For a quiet moment during this busy holiday season…

Took this during an early morning fishing outing on the North Shore.

For the past couple of months we’ve been going to the Kailua Farmer’s Market on Thursday afternoons. I love the KCC Farmer’s Market…it’s just that it’s really hard for me to wake up early on Saturdays!

So this Kailua one is perfect. Lots of ono food, and at the very comfortable hour of 5:00 pm.

Take a look around…

Here’s just a small selection of some of the foods we’ve been eating…

Best taro sweet bread I’ve ever had!

Spanish Rice and Pastele

Lumpia

Sea Asparagus Vegetarian Bento

Baklava

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Depending on the week different vendors are there, but we can always find something good to eat or snack on!

Location: Kailua Town, behind Long’s
Hours: Thursdays, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm (get there early for the best selection!)

I wanted to take my dad someplace special for his birthday the other week and after thinking about it for a while, decided on Miyako Restaurant in Waikiki! This is the same place that we went to for our 5th wedding anniversary last year.

But this time I made sure to get seating out on the lanai. It was a great view of Waikiki

and the sunset.

We all decided to get dinners from the Kaiseki menus.

Since it was October, Miyako had many matsutake mushroom dishes available. We got this Matsutake to Kikka no Oshitashi to share.

It was very yummy with enough mushrooms for each of us to try a couple pieces of matsutake.

For drinks my dad tried this sake sampler which he enjoyed…

My mom didn’t want to eat too much so she got the Mai Kaiseki meal.

My hubby got the Miyabi Kaiseki. Here are some of things that came with his…

Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Butterfish Misoyaki

But really, the star of this evening was what my dad and I ordered, the October Kaiseki Menu! Here is what we had…

Duck and Eggplant with Miso Vinaigrette

Crabmeat Dumpling with Seaweed in Clear Soup

Tuna and Yellowtail “Hamachi” Sashimi

Broiled Seasonal Salmon wrapped with foil

Stewed “Karei” Flounder and Matsutake

Seven Mushroom Chazuke and Japanese Pickles

Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce

Everything was so delicious in our kaiseki. I really love mushrooms so this October set focusing on mushrooms was perfect for me! My dad also enjoyed the meal so much that he said it was his best Japanese dinner EVER! This includes meals that he had at restaurants in Japan. And you know what? I think I would have to agree – the food, atmosphere, view, service…were all awesome!!

Miyako Restaurant
Address: New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel
2863 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Phone: (808) 921-7077

Any other ikura fans out there?

I want to say “thanks!” to my mom’s friend who gave me the big container of ikura you see below. With it, I made myself a nice little ikura don with choy sum for dinner.

Funny thing, I never liked ikura growing up. It actually really grossed me out. But after the first time I went to Japan and tried fresh ikura, I’ve really started to like it!

In addition to all the ikura, my mom’s friend also gave me this ikura pasta mix to try out.

It comes with packets of ikura sauce and packets of nori toppings.

To make it, I just boiled up about two servings of angel hair pasta and poured both packets onto the noodles. Very quick to make, my kind of food! I was a little wary of packaged ikura, but after mixing everything up and giving it a try, I really liked it! I’m going to have to try and find it at the store – I think it was from Don Quijote.

Yum, yum, yum…

After going to watch a concert on the Windward side a while back, we went with my mom for a drive around Kailua looking for a restaurant that was still open for a late lunch. Craving Japanese food we decided on Noboru near Down to Earth in Kailua.

Since it was after the time that most folks eat lunch, we started off having the restaurant all to ourselves.

The two of us both got the Special Lunch Bento and my mom had the Grilled Salmon Teishoku.

Today’s Special Lunch Bento was sashimi, tempura (we asked for all vegetable tempura), and grilled salmon.

The portion size was a little small for the price, but everything was very tasty!

My mom ordered the Grilled Salmon Teishoku which I thought was odd since for $1.00 more you could get our Special Lunch Bento that had the grilled salmon PLUS sashimi and tempura. But it turns out she made a great choice!

After tasting her salmon, it was clearly a better cut and quality. Much more fatty and moist! Still to this day she says this is the best grilled salmon she has ever had!

Noboru Japanese Restaurant
Address: 201 Hamakua Dr # 102, Kailua, HI 96734-3984
Phone: (808) 261-3033

After my experience making vegetarian tacos, I wanted to try veggie burritos next! For this one instead of making my own tortillas I used flaxseed wraps that I found at Costco.

For the filling I used these refried beans that are SO GOOD! I used the Amy’s Vegetarian Organic Refried Beans with Green Chiles. The green chilies really add a great flavor to the beans and overall burrito. I seriously can’t go back to regular refried beans again. Here it is below in the purple can…

Along with the beans I added some cut raw cabbage, salsa, and a little sour cream.

I have to say that these were really good and filling! I also preferred the raw cabbage over the lettuce that I had the other night in the vegetarian taco. It added a nice fresh crunch to the burrito!

Since my mom had bought some Okinawan Festival scripts from a friend, we headed on down to Kapiolani Park yesterday to help her spend it!

We browsed through an arts and craft tent, a country store, and another tent selling orchid plants. My mom picked up a really pretty orchid that will look great once it blooms. We passed the entertainment stage and a bunch of kid’s games making our way to the Okinawan culture tent.

Around this time I realized I could blog about the festival so I started to take a couple pictures. Above and below are pictures of the many bonsai plants that were on display.

Next it was time for some food!

The line for the andagi went really quickly

It was perfect – crunchy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside!

We also ordered several yakisoba plates for our early dinner.

Before heading home, we took our snacks and dinner to the Diamond Head lookout and enjoyed our food with these views…

Tried to make some vegetarian tacos a while back. I was pretty motivated so I even made my own homemade tortillas!

For the meat substitute I cut up a boca burger into little pieces and cooked it with some taco seasoning. Added some veggies and salsa and had a quick little dinner!

Hi guys! I’m still alive, just super busy starting a new job this year. I have photos from back in May just waiting on my camera…but until I have time to get those together, here’s a little something to tide you over.

This weekend we went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday at one of our favorite fine dining restaurants – Hiroshi’s. On Oahu, I think Hiroshi’s and Le Bistro are my two favorite restaurants.

There were six of us here this night. My hubby still being the good vegetarian went with their vegetarian 4 course menu. Above was a miso eggplant he had – very good!

The picture up at the very top of the post was an appetizer we shared – Seared Foie Gras & Crispy Hamakua Mushroom with white truffle oil and fresh raspberry reduction. My younger brother loved this!

My older brother had the Sizzlin’ Kona Kampachi Carpaccio above as his appetizer.

I had the Marinated Moi “In Bag” for my appetizer. It came with shiitake mushrooms, Hauula tomato concasse, and a delicious sauce of truffle butter and chili pepper water-konbu broth.

For dinner my dad had the August Locally Grown Four Course Menu. It included Pepper Seared Ahi Sushi, Bacon Wrapped Kauai Shrimp & Nalo Green Salad, Maui Cattle Beef Eggplant “Sandwich”, and an Island Banana “Puff” for dessert.

My mom and I shared entrees switching plates half way. We got the duck special of the night that you see below.

As well as the Pan Roasted Chilean Sea Bass. I really enjoyed this fish – it came with Hauula tomato concasse, baby bok choy, ume musubi & ogo-miso ginger brown butter sauce.

My younger brother had the Almond Crusted Mahimahi with seasonal vegetables, angel hair potato & Hiroshi’s original miso cream sauce. This is was also very good, Hiroshi is just amazing with his sauces!

For her birthday my mom was presented with this Hawaiian Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta dessert. We all shared it and it was excellent like everything else this evening.

I didn’t photograph everything we had that night (I was just too busy eating!) but you can check out their website for more photos and menu information.

Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas

Website: www.hiroshihawaii.com
Address: 500 Ala Moana Blvd, Restaurant Row
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Finding vegetarian places to eat out here in Hawaii isn’t always easy. But we’ve found Down to Earth to be a great place to pick up lunch while grocery shopping!

On this day we had a couple burgers and a bowl of chili. Everything was delicious! And the really good part is now that Circuit City is gone in Aiea, there is a ton of parking at the Pearlridge location.

Here’s a look at their menu…

If you’re in the area, check out the vegetarian groceries as well as eats at Down to Earth!

Website: www.downtoearth.org