Our Newest Rice Cooker

We realized that our new 10-cup Aroma rice cooker is just way too big for our everyday use.  Me and Wendell have cut down on our rice consumption to where we only cook around 1 1/2 cups of rice for the family for dinner.

I ordered this rice cooker from Amazon. I chose it not only because Lorna from Kauai said that it's the brand that she uses, but mostly because it was only $12.68.   $12.68!!



It is the cutest, little rice pot ever.


Here is the inaugural batch.  I might've put a bit too much water . . . was hard to see the line.  But I think that it's gonna work out just fine.

Aomori Apple Juice

A couple of weeks ago Marukai had an Aomori Prefecture Food Fair.  There were a lot of interesting and ono stuff on sale, but this was my favorite. It's called "Kibo no Shizuku" (A Drop of Hope) apple juice.  It was expensive . . . $6.99 . . . but it was so worth it.  




And this is why.  Apple is the only ingredient. It tastes like you're drinking an apple.  I loved it.  The next time you're at Marukai you should treat yourself to a bottle (or two).  You deserve it.


Here's what the Marukai flyer said about the drink:

The JA Aoren apple juice makers have developed a unique method to produce the best juice available. Fresh apples from Aomori are grated, and the juice extracted and bottled in a closed environment free of oxygen. This prevents oxidation, and makes it unnecessary to add antioxidants to the juice to keep the color of the juice stable.  Grating the apples adds greater flavor to the juice and heightens the apple fragrance.

Kibo no Shizuku apple juice has won both the Gold Quality Award from Monde Selection, and the Superior Taste Award from the International Taste and Quality Institute.

Stay Back

I was driving home one day and saw this truck.  It was in front of the car in front of me. We were stopped at a red light when I took this photo.  It says "STAY 200 FEET BACK. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BROKEN WINDSHIELDS. "

I'm wondering . . . how can you stay back that far?

Torito's Mexican Food

Torito's Mexican Food is in Market City.  Me and Wendell went there for lunch a few months ago.  I was surprised that they were kinda busy for a weekday.

This is Wendell's Chicken Flautas ($12.95 according to a Yelp menu photo).  I think Wendell finished the whole thing.


My Chicken Quesadillas ($13.50).  It was good, but I hope I didn't finish the whole thing . . . 

Kiwami Ramen

Last month me, my sisters and my mom went to Kiwami's Ramen to celebrate my birthday.  It was my first time there, and I liked it.

We were immediately given this complimentary bowl of pork with rice.  Of note is the fact that when my mom and I returned a few weeks later, my mom noticed that they omitted this (she's still so sharp, yah). 



We all shared this gyoza.




Shoyu Ramen


Miso Ramen


Spicy Shio Ramen


Shoyu Ramen with Tontoro Topping


The Tontoro topping was melt in your mouth tender and so worth the additional $3.00.

Pork Bowl from Your Kitchen

PORK BOWL!!!  Wendell saw some kind of write-up somewhere about Your Kitchen's Pork Bowl so he wanted to check it out.  It is the absolute star of the hole-in-the-wall establishment, hence the special billing. 

Here it is topped with the included panko-crusted egg, cooked to perfection and sliced open for you to see. 



Your Kitchen is on 10th Avenue in Palolo Valley.  Only on-street parking is available.  Good luck.


Here is my Oyako Donburi.  I didn't feel deserving of pork belly fat so I opted for this.  It was good, but after tasting some of Wendell's Pork Bowl decided that maybe next time I'll go for the mini Pork Bowl instead.












Here are photos of a couple of shaved ice that me and Geri had sometime last year.  This is Geri's Strawberry-flavored shaved ice.


And this is my Tropical.  Very, very goooooood.

Oceanic Update v. 2.0

Three repairmen came sometime after lunch yesterday. Actually one of um was a repairwoman. I was pretty impressed . . . THREE!

They did a diagnostic test thing and determined that the signal to the living room TV had been okay for regular TV but was too weak to catch all the fancy stuff that came with our new box.  We have several TVs hooked up to the cable and the TV in the living room is the last in line.



So they put in a separate line, drilled a puka from the outside and connected the line directly to the TV.


Now our reception looks like this!


And this!


And this!!!  As Wendell sometimes says, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Oceanic Cable Update

See my previous post. This is what we're getting now.  Repairman is supposed to come sometime today. Time frame given to us by Oceanic:  between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Can't believe I'm paying money for this.

Oceanic Digital

Wendell got a "box" for our TV in the living room.  I hate it. 













So, I've been watching a TV that doesn't have the "box". Somebody's supposed to come tomorrow to fix the problem. One good thing:  I got to watch the HD version of Life of Pi and it was amazing.

Stove Top Stuffing Meat Loaf

Wendell made this meatloaf the other night and it was super, super good.  He found the recipe in Wednesday's Star Advertiser.  I always love it when I can find the recipe online to cut and paste.

The photo below is actually the leftover meatloaf right out of the 'fridge the day after it was made (he made two).

EASY MEATLOAF
Courtesy Leigh Ito

1/2 package Stove Top stuffing, cooked and cooled (substitute with 1 slice bread, broken into pieces)
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 large egg
3 tablespoons ketchup, plus more to top loaf if desired
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
Pepper, to taste
Vegetable oil to grease pan
1/3 cup chopped chives (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine half to all of stuffing with remaining ingredients (for firmer meatloaf, use half of stuffing; for softer, use all). Combine well but do not overmix. Reserve any remaining stuffing to eat with meatloaf.

Place in greased loaf pan. If you like, spread thin layer of ketchup over top of loaf. Bake 1 hour, then turn off heat and let meatloaf sit in oven 5 to 10 minutes. Take out of oven and cool before slicing. Serves 3 to 4. 

New Rice Cooker

Here's our new rice cooker.  Wendell bought it from Costco for $31.  He said that the previous Tiger brand one also came from Costco and it was $99!  *gulp*  Good thing this one no more buttons that somehow might get scotch-taped down.

Malala Yousafzai

Two years ago, when Malala Yousafzai was 15 years old, Taliban terrorists boarded a school bus that she was riding on and shot her in the head . . . for speaking up about girls' rights to education. She survived, continues to fight for children's rights, and is now the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace prize.

The following from Huffington Post is an excerpt of an interview she had with Jon Stewart and reveals how amazing and courageous she is.

Malala said that when she learned she was a target while living in Pakistan, she often thought about how she would react if she found herself face-to-face with a terrorist. At first, she thought she would fight back. But then she realized, she could not stoop to his level.

“If you hit a Talib, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib,” she said. “You must not treat others with cruelty…You must fight others through peace and through dialogue and through education.”

Once she decided she could not respond with violence, Yousafzai thought about what she would say to a terrorist. 

“I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want education for your children as well. That’s what I want to tell you,” she envisioned saying, “now do what you want.”

Ashol-Pan, Mongolian Eagle Huntress

I saw this photo online somewhere and was totally struck by the formidable appearance of the golden eagle.  I marveled at the bravery of falconry practitioners who use these eagles for hunting.



I then found another article, and especially marveled at 13-year-old huntress Ashol-Pan.  You can read more about her here:  BBC News.

Rice Cooker Pancake

Intriguing hah! Rice cooker pancake!  Awhile back my friend Harri sent me this link: RocketNews24.  She said that she knew that I liked to try out new things so she thought that I might be interested.  She was right.  I bought the pancake batter mix right away.

The other night, Landon said that he felt like eating cake. !!!! I told him that I had the perfect thing for him to try.



He mixed up the batter, poured it into our rice cooker and pressed down the button.  Only thing . . . the button popped up after only a couple of minutes and refused to stay down after that.


So I scotch-taped it down.


After a few minutes it looked like this!  And then . . . after a another few more minutes . . . 


it looked like this.  This is the pancake upside down.  The scorched bottom is glued to the pot.  The top remained kinda raw. 


Landon said that next time (me: next time?) we should try to keep it on "warm" all the way.

Yajima-Ya

Jenny's recent Yajima-Ya blog post reminded me that I never ate anything from there even though I work nearby. So the other day me and Mich went to check them out.

This is their popular Mushroom Chicken. I liked it, but Mich thought it coulda used a skosh more salt.


I really, really liked this Samurai Donburi.  I would order this again next time.