the ocean.  He turned to me and made this funny face indicating that he was shocked he was asked this question.  Personally, I would have had some fun with her, telling her that you couldn’t drive but I heard you  could take the bus.

We were staying in the Moana Surfrider.  I had wanted to stay at the Moana Surfrider for a long time.  It is was the first hotel built-in Waikiki back in 1901.  Each and every time I walked past it with the row of rocking chairs along the front porch, I thought I want to stay there.  Unfortunately, travelling is not what it used to be.  Frequent Traveler programs where you earn status, free upgrades while receiving discounts make it more tolerable and I didn’t have any sort of status with Starwood hotels.   I was happy to hear with Marriott (who I have status with) bought Starwood hotels. I can cross this off my list of things to do!

Although it was not the best hotel that I have stayed in, I enjoyed my stay! Continue reading →

October 30, 2016

We had the entire day free – so off we went to see things outside of “Town” and to take pictures.   I booked a photography tour that was highly rated on Tripadvisor.  We were picked up at 9AM and we headed out to the southeast side of the island.   We were the only tow in the tour which was quite nice and it was nice to have someone give us a few tips on setting up pictures and how to use the finer settings on the camera.  I used to know about f-stops, aperture size and shutter speeds and how they interacted but the “Auto” setting on digital cameras did a really nice job of doing that for you.

It was also nice to revisit the topic of phone vs. point and shoot camera vs. high end digital cameras.   Our conversations confirmed what I knew – I am in a growing minority of people who still carry cameras as opposed to using my smart phone or tablet.  I learned a few tricks on my camera as well as I learned how to do some things on my smartphone that my camera cannot do.  I am ashamed to say, that after owning a smartphone for a number of years, I had no idea on how to do panorama pictures!

It was great fun despite the weather!

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Ramen

Oct 28, 2016

I cannot believe that I am attending two events in one day – with the second one starting at 9PM.  I remember my young days when 9PM was “early”, I doubt I will make it to 1AM but I had to see this event.  Seven Chefs from Italy, Japan and America all cooking Ramen.  Luca Catlafamo, Kenji Chiba, Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong, Takashi Yagihashi, Iron Chef Morimoto, Ivan Orkin were all serving up ramen, would would win?

After attending the Culinary Flight event on top of the convention center, I wasn’t going to be able to eat much but I was determined to try all seven of the contestants.  This sounded like a fund event and it was.  This being an “After Party” it attracted a much younger crowd but there were plenty of people in my age group so that I didn’t feel out of place.

Personally, I am not a huge ramen fan, I think I learned why – every bowl of ramen that I had was significantly different from the previous one I tasted.  They ranged from being really great to not wanting to finish it.  I am not a huge fan of ramen because there are times that I have it and really like it and there are times that I have it and don’t.   I need to focus in on finding the restaurants that serve the ramen I like.

I would be thinking that I was having the worst bowl of the night and the person next to me would be saying that they thought that this was definitely the best.  Sophon and I thought Roy Yamaguchi had the best Ramen and was glad to see that he won the competition!

October 28th, 2016

Set on top of convention center, this is one of my favorite events.   There are tents set up around the perimeter with chefs serving food with a long tent in middle serving wine.  There are a few other tents with mixologists serving cocktails.  There is something for everyone at this event.

Richard Blais was serving up food and I had to get a picture with him.  He was on Top Chef in 2009 and then Top Chef All Stars.  I see him a lot on TV and feel like I know him.   He was serving seafood Spam.   It was delicious and well as beautifully presented.

Sang Yoon from Los Angeles has been at the festival the last couple of years and his dishes always hits it out of the park.  This year he did Lobster Tom Kai-Kai and he killed it.  Sophon is Thai and he loved it as well.   Tim Love from Austin Texas did Congee (Rice Porridge) which shocked me, I wasn’t expecting congee from Tim Love and it was unbelievably good!

One of my favorite stops is the cheese table.  Every year they have these really great cheeses that leaves me thinking that I have to find a good cheese shop, you will not find the cheeses that they are serving at the grocery market.  Continue reading →

October 27th, 2016

This is the third time I have been to the event.   I took a lot of pictures of the food previous years but as I walked around, I thought, do I really want to take the same pictures of the same event the third year in a row.  Yes, the chef lineup changed, yes the food had changed but I didn’t feel compelled to capture it all.  Instead, I focused in on enjoying the event.

One of my favorite dishes of the night was the Shrimp Sausage made by Art Smith.  I am a huge fan of sausage and this sausage was fantastic.  Chef Kris Yenbamroong from the Night Market restaurant in Los Angeles was serving up some really great spicy Thai food.  I have been to both of his restaurants multiple times and love it every time I go there.

Hugh Acheson, a frequent “Top Chef” judge was there.  It was the first time I had seen him in person, for some reason, I thought he would be really tall, 6’2 or more and he wasn’t.   Iron Chef Morimoto who was there the last couple of years.  Chef Roy Yamaguchi was also serving up some great food.   Needless to say,  there was no shortage of good food or drinks.

One of the surprises of the night was when I tried a dessert prepared by Mariah Swan.  It was so good that I googled her and was pleasantly surprised that she has a bakery a few miles from my house.   I went back to tell her that I am not huge on desserts but I loved what she prepared and I looked forward to visiting her store in LA.

Chef Tim Love was attending the event and at one point, he came around the corner with a tray of tequila shots.  I made a comment on “Chef Tim Love serving shots of tequila, didn’t expect that!” he responded by saying that “Now this is the way that you do it!”.    I work with a guy in San Antonio (Johnny) and the more I saw of Tim, the more he reminded me of Johnny.

October 27th, 2016

In the past, I have rented cars while in Hawaii.   Last year, I lost my driver’s license on the way to Hawaii which meant that I couldn’t rent a car.  I realized that it was easier and cheaper to get around by taxi than it was to rent a car and pay an additional $30.00 per night for hotel parking.  I knew I wanted to do some snorkeling in Hanauma Bay and that is when I found Ike’s Hanauma Bay tours.   It included transport to the bay in a small van (as opposed to a large bus)and snorkeling gear.   He was well rated on Tripadvisor and Yelp and personally, couldn’t have been more pleased at my decision.  Ike is one of those guys that you can’t help but like.

Continue reading →

Eating House – 1849

Pork and Shrimp Pot Stickers

Tavern Chicken

Kim-Chi Pork Belly Salad

October 26th 2016

For dinner, we went to The Eating House – 1849 in the new International Marketplace in Waikiki.  It is a Roy Yamaguchi restaurant.  I met Roy and his wife on a trip to Japan earlier this summer. I had to make this one of our first stops and it wasn’t disappointing.  The food was outstanding and the service was excellent.  The hardest part of the evening was deciding what it was that I wanted off the menu.  It all looked good!

Afterwards, we went to a Chef reception in the International Market Place.  I let Denise know that we were having dinner at Roy’s restaurant and she was nice enough to invite us to the Chef’s reception.  It was fun to go over and see her and her husband and have a few drinks.   We ran into a few people we had seen at previous food and wine events and we saw a a few well known chefs.   It is always interesting to see a celebrities in person, I find myself trying to figure out if they are like their TV persona or not.  It was a fun way to wrap up the evening and to start off the Hawaiian Food and Wine Festival.

On the way back to the hotel, I tried to explain to Sophon how the International Market Place was nothing like the old one.   I had a hard time explaining what the International Market Place (IMP) was like.  It was a huge open air market with small small huts selling tacky souvenir items.  You could find anything from Coconut bras, hula dolls, grass skirts, ukulele, fake leis, Aloha shirts, muumuus, t-shirts, tiki glasses, coffee mugs to carvings of Hawaiian gods.  You could also get your fortune told or your palm read if you wanted to.   Everyone went there to get their souvenirs!

Part of me was a bit sad when I saw that it had closed and was going to be turned into a shopping center.  Waikiki has changed since my first visit in 1986.  Stores and motels were torn down to build high end shopping malls.  The International Market Place was around long before me and even in 1986 it reeked of a by-gone era before Waikiki exploded into huge resorts.   Waikiki had changed significantly since my first visit and part of me hated to see the old IMP go, but I also knew that it needed to go.  At least they kept Banyan Vine tree.

The Pig and the Lady

Laotian fried chicken

Adobo mushroom fried noodles

Pho French dip

October 26th, 2016

I have wanted to eat at this Vietnamese inspired restaurant for years and I finally did.   After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, it was time for lunch.   We uber-ed it to downtown Honolulu where I found the restaurant.   The only had seating at the bar which was fine with us.  I ordered the French Dip – a banh mi style sandwich with a deep that tasted like the beef pho.  It was outstanding.   We started with the Laotian fried chicken which were chicken wings with a lime, chili sauce.   Sophon ordered adobo mushroom stir fried noodles which was also excellent.