Barely surviving power outages

By • May 3, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

It’s amazing how much we rely on electricity.

An hour ago the power went off in East Honolulu — where I live — and we thought, “We’re public school grads. We can handle this.”

Except we couldn’t open the fridge to grab leftovers that we couldn’t warm up. Pizza Hut couldn’t deliver to us — no power, too — and I discovered reading by candlelight — who cares that the pioneers once did it — isn’t very comfortable, much less romantic.

The only saving grace is that my phone opiates on the 3G network. Which means I can check email, post tweets and, yes, even blog. But that’s about it.

I remember being a kid and loving power outages. We’d dine by candlelight, play Scrabble and build fortresses out of pillows and blankets in the living room. Didn’t have to finish homework or clean the room or, even better, take a shower. Life was good.

Fast forward to today and I feel stranded. I can’t finish grading assignments — they’re all online — or bake butter mochi. I can’t vacuum or recharge my camera battery or balance my checkbook.

So I’m stuck with tomato soup, canned pork and beans, beer and Nutella.

Got any ideas on what I can do to bide my time?

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Welcome to The Cat Dish

By • May 2, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Thanks for stopping by!

The site is still under construction, so bear with me! It’s my first time blogging on my own, so keep your fingers crossed! New territory!

Take a look at the changes I’ve made. Same Cat, different channel.

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Kapalua food and wine fest turns 30

By • May 1, 2011 • Food


Who said turning 30 isn’t worth celebrating?

The Kapalua Wine & Food Festival marks its 30th year with “A Toast to 30” in June at the pristine Kapalua Resort on Maui’s northwest shore.

The event — the longest-running festival of its kind in Hawaii — will bring together world-class winemakers, top master sommeliers and chefs, and industry insiders for four straight days of gluttony starting on June 9.

The Grand Tasting — the festival’s signature event — will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 10 at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. Sample more than 200 celebrated wines from around the world while noshing on dishes prepared by local culinary stars.

On Sunday, June 12 award-winning chef Peter Merriman — famously called “The Pied Piper of Hawaii Regional Cuisine” by the Los Angeles Times — will prepare farm-fresh signature dishes such as poisson cru, strawberry and Maui onion salad with fresh cheese from Surfing Goat Dairy and old-school Hawaiian chocolate cream pie. It’s wine and food pairing at its finest.

A four-day pass cost $650 ($749 including the Festival Golf Tournament). Individual tickets range from $65 to $140. It’s pricey, but think of all that great food and wine!

For more information visit the 2011 Kapalua Wine & Food Festival or call 808.665.9160.

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Royal wedding: glad it’s over

By • May 1, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Don’t get me wrong, I was up at midnight — along with 2 billion others worldwide — watching every agonizingly long moment of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Despite my desperate need to sleep, I stayed up, completely transfixed by the spectacle and pageantry, tweeting so much I got locked out of Twitter again. (Yes, it’s possible. And I’ve done it three times.)

Everything about it exceeded my expectations: the princes arriving in Bentleys, the sea of crazy hats, the Queen perfectly primped in yellow, her snubbing Camilla and, of course, the $47,000 ivory-and-white satin gown with lace sleeves a la Sarah Burton that Kate wore. It was reality TV at its finest.

But I’m glad it’s over.

We don’t have to hear about the wedding plans, what Kate’s dress would look like, why was Mr. Bean invited to the wedding. No, now we can focus on more important news, like Osama bin Laden’s death, deadly twisters across the south, Justin Bieber getting smacked with eggs during a concert in Sydney, Australia.

Thoughts?

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FUUD: Contemporary Cafe in Makiki Heights

By • April 29, 2011 • Food

The other day I was craving tomato soup.

But I didn’t feel like fighting the crowd — OK, the parking — at Ala Moana Center for my favorite bowl at Nordstrom Cafe. And we were in the Makiki area. So we took a right turn off Nehoa Avenue and headed to The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, where I knew tomato soup would be on the cafe menu.

Here’s what we ate:

The Contemporary Museum Honolulu

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First off, the Cooke-Spalding home atop Makiki Heights is worth the price of admission. But it's fair to say you won't regret walking around The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, either. It's the only museum in the state of Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art.

The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, 2411 Makiki Heights Dr. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Phone: (808) 523-3362

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