Raiatea

I just returned from the Honolulu County Medical Society Member Appreciation Dinner where they had a feature performance from Raiatea Helm. Last time I heard her sing live was at the 2005 Taste of Honolulu. Since there were tons of people, I couldn't hear her very well...as a matter of fact, I couldn't hear anything at all. Tonight, I had the pleasure of enjoying her beautiful voice without the loud chitter chatter or the rustling sound of trees when the wind blows. Ah, she was amazing. Even though I didn't understand her songs (because she sang in Hawaiian), her soothing voice was enough to keep me entertained the whole night. She is only 23 and her wonderful talent got her 2 Grammy nominations already. At the end of her performance, I bought a CD and got her autograph. It was a rather expensive CD...$20. Well, what the heck. I rarely buy CD's anyway. I forgot to bring a camera so I used my phone which takes pretty good pictures for a 1.2 mpx phone camera.
You can see that my friend suu-paawanpaku came with me too. He was playing in the orchid grove while we were watching the performance. He was also scaring the kids before dinner.

Photo Blog

I am a little slow...OK, maybe very slow. Apparently, everyone is hyped up about photo blogging nowadays. Flickr seems to be the winner among all the photo blogs in the cyber world. I had learned of Flickr maybe 6-9 months ago when I was searching for a good web service to organize the photos that I post on this blog. I ended up with Picasa because it was linked to my Gmail account and the layout was kinda neat. Last week, my co-worker introduced me to the new Flickr which is now linked to Yahoo. It's great! So much better than the old Flickr. First of all, I don't have to conjure up another login name that I won't remember along with 1000 other ones. Second, the screen name is unique and separate from the login in, which is a great feature for the unsettled mind. So...this past weekend, I signed up with Flickr and have been uploading photos to my account. I am dedicating this photo blog to my love of nature, plants, flowers, animals, and all the beautiful scenaries surrounding us that we sometimes take for granted.

It's still in the works but if you would like a sneak peak of my photo blog, click here. I have also added the link to my navigation bar at the top.

Venetian Shrimp and Scallops

I don't know what is happening to us but we continue to cook good every night. Even though I am not too fond of Rachael Ray and her "Little R&R Every Morning" or whatever the show is, this recipe is truly easy to make. In addition, the recipe is so flexible that you can substitute whatever ingredient you like and it will still taste good. For instance, I don't have white wine so I added red wine which gave the sauce a rich strong taste. And yeah, the recipe calls for LARGE scallops...I was like, "I ain't from Nob Hill". I used frozen small size scallops instead and the food still tasted good. As I always say, all you have to do to correct a cooking mistake is to add butter. BUTTER!

Salmon with Broccoli

HappyOblivion cooked this. Itsn't he amazing? After playing 2 hours of basketball, he dropped by Foodland to buy fish and poke. Then he came back, took a shower, and whipped up this great looking and tasty dinner in less than 30 minutes. Well of course we ate the whole thing in 15 minutes as always. It tasted really yummy, especially the white sauce (can't reveal his recipe, sorry).

BBQ Chicken with Broccoli

Once in awhile, I make pretty amazing dinners. The oriental Japanese ceramic plate makes the food look tastier than ever. This was last night's dinner - special tomato sauce fried rice and BBQ chicken with broccoli. I learned to make the fried rice from a Japanese recipe for Omahayashi. Instead of topping the rice with a semi-cooked tamago, I fried the egg with the rice so the chicken remained the center of attention.

Bamboo Fun

I have been putting off my comic drawing for two weeks now since work has been very hectic. Let's see, two days ago I came back home at 7:30PM from all day field work. I didn't hike much but I guess standing in cold water and the 4-wheel driving took all my energy. Yes, it was my first time driving 4WD and it was FUN FUN FUN! I was crossing rivers, and going over large boulders and tree stumps. My coworker said it was a good idea that I learn 4WD, as well as driving the big Chevy Trail Blazer (our State car). I look like midget in that car! Yesterday I took the car to car wash. Hee hee, 2nd time going through a car wash. It was so exciting and a bit scary too because I couldn't unscrew the antenna so I went in with the antenna up.

So, I have been researching some kind of drawing pad to help with digitizing my comics. My boss referred me the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet and I am very interested in getting one. I remember seeing one at Circuit City and was curious at what it does. Now I know it does exactly what I want, which is to digitize handwriting or sketches. There are 3 sizes: small, medium and large. I believe the small will suffice but I do like the medium size just because it gives me more space to work with. The price difference is around $75-100 tho... Then there is the color. I am planning to get an iMac desktop so the white tablet would fit. But the black is better at hiding all the scratches. I guess I have to give it some thought before investing :) If you know of good deals, please let me know!

Bender's Big Score

Good news everyone, I just got the new Futurama movie "Bender's Big Score". All hail Bender, the best actbot in the whole UNIVERSE! (Those of you who are Futurama fans just got a dose of me talking like Professor Farnsworth.)

In this movie, almost all the characters appeared, even HappyOblivion's favorite - Calculon! He is most memorable in the amnesia episode..."Does anyone here not have amnesia?" Or the one where he yells "Nooooooooooooooooo!". Ha, what a classic. I won't give away the plot or the ending but there is a smart twist in the story that almost made me cry. Yes, it was emotional and you won't be disappointed. You will laugh, get confused, frustrated, angry, and surprised from beginning to the end. Now, what are you waiting for? Get up and go get the movie!

Honolulu City Lights

Once again, this post is long overdue. It's already New Year's for goodness sake and I am posting pictures of Christmas in Honolulu. My life is so behind I could really use a vacation. ~Sigh~ OK, Honolulu City Lights...it's the same-o same-o lights. We have a gargantuan tree in front of the City Hall, the tree contest in the main hall and then the wreath contest in the back. This year is quite interesting because there is a feral pig in one of the displays. Celebrating invasive species for the holidays, that's the way to go!


The BIG tree in front of the City Hall. It actually feels quite scary when you are standing at the bottom and looking up at the blinking lights...like you are high without the drugs.


The invasive species theme with the feral pig as the reindeer. Ha ha, how original.


The same display as above but close-up of these little green creatures I found amusing. If I am not mistaken, I think these are coqui frogs!


My favorite coral wreath (ha ha, rhymes with coral reef) from the wreath contest.

Hot Hot Hot!

I actually have a post already in place for today and that is to show you pictures of this year's Honolulu City Lights. However after last night, I desparately need to get this out of my head. The movie "Never Been Kissed" was on last night on BRAVO. I have never seen it and I wish I had. It wasn't a great film and some parts were a bit cheesey...ok, VERY cheesey. The other parts didn't make sense at all not to mention the inappropriateness (damn, is that even a word) of teacher-student relationship. But the ending threw me off and I felt warm inside. It was a very romantic ending and I don't think I would have liked it as much if the guy wasn't so HOT! Michael Vartan, a french guy who was in a bunch of other movies, including "Monster-in-law" which I had seen but never really noticed him. Awwwww, he looked so good in the movie. I wish I had a cute teacher to fall in love with...in high school...crap, did I just say that? He is now officially on my list of HOT guys :)

Will Smith
Johnny Depp
Michael Vartan
Orlando Bloom

(Note: The order the names are listed has nothing to do with ranking. I love them all the same.)

Christmas at Work

This is my cubicle at work, where I spend 9 hours of my life everyday, just sitting in that chair and staring at the computer. My cubie looks festive right now because I decorated it for Christmas and New Year's. Even though this is not my first job, this year is the first year I decorated my cubicle to celebrate the holidays. Now I just dread the week after New Year's when I have to take out the decorations, along with the holiday spirit :(

This is the back side of my cubie where I display pictures of my friends and family. It is also where I show my love for greenery. My bamboo and crazy plant (upper right corner) are adapting nicely to the cold air conditioning of the office.

Happy Sicky

I should have noticed that when the weather turns super cold and I am wearing a sweater, T-shirt, and sweat pants to sleep in Hawaii, something must be wrong...with ME. Monday morning, I woke up with a really dry throat so I overdosed myself with Airborne. Tuesday, I felt the same so I continued with the Airborne treatment. Wednesday, I felt better so I stopped the Airborne treatment and drank gallons of water at work so I had to pee every hour. Thursday night after I came back from Christmas shopping, I felt terrible. I was sneezing my head off and my runny nose was getting worse. That night, I had tissue flying around my bed and I couldn't sleep. Lucky I didn't break out with a fever. Friday morning, I worked half day and came back to rest. Today, which is Saturday, I feel GREAT! I still have stuffy nose but I have so much energy that I am cleaning the house to welcome the coming of Christmas and New Year's. Happy Christmas and New Year's my dear blogger friends.

So Cold...

Lately, it has been so cold in Hawaii. For the past week, the weather was rainy and windy. I couldn't go for my daily swim because the rain would come pouring down every 10 minutes. The wind was so strong (around 15-20 miles per hour) that generated waves in the pool. My pink umbrella broke because of the wind. At night, I had to wear a thick sweater to keep myself warm.

Yesterday morning, I saw that the rain had gone but it was super windy. I still went swimming because I needed some exercise from all the Christmas parties the previous week. I jumped in and I have never felt soooooo COLD in Hawaii! The water temperautre was freezing because the sun had not warm up the pool yet. It was so cold my muscles were freezing and my head wasn't functioning. Brrrrrr...maybe I'll stop swimming for awhile.

Not a Clue!

I saw this magazine at Narita Airport on the way back from Hong Kong to Honolulu. I took a picture because of the cover. If I am looking correctly, the rabbit is balancing a teapot with its left foot and the panda is imitating the rabbit's position, but without the teapot. Does anyone know what the title is in English? What is the rabbit trying to say to me!!! I am so confused.

Fart Bag

Along with the last few posts, this one is loooonnnng overdue since I bought this bag 2 months ago while I was vacationing in Hong Kong. I call this the "Fart Bag" for obvious reasons (see design). The mischievous looking creature on the bag has a name as with all other cool Japaneseeeee characters. His name is Suu-paawanpaku. Those of you who are Japanese know that "wanpaku" means naughty and "suu" means boy. In short, Suu-paawanpaku is a naughtly boy (even though I don't think he is human enough to be called a boy). There are lots of reasons why I like him: evil, cute, pointy tail, the crooked smile, bomb-shaped hands, etc... However, the main reason is that I can relate to him and that what he does for fun is definitely, FUN! (See him here).

If you have known me for awhile, you know that I have a serious problem with heartburn. I control it by taking meds and eating slower. In my case, gas often accompanies my heartburn so you guessed right, I get gassy. Nothing to be ashamed of because I am sure some of you are in the same situation when eating beans or spicy foods. So when I said I can relate to Suu-paawanpaku and this FART bag, you now know why :)

Thanksgiving Celebration

I believe we broke our record this year by eating 3 turkeys! The first gobble-time was the day before Thanksgiving. After trying the thanksgiving turkey dinner from Foodland and Starmarket, we still thought the one from Safeway was the best. The turkey was more juicy and tender, and the gravy was a bit saltier. The turkey was 8-10 pounds and we finished it in 3 days. However, after becoming spoiled by Bryan's delicious bacon-filled stuffing, I refused to eat the stuffing that came with the turkey dinner. Bacon makes everything taste good!

On Thanksgiving day, we were invited to a friend's house for a gobble potluck. She roasted two turkeys but we only got to taste one of them because we had to save room for a Thanksgiving Chinese buffet that same night. I wish I had 4 stomachs.

Two weeks later, we invited some friends over for a late thanksgiving celebration in addition to watching the UH football game (against Washington Huskies). This time, Bryan roasted the turkey all by himself in addition to preparing all the side dishes (i.e., stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and yam). He did a wonderful job on the turkey, even better than the Safeway turkey. No doubt the stuffing was delicious. I actually prepared the mashed potatoes because it was the easiest task. The yam was a great dessert. After this meal, I don't think I will buy the Safeway turkey dinner next year. Instead, I will help Bryan prepare our own special gobble dinner buffet :)

Koko Head Crater Stairs

This hike was all frakin' stairs...STAIRS! Some parts were scary because it was more like a bridge. I didn't count the number of steps but my legs were definitely shaking on the way down. We saw this fit and healthy asian girl jogging up and down the entire length TWICE! The time it took her to go twice roundtrip, we weren't even at the bottom yet. Her boyfriend (or so we assumed) was dark and buff. Bryan and I joked we would never be like them simply because we exercise to eat whereas they exercise to be healthy, and not to mention the good looking bods.


November 11, 2007. Koko Head Crater hike.

Tasty Plate

The sunday before Thanksgiving, Macy's had an early grand-reopening event when almost everything was on sale. While my friends were busy deciding whether to buy the elegant and festive white plates, Bryan and I went looking for food when we stumbled on these beautiful and traditional Japanese plates. We had seen and wanted these plates before but never bought because they were $39 each. We couldn't believe how reasonably priced they were - $16. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were cheap because anything over $5 is not cheap.

A week later, I cooked a simple lunch with noodles, fish cake, bell peppers, and bak choi. When I plated the food on the Japanese plates, I noticed how much presentation can entice the taste buds. Even though it was just the mind that was fooling me, the food seemed to taste better.

Kahana Valley

Looking back at my photo collection, I discovered two months of my life that I had completely forgotten, probably because I was frantically getting ready for my trip as well as preparing for my first day of work. Before the vacation (early September), we did a hike at Kahana Valley on the North Shore. I died many times on that hike as the frakin' razor grass was relentless in trying to carve out my skin. Every "ouch" was followed by profanity, then threats to kill my friend who convinced me the hike was "moderately easy". Then he tells stories of night marchers in the valley and that he had seen them before. If one of these night marchers see you, you die. Myth or truth, I definitely wasn't thrilled at the idea of bumping into one. I actually thought of hiding in the bamboo grove but then the bugs would get me. Despite the razor cuts and the ghost scare, the hike was fantastic! The forest was calm and filled with sounds of bamboo wavering in the gentle breeze. Bryan wanted a bamboo so he picked up a plant that looked like baby bamboo but was actually a baby razor grass that is now growing in my lanai. The fun part was hiking with poki, my friend's dog that I absolutely adore. I want to thank my friends for inviting me to this hike because it prepared me for the more strenuous hikes at work (to be blogged later).


Giant taro plant...NOT!


One of the river crossings.


Poki :)


Another river crossing.


Sea turtle at Lanikea Beach.

Note of Character

When I came back from swimming this afternoon, I saw this cute note on my desk. Most of you may think this is just an ordinary note. To me, this note says everything about Bryan. Since the handwriting is not as neat as his class/hospital notes, he wrote the note in a hurry (probably in a rush to go play basketball). The drawings resmble those of a little child so he is definitely a kid from within. He drew a TV to "hint" that completing this task TODAY is necessary to keep up our TV schedule. Lastly, the happy face is him :)

Voodoo

My cousin Jenny gave me this Japanese voodoo doll as a souvenir from Japan. This stirred my interest in finding the true meaning of voodoo. Nowadays, many people associate the word "voodoo" with black magic and cult mysticism, in which the doll is commonly used as a torture medium. (This was demonstrated in Indiana Jones.) However, voodoo is actually a religious tradition that originated from West Africa. The word "voodoo" comes from the West African word "Vodun", meaning spirit. Contrary to the modern belief, voodoo is a deeply spiritual process that involves healing and dieties. When the Europeans enslaved Africans of different ethnic groups, they came together as a community and shared a common faith - voodoo - in the misery of slavery. This makes me a little sad :(