E-mail to Marukai

Here is an email that I sent to Marukai recently:

Hi Marukai person,

I bought this candy in Japan.  I LOOOOOVE it, but can't find it anywhere here in Hawaii.  It's made by Kanro.  If by some miracle, you could somehow order it and sell it at your store, I promise you that me, my friends, my coworkers, all in my family, their friends and their coworkers and EVERYONE who happens to buy it will frequent your store weekly in order to keep their candy jars fully stocked with this awesome candy.

Your most faithful Marukai shopper,

Jalna

Mrs. Y's Supah Ono Lavosh

My sister's mother-in-law makes the best, best, best lavosh. She makes all kine varieties including sesame seed, guava-glazed, lilikoi-glazed and nut-crusted lavosh.  Here are some photos that my sister took while she watched her mother-in-law in action.

More Chef Zone

Yay!  Wendell took me to Chef Zone with him the other day. He said that anybody can join the club and become a member.



It totally looks like a restaurant-supply outlet.






I always said that Kuhn Rikon made the best potato peelers . . . and you see . . . they think so too. These were $4.70 each.


No, Wendell is not high fashion.  These are the coats that you can borrow when you go into their cold section. As Wendell rummaged through the different sizes of coats, I walked straight in and told him, "Nah, I no need coat. I looooove the cold." Wendell shook his head. Ten seconds later I changed my mind and went running back out to the coat rack. It was fuhreezing in there. Wendell said, "Uh-huh." 


This is what we bought on that day. 

Honeydew Bubble Tea Mix - $10.99. The directions say to add ice and milk/water and blend. They also had tapioca balls, but I didn't buy any of that. I assumed it would be too difficult for me to tackle. I shoulda at least looked at the directions. Maybe next time.


Avocados - $3.63.


We bought this teriyaki pork again - $9.72.


Lemonade concentrate - $5.62. You mix one part concentrate to four parts water.  It tasted like fresh squeezed, but not quite sweet enough for me. Maybe next time I gotta add some sugar-water or maybe agave. Doesn't Kona look so cute? He's getting hard of hearing. Poor thing. He'll be 9 in August.  


Imitation Crabstick - $4.09.


Mixed Vegetables - $3.84.


Panko - $4.25.


Tofu - $2.39.


Neat place, yah!

Chef Zone Stuff

Chef Zone. Chef Zone. Chef Zone.  That's all I've been hearing lately. Everybody except me is going to Chef Zone.  Luckily, Wendell is one of those who has checked it out.

He bought this frozen lumpia on one of his first trips there. I don't know how much it cost.


It looked very promising.


Huge, no.


It fried up really nicely.  Perfect crispness on the outside.


Unfortunately, I didn't like the inside.  Was mooshy to me and hardly had pork.


Coworker Mich sent me this picture. A friend had gotten KOHA boiled jumbo peanuts from Chef Zone. It was $5 something.  She said that it didn't taste as good as Wendell's though.


This is half a package of pastrami that came from Chef Zone. I had total brain fart and forgot to document the pastrami sandwiches that Wendell made with it. He fried up some slices and made thick almost-like-This-is-It-Bakery kine sandwiches. Was really, really good. Wendell kept saying that it comes out to only $5/pound . . . "way cheaper than Safeway's" and way, way cheaper than This is It's.


Brain-farted again and had to dig this empty package out of the trash can for this photo. 


The teriyaki pork was super, super good.  Wendell said he thinks it was around $10 for the 2-pound package.


I can see why Chef Zone is the happening place to be. Can't wait to check it out for myself one day.

Wendell's Chicken Papaya

Wendell made this Chicken Papaya dish a few months ago.  The recipe was in the Star Advertiser along with an article about Frank Chun, food-service manager for Lanakila Kitchen, who oversees production of some 2,500 meals a day. 



Recipe courtesy Frank Chun

1 gallon (16 cups) water
3 pounds chicken thighs, deboned, with skin and gristle removed, then cut into 1-inch cubes
5 pounds green cooking papaya, peeled and seeds removed, then cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes
1-1/2 yellow onions, cut in half and sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium ginger root, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)
Salt, to taste (optional)
4 stalks green onion, sliced "saimin style"

In large pot on high, boil water. Add chicken, papaya, onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and patis. Bring pot back to a boil, then lower heat and simmer about 45 minutes or until papaya turns translucent. Add salt to taste, if desired.

Just before serving, add green onion. Serves 6 or more.

Make It and Love It Plastic Bottle Case

Ashley from Make It and Love It created a video showing how she makes her plastic bottle zippered cases. I blogged about it before, and now I'm inspired again. I need to find me some cool-looking bottles.

Please Wait Quietly

I went with someone to a doctor's appointment and noticed these signs in the waiting room. 

Hydro Flask Warranty

This is the inside of a Hydro Flask that had been forgotten and left in the car for a long time.  (It wasn't me, BTW). 



Not sure what caused the corrosion. 

The outside of the rim had gotten a bit rusty too. 


Granted, the flask had been neglected and small-kine misused, but I thought that it still shouldn't have corroded like it did. I decided to try and see if Hydro Flask would honor its lifetime warranty. I went online and filled out a claim form here: Hydro Flask warranty.


A couple of days later I received an email with instructions on how to return the flask. The email also included a shipping label for me to use. It said to stick the label directly onto the flask. No need box it or anything. Easy! It cost me $7.15 (including USPS tracking) to mail the flask back.


While I waited, I received two emails from Hydro Flask notifying me of the progress. One said that they received the damaged flask and another email a few days later said that they were shipping out the replacement. In no time, I received this box in the mail.


Very, very awesome, Hydro Flask!!

Wendell's Jambalaya

Wendell made this a couple of weeks ago.  It calls for andouille sausage, but Wendell used some homemade sausage that he got from a friend and some portuguese sausage instead. Yummy!!

You can find the recipe here.

From Backpack to Tote

I bought this backpack at a garage sale a few months ago.  It looked in good shape and was selling for only $1 or $2 so I got it. 

I actually forgot about it until last week.  I found it in the closet and thought . . . hmmmmmm . . . how can I refurbish this?  I studied it. 


Hmmmmm. I even took it to work with me so that I could study it while I worked.  Hmmmm. A plan was forming.


This is what I did.


My sewing machine could barely handle the thick canvas-type material so the stitching is not that nice looking. I even had to go back and forth in some of the thicker areas to make sure that it was reinforced well. And the handles are small-kine uneven.


I do like the pink lining.


I turned the top flap portion into a separate pouch.


Anybody want um? I washed um. Let me know. First person can have it.  JalnaA@aol.com


I'll update this post if/when it goes. UPDATE:  I have a taker!! I'm so happy!