Friday, October 30, 2015

Words to Live By


Me and my mom were waiting for our ramen at Agu Restaurant the other day when my mom busted out these well-worn index cards.  She asked me if she had ever shown them to me before.  I replied that yes, I had seen them before. She said, "That's okay. You can read them again." And so I did.

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Good advice, yah.  BTW, this is what my mom had . . . Original Kotteri ($12.75).
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This was mine . . . Yuzu Jidori ($13.75).
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Both were really yummy, as usual.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Wendell's Thai Pork Chop


Wendell made this last night, and all I can say is this was ono, ono, ono!  You can find the recipe here:  Thai Rib Eye Pork Chops

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Monday, October 26, 2015

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Reversible Hobo Bag


I actually gave this bag away already, but wanted to blog about it in case someone might be interested in making it for them self. I found the pattern at verypurpleperson blog. The pattern and instructions can be found here 

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I altered the pattern a bit by adding an inch to the width, height and strap.  FYI, in case you decide to try making this for yourself, I didn't actually cut out the triangle-shaped dart portion on the fabric. I just cut it out on the pattern so that I could mark the area on the material.

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I got the penguin material at a garage sale . . . $1 for around 3 yards. For me, garage sales, rummage sales, thrift shops and the swap meet is the way to go for fabric. The best is when husbands are selling and the wives are not around, and when I go, "How much?", they go, "Oh, I don't know . . . $1?" And then I go, "Oh yah!!!"

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Kung Fu Panda Stickers


I found these stickers at the swap meet and I bought um . . . because . . . I just love Po, the unlikely hero in the movie Kung Fu Panda. 

Po (Jack Black) is fat and out of shape and has no kung fu skills, yet he is identified as the chosen one . . . the Dragon Warrior . . . who will hopefully defeat the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane).  Mocked and despised by the Furious Five kung fu masters, a tigress (Angelina Jolie), a snake (Lucy Liu), a monkey (Jackie Chan), a mantis (Seth Rogen), and a crane (David Cross), Po perseveres and slowly wins them over. Still, believing himself to be inept and unworthy, a dejected Po only truly gains confidence after Po's goose father Mr. Ping (James Hong) teaches him that things become special if they are believed to be so.

I convinced my coworker Bien to watch the movie. He also loved it and repeats his favorite quote often: "Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present." 

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I put this sticker on my scanner.
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And this one on Bien's dryer. 
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If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should. You'll enjoy it.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Let's Celebrate!!


This morning, Wendell took a scissors out of a drawer, took it outside of the house to do something, came back into the house WITH THE SCISSORS and . . . 

PUT IT BACK WHERE IT BELONGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dance with me . . . 

Happy Dance!

Happy Dance!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Grocery Tote


My sister Geri found this fabric at the swap meet.  Cute yah. The bag is 21 x 16.5 inches.
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I made it so that you can tie it up like this. 
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Anybody want it? First one to email me can have it. JalnaA@aol.com.  I'll update this post if/when it goes. 

Update:  I got one taker!!!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Water Droplets in the Morning


I took these photos on 10/15/15 at around 7:00 a.m. When letting Kona out in the morning, I saw water droplets on my citrus plants, so I went back into the house and grabbed my camera and 100mm macro lens. I really shoulda grabbed my tripod too, but I was too lazy and didn't have much time anyway.  One of these days, I'll do it the right way. 

Instead, I held my breath, tucked my arms in, rested the camera on my double chin and clicked, clicked, clicked, hoping that at least a few of the shots would come out clear.
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These are the drops that initially caught my eye. There wasn't much light so I set my ISO to 1600. My camera is so da bomb-diggity that noise is not a problem even at 1600. 
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Huge drops in sweet light . . . make me love taking pictures. 1/1000 at f4.0.
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My neighbor's fence can be seen in this drop.
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Friday, October 16, 2015

THANK YOU!!


To the reader who mailed this to me anonymously . . . thank you so much! I got it today! You touched my heart. It's just what I wanted.

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And thank you for this photo. I love it.  I don't remember the mural in Kapahulu, but I'm gonna ask Wendell's friend Steven. He has a memory like an elephant. 

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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Salmon Dynamite


This was a collaborative dish started by Wendell and finished by Landon, and might've been the best salmon dish I've ever eaten. Wendell said that he saw this being made on a Let's Go Fishing program.

Wendell first poured some shoyu onto a slab of salmon, then baked it for 5 minutes at 500 degrees. 

He took it out of the oven and Landon took over. Lan made a paste with the following ingredients, slathered it over the top of the salmon, sprinkled furikake, and then broiled it for about 4 to 5 minutes.

1 c. mayo
1 tsp. shichimi
2 tbs. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili oil (*see below*)
1 tbs. lemon juice

I was small-kine late in joining the family for dinner so only half of the slab of salmon was left for me to photograph.
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*Landon used a "hot" version of this tako taegu in place of the chili oil, and it came out some ono! I bought it from a vendor at the swap meet. I talked about the vendor previously here
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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

It's Magic


Amazing!!



Thanks for sharing, Steven!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Winner! and Book Giveaway


Winner:

The winner of the Hello Kitty pouch is:

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Congratulations Honolulu Aunty!! I'll drop off the pouch at your poker buddy's house.

Book Giveaway:

I follow a blog called Tokyo Five.  In August they had a book giveaway, and I won a book! I finally received it the other day.

These are the five books that they were giving away. I entered all five drawings, but the one I really wanted was Mastering Japanese Kanji.

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I didn't win that one, but I did win Writing Japanese Katakana. I kinda already know katakana so I don't really need the book. Anybody want it? First one to email me at JalnaA@aol.com can have it. I'll update this post if/when there is a taker.

Update:  I got one taker!!

katakana

I copied and pasted the following description from Amazon.

This is an introductory guide and workbook to writing Japanese Katakana.

Anybody who is able to master English, with its irregular spellings and idiosyncratic pronunciations, is more than equipped to master written Japanese. The hiragana and katakana syllabaries are purely phonetic characters, which function much like the letters of the English alphabet. In this respect, kana are quite different from kanji characters, which are based on Chinese ideographs and which represent ideas. The katakana syllabary is used primarily to represent borrowed words (from languages other than Chinese), although it is also used for botanical names and is sometimes used in place of hiragana or kanji for emphasis. In some ways, the use of katakana in Japanese parallels the use of italics in English.

Writing practice is the most effective method of mastering written Japanese, and the large open format of this workbook is designed to invite the student to pick up a pencil and start writing. Written Japanese comprises two phonetic syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, and a set of kanji characters that are based on Chinese ideographs. This workbook has been carefully designed to facilitate the quick and easy mastery of the 46–character katakana alphabet, making it the perfect tool to begin the process of mastering written Japanese. Each character is introduced with brushed, handwritten and typed samples that enhance character recognition. Extensive space for writing allows maximum practice to facilitate memorization and to ensure proper character formation. Entertaining illustrations and amusing examples of loan–words that use katakana in Japanese writings further reinforce memorization in a fun way. Writing Katakana is tailored to the specific needs of young students of the Japanese language, but is also well suited to beginning students of any age. This workbook contains:
  • grayed–out, trace–over characters for correct character construction.
  • Extensive practice in writing sentences for maximum reinforcement.
  • Supplementary explanations, including a brief history of the origin of each character, to foster visual recall.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Wendell's Creamy Pasta with Shrimp


Wendell made this dish a few weeks ago. The recipe is by Chef Michi and is from the August/September issue of our Generations Magazine.  I loved the lemony flavor.

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Ingredients:
1 lb rigatoni or spaghetti, cooked
1 lb jumbo shrimp, deveined, shelled and baked
Garlic salt to taste
Juice and zest of two lemons
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup white wine (or low sodium chicken broth)
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
Try baking shrimp! Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and pour in 1/2 cup water onto the pan — creating a shallow bath. Place the shrimp onto the pan, season with garlic salt and bake for about 8 –10 minutes (while pasta cooks). When done, set aside shrimp and cooked pasta while you prepare lemony, fresh-tasting sauce.
Zest both lemons. Squeeze juice and pulp into a cup. Set aside. In a 12” skillet or sauté pan, combine cream, white wine and butter,.a bring to a boil. Turn down heat and gently stir until the sauce starts to thicken (about 8 minutes). Stir in lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add shrimp to sauce and heat through; then toss with pasta. Sprinkle with parsley, lemon zest, Parmesan and red pepper flakes (optional).


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Voice - Season 9


The Voice is on again and I think that every single contestant is so uber talented that at this point anybody could win.

Right now, I'm totally rooting for these guys because I think that they're so special.






Monday, October 5, 2015

Hello Kitty Pouch


Here's the Hello Kitty pouch that I promised. The fabric came from a used dress that I got at the swap meet for $1 awhile back. All I got left of the dress is the little bit of material that you can see in the upper right corner of this picture. 

The pouch is quilted (!!!) and is about 5 x 7 inches.

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This charm and bell that I used for the zipper pull were given to me by my coworker, Mich.
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Geri found this buckle for me. It was on a beat-up purse at a rummage sale that we went to on Saturday. I totally needed it so that I could make the strap adjustable. If anybody knows how I can get more of these for cheap, can you let me know? It's 3/4-inch outside measurement. 
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Didi gave me a bunch of these labels. I love, love, love it.
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I asked Geri to model the pouch for me while we were at the swap meet yesterday. Sweetie put her iPhone 6s Plus in the outside pocket to help you gauge the size. 
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Came out cute, yah? I'll be doing a giveaway drawing for this. You can enter the drawing by leaving a comment here or by emailing me at JalnaA@aol.com. Wendell will draw a name on Sunday morning 10/11. 

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Gìs Jrock Radio


My brother shared this video with me. It reminds me of Wendell because if he could, he would . . . play baseball all the time.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Cross-body Phone Pouch


I usually carry my cell phone in my pants pocket, but sometimes it's not possible . . . mostly because my pants are getting tight again. Bah! I decided to try and make a small phone pouch. 

I wanted the pouch to be padded, so it was as good a time as any to try my hand at quilting. I'd never done it before, but after watching a lot of YouTube videos I was ready.  I forgot to document the process and had to fish these scraps outta the trash for this picture.  I layered the fabric like this. Outer fabric, batting, and inner lining.
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Back in the day they used to pin the fabrics together before sewing, but now they use this temporary fabric adhesive instead. It works wonderfully. I found this at Walmart. It was expensive . . . around $9. I looked on Amazon and it's expensive there too, and they don't ship it here.
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I don't know if you absolutely must use a quilting foot, but this came with my machine so I used it. It has "feed dogs" on it that help move the top fabric along while the feed dogs on the sewing machine itself move the bottom fabric. Thick material just glides along!  So cool, yah! 
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I chose this fabric because of the "gridlines" that are already on it. It was easy to just follow the lines to quilt the three pieces together. Only thing . . . I forgot to change to a stronger needle for the thicker material and . . . yup, I broke another needle. 
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I had juuuuust enough fabric to make two pouches . . . one for me and one to share.  It's 3 1/2 x 6 inches, and it fits my iPhone 6. 
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I sewed a velcro-down strip of fabric over the top of the pouch after this picture was taken to prevent the phone from accidentally falling out. 

If you can make use of this pouch, let me know . . . JalnaA@aol.com. First one to email me can have it. I'll update this post if/when it goes.

Update:  Got one taker!  Next giveaway is gonna be a Hello Kitty pouch!  I'm still working on it . . . not pau yet.  I'm thinking of making it a drawing instead of "first taker" 'cause it's so cute . . . 

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