Amazing

I found this flower on the ground by my car in the parking garage, a gift from the universe. I found it 2 days ago and it still looks good. It sits on my computer desk next to some of my rocks. In this picture, a quartz, a fluorite, and my flower, all naturally formed by nature. So amazing yeah!

It was night time when I took this shot so I had to up my ISO . . . 2,000 ISO!! I remember back in the days of film when 400 "ASA" was the most they had. And in those days we didn't have a film processor on the island so they had to send your film to the mainland to be developed and you would get your pictures back in a week. Now, you can order your pictures online and pick them up from Costco in an hour. I think that's so amazing.

Today you don't have to worry about accidentally exposing the film in your camera 'cause the digital images are stored on a compact flash or some other sort of memory saving device. The compact flash that I used to to store this image on got accidentally thrown in the wash awhile back . . . and it still works!!! Amaaaaazing!




Not so amazing, but I still wanted to share . . . my light source . . . desk lamp with napkin diffuser. Wait, I take that back . . . it IS amaaaaazing!! Hahahaha!!

1,000th Post

I kinda can't believe it, but this is my 1,000th post. I never thought I'd last this long, but here I still am. There were many days when I had no idea what I would be posting the next day, and yet life happens and I would usually manage to find something to share.

Today it's a collection of the cutest, cutest recipes compiled by the teacher of coworker Anne's 4-year old son Kawana'ao's preschool class.

Geri's Hot Potato Salad

My sister Geri, the tankobu sister, said that she kinda made up this recipe as she prepared it. Pretty awesome yah. I wish I could do that. My son Landon liked it so much that he asked me to stash a small container in the 'fridge for him.



I just cut and pasted the following from her e-mail to me (the milk part surprised me):

I used around 10 potatoes - cooked peeled and cut into big chunks

MIX together: 1 pkg imitation crab, 1 cup mayo, 8 oz sour cream, 2 cups cheeses (I use whatever I have), 3 cloves garlic minced, 1 small round onion minced, salt and pepper to taste. (Texture is like potato salad)

Mix in together with potatoes - put into large baking dish - add 2 cups milk and bake 375 for 45 minutes.

Sweetie's Somen Salad Dressing

My sister Sweetie's real name is Leigh . . . but she will always, always be Sweetie to me . . . because that is who and what she is . . . my dear, dear sister Sweetie . . . waaaahhhhhh. Okay, I digress . . . on to the recipe. Sweetie said that the recipe is actually from my mom's friend although I only know it as Sweetie's ono dressing.

I totally scored 'cause Sweetie left the bottle at my house after our Christmas gathering. Her somen salad got totally wiped out so the next day, I went to Foodland and bought me some somen noodles, some lettuce and fishcake to make my own salad.



Here's her recipe:

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. white vinegar
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Spam and Beans

My sisters still nevah send me their recipes yet so I'm gonna show you this gourmet dish that I made. Wendell found the recipe on KPOA radio station's website in a section called "Sistah Val's Honey I'm Hungry". I lucked out 'cause the beans were on sale at Foodland for $1.49 a pound and I bought about 1 1/2 pounds. Otherwise it would've cost me almost 10 bucks for the same amount!! Coworker Runa said I should get them at the farmers' market.



First, brown cubed spam in about 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil. Then add the cut up beans and 1 Tbsp. of oyster sauce (I added more 'cause it didn't seem like enough).


Cook 3 to 5 minutes on medium heat.



Pour in teriyaki sauce (1/2 c. shoyu, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 Tbsp. mirin and 2 cloves crushed garlic, salt and pepper (I actually forgot the salt and pepper). Cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.


I cooked it for longer after this shot and my beans got all shriveled up! That's why Wendell usually does the cooking and not me. Still was ono though.

Merry Christmas 2010

JOY! JOY! JOY! I'm sooo happy today 'cause IT'S OVER!!!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!! I won't lie . . . Christmas stresses me out. It seems the older I get the more stressed I get. So with the shopping, the baking, the wrapping, and the delivering all pau, I got to enjoy the day with my family.

I wanted to start this post with this shot of my brother sprinkling cinnamon into a flaming pan of Bananas Flambe. Cy worked at Mateo's Restaurant for 18 years, and this was his specialty.


He started off with some bananas in a pan, a block of butter, brown sugar, brandy and some lemon juice (was supposed to be orange juice, but he claims my mom forgot to bring it). Celia, thanks for the Meyer lemons. That's what he used!


After doing the flaming thing he spooned the bananas and sauce onto some Hagen Daz vanilla ice cream.


Here is my sister Geri hugging Cy. Do you see the lump on her forehead? She got it when she stooped down in front of me and hit her head on my flash. Mean hah? It was black and blue too!


14-pound prime rib!!


Glenn made it in a Weber.


I totally shirked my food picture taking duties today . . . almost didn't even get this shot.


He hibachied a couple of chickens too.


Geri made this ono hot potato salad, and again this is all that was left when I remembered to take pictures. I e-mailed her to remind her to give me the recipe for you.


Sweetie made this somen salad. Somen salad is somen salad right? But what's special about Sweetie's somen salad is her dressing. It's a light lemony dressing. Veeeeery ono. I just love it. I used to have the recipe but I think it's on my computer that crashed. I e-mailed her for the recipe too.


Here are the pooches.






Unwrapping

Chad Morisato's Airbrushed Bike

I've actually known Chad Morisato since he was a little kid. His mom and I are really, really good friends. I met up with him again at the Spread the Word event earlier this month where he got to showcase some of his awesome airbrush artwork. He is an incredibly talented artist who was recently featured in a Honolulu Magazine article. Early last year I did a blog post entitled Chad Does Body Painting with pictures that I took when me, Leslie and Erick went to check out the happenings at the Mardi Gras in downtown.