Celebration of the British period drama

Stupid British period dramas, why do they have to be so good! So, I came back from Maui and I was tired from hiking in the stream all day. My awesome honeybunch cooked dinner and we began our daily dinner & Netflix movie night. Browsing through our Instant Q, I saw the face of Richard Armitage. I didn’t know his name then but remembered him from Spooks (MI-5), another addictive British show. Next thing we know, we sat on the couch for 3.5 hours, watching the entire 4-part series of North & South. Gosh darn it! This series reminded me of Emma, Pride & Prejudice, and Persuasion, all of which are romantic British period drama that I love. Here is the last few minutes of North & South that I watched 5 times now over the past 2 days. I love how he couldn't stop looking at her and how she kept on looking away for the same reason. The cast is so gorgeous! Richard is handsome! But Bryan is more handsome!



Here is my favorite scene in Pride & Prejudice. While Mathew MacFayden is not as handsome as Richard Armitage or Rupert Henry-Jones, his acting in this movie is so real that makes all the women want to be Mrs. Darcy.

Yard work

We love telling the story of our backyard because it is a huge undertaking, and continues to be a challenge for two homeowners who know zip about landscaping. However, we do know a little bit about cleaning up trash and so it goes like this…

The previous owners of our house were sloppy and they literally killed the yard. To use the yard as a giant dumpster in such a beautiful valley where green spring out of the soil without much effort and where the sun and rain work in harmony to produce the most vibrant colors in mountains as well as people’s yards, is a hideous crime against nature! We spent a good month clearing out the yard and ended up with about 45 bags of junk (we know this because we finished up one box of Costco trash bags) - giant killer vines, endless piles of mango leaves, termite eaten trees, concrete, broken ceramic pots, dead Christmas tree, glass bottles, soda cans, rebar, paint cans, utensils, leftover instant noodle packaging, medicine bottles, rotten wood, tennis balls, golf balls, toys, parts of some metal machinery, pipes, roofing, and other building materials. This is not to mention two truckloads of rotten mango wood trunks that have been harboring termites, roaches, centipedes, and other nasty bugs for a whole year. We truly believed that the yard had 2 foot thick pile of all this trash.

After clearing out the yard, we focused our efforts on the house renovation and have just recently resumed our work on the yard. Poor Bryan doesn’t like yard work as much as I do so when I ask him for help, he is a little clueless as to what needs to be done. He is more of a project-oriented person and yard work is maintenance where there is no completion. So, while he was fixing the mailbox (which was falling down because the based rotted out), I spend a good 8 hours moving boulders to section off the shady area underneath the mango trees from the sunny portion of the yard where I plan to grow vegetables and grass. I leveled out the yard and then laid blue rocks in the shady area. I also moved a big pile of rocks from the back end of the yard to the front so that we can later use these to build a retaining wall in the front yard. The photo above is the shady area of the yard that I sectioned off. It looks 100 times nicer than a year ago when we bought the house. I still have two piles of blue rocks (shown in the second photo) to put in this area and I plan to finish that this weekend. Wish me luck!

I have also redesigned Our Garden blog with more pictures of our plants. I also post to that blog too! The link is on the right.

Story of the Curious Gecko

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Bryan and Choo once again set out to clean out the front and backyards. While Bryan was sweeping the front driveway, a curious little brown gecko hopped onto his shoe. He slowly climbed up Bryan's leg to see what's going on. Choo was so excited that she ran back inside the house to get the camera. As Choo got a little closer and closer to take a good shot, the gecko stared into the camera lens and suddenly jumped onto the camera! here is a photo of his yellow belly.

Choo screamed and gave the camera to Bryan. The curious gecko glanced at us and calmly hopped onto Bryan's hand like nothing happened.

He slowly made his way up Bryan's shoulders and onto his neck. What is all this black stuff he thought.

He got a taste of Bryan's hair and wasn't interested at all. He walked back down Bryan's back.

He jumped onto a plant in search for bugs. Now that's a real feast. Bye bye curious little brown gecko.

Coconut and Pigs

Just returned from three days of field work on Maui. This time, the work is mainly to visit residents that applied for a water use permit. Despite the constant sweat running down my back (sorry, sorta gross), I have a wonderful time talkin' story with the residents. My good friend Robert and I were teamed up to visit residents in the South Waiehu area on the second day. We were on a schedule so we could visit all 8 households that day. Around lunch time, we were running late and we had only 20 minutes to drive back town for lunch. Luckily, the last resident we visited offered to cook us fry rice. He said, "It would take me five minutes to make." How could we refuse food! His kitchen had all kine commercial size cookware - kitchen aid the size of an arcade machine! He also had a coconut grater and all kine gigantic pots and pans. What we admired most was his old style gas stove, wok, and manual venting system.

Pretty awesome set-up ya? And the fry rice was healthy and ono! Made with fresh chives, tuna, tomatoes, onions and brown rice. He really did cook this in 5 minutes.

After lunch, we had some time left so he decided to show us how he dehusks a coconut. Crap, he finished dehusking a coconut in 1 minute and no kidding. It would've taken us...half hour or more? BTW, I have the coconut now am and planning to eat it soon!

Then he told us, "Btw, I have a pot-bellied pig." My eyes popped and I was sooooooo happy! Her name is Penelope and we got to see her eat a papaya.

Yummy Dinners

Made some pretty delish dinners this past weekend to give my sweetie hubby a happy warm tummy :) Here's Frittata with Garlic Bread. Mame, don't worry, I made the frittata with half egg whites so my cholesterol won't go sky high.

The next day, we had some leftover garlic bread so I decided to make sandwiches. I fried up some healthy chicken sausages that we bought from Costco. Then with the same oil I fried onions, mushrooms, and red bell peppers. Layered the veggies with cheese, then chicken sausages with more cheese on top. Voila! Pretty damn good sandwich I say!

Oatmeal Diet

Last year, I was diagnosed with borderline cholesterol - high HDL and LDL. (Those damn tamagoyaki’s!) My doctor told me to try an eggless diet for three months and asked me to return for a blood test. I never did. (Those damn chickens!) I am such a bad patient. The thought of parting with the subtle sweetness of a tamago, or egg yolk oozing on top of lup chong fried rice, or the fluffy custard in a steamed white bun…I could not do it. Bryan tried to get me to eat brown rice but I stuffed myself with white rice when we dine out.

I finally came to the realization that no matter how many hours I swim a day, those evil cholesterol guys will still camp out in my arteries because it’s hereditary. (On a side note, I think marriage made me smarter because I usually don’t come to many “realizations”.) Inspired by a friend at work, I have decided to start a new diet. Oatmeal - one bowl of oatmeal everyday and I am not to miss a day.

I began this new diet last Friday, July 30. It was a disaster. I usually wake up 15 minutes before I have to run to catch the bus. So, I have absolutely no time in the morning to cook myself some decent breakfast. Waking up even earlier to eat breakfast is completely out of the question. So, I did what everybody does when in a hurry for food - microwave. Directions: Microwave 1/3 cup of oatmeal with 1 cup of water for four minutes in 70% power in a blah blah blah… Well, I should’ve read the “blah blah blah” (which was “one-quart sized bowl to allow for expansion”) because then I wouldn’t have to spend another 5 minutes cleaning up the mess I made! Stupid Choo!

Day 2, I got the most giant bowl I had in the kitchen and microwaved my oatmeal. It turned out a little on the mushy side. No prob… Day 3, the day when perfection was born! Here are the directions in case you want to go on the same diet and love Coach’s Oats (available at Costco at a low low price of…I forgot, sorry). Microwave 1/3 cup of oatmeal in 1.2 cups of water for 3 minutes under 70% power in a LARGE bowl. Let it sit for one minute, then stir in 1 tablespoon of macademia nut honey and 1/3 cup of granola. Voila! You have yourself a healthy gourmet breakfast in less than 5 minutes.

Renegade Craft Fair

Oh yes, I am back! Sorry for the 3 month hiatus. No good reason...just getting married, for the first time :) Married life is wonderful. Bryan and I have been dating for 9 years and getting married shouldn't make that much of a difference. To our surprise, the rings brought us even closer. We just picked up our wedding photos from the photographer and we will be posting them soon, so stay tuned. BTW, the wedding was AWESOME! It was the most beautiful, peaceful, and the most perfect wedding. We wouldn't have it any other way...except that we wish we were guests at the wedding so we could enjoy the delicious food that everyone loved!

On another note, I am sure you have already noticed that the website has changed quite a bit. Since Bryan rarely updates his blog and we do almost everything together, I have decided to make this a blog about us and not just selfish Choo! New and exciting adventures of the goofy newly weds...in tropical paradise...trying to stay alive while renovating their house... HAHA, how about that?

Grrr, I cannot believe I missed the Renegade Craft Fair! I am back in the design / craft mode (as you can see from the new blog design) and it kills me that I am am only an airplane ticket from one of the biggest craft fairs! Emily, we go next year ok?

Costco

I know I know. Replacing human employee with robots is bad. But...self-check-out at Costco is just awesome! What's even more funny is that these two lines maybe the slowest lines in the Kapolei Costco. What an irony!

Ok, indoor food court - this should be fantastic. On those hot and sunny days, would you rather be eating in sweat or sitting comfortably inside Costco enjoying your churro and very berry sundae?

If this Costco isn't so FAR AWAY (all the way in Kapolei, like 3 hour drive...at least it feels like it), then this would be my fav Costco in Hawaii.

Another peak into my work life

Couple weeks ago, I was invited to a field trip on a work day. It was perfect timing to take a break from office life. I visited three sites. The first was the Punaluu Fish Passage diversion modification. A diversion is when people take water from a stream for their own use – domestic, agriculture. Most often, a structure is build across one section of the stream where water is captured and conveyed to the user via pipes or small canal. The diversion at Punaluu Stream has been modified to facilitate passage of native fish. Water withdrawals are timed so that fishes don’t get trapped in the diversion structure. Pretty neat!

Lunch was delicious. It was jasmine rice with chicken, mushrooms, colorful bell peppers, and mangoes! Everything was fresh and organic. Dessert was haupia mochi with a hint of ginger.

I was most amazed with the drinks. The black one was hibiscus (freshly picked, dried, and boiled) tea with sugar. The yellow one was pineapple juice with black tea and lemon juice.

The second site was another fish passage project in the works. This was also the movie set for the TV series LOST. You can tell from the fake rock on top of the waterfall that was used to cover the set.

Even though the day was getting hotter and more humid, I was awestruck at the third site. I have seen pictures of the Heeia Wetlands and the fishpond, but the real thing looks amazing. The plan was to save the wetlands and preserve the Hawaiian tradition of taro growing and gathering.

Here is the first loi that was dug back in June of last year. Taro was farmed the traditional mound-style, which I think makes more sense and looks prettier too.


What a beautiful backdrop to the wetland. I cannot understand why some people would even suggest to replace this with golf courses and condominiums!

Off topic but here is a picture I took on one of my trips to east Maui. Mushrooms are fabulous little devils. They can kill you, yet they are soooo attractive…as with all evil things in life.

Lastly, the most majestic waterfall in Hawaii which I was so lucky to have seen – Kano Falls in Maui. Sorry, not open to the public but you get to see a picture of it :D This is a combination of three large and tall waterfalls.

Life is good

Life is good at home. I recently took a trip back to San Jose to visit my family, relatives, and friends. I had such a wonderful time I nearly forgot that my other "home", which is not much of a home, is in Hawaii. I love it when people ask me, "So, what did you do at home?" I would always answer, "Nothing, nothing much. Just sleep, eat, TV, shop, and babysit." Last time I visited home was back in April of last year, and only briefly. It was a business trip to a conference in Denver and I made a stop at home for a day before and after the conference. Therefore, it was especially difficult leaving this time because I had not seen my family for so long. I wanted to stay but reality is cruel, because it is rarely perfect.

I had dim sum with my grandma and ate the most delicious bao. It was a steamed bun with sweet mushed-up taro on the inside. My parents very much wanted to order one on the first day we went dim sum but the bao were sold out really quickly. We didn't even get to see them come out of the kitchen because people take 3-4 orders! Before I flew back to Hawaii, we went dim sum one more time. We were not thinking of that particular bao but the cart came and we ordered 2. We were all so happy.

My house is full of beautiful blooms. When I woke up that first morning upon my return and looked outside, I saw this tree with so many pink buds. I thought, is this tree new? It wasn't. I went outside and took so many pictures because while I live in Hawaii with plants blooming all year round, I couldn't believe how amazing it was to see winter blooms!

Here is another wonderful bloom, an orchid with green flowers that I bought for my parents. The flowers are big and cute. My mom described the flowers as smiling little bashful girls. See for yourself!

Here is what I spend most of my time doing, babysitting these two wonderful monkeys. My niece is 5 years old now and she is so adorable. She ran around the backyard dancing like a ballerina. Then she told me to take a picture of her with a mini pink rose that totally speaks to her bold character.

My nephew (3 years old) is a little more reserved but when he expresses his likes and dislikes, you better listen because he can be very persuasive! He has the cutest smile and attractive eyes. One time, he saw my dad watering flowers in the backyard. Since then, he followed his footsteps.

I will always miss home :)

Stairways everywhere!

Dang it, I am doing it again - forgetting to blog about the house. Christmas is almost here and we are trying to wrap up the renovation. At the same time, I have committed myself to baking 20 loaves of banana bread. While I am totally diggin' the holiday spirit, multitasking between baking, designing, renovating, working, traveling (outer island), and cleaning has taken a toll on me. I have been sleeping much less and exerting more energy during the day to get everything done.

The paint job is almost done so I will be posting pictures of the final look later on. As for the backyard, it is a mess. But we did manage to squeeze in a small staircase to the yard. The guys that build this are awesome!

Enough about the exterior of the house. Let's take a look at the inside and what was done. Below is a picture of the upstairs area. We demolished the straight staircase and covered the puka with plywood. The family area is much more spacious now.

Below is a picture of the downstairs area with the straight staircase on the far left. The wall in the middle separated this area into two small sections - freakin' weird!

So, we took the wall down along with the staircase to open up the family area.

More to come later...

Transforming the Front of the House

This will be an exciting post. Here is how the house originally looks. Now, don't blink!

In converting the front carport into a bedroom, concrete is poured at the base of the new front wall so rain won't seep into the room. The photo shows the framing for the concrete. The window on the side is also changed into a bigger one, by mistake. Our contractor bought the wrong size window. Instead of returning it, he ended up cutting a bigger hole and installing the larger window. That is good for us because it lets in more light into the downstairs area.

The front bedroom will have two 3 x 3 feet window looking out into the street and the neighbor's dog, Marley :)

This is our supercool front entry. Instead of entering the house downstairs through the now non-existent carport, we enter the house from the upstairs.

Viola! A new look for the front of the house. The actual front door was not delivered yet so we temporarily installed the back door so we could have some security.

Side of the House

Compared to the back and front of the house, the side of the house didn't undergo that many changes - the outside look at least. In creating two bedrooms, we moved the existing bathroom and enclosed the front carport. Each of the two bedrooms have one 8 x 3 feet window with a view of Manoa Valley and maybe even the tip of Diamond Head...I'll check to make sure.

Here is a photo with the large windows and new siding in each bedroom. Hopefully the low-e function of the windows is at 100% efficiency because this side of the house gets quite hot sometimes. The window upstairs is the kitchen.

Transforming the Back of the House

It's actually good that I waited until almost the end of the project to post. This way, I can describe the transformation from the old house to the new. Let's begin with the renovation of the back of the house. This is how the house originally looked. I was standing in the covered carport taking this photo. The big window was in the family room and the smaller one was in the laundry room. Wires were everywhere and not to mention the ugly sewer pipe.

This side of the house had the most changes, mostly because we wanted to open up more windows to brighten the room and also to create a back entry. Turned out that most of this wall had termite damage so we couldn't save any of the wood. Starting from the left is the bedroom, then the bathroom (2 windows), the open laundry area, and then the back entry. Just a little secret - the bathroom is the only room with a double-hung window. How cool is that!

We had a little controversy with the back entry stairway. We had wanted a stairway that allows us to enter straight in the door or at an angle. The only way to do that is with a triangle staircase. Since that wasn't "to-code" and we didn't want our neighbors to report us, we decided to go the "legal" way and build a normal looking stairway. Tyvek is used to block out moisture from damaging the drywall. The windows were being installed.

Viola! All the windows are framed and the siding are nailed in. All that is left is painting.

Booo! Tricked ya :) I am not posting photos that reveal the color of the house until later. Save the best for last!

Our House Friends

I don't think I will ever catch up to the present day renovation status. There is just so many details, so many stories to tell. Before showing more photos of our soon-to-be beautiful home, I want to dedicate this post to introducing our house friends who have been keeping us company all this time.

Let's introduce our mama green gecko. She hangs around the front of the house as well as the lanai, playing in my plants. (I think she is a plant enthusiast too!) Sometimes, she is with her baby green gecko inside the house around the lanai sliding doors. Since I planted my epi orchid on the palm tree next to my front door, mama gecko has been hanging around there more often.

Here is our silly window gecko. Bryan tells me geckos like the window surface because it is smooth and gecko feet can hold on to glass better than walls. He also discovered that this gecko comes around our den window at about the same time everyday, between 8:30 to 10PM. I didn't believe him so I started my little investigation. After dinner, I would poke my head in the den and there he was, stuck to the glass in the weirdest position possible. Bryan and I have so much fun just looking at him. When we began painting the exterior, this gecko stopped coming and we missed our little friend so much. Once the painting was complete (at least for that side of the house), he came back that same night!

How about this little guy, the bathroom baby gecko. One day, Bryan came out of the bathroom blushing and said, "he is violating my privacy." I looked in and saw this baby gecko hanging by the toilet seat cover. He has taken residence in my bathroom fern plant. However, I have been seeing him in my kitchen orchids. I think I need to make him a "I've Moved" card.

Finally, the friend that we will always remember. We first discovered him outside the bathroom on the carpet. He was the size of a nickel, very tiny. Not only did he move slow, sometimes he didn't move at all. That was how I took this photo. For a couple nights in a row, he was moving about at the same place. We would walk in the room very cautiously so we don't step on him. Then one day, his skin color changed from a light green to a dark brown. I got down on my knees and looked at him. Ants were all over him. We were depressed the whole day. I buried him next to my mamaki plant in the backyard. One lesson I learned: When geckos don't climb walls, something is definitely wrong.

Problem Drain

Renovation is only beautiful at the end ... the rest is a total nightmare. The truth is, you won't know what's wrong with the house until you open it up. Two out of the four walls had extensive termite damaged. We ended up having to replace all the framing.

If not termite eaten wood, it was wood rot. The drywall in the living room was also screwed up. Luckily, the mold wasn't present in other areas of the house.

If there is one thing that we learned throughout the house buying process, it would be this: Home Inspectors are useless. The Home Inspector never noticed anything that would point to all the termite and water damage. We wrote to him, asking how he neglected to point out that the master bedroom addition was not secured (with three bolts) to one of the pillers. He responded that he did not notice the missing bolts when he did the inspection. So what, we purposely put our lives in danger and took out the bolts so we can sue his okole? Only a dum dum would do that!

We had a bigger problem. During demo, we noticed that the floor boards were all wet. Then our contractors touched the hollow tile wall and it was wet, and paint was peeling off the walls. Turned out that water was seeping through the wall from the left side of the house.

We decided it was an exterior drainage problem so we began our investigation into the mystery leak. As much as we hate to, we did it the old fashion way - we dug behind the house to search for the so-called "French Drain" that the previous owners assured us was functional. We dug five feet from the top all the way down to the foundation and found nothing. Simple formula - no drain, water ponds, water go in house. The slope in the back wasn't helping the water drain either because the ground slopes toward the house and not away from the house. During big rains, our house could potentially flood when we are not even in a freakin' flood zone! This drain ordeal pushed our renovation schedule back by at least 2 weeks. It is Thanksgiving and renovation is still going. Grrr! Our contractor had to do a million things to remedy the situation and put in a new drainage system. After excavation, our contractor laid concrete to level the slope away from the house. To waterproof the wall, he applied two coats of super think sealant and attached GreenGuard waterproofing boards. We helped backfill the trench with new dry gravel.

Not only did we have to dig the left side of the house, we had to create a groove in the front so that water continues to flow downhill and not into the house via the carport. The carport is sloped in a way that water can pond in one corner and possibly seep into the house.

We are frustrated and angry that the previous owners would leave us such a mess. We are currently seeking a formal response from them about this non-disclosure issue as we have proof that they attested to the presence of a French Drain during sale of the house. If they refuse to take responsibility, we may hire lawyers to deal with them.