Happy 1st Birthday Connor - 7/1/2010

A whole year has gone by already since CQ's baby Connor Ramberg was born! Can you believe it! Happy Birthday Connor!!

Colin

Peace Cafe - Vegan Home Cooking

My cousin Roger mentioned Peace Cafe on my previous blog post on Loving Hut. Although I'm not a vegan I liked the food at Loving Hut so much that I decided to check out Peace Cafe's fare today, my day off. Roger mentioned that it was across the street from Moiliili Longs, so I pulled my car over here and parked. Do you see the sign? I didn't. I sat there in my car thinking, "Where could it be?" and I was right in front of it.

I think they need a bigger sign.
I love chalkboard menus . . . so quaint.

Tempting Tempeh Sandwich ($8.45). Very flavorful. What's tempeh anyway? I liked it. I think I could go for this vegan stuff. You kinda gotta eat this right away or your bread will get soggy.

Soy Soba Salad ($7.95). I loooved it. The dressing is really good. I gave half to my mom. She liked it too. Would you believe this is miso soup? It has broccoli, mushroom and onions in it. If you think "miso soup" as you eat it you might not like it, but if you think "broccoli soup" as you're eating it, then it's good! It's $2.00 extra when you order something else. Good deal.
Kinako Cookies (2/$2.15). Kinda dense, but tasted good.

Tysha and Tk

Thank you, thank you, thank you Tysha and Tk for coming out yesterday. It means so much to me that you were willing to brave the heat of the day so that I could practice shooting.

This first shot is my favorite, and it was purely accidental. I had at first planned to shoot from their right on the other side of the tree, but the wind kept blowing Tysha's hair into her face. I went to the opposite side, but a bench and cars spoiled the background. So I stood up high and shot down, ending up with this angle. The beautiful lighting on Tysha's and Tk's faces are courtesy Hiroma and Celia who were holding a reflector for me. Thank you assistants!!

Photography Buddies

The best, best thing about my getting into photography has been the formation of new friendships. Here are Celia on the left, Erick (you probably know already) in the middle and that's Hiromi on the right.

We went to Kapiolani Park yesterday to do a photo shoot. Celia, I can't thank you enough for keeping a watchful eye on my gear and for assisting me. Erick, thanks for coming. I know it was a bit early for you.

Hiromi, thank you so much for being patient while I tried to figure out damn off-camera flashing. You are such a perfect model.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Music Video

It seems like so long ago, but it's actually been only two months since we went to Kakaako Park to try our hand at shooting some video for good friend Jon Agbayani. You can check out my previous post here. Jon finished putting the footage together and here it is:

Our first music video! Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Loving Hut - Vegan Food

A stone's throw away from Mana Bu's is a new restaurant called Loving Hut. They just opened up last week. Loving Hut is the fastest growing international vegan chain of restaurants with over 120 branches worldwide! I am so not a vegan. In fact I don't even know how to pronounce the word correctly, but I decided to go check it out today.

Nice yeah!
The service is fast and very friendly.

I love the decor . . . clean and green.

Yes, this is the restroom . . . also clean and green.

This is the Fabulous Pho ($7.50). This is not yet available for take-out because their biodegradable take-out containers haven't arrived yet. If you like though, you can bring your own container and they'd be happy to fill it for you. Co-owner Neal was kind enough to let me photograph his lunch today!

Nat ordered a two-entree plate ($6.50). She had the Sweet and Sour Hapa (E1) and Brocco Pua (E3). She really liked it.
Julie ordered the three-entry plate ($7.50). Same stuff as Nat plus the Lemongrass Hawaiiana (E2). She thought it tasted good, but she said that the Lemongrass Hawaiiana had a different kind of texture that she's not used to and she wasn't sure if she liked that.
Crispy Rolls ($2.00). Runa said that the flavor was a bit different than the usual springroll. Nat loooooved it.
I ordered the Combo Plate ($7.50). I couldn't figure out which item was the veggie tofu quiche and which was the shredded soy protein . . . upper right corner or lower left corner? But you know what . . . everything was really ono!! It came with a kind of springroll sauce and it tasted like Vietnamese vermicelli. I hardly touched the rice and took it home for dinner. I would've liked to have had more of the stuff in the upper right hand corner instead of the rice. Still, I am sooo gonna order this again.

I was really surprised at how flavorful the food was. To my cousin Roger, I think you would love this place! Go check it out people. One thing though . . . just like Mana Bu's . . . not much parking. Lucky for me I can just walk over.

Salted Duck Egg

Yosh picked up a few of these salted duck eggs from the Asian Market. He said he just loooves it.

It tasted a bit salty and grainy. I kinda didn't like it.

CQ thought it was okay. These pictures are old by the way. CQ's at a different office now. Wahhhhh!