808 Urban

On the right side of the Estria Mural on King Street I noticed another painted wall. It's signed 808Urban.com. 808 Urban is a non-profit organization committed to supporting the urban art scene in Hawaii by providing local youth a place to express themselves artistically. Just Lilla caught them in action creating a mural for a newly renovated library.

Driving Through the Rain

Somehow rain makes for a good ramen-eating mood, so Wendell wanted to go to Tenkaippin Ramen. Wendell was hungry and just wanted to eat, so sheese, okay then, no need take pictures of the ramen. So you get to see welding glasses pictures instead. Blame Wendell.

use real butter

I found the most incredible blog. It's done by Jennifer Yu and it's called use real butter. Click on "recipes" on the top and you get a list (along with thumbnail pictures) that links you to her recipes. Don't forget to also click on "copyright" to view her rules as well as an unreal-looking chocolate dipped strawberry cake. Click on "about" to learn about Jen and while there click on the link "my website" for more. Her Thanksgiving Day post "giving thanks" reveals that she's a breast cancer survivor. The content of the blog, Jennifer's writing style, her layout and especially her photography truly humble me.

Beaded Heart Charm

I was shocked when I completed this. I had never made it before and . . .
these were the directions I was following. Don't ask me how I did it 'cause I don't know. I'm gonna try it again to see if my success was maybe a fluke.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Leslie shared her salad with me awhile back. Strawberry in a salad seems weird, yeah. BUT IT WAS ONO.
Here's the recipe from Les:

1/3 C cider vinegar
3/4 C sugar
2T fresh lemon juice
1t salt
1C vegetable oil
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 1/2 T poppy seeds
1t dry mustard
1/2 t paprika

2 bags fresh spinach
1/2 container fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 C chopped pecans
shredded cheese (I used the 3 cheese mix - mozzarella, provolone, and feta? oops! sorry, I forget what the last cheese was!)

For the dressing, combine the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a small, non-reactive saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and let cool to room temperature. When cooled, whisk in the oil, poppy seeds, dry mustard and paprika until thoroughly combined. Set dressing aside. In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, mushrooms, strawberries, cheese, and pecans. When ready to serve, add some of the dressing, and toss gently. Serve the remaining dressing alongside the salad so diners may add more, if desired.

Warning

I found this warning in Mililani Blog:

BE AWARE: A warning from Councilman Dela Cruz

“There is a young man posing as a security alarm salesman for Honeywell going door to door thru the Makakilo neighborhood. He is actually “casing” the neighborhood to find out who has alarm systems, dogs, and who stays at home during the day, etc. The police are looking for “someone matching his description” as a suspect in many home robberies in the Kapolei/Makakilo areas.

He is about 5′9-10″, slim, dirty blonde/lt brown hair and green eyes. He’s caucasian/asian and looks clean cut. When he came to our house (Nov 19) he was wearing a white polo shirt with a logo “SECURE” on the left breast embroidered in blue. I couldn’t read the smaller print above the “SECURE”. He didn’t introduced himself or offer a business card. We already have a security system so our conversation was very short. (He did want to know if we had a direct line to the police.)

I called Honeywell and they knew about him because they received many calls from residents in Mililani Mauka last month. Honeywell does not sell home security alarm systems. They are now taking steps to try and stop him from using their company name in his scam by alerting the public.

If this person should appear in your neighborhood call the police immediately.”

Freedom the Eagle

A friend e-mailed me the following story. It's written by Jeff Guidry. You can read more about Freedom and Jeff at the Sarvey Wildlife Center site.
Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings . Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places . She's my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.

We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV . Miracle Pets even did a show about us.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again. Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.

On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that.

I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom's.

Hope you enjoy this.

Jeff Guidry

BHiver Wall Revisited

When I went in search of "some graffiti" last month I had no idea that my search would lead me to the BHiver Wall, a memorial created by members of the Aloha Family honoring a fallen comrade. I had no idea that I would develop a respect for the creativity and talent of urban artists. And I had no idea that the memory of a young man I had never met would remain ingrained in my heart forever. I dedicate this post to BKeeper, keeper of memories.

CPK Frozen Pizza from Costco

Me and Wendell both like pizza with thin, almost cracker-like crusts, and this thin-crust frozen pizza from Costco was sooooo goooood. I think it's because of its fontina cheese which is the same kind of cheese that Brandee uses for her prize-wining pasta. The pizza is normally $13.79 for a three pack, but there's a coupon for $3.50 off right now. We were lucky that the cashier gave us the $3.50 off 'cause we cannot find the coupon book. Wendell claims I threw it away. I said how could I have thrown it away if I never even saw it. Hah?!

I Wannabe Like Frank Amodo

Frank Amodo is my favorite local wedding photographer. I so admire his work that at one time I would try to find the locations of some of his shoots and then try to copy his photos. It was fun.

It was kinda amazing that I even found this bench.

It's in Kapiolani Park by the water fountain. I got Taryn and Kona to go with me to look for it.

This set of stairs is on the side of the Convention Center.
Susie was my model for this copycat shot.

These lanterns and door are in Chinatown.

Wendell and I had just had dinner nearby and I asked him to pose. Cars were stopping at a stop sign right in front of us and he was soooo embarrassed. He kept saying, "Hurry up, hurry up."

I just loooove this photo. This was the best I could do in recreating it.

This walkway is in Waikiki. I wondered if Frank asked the boy to walk on the edge like that.
I was so lucky to get this shot. This man is a stranger and so are the group of people out in the background. Pretty neat how it came out similar, yeah.
This wall is by some flower shop in downtown on Beretania. It so doesn't look like that anymore.

Would you believe I was on my way to go look for the wall, when I saw my sister Didi waiting to cross the street. I shanghaied her and asked if she could come with me and be my model.Leslie found the location of this door for me. It belongs to an old brewery in Kakaako.

Since Didi was already with me, I dragged her to go look for the door. I spent 7 bucks on a white Snoopy balloon to act as the flying up veil, but it blew away as soon as we got there. . . bummahs. Notice her yellow flowers she picked from a bush. Sooo funny. I had a hard time getting this shot 'cause Didi kept opening her mouth WIDE like she was at the dentist and I couldn't stop laughing.

The Bane of My Existence

Wendell "scored" this ice machine awhile back. Some business was getting a new one and was gonna dump it. I HATE IT. It's huge and the only place it fits is outside our bedroom window. When I'm at home I spend a good deal of my time in the bedroom 'cause that's where my computer is. The ice machine is so LOUD when it's running it irritates me to death. Wendell turns it on almost every weekend so that he can have ice to chill the drinks for after his softball games. He thinks he's saving CHOKE money by not having to buy bags of ice, but I often wonder how much running the machine adds to my electric bill. Anyway, I was particularly annoyed by the noise one afternoon and composed the following e-mail entitled "Please Join Me in Prayer". Much to my chagrin later, I realized that I had e-mailed it to WAAAAY too many people than I should have.

Subject: Please join me in prayer
Let us begin . . . "Please God, can you somehow cause that #$%^&' ICE MACHINE TO BREAK SO THAT IT CAN NEVER, EVER BE REPAIRED. That constant racket of droning, engine running, water running, water filling, tray turning, ice CRASHING into bin is driving me INSANE. I promise I will be a good person from now on. I will be patient and kind. I will not answer back to my mom. I will go to church once. I will TRY really, really hard not to curse. Please, God, whatever it takes. Thank you in advance. Amen"

It never did break. It still works, loud and clear, every weekend. By the way, since it's in this picture, do you see that numbered pole thing on the right? It's an extendible mango picker that Wendell made. It's soooo neat. It can get really long. Brandee borrowed it once to steal avocados from her neighbor's tree.

Perfect Prime Rib

I'm not a prime rib eater, so I almost wasn't gonna do a post on tonight's dinner. Wendell insisted though, "Take a pikcha, take a pikcha!" Funny, yeah. The lighting had gotten too dim in the house so he even carried the hunk of meat outside for me. This "pikcha" was taken with the prime rib on the hood of my car! The recipe is kinda weird to me 'cause you roast the meat for an hour, then you turn the oven off and leave the meat in the oven. Then an hour before you're ready to eat, you roast it for another 45 minutes. And it doesn't matter what size your meat is.

Mix 1 TBS each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion salt and rosemary together with 2 TBS flour and rub into roast.

It doesn't matter what size your roast is, you follow the same directions below and you can make it several hours ahead of time.

Put roast into a 400 degree oven for one hour. Shut off the oven, but leave the door closed. About an hour before you're ready to eat, turn the oven back on at 325 degrees and cook for 45 minutes. The prime rib comes out at a perfect medium rare. If you like it more well done, give it an extra 5 or 10 minutes.

BKeeper

BKeeper, you touch my heart.

BHIVER . . . . . from dad

Chicken Enchiladas

Last night's dinner and tonight's leftover. It was really good. This is my sliced up portion to show you the insides. Recipe is from Hawaii's Best Local Dishes.