Morsels: Himalayan Kitchen

New post up on le food blog! Check it out!

Himalayan Kitchen

Nosh: Mariposa Madness

New blog post on Collegiate Eating!

Collegiate Eating: A New Food Project

My good friend Alyssa and I decided one day over lunch after Latin class that we should start a new project and create a food blog.  We love eating and finding new places to grab good food so why not share in the love and knowledge.  Plus, who doesn't love looking at pictures of ridiculously good food?  If you're ever hungry or want a fast recommendation on a good place to eat, check out the new blog.

Collegiate Eating

Take a look at what we're eating!

I should have been Greek

One of my favorite times of the year finally happened, Honolulu Greek Festival! I can't even remember how long I've been going, it's been that long.  Usually we try to go to both days but as I've gotten older, I treat my mama to the second day.  I had to work one of the two days this year so my mom and I went on opening day, my treat.  This year was just as great, not to mention delicious.  Over the years we've learned that on the first day you get there super early in order to make it into the pastry line first.  Those suckers sell out by the first couple of hours.  This year we stoked up on pastries up to my eyeballs.  Baklava, chocolate baklava, kataifi, koulourakai, and sooo much more.  It was a good call because by 3:30 (festival opens at noon) half of it was sold out.   

After we pretty much single-handedly bought out the pastries we headed to the greek kitchen section to feast.  I got the spanakopita plate which included greek salad, feta cheese and bread, olives, rice pilaf, dolmathes, and a piece of baklava.  I also got an extra piece of spanakopita because it's my favorite and just so damn good.  My mom shared the plate with me but got her own piece of spanakopita and a piece of moussaka, her favorite.  We found seats near the main stage where we got a great seat in the shade under the trees and watched the live greek band, Apollo, perform.  We lucked out that some of the festival volunteers from the Greek Church danced to traditional songs.  

About an hour later we decided to muster up the energy to get up (and not explode) and walk around.  I always love visiting the booth that a local jewelry store, Artlines, sets up.  I usually find a bracelet or ring that I like but this year I found a sick bell bell chime that I couldn't pass up.  It was so hot that day so to cool off we shared a bowl of lemon sorbet.  Before we called it a day, I picked up a gyro for dinner and a greek sausage and pita bread for my mom.  Overall, another great festival and a very satisfied Kiyana.     

Nosh: Ichiriki

I've been told over and over again how awesome Ichiriki is yet I've never gone out and actually tried it. Tonight my mama and I were in the mood for comfort food and for her, comfort means soupy Japanese food.  She suggested Ichiriki and off we went.

Ichiriki is a nabemono, or hot pot, restaurant.  Here, you cook your own dish in hot dashi, or soup, on a gas stove at your table.  I was nervous at first because looking at the menu, I don't eat half the things on it.  I don't like red meat, I'm not the biggest fan of some vegetables like mushrooms, and I'm not big on shrimp and scallops, all of which are a prominent part of the menu items.  Luckily Ichiriki catered to my odd taste and happily substituted ingredients I didn't want with ones I did.  

I got the signature nabe, Ichiriki dashi which is a shoyu base with chicken and ramen.  Mama got the paitan nabe which is a pork dashi, all the ingredients, and udon.  Later we decided to turn our leftover dashi into zosui, or rice porridge with egg and nori.  The zosui was the best decision we made all night.   

My nabe ingredients

Ramen noodles

Mama's nabe ingredients

Udon noodles

Dashi before (left: pork dashi, right: Ichiriki shoyu dashi)

After! Nabe is complete! Itadakimasu!!

Gotta have that Asahi

The zosui, a how-to:

 1. Bring dashi to a boil

2. Add rice and let simmer and soak up dash

3. Scramble egg and pour into dashi evenly

4. Let egg cook until soft

5. Add nori

6. DEVOUR

Gochisosama

A trip to Godiva for the 4th of July!

Follow me on Instagram @kiyanananana

Spring Break

I'm finally on spring break.  I was already so burnt out from classes so it's nice to know I don't have to worry about anything but going to work this week.  Today was Prince Kuhio Day (gotta love Hawaii and our unique holidays) so the entire family was off.  We haven't been to the beach in ages so we decided to make a day of it at the North Shore.  Here's a re-cap in pictures:

The weather was perfect so we kicked it at Sunset Beach.  The water was so clear and refreshing.  While I was sunning on the sand, I made friends with this dog.  It probably belongs to someone who lives along the beach as it had a collar on and was so well behaved.  

We left the beach a little after 2, starving and ready for lunch.  If we're ever on that side, my mama makes it a point to head to Romy's Shrimp for their garlic shrimp plates.  We left the beach later than we usually do for lunch so the line for Romy's was insane.  She and my sister and brother decided that they'd branch out and try Fumi's Kahuku Shrimp a few stops before Romy's.  My brother got the garlic butter shrimp plate and my mama and sister both tried the spicy garlic shrimp.  I personally don't eat shrimp so I had garlic fried chicken, cold from last night just the way I like it.  

Right next to Fumi's Shrimp are these little shops.  I've always seen them as we drive to Romy's but never actually stopped to take a look.  Because we were right there, after lunch we decided to take a look at this Antiques & Bottles shop.  It is such a cool little shop.  It's packed floor to ceiling with old bottles, glass floaters, signs, cameras, everything.  I definitely need to spend a little more time in there as there is just so much to see and explore.  

You can't leave the North Shore without Matsumoto's.  EVER.  I got my usual, guava and lilikoi with a snow cap and ice cream.  So so good.  When I was eating my shave ice, one of the many Matsumoto kitties that roam around the property decided to call it a day and take a little nap, unfazed by any of the people that came around it.

This picture happened by chance as I was in the car heading to Matsumoto's.  We were at a dead stop on Kamehameha Highway and I was trying to get the water when this dude walked right pass.  Turned out pretty cool if you ask me. 

The drive home.  Seeing what looks like endless fields of pineapple is always an emotional thing growing up in Hawaii, especially if you're a "townie" like me.  Seeing the pineapple fields and the mountain range is a sign that you're about to enter a more laid back, easy state of mind that comes with life on the North Shore.  Going home and seeing the fields can be both happy and sad, knowing you're going home but also leaving behind the guaranteed great time you just had.  

All pictures taken with my BlackBerry Bold

Good Eats

I was cleaning up the files on my blackberry tonight and I realized that there are pictures I never got around to uploading from various food escapades.  So here you go, eat your heart out.

Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp

This is a must-do when you're joyriding in the country.  I'm personally not a huge shrimp fan but my mama and siblings swear by it, enough to wait sometimes up to 40 minutes.  I may not like the shrimp but I'm all about the rice and garlic topping. 

The aftermath of eating at Romy's, but this time the prawns.  It must have been good because they wiped it out before I could snap a picture.

 

Matsumoto's Shave Ice

Shave Ice makes me so happy I live in Hawaii.  I live for shave ice.  I can eat it all day, everyday and honestly never get sick of it.  The only shave ice you need to take the time out to go get is the shave ice from Matsumoto's.  The perfect summer day, or any day for that matter, is chilling at Haleiwa Beach, eating lunch at Cholo's and then heading down the street to grab my personal favorite combination, large guava and lilikoi (passionfruit) with a snowcap (condensed milk).  If you're feeling a little more adventurous, add in some ice cream. 

Guys, trust me on this one.

 

Honolulu Greek Festival

Part of me wants to be a brat and never speak of this festival because it's so amazing and gets more and more crowded each year.  But because my need to share and just re-live the annual Greek Festival until it rolls around again outweighs my want to be selfish, here you go.  It is hands down, one of my favorite events to go to.  The food is amazing, the music is so so good (check out Fotia and Sotos Kappas), and the atmosphere just relaxes you and makes you feel, well...Greek.  I'm counting down the year till I can grab a glass of Greek wine or Ouzo to wash down the delicious food with but until then, I'm satisfied stuffing my face.  Some of the highlights from this year though I have to be honest, I was too busy enjoying myself that I forgot to document. 

Gyro

Bento of mixed baklava and Greek pastries, Greek beer, souvlaki and pita

 

Half devoured plate of moussaka, rice pilaf, and spanakopita

 Not really food but I love watching people from across the little pond, gathering under this tree to eat and enjoy themselves.

See what else I'm up to here

*All photographs taken on my BlackBerry Bold

 

Itadakimasu

Tonight I went out to dinner with my mama at Gazen and I could not have been any happier.  Gazen is Izakaya-style, smaller, appetizer-like portions.  It was some of the best Japanese food I've had in a while.

Ganzen makes all their own tofu so as a self-declared tofu fanatic, I had to try it.  We had the tofu sampler which included the "Zaru" tofu, "Sukui" tofu, and the Kurogoma tofu.  The zaru was the plain tofu, my favorite, that you can eat alone or with sea salt, black pepper, and shoyu.  The sukui tofu reminded me a lot of chawanmushi, creamy with a slight hint of miso.  I found out that the sauce is actually made out of soymilk.  The kurogoma tofu was the most interesting because it didn't look or taste like tofu.  It had a sweet taste from the black sesame seeds (kurogoma).

 

Homemade Sukui tofu

 

Homemade Kurogoma tofu

 

Homemade Zaru tofu

We then ordered deep fried tako (octopus) with lemon, sea salt, and black pepper, along with clams steamed in a sake broth.  We also had pepper crusted pork in a white garlic sauce, though in a moment of consuming hunger I forgot to photograph.  Next we had the "Agedashi" style, deep fried tofu mochi.  It came in this bonnito broth, sprinkled with nori strips.  This was so delicious, now one of my favorite ways to eat tofu.

 

Deep-fried tako

 

Steamed clams in sake broth

 

"Agedashi" style tofu mochi

Finally for dessert I had the Sweet Potato Mochi with ice cream served with a Earl Grey Sauce.  This dessert was legit.  The mochi was so sweet and chewy, a nice contrast to the cold and creamy ice cream.  I was curious about the earl grey sauce, since it is tea based but holy crap, it complimented both the sweet potato and the ice cream so well.  This is a must have the next time I go there to eat. 

 

Sweet Potato Mochi with Ice Cream and an Earl Grey Sauce 

See what else I'm up to here

*All photographs taken on my BlackBerry bold