ONGA In Full Bloom

I have some major catching up to do and I am contemplating on accomplishing that with one post. The fact of the matter is, I have waited too long to blog about the past events, those that occurred before my Denver trip. I no longer recall the interesting details or captivating features that motivated me to take that snapshot. Since "pictures mean a thousand words," I will interpret that literally and hope you can decipher from the photos what I intended to say but could not put into words at the moment.

I recently became a frequent visitor of the Oahu Nursery Growers Association (ONGA) plant sale at Thomas Square. ONGA is a non-profit organization that is made up of several nurseries from Wai‘anae, Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo, and Waialua. The association organizes several plant sales a year, featuring a variety of plants - native, ornamental, trees, shrubs, and fruit trees. I am particularly interested in the native Hawaiian plants. The pictures below were taken from the plant sale back in March. I was excited to see the green rose but regret not buying it then because I could not find it in their April plant sale :( Bryan was very nice to accompany me and talked me out of buying just a couple more plants, a couple...

Fushia

Sunflower

Portulaca

Gerbera Daisy

This photo was taken on one of our random wanders in Manoa. I have seen this flower before and never knew what it was. Any idea?

Before Denver, I was in Maui for work. Talk about crazy weeks - I was in Maui two days before I had to fly to Denver, and, I made a stopover in San Jose to visit my family. Three time-zones in 2 days, awesome but tiring. In Maui, I saw some gigantic and fragrant Vandas.

I also couldn't resist taking some more photos of the green roses. I am still in love with them.

Journal of My Denver Travel - Friday

Sorry to leave you in suspense about my last day in Denver. I should tell the story starting from when the day began, at 12am in the morning. Overnight, temperatures in Colorado dropped from the 70's to the 30's. Thunderstorms roared through the State, with snow falling in some parts of the State and rain in others. When I last closed my eyes, the weather was rainy. I woke up the next morning to find a beautiful city - Lakewood was covered in snow. Temperatures dropped so low that rain turned to snow. I turned on the news and heard that the thunderstorms caused major delays and flight cancellations at the airport. United Airlines alone was reported to have 72 flight cancellations that morning. One thought came to my mind, "Where were the geese?" I imagined them turning into snow sculptures and was terrified. I was determined to look for them and if necessary, rescue them from the sudden change in weather.

After the workshops and my daily swim at the hotel, I ventured into the snowy weather in search of my geese buddies. I couldn't find the sidewalk so I walked through parking lots after parking lots, stepping to icy puddles and snow mounds. The snow was different - it was wet and heavy, and it turned to ice very quickly. This made it difficult to walk on the road, or rather slide on the road. The snowplow was busy clearing the streets and the parking lots. Though the snow was falling faster than it could plow. I took a small detour to see what hid behind the parking lots and the hotels.

Lakewood was so beautiful. I felt the Christmas spirit and was wondering why people would hang lights on these trees only to ruin the peaceful scenary. I particularly enjoy watching the snow rest on each branch of the tree, and would hang on until they succum to the force of gravity.

Walking back, I found my clues - their footsteps! Once again, our paths cross my little geese friends.

I had to cross two giant puddles of icy water in order to reach the lake where I last saw the geese when the weather was warm. I scanned the waters hoping to find something and ... there they were, swimming happily in the cold cold water. It was snowing harder.

For lunch I went to Tuk Tuk Thai Grill again. Originally, I planned on visiting 240 Union Grill. However, the restaurant was closed so I chose Tuk Tuk. I love the Pineapple Fried Rice so much I was tempted to order it again. Then again, as a wannabe foodie, I should order something different. I ordered Pad Thai, without peanuts.

When my food came, I felt so warm. The bean sprout heart was Denver's way of saying, "Come visit us again, love, Denver." I looked outside the windows and thought of my geese buddies. I missed them very much. The Pad Thai tasted great. It was the best meal throughout this trip.

Walking back to the hotel, I saw a table outside covered with at least 3 inches of snow. I had the crazy idea of reviving snow Achoo. About 5 years ago, I went on a road trip with Bryan and a couple friends to various places - Chico, Mount Shasta, Feather Falls, etc. At Mount Shasta, Bryan build a snow sculpture of Achoo, my stuffed animal pig. He did an excellent job. Since then, we have missed that sculpture and regret not bringing him back in an ice box :) When I saw this table with so much snow to work on, I wanted to bring him back. I only had 20 minutes before my airport ride came so instead of building a snow sculpture, I drew him on the snow. He was so happy to be back.

On the drive to the airport, I saw snow turned to rain. Denver wasn't snowing. The city was at the rain belt of the storm. To the west of Denver was snow, and to the east was rain. This was a very cool (metaphorically and literally) phenomenon. Luckily, my flight wasn't cancelled and I was happy to return home that night. At about 5:30 pm (my flight was at 6:20), Denver began to snow, and it snowed hard, probably an inch per hour. By the time everyone got on the plane, the airport grounds and the plane were covered with snow. Everyone looked outside the tiny windows of the airplane and saw snow blowing in different directions. Weather wasn't good and everyone was eager to leave. I thought to myself, "It can't be this good. Snow storm and no delays or cancellations to my flight?" Then the news came. The captain announced, "Bad news everyone, I just got a call that all departing flights are to stop until further notice. So we are to stay here until we hear any news." The flight was delayed for 2.5 hours. The last half hour was rather entertaining because we saw staff de-icing the runway and the plane. I got home safely since I lived to blog about all of the exciting things that happened.

Well, this concludes the Journal of My Denver Travel. I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Journal of My Denver Travel - Thursday

Yipeee! Today is the last day of the conference and I am returning home tomorrow, hopefully. I have been watching the news and a winter storm is moving in from the West. There are road closures on the I-25 and I-70 already, and soon there will be a snowplow boom on the freeways. I haven't seen a snowplow for awhile. Heck, I haven't seen snow since I last went skiing, which was almost 5 years ago.

All snow talk aside, tonight's dinner was at Tuk Tuk Thai Grill. I thought their logo was kind of cute, a choo choo train and therefore "tuk tuk choo choo" Thai Grill. Get it? It is a very small and cozy restaurant with some of the nicest servers I have ever met. The cashier (who was also a server) would say, "Good afternoon miss, what can I get for you today?" Then I ask all kinds of questions about the food, what's good, what does he recommend, and I continue until I am tired of talking. With complete patience (unlike me) and politeness, he answered all my questions and waited until I finally made up my mind.

I ordered the pineapple fried rice because I was craving for pineapples, and curry, and pad thai.....almost everything on the Specials menu. The fried rice also had carrots, peas, chicken, eggs, and cashews. The fried rice smelled so yummy. One of the best things about this dish was the shrimp. I am not a big fan of shrimp and the only shrimp dish I absolutely love is the Chinese Walnut Shrimp. But the shrimp in the fried rice was unbelievably delicious. It was fresh and coated with some kind of curry flavor that didn't overpower the overall taste of the dish. The rice was also fried to perfection, with a little burnt wok taste (but the rice was far from being burnt). I could eat this forever!

Okay, I gotta go catch my flight. Yeah, it didn't get cancalled yet and hopefully I get to go home today. Catch ya later :)

Journal of My Denver Travel - Wednesday

We were supposed to eat with our region representative for dinner tonight. Destination was Old Chicago. I passed by the restaurant yesterday and it didn’t look very interesting - the typical upscale sports bar with a common area at the roof. I imagined the restaurant packed with people, drinking, smoking, and watching ESPN. After eating dinner solo the previous nights, I had come to enjoy the solitude and quietness of eating alone. I would take loud slurps of my martini, lick the plate to complete the meal, and savor the last bits of the buffalo chicken on my fingers. No table manners but pure joy of eating. I wanted to experience that again, tonight. However, bind by the responsibility to “network” with other professionals, I reluctantly walked in Old Chicago.

Just as I had imagined, lots of beer and people hangin’ on the roof. And bingo, ESPN was on! The restaurant was crowded and I hate crowded places. I found a couple conference people and we sat by a table under the warm sun. We had just about 7 minutes to take advantage of Happy Hour. Looking through menu, I did not find anything that stirred my appetite. However, I was hungry so I ordered an appetizer, Tangy Buffalo Chicken Wings. Afterall, you can’t go wrong with $4 buffalo wings. They turned out dead on average, very tangy and spicy as well.

About half an hour later, I found myself joining 10 other conference people for dinner. I was so cold from sitting on the roof that I was literally experiencing a brain freeze. I decided to share an order with my other Hawaii counterpart since I couldn’t possibly finish a 10-inch deep dish pizza by myself. We ordered the Thai Pie and hooray for no peanuts! Another person ordered a calzone, something I wanted to try too. Take a look at the photo below. Doesn’t it look like a stuffed chicken rather than a calzone? The bread was so shiny, like oil on chicken skin. It was baked to the color of a roasted rotisserie chicken too. Bizzar!

Finally, the Thai Pie came and it smelled sweet and delicious. The crust was two inches high, topped with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, Thai sweet chili sauce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, green onions, and large pieces of chicken. The pizza had a burst of flavors, from sweet to salty and toasty to cheesy. There was also a hint of spiciness from the chili sauce. Since I don’t mingle too well with cheese and chili, I had to retire early.


Wednesday ended with quite a scare that a winter storm will hit the State of Colorado Thursday night through Saturday morning. I am hoping that I won’t get snowed in and have to stay here another day.

Journal of My Denver Travel - Tuesday

My third day in Denver began with a continental breakfast, complimentary with the conference. I had expected fresh fruit platter with some of my favorites – papaya, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, mangoes, and pineapple, just to name a few. To my disappointment, there were starch, starch, and more starch. Not even a single selection of meat or eggs. What is this ridiculousness!? Since I was planning to use my lunch hour for a quick swim, I decided sneak some pastries for lunch and splurge on dinner.

While trying to stay focused at the conference, my mind constantly wandered off to planning for that night’s meal. “Where should I go for food tonight,” I thought. (People could see the thinking bubble floating on my head with a loco moco inside.) I contemplated on Jose O’Shea, a Mexican restaurant I passed by yesterday when I was walking to Chad’s Grill. However, after hearing some so-so comments from the people that went, I threw that place out (sorry Jose). Finally, I decided to venture South on Union Blvd., hoping to stumble on an interesting venue.

I walked a good half mile to Cedar Street and saw a couple familiar places (Wendy’s and Chipotle), and a good handful I wanted to try, including 240 Union Restaurant, Tuk Tuk Thai, Mad Greens, and Jimmy John’s. Another place that stirred my appetite, rather apprehensively, was a small run-down Mexican restaurant at the corner of Cedar and Union, next to a gas station with a cute dinosaur statue.

I was hesitant because I imagined that one of two things may happen as I enter the Mexican restaurant: 1) jolly ol’ mom and pop come out and greet me with welcoming smiles; or 2) all the men at the bar turn around and stare at me like I was a foreigner and intruding their space. Since I couldn’t build up the courage to take the chance that #2 may happen, I ended up eating at Bruegger’s, a small sandwich/burger joint that makes its own bread.

From the interior design, Bruegger’s is a gourmet blend of Quizno’s and Starbucks. As I entered the shop, I could smell warm bread coming out of the oven. What could be better than a sandwich made from freshly baked bread, grilled to a light crunchiness on the outside but still retains the original softness of the bread on the inside? I ordered the Chicken Pesto Panini.

The shop was pretty empty so I chose a seat by the window where I could see the Mexican restaurant I was too scared to try. Honestly, I was spying on the people entering that restaurant, checking if they were mean or nice looking :) The Panini was soft and moist, and the outside was lightly grilled and crunchy. Inside the Panini was a perfect and delicious union of large pieces of juicy chicken breast, red bell pepper, and pesto sauce.

On the way back to the hotel, I passed by Mad Greens. I thought, “Oh what the heck! Might as well eat as much as I can before I leave this place.” Besides the green/purple color scheme of this little shop, I was attracted to the simple organic design of the interior space. The walls were decorated with large paintings of antique cars and furnitures, and dressed with strips of metal for their “We Do Deliver” magnets. The menu was written in the cutest MAD font.


Since I ate a full meal already (like 5 minutes ago), I ordered something light - Vegetarian Vegetable Soup (cute ya?) and a fruit salad. The soup was tomato based, and it was light and tasty. It had all kine vegetables - celery, carrots, sweet peas, and tomato.

The fruit salad was also a mixture of many ingredients - mandarin oranges, pears, apples, raisons, mangoes, and pineapples. This was especially refreshing because I haven’t had fruit since I came to Denver. Back in Hawaii, I used to eat 5 cuties (sweet easy-to-peel Clementine) a day plus strawberries, mangoes, and/or papaya. This is also the reason for my high metabolism :)

Guess what I saw while walking back to the hotel? My favorite geese buddies! They were the same ones as yesterday, the same pair. They were walking in a different parking lot and I followed them to take a picture. It was as if they remembered me because they weren’t as frightened.

It turned out that these geese came from a nearby lake. Ha ha, a lake in Lakewood, how funny.

And, they are a local resident of this little town too! What a great day.

Journal of My Denver Travel - Monday

The first night’s sleep was interrupted by the heater, periodically turning on and off, each time with a loud “thump thump grump flooooo”. It was annoying! Of course I didn’t risk turning it off and freeze my okole through the night. Waking up at 10 in the morning and still yawning, I decided to brave the streets of Lakewood near my hotel in search for breakfast. I wanted something heavy that will carry me through the next 6 hours, so I ended up in Denny’s.

I haven’t been to Denny’s for 6+ years. Similar to McDonald’s and Burger King, Denny’s wasn’t a place that would interest me, not even occasionally. Oddly, I had a craving for pancakes and maple syrup that morning, and I didn’t have much choice other than two other places that were closed for breakfast. My server was a jolly Mexican man called Arturo. He was very nice and prompt. I ordered a hot tea and the popular Grand Slam with bacon, sausage, pancakes, and egg whites. I didn’t want to order so much pork but I couldn’t order 4 starches either. Everything was normal and delicious.

Following breakfast I went for a quick swim. The pool looked so much better with the reflection of the morning sunlight. Water was still cloudy from the chlorine but I felt more comfortable swimming with the brightness of the room.

Four hours of sitting at the workshop burned so much of my energy. I was listening, taking notes, doing class exercises, checking email, and planning the rest of my day all at the same time. When I am at a conference or workshop, I have to keep myself busy otherwise I would lose focus. Sounds kind of ironic, but I need distraction to stay focused and awake. I am sure some of you will understand this tricky concept.

Once again, I find myself walking across the street in search for food, this time, dinner. (This is very pretentious of me but I felt like a food critic bravely touring the city of Denver/Lakewood in solitude. The secret life of a humble food blogger whose blog only has 4 dedicated followers. HA!) I passed through a parking lot where I saw two large gray birds pecking at the grass. I thought, geese in Denver? They were amazing birds. As I walked closer to them, their eyes illuminated curiosity limited by fear that I would do something to them. We stared at each other for awhile and then my tummy told me to stop this silly distraction instantly and continue my purpose for the night, to eat good food.

From outside, Chad’s Grill looked like a place where one wouldn’t want to eat alone. Well guess what, I was alone and hungry. I had to eat. I walked in and found the restaurant atmosphere very inviting, enough for me to feel comfortable eating without a companion. The waitress escorted me to a nice table by a beautiful painting. When I sat down, I realized I wasn’t alone, but accompanied by a romantic candlelight and an attractive drink menu.


I ordered a Blueberry Martini and the Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie. To my surprise (and my waitress, Karen), everything came in about five minutes! Yes, that quick. I have had many martinis in Hawaii but never a blueberry one. It was made with freshly squeezed blueberry juice and Absolut vodka. The martini came in a 16oz class and Karen poured some into the martini glass. It was good, strong, tasty, and for the first time, a martini of adequate volume. I could taste the blueberry juice, citrus-like flavor with a hint of sweetness. If blueberries were in season, this martini would be a dessert. I am glad it wasn’t.

Next was the Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie. It came in a homemade bread bowl, with a flaky pastry dipped into the thick and gooey conglomerate. On the side were two cantaloupe wedges and one piece of watermelon. I ate the pastry flake by flake. So ono! The bread bowl was thick and soft, it also had a cool curvy shape. In the pot pie were giant pieces of rotisserie chicken mixed with carrots, peas, celery, and potatoes. I have never had such a good tasting pot pie.

Doh! I failed to eat the bread bowl without leaking any pot pie onto the plate. I have yet to master the art of eating a pot pie.

That’s not all. My food came with appetizer pastries - three small pieces of cake, which I ate for dessert. I was so full I ended up packing these pastries for my midnight snack. Overall, my Day 2 in Denver was quite enjoyable.

Journal of My Denver Travel - Sunday

I was sent to Denver to attend a 5-day conference on the National Hydrography Dataset. Upon arriving at the airport, I was welcomed by a slippery walkway that had tiny flakes of snow. I peeked through a gap between the walkway and the plane, the weather wasn’t inviting. It was gloomy, wet, and freezing cold. As I walked to the train station that took me to the main terminal, I was greeted by an idiotic man and woman who decided to chat right in front of the airport map, limiting view and access to people who are actually interested in knowing where to go for taxi or baggage claim. When they were asked nicely to move, they moved 2 inches. I gave them stink eye, grrr!

A short train ride took me to the main terminal where I checked-in to the ground transportation counter. Since I had 30 minutes before my ride, I made an effort to look for food even though I had learned to stay away from overpriced airport food. To my surprise, the prices were relatively reasonable. Here, I emphasize “relative”. I walked up to “the marketplace”, which was a group of three tiny stores. I was attracted to the store in the middle, with pastries neatly displayed in the counter and coffee menu written on a vintage-style chalk board. I bought a breggo, which is a contraction of bread, eggs, cubed potatoes, and a type of meat or vegetable – I chose sausage. The breggo is similar to a hot pocket but it tasted much better and without the unhealthy ingredients, by that I mean fat, fat, and more fat. I was instructed by the cashier to warm the breggo in the microwave for 1 minute. I found a seat by the store and enjoyed my breggo, bite-by-bite. It was delicious and I began to think, my eating journey has begun.


On the road from the airport to my hotel, Denver looked dry despite the constant rain. The land was brown and bare, with the occasional red barn house in the middle of a lonely field. This reminded me of Clark kent’s (modern version of Superman) barn in Smallville. Nothing was truly green. Some road signs show the common geographic mountain symbol and beside it, the land elevation. I guess the topography in Colorado is something of importance and maybe pride to the locals. The industrial part of Denver is, well, pretty lifeless, like Sacramento lifeless. The residential neighborhood showcased some older Victorian-style homes as well as perfect square shaped ones. Residential street signs were really blue, so blue that I was fixated on them for the longest time.

The first highlight of my day was getting complimentary internet access for the duration of my stay at the hotel. I desperately needed internet access so I could spent the whole night hunting for more Easter eggs on fluffbook (Facebook application). Before my Easter egg hunt expedition, I went for a short swim. As with a majority of hotel websites, the photos look much better than reality. I was excited at what I thought was a gigantic pool, which turned out to be smaller than my apartment pool. Stupid Photoshop! No matter, it was heated and I could do laps.

Since my last meal was the breggo, I contemplated on getting room service for a light snack before going to bed. I wanted to enjoy my Sunday show, Masterpiece Classic Little Dorrit, with food - like movie and popcorn. Well, stupid hotel didn’t have PBS, so I decided to grab a drink and small snack at the hotel convenient store. Lame but I was lazy. Then, I was off to my Easter egg hunt on Facebook.

Lunch at Ruby

I believe Bryan gets jealous when I go lunching with my friends on Fridays. I don't blame him because he is always stuck at work, and he doesn't work close to where he can get good food. On the other hand, I work one block away from three lunch wagons and 3 blocks away from Chinatown. Yeah, I'm gaining weight every day at work! To make up for Bryan's misery when I am happily stuffing my face on many great Friday afternoons, I try to take him to some of the restaurants in Chinatown on the weekends. A couple weekends ago, I took him to Ruby Restaurant & Bakery. I had enjoyed the food so much the first time I went, I wanted Bryan to taste the food too. See how nice I am :) Plus, my other Chineseee friends recommended this place too so I had to go again. 

Number one rule to remember: When in doubt or you don't know what to order, always order the restaurant's "Special" dish. I am not referring to the list of special menu items. Almost every Chinese restaurant has a dish called "____ Special" and the blank is usually the name of the restaurant. My dad told me that this dish is usually the most popular and it better taste good because the restaurant's name is on the dish. So, we ordered the Ruby Special Chow Mein and it was crispy and delicious.

The second dish we ordered was the Seafood Hotpot. This type of hot pot is similar to a Chinese casserole. We were amazed and delighted at the amount of seafood in that dish. I loved the tofu and the fish. The scallops, squid, and the shrimp were delicious too. This dish is perfect for a cold windy day.

Afterwards, we bought some cheapo baked buns at the restaurant. We were so glad that we finally found a bakery with delicious bao that we can afford to eat every morning for breakfast. Each bun was about $1 and they were all big, not the dinky kine. We finshed 8 buns in 2 days ...  ridiculous pigs!

Oh, I almost forgot. My friends and I started a blog about our Friday lunches. The blog is called "Where are we going for lunch on Friday?" Check it out!

Happy Birthday Babee!

Today is my daddy's birthday. Well ... not really his real birth date because there is this chinese old new calendar thingy that my mom tried to explain to me many many times but I still don't understand. Somehow the date changes every year, which is really confusing. I have always relied on my iPod to remind me of birthdays but this is one instance that my handy dandy iPod is not so handy dandy.  

So, how old is my daddy? I have no clue because that changes every year too! This year he may be 69, and next year he may be 67. However, no matter how old he is, he is always a kid inside. His never-ending appetite sends him to the kitchen almost 20 times a day. When he is bored, he drives 20 miles to Gilroy with my mame to buy one shirt. He is probably wondering why these Motor Trend magazines keep showing up in the mail when he never ordered them but I know he secretly enjoys picking cars from them that he wishes to buy. (Shhh! Don't tell him but I have a way of renewing his Motor Trend subscriptions for a low low price of ... I am not telling you). He is also experimenting ways to keep my turtle tank clean - the easy breezy way.  

Well, I am very sad for him that he can no longer eat one of his favorite bao, the Coconut Cream Bun, because of his high cholesterol. I totally understand because I HAVE HIGH CHOLESTEROL TOO and when my doctor told me to ban eggs from my diet for three months, I was like, "What the $%@#& am I suppose to eat?" Well, I couldn't do without eggs for even 2 days, ridiculous! Anyway, I made a little card for my daddy so that he can enjoy looking at his favorite bao even if he cannot eat it.    

My dad is the greatest babee in the world! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABEE!