FUUD: Hanaki in Manoa Marketplace

By • April 1, 2011 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

Last year my parents debated between Waioli Tea Room and Hanaki, both in Manoa, for our annual Christmas Eve dinner.

Waioli won out for two reasons: 1) My mom had always wanted to eat there and 2) Hanaki, we had heard, was different.

The restaurant tucked in the back of Manoa Marketplace was once a favorite spot for my family, back when it offered a Japanese buffet.

But recently it changed, adopting the whole hot pot trend we’ve been seeing lately.

And I wasn’t sure what to expect.

So on my birthday, my parents decided to take me to Hanaki — to check it out. And let’s just say, I’m going again next week.

Here’s what my birthday dinner looked like:

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Hanaki, Manoa Marketplace, 2756 Woodlawn Dr. Phone: (808) 988-1551

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Advice for Eat The Street Japan

By • March 31, 2011 • #CatTravels, Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

I know, I know.

It’s crowded, the lines are long, there’s not enough parking, trunks ran out of food.

I got it.

But there are ways to avoid these potential potholes if you heed some of my advice:

• Go early. That’s the easiest way to avoid most of your problems. Trucks will have enough food, lines won’t be as long, and you’ll find parking. That said, if all 5,000 people show up at 5 p.m., well, that would be an issue.

• Know what you want. Our Nonstop team, with the help of organizer Poni Askew (@streetgrindz), put together a list of vendors to help. Map out the places you’d like to try and hit only those spots. If you’ve got extra time — or the lines aren’t that long — then eat at the others.

• Bring your own beverage. While most trucks will be serving drinks, bringing your own beverage will keep you hydrated — and less irritable.

• Tag team. You can always guarantee trucks like Melt and Eat Gogi will have long lines. So disperse. Have one friend stand in one line while you stand in another. That will help speed up the process.

• Eat a little before. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me. If you have to wait for an hour to eat a grilled cheese sandwich — and believe me, it’ll be worth it — and you’re starving, you won’t be a happy camper. But if you’ve got some food in your tummy — or if you brought your own snacks to nosh on — you won’t have that I’m-starving-and-I’m-hating-life feeling.

• Bring cash — and small bills. This will really speed up the process, trust me!

• Just have fun. Accept the fact that there will be thousands of people at tonight’s event. Accept that there will be long lines at some trucks. There’s no point in getting upset. Set small goals — eat a chimney cake or the soup of the day at Melt — and be happy with that. You can always patronize these wagons on Friday!

Happy eating!

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ASK DR. DISH: Gifts for mom

By • March 30, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Question: My mom is so hard to shop for. Every year we have the same problem: what do we get mom for her birthday, for Christmas and now for Mother’s Day. Any suggestions?

Answer: I have the same problem! Except the way we deal with it is to ask Mom what she wants — or let her buy it herself. I know, I know, it’s no fun. But at least she gets exactly what she needs or wants without the hassle of having to return whatever we bought.

I went online this morning to look for gift ideas. A lot of sites — like Red Envelope and Amazon — categorized their suggestions by personality. For the workout mom, get her a new set of yoga mats. For the foodie mom, get her cooking tools or gadgets.

But Howard Dicus of Hawaii News Now said it best this morning on his “Ask Howard” segment. Someone asked him what to get for his mom for Mother’s Day — which is May 9, by the way — and he answered, “Time.”

Your mom probably has everything she needs. But what she would probably like is you spending quality time with her. Take her out to a nice dinner, invite her kids and grandkids, talk story and be together. I’m pretty sure my mom would like that, too — with some cheesecake, of course.

Any other ideas?

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Turning 36, no turning back

By • March 29, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Last year on my birthday I woke up with a pounding headache.

At first I thought I had a migraine. Everything — the light outside, the noise from the TV, my dog licking my feet — was bothering me.

I was in severe pain, didn’t want to get out of bed, could barely think clearly.

When it donned on me: I didn’t have a migraine. I had a hangover.

At the age of 35, I was experiencing — for the first time in my life — what most 21-year-olds wake up with the day after their birthdays.

It was a bit pathetic, I’ll be honest, but it was also a hard lesson: I wasn’t a young kid anymore. I was getting old. And that meant my body wasn’t as resilient — or tolerant — as it used to be.

Now, I realize 36 isn’t that old. But it’s not young, either. If I got pregnant now, the chances for chromosomal abnormalities is substantially higher. If I wanted to lose weight now, it would be twice as hard, as my metabolism has slowed and my ability to burn calories on the decline.

Great.

But there are upsides to being older. I know better, for one. And I tend to care less about what people think of me or my wardrobe choices.

We are a society obsessed with our ages, with getting older. We do anything to stay younger, from eye creams that promise reduction of wrinkles to major surgery to restore our bodies to our previously youthful state. It’s a lot of pressure to not get old.

But, for whatever reason, I’m not worried about getting older. At least not yet. I actually like the fact that I’m in my 30s. I feel like people will take me seriously, that I’m not some young kid trying to assert herself in the “adult world.”

I say that now. We’ll see how I feel when I turn 40.

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Lessons from the Cherry Blossom Festival

By • March 28, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

It’s hard to believe — at least for me — but it’s been 10 years since I participated in the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Hawaii.

Ten years.

It seems like only yesterday I was learning ikebana, hitting a taiko drum for the first time, and standing in front of hundreds of onlookers at Ala Moana Center Stage answering an impromptu question I can’t even recall.

Since then, I’ve volunteered to help with the festival — and let me tell you, it’s a lot less stressful — and way more fulfilling — to be on this end.

On Saturday the festival crowned its new queen and court. But as this year’s contestant coordinator, the coronation part of the event wasn’t something I had been looking forward to. I spent about seven months with the 15 queen contestants, coordinating their schedules, setting up cultural classes, giving them pep talks, wiping stains off their appearances dresses, and dishing unsolicited advice about everything from restaurant recommendations to boyfriend deal-breakers.

It was truly a pleasure to watch these 15 young women — all between 21 and 26, career-focused, compassionate, intelligent, passionate, spirited and damn good taiko players — evolve over the course of the festival. The ones who didn’t know much about their Japanese heritage embraced their culture. Those who were terrified of public speaking were telling jokes on stage.

I don’t know if the contestants knew this, but in a lot of ways, the experience impacted me, too. I learned how to be more organized, to be patient, to be empathetic, to listen. And I learned that sometimes we have to be in uncomfortable, awkward situations — like standing on a stage at a nightclub, belting out the national anthem — to free ourselves from what people expect us to be and just be who we really are.

And that’s the greatest lesson of all.

Here are some scenes of the contestant experience leading up to Festival Ball, where a new queen and court are named — and 15 Japanese-American women walked away with something more important than the crown:

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