Mallory, Liz and Sara - Touching All

Leslie told me about this story:

My String Bean Action

Inspired by blogger pal Betty's Beef with Fresh Green Beans, I decided to try my hand at cooking up some string bean action.

Betty advised me to microwave the beans first, so after I sliced them up I microwaved them on high for 2 minutes. That was such a good idea 'cause it was so fast to stir fry after that.

I sliced up these chicken lup cheong that my sister Didi gave me and fried them in a pan, . . .

then I threw the beans into the pan and added a little bit of this sauce that I picked up awhile back from Sam's Club . . .

and ended up with this. Surprise!!!!! It was good! Shocked da hell out of me.

I was on such a roll that I decided to whip up some fried chicken too . . .

NNNNOOOOOTTTTTT . . . I bought it from Whole Foods. It was just okay, not that great. My lup cheong with string beans was better. Hooo hooo!!!

Shinshu Kyokai Bon Dance - 7/18/2009

Night-time photography continues to be a challenge for me. In fact it drives me mad. When Erick, Susie and I went to the bon dance at Shinshu Kyokai this past Saturday, I decided to check out the high ISO capabilities of my 5D Mark II.

These first few pictures were shot with flash at 400 to 1,000 ISO.
The next three were shot at 4,000 ISO without a flash.

The following were all shot flashless at 6,400 ISO.

C & T Bento's

On Monday through Saturday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 noon on King Street between Keeaumoku and Kaheka you can find some ono bentos and donburi.

They sell it out of Pub Jan Ken Pon.
Side order Chicken Katsu ($2.00)
Chicken Katsu bento ($6.00)
Katsudon ($5.75)
Kalbi ($5.75)
Bento ($6.75)
All that's left of my bento . . . oishiiiiii.

St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church

Yesterday Les, Erick and I had the unique opportunity of witnessing and photographing a portion of the morning church service held at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church. Situated on the slopes of Alewa Heights, the church was established in 1986 by members of our Egyptian community. The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Church in the Middle East, with about 12 million faithful in Egypt.

I GOT DENNIS' DRIED TAKO RECIPE!!!

My cousin Dennis makes the best dried tako. Yesterday he gave me the "recipe".

It's not really a recipe . . . it's more like "instructions". I tried my best to focus on his explanations, and here's what I got. You rub Hawaiian salt on the tako. My mom said to "pound it to death" to soften, but I think it's more to get the slimy stuff off. Then you're gonna boil the tako in Heineken. Dennis said to cut the head off and strip off the skin so that what remains is whitish. He advises that you boil the head separately from the legs otherwise the legs will get discolored (something like that). He couldn't give me any cooking times because he said it varies with the size of the tako. He said you can tell when the tako is done though 'cause it'll curl up. After boiling you're gonna bake the tako to dry it. You slice the tako so that you have eight separate legs. You cut off the tips and throw them away. Then you cut each leg in two. You put the skinnier parts together 'cause they're gonna get done faster. You slice the fatter part of the leg lengthwise, but not all the way through. You open them up and place them flat side down on your pan. Now you BAKE them at 250 degrees. The skinnier parts of the legs will take about an hour and the fatter legs about 2 hours. Dennis said you gotta watch though 'cause the time varies. He said you'll be able to tell when it's done.

I think we have some tako in the freezer so maybe the next chance I have I'll give it a try. Should be good for a few laughs at least.

THANKS DENNIS!!

Find Your Voice Youth Summit - 7-19-2009

I met up with John Hina at Waimanalo Beach Park today where he was helping some kids put together a mural. The youths were participating in a summit that was organized by the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Center (API Center), Ke Ola Hou and others. Some of the kids had come from as far as California, Boston and New Zealand. They were here to interact with each other, to learn from each other and to participate in workshops dealing with violence and how it affects all of us. I know my meager explanation for the summit and all it entailed doesn't do it justice and I apologize.

This is Maria San from Oakland, California. She gave a very moving talk describing the immigrant/refugee heritage she was born to and how positive influences have changed her life.

This is Vince from Alameda, California who bears a tattoo honoring his late cousin who passed away from cancer.

Witnessing these people gathered here, all unified in purpose was a totally unexpected moving experience for me.

Here's John explaining the game plan.

John finished up when the kids left to participate in the final program.