Swoosh!!

I'm not 100% sure I'm supposed to be posting these pics, but last October we visited the corporate offices of a well known swooshy logo'd shoe company in Oregon. A friend who works there got us in to the well secured "campus" to see where she works, but we only got to tour outside of the buildings. Above is a lake which separates the various parts of the campus.

Since we don't get the full effect of the fall season in Hawaii, where the climate is very stable and tropical, we always marvel at the beauty of the turning leaves.


And here are the offices where the designers work, carefully measuring athletes and coming up with swooshy logo'd shoes and apparel. Imagine Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods walking into your office. How cool would that be?


What an awesome place to work! Too bad Ni.... I mean, the swooshy logo'd place doesn't hire engineers. Or maybe they do. Hmmmm.........

DeMaris Farm

Last October we went to Oregon for my grandpa's 90th birthday. It was a fun trip. My aunt and uncle own a farm in Woodburn, which is between Portland and Salem.

It is a wonderful farm. My uncle grows beautiful tomatoes that are the sweetest and tastiest tomatoes you will ever eat. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pics of the ripe tomatoes but here are some on the vines.



My uncle was also growing some pumpkins for Halloween carving. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to carve any before we left.


He also raises steer. They were just calf when we were there, so he was bottle feeding them. He also goes to other farms to buy turnips, which he feeds to the calves.


It was a fun trip and I'm glad we got to spend a little bit of time on the farm!

Happy New Year's / Valentine's Day

Kung Hee Fat Choy! Today is Chinese New Year's. This year, Chinese New Year's coincides with Valentine's Day. My mom always prepares Chinese New Year's dinner. For dessert, I made some chocolate hazelnut won tons, which are the perfect way to marry the two occasions!

I'd like to say I thought of this myself, but I happened across this recipe this morning on Food Network as Giada DeLaurentis was preparing what she called "chocolate hazelnut ravioli", using won ton wrappers. You take some store bought won ton wrappers, fill with Nutella, and fry in oil. When it comes out, you sprinkle a little bit of confectioner's sugar and top with a candied mint. Yum!!

Nitrous Extreme

New camera

We have picture taking tomorrow, and I picked up a Canon EOS Rebel XSi this past week. I've been wanting a digital SLR for quite some time now, and team picture taking was a nice excuse to finally order it from Amazon. I've been trying to replicate the aperture settings that one of our parents used last year to take team photos, but I'm still working on some lighting issues of taking pics outdoors. Hopefully this means this blog will finally get better pictures, but I'm also still just a very amateur photographer with no skills! I guess things can only get better from here!!

Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that is made with lean pork (I used pork loin), dipped in a batter of cornstarch and egg, then coated in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) and fried.

It's a very simple dish that is served with a side of Tonkatsu sauce, which is ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and a little bit of Tabasco. It sure hits the spot on a day where we have a long soccer practice and come home hungry.

My hands

Okay, I gotta say this, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I work in an office. I sit behind a desk all day. My hands aren't really subjected to much abuse, other than the looming threat of carpal tunnel syndrome from typing all day.

Occasionally, we need to get out in the field to log water wells. Typically we will drop a reel of measuring tape down a well, sometimes as deep as 1500 feet. To extract the tape back up, we have to manually pull it up. Lifting 1500 feet of tape isn't as easy as it sounds. For one, all of the tape, plus the equipment attached to the bottom, weighs about 30 pounds at the very bottom, Imagine, one foot of tape might only weigh a few ounces, but multiply a few ounces by 1500 feet and you get.... well, you get something pretty heavy!! Plus there's an $8000 probe at the bottom of it that weighs about 8 or 9 pounds.

The second problem is that since the tape goes into water, the tape is slippery. And there are rocks all over the tape from where it hits the sides of the open hole portion of the well. So basically you are gripping REALLY hard to not let it slip, but gripping the little rocks as well.

Now, being that I'm a guitar player, I really try to take care of my fingers. Having said that, ten years ago I almost sliced off my fingertip with a cleaver (that was the last time I used a cleaver), but that's another story for another time.

Anyway, after a day of pulling tape (it's really only about 30 minutes of pulling that you're doing in one day), here's what my hands looked like:

Amateur plumbing, part II

I finally received the correct parts for my shower control valve from Kohler. Whereas the last time I had a really funny moment of high pressure water shooting out at me because I neglected to turn off the main property valve, this time all went well. However, being as lazy as I am and also slightly more cockily confident, I once again didn't turn off the main property valve.

Fortunately there are valves at the supply lines right at the fixture, so I turned them off there. I can't say I didn't have a slight bit of fear when removing the mix valve though.

Now the constant drip of the leaky valve is gone, though now my wife says that it's kind of weird not to be able to hear the leaky drip.

Kettle corn

Sometimes when we're in downtown Honolulu, we drive to this vacant parking lot where a concession is set up to sell kettle corn. If you're not familiar with kettle corn, it's popcorn with sugar added.

I've always wondered when the sugar was added to the popcorn as it's cooking, because if you add it too early it will burn, and if you add it too late it will clump up or it won't melt. My uncle recently told me to add it at the very end of the popping.

Typically I make popcorn in my wok. First I coat the bottom with vegetable oil (or sometimes for a treat I add bacon drippings, if I have them). Then I turn the heat on and add the raw kernels and cover it. In about 3 minutes it starts popping, and I shake the wok to redistribute the kernels. You need the cover on because the first kernels will pop out of the wok. But after most of the popcorn is popped, the volume of the popcorn will keep popping kernels in. At this point, you open the lid and add sugar, at about twice the volume of the oil you added. If you let it sit for about a minute more, the heat inside of the wok will caramelize the sugar. After that, you open the lid and add salt.

My kids love this! If I make too much in the afternoon, they will fill up on it and not eat dinner!!

Next I'm going to try a healthier alternative with olive oil, but I'm not sure how it will taste. I also have an olive oil based margarine that I want to try.

The Dollhouse is just about finished

No, it's not another project for my daughter's class or something. It's the Fox series "Dollhouse", whose series is about to come to an end after just two seasons.

This show was my first introduction to a Joss Whedon series (his claim to fame was Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and judging by what I know about his other shows, this one was different in that it was more science fiction than horror/fantasy. The premise is that there is a huge corporation who is experimenting in neuroscience and has perfected a way to wipe a brain clean, and imprint it with a new personality. The "Dollhouse" is an underground lab in L.A. who rents out their "dolls", or people who have come to the corporation more or less voluntarily to have their brains wiped for 5 years, for various "engagements" (for the most part prostitution).

The initial development of the show was slow and focused on individual "engagements", but there was always a psychological / physical threat. As a result, the series got off to a slow start. But as the show progressed, it took a thematic turn to a blend of The X-Files and The Matrix, with a little bit of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. While the acting in the series was bland at best, the storyline was continuously intriguing and complex.

The series wrapped up rather nicely with some very unexpected twists and turns, one of which was almost in a Darth Vaderian "I am your FATHER" moment.

I'm bummed that this series has come to an end, but like a good movie I enjoyed seeing it through. If you haven't seen this show and get a chance, download a few episodes on iTunes and you'll be hooked. It really starts getting good in the middle of season 1. Or better yet, pick up the series DVD. We just bought season 1 and will probably buy season 2 when it comes out.

Nitrous Extreme

Nitrous Extreme players (cyan uniforms) going for the ball

My new soccer team is well into our season. Being that about 30% of the kids in our age division went on to select teams, our division has lost a lot of the really skilled players, or the kids who didn't want to travel the island to play.

Despite the thinning of the pool that our teams are made of, we have a great team with a lot of talent. As usual, I see that there are the bigger kids who are good at muscling in, as well as the smaller faster kids who can drive the ball up to the goal.

We lost our second game this weekend, but we lost by a smaller margin than the previous, and the players are really starting to gel. Overall it looks like it's going to be another fun season, despite the fact that the kids couldn't choose one name for the team (hence, Nitrous Extreme).

My contest guitar arrived

I finally received the guitar I won from the online guitar playing contest. Though the pictures on the contest page showed a translucent dark red guitar, I was surprised to see they sent me a green one.

This green one is a special limited edition - only 60 were made. Initially though, I didn't like the color, and the shape seemed like a warped Les Paul.

The abalone trim seems a bit over the top for a rock guitar.


But on the plus side, look at the carve on the back of the neck where it joins the body - the upper fret access is really good for a set neck, Les Paul styled guitar (yes, I am guitar geeking out here).


And it is made REALLY well. Super high quality construction and some premium woods, from the mahogany back to the quilted maple top. And after I did some set up on it, it plays like a dream. So whereas I was planning on selling it before I even received it, now I will keep it and play it. Schecter is one of the few pretty big guitar brands that I've never owned. Plus it's a nice "trophy" for winning the guitar playing contest, and how can I complain about a free guitar?

Thanks again Sam!

On Saturday afternoon, I went over to my neighbor Sam's house to ask for some rosemary from her herb garden. She wasn't home, but her husband told me to go around back and help myself. Sam was the neighbor who had brought over the screwpine (lauhala) leaves that I used a couple of months ago to make Thai chicken.

Last night (Monday), we were totally wiped out from a hectic four day weekend, and I wanted to make a simple dinner. Using up all of the leftover ingredients I had in the fridge (chicken breast, basil, eggplant, onion) and a few things in my pantry (yellow curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, sugar), I decided to make a Thai yellow chicken curry.

In the end, it turned out good, but it was missing something. I spooned some out and was about to start eating, when the doorbell rang. I wondered who it could be, since I spoke to my mom earlier and she didn't hint at coming over, and my son's friend never drops by after dinner.

It turned out to be Samantha, my neighbor with the herb garden. She brought over some kaffir lime leaves.


Considering that I make curry maybe four times a year, and she drops by our house and brings various herbs maybe two or three times a year, you can see the chances of her bringing the missing ingredient in my curry, at the exact moment it is perfect to drop it in, as being about a one in a million chance.

So I added the kaffir lime leaves, stewed it about two minutes more, and then it was perfect.


Thanks again Samantha!!

I'm SO not a plumber

and neither am I an electrician, but at least when doing electrical work around the house, the fear of electrocution makes me turn off the circuit that I'm working on.

This morning while I was removing the shower mixing valve to check the part no., I inadvertently removed the part that holds back the water, and water came shooting out at high velocity. Fortunately it was cold so I didn't scald myself, but by the time I reached the main property valve, the entire bathroom was under about a quarter inch of water.

It wasn't funny at the time, but now it's hilarious. Now I wish I had a pic of the shooting water to blog about, to remind me of how stupid I can be. At least with the burning wok, I had pics of the toasted microwave.

Christmas Dinner 2009

Tonight was Christmas dinner, so we had L's family over. To save time I started prepping things yesterday.

The first dish I prepared was a sicilian sweet and sour butternut squash, which was butternut squash, shiitake and grape tomatoes, drizzled with rosemary and garlic infused extra virgin olive oil, then roasted. The dressing was red wine vinegar sweetened with some sugar and drizzled over the top.

Next I braised some shortribs in herbs and vegetable stock, then refrigerated them til today.

This afternoon I resumed cooking, and started by heating the spiral sliced ham in the oven. While heating the ham, I prepared the celery sopressata salad, which also has basil, lemon juice and olive oil.

Next I made a festive Waldorf salad with Fuji and granny smith apples (for the Christmas colors), toasted walnuts, celery, flat leaf parsley and cranberry raisins, with a yogurt mayo honey dressing.

After that I took the shortribs and did a light au jus dip breadcrumb crust. I broiled the shortribs to brown the breadcrumbs, which was a deviation from my original plan to do deviled shortribs (there were too many sweet items on the menu).At the last minute, I ended up doing a honey dijon mayo sauce, but as it was on the side, the sweetness was optional. It had a vaguely horseradish flavor so I thought it worked well with the beef.

Next I heated the wok, coated the opakapaka with cornstarch and salt, then deep fried. The sauce was a sweet and sour sauce.

Last we added some 'nalo greens, and L's aunty brought pasta salad. The dinner was close to being a little too sweet, but optional sauces countered that.

Though everyone was told to come at 5:30, people showed up as early as 4:15, so we scrambled to finish things up. That's partially why the salads were last on the buffet line. But it ended up working out fine. Can't wait to come up with next year's dinner!!

Fried opakapaka (snapper) with sweet sour sauce

Braised shortribs with honey mustard sauce, sicilian sweet and sour butternut squash, spiral sliced ham

Nalo greens, waldorf salad with craisins, celery sopressata salad, pasta salad

More opakapaka

Last night's opakapaka turned out much better than the previous one. As I predicted, the high pressure burner heated the oil really quickly, about 8 minutes. Here's the opakapaka in the oil - I could have added more oil to immerse the fish completely, but that would have been too much oil just to cook its tail.


It came out quite nice. Once again I took it out to early and the inside was underdone, so I put it back in, but only for a minute. When I took it out it was much more tender and flaky than the last time I overcooked it.


Everybody at the pot luck seemed to enjoy it, so I'm confident that it will come out decent on Christmas day.

I think next time I will stand it up on it's bottom. At the pot luck, when one side got eaten and I flipped it over, all the grease had settled to the bottom. If I had more time to experiment, I would try cutting the fish in half lengthwise.

Propane Stove

Part of the whole Christmas opakapaka experiment / learning experience is how I'm going to cook the fish. The fish in the previous entry was relatively small, and I had to turn it and cook the tail by holding the rest of the fish and immersing the tail in oil.

My Christmas present this year is a wok and propane burner. It burns REALLY hot and fast. So fast that I have to be careful. I'm thinking it will heat a wok of oil in maybe 3 or 4 minutes.

Here's my burner sitting on the wall in the back patio area where the grill is supposed to be.


And here's the wok, partially seasoned.


Tonight for our block party I'm going to try another opakapaka, this time in my new wok. Having made two opakapakas so far will put me in good practice to make a decent on one Christmas day. Hopefully.

Fried Opakapaka

For Christmas dinner, my brother-in-law is coming over. He doesn't eat meat or poultry, so I'm making a whole fried opakapaka. The trouble is, I've never made one before! So I found some at Tamashiro market, our big fish market here in Honolulu. I bought two - one to experiment on, and the other for Christmas dinner.

Here was my first attempt. It came out quite well, if a bit overdone. First I put some "dragon wings" on by slicing the sides to the bone. I salted it lightly and dredged with a 50/50 mixture of cornstarch and flour. Then I fried in my wok in canola oil. I'll make a sweet sour sauce for the Christmas dinner.

Death/Black Metal song idea, take 1

The drummer I'm working with just sent me a drum track that he wrote over some guitar ideas I had. It sounds awesome and I can't wait to write lyrics and a vocal line for this, and put in a bass line.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8447502

Historic Hawaii Foundation Fundraiser

Mrs. Irene Hidano Inouye

Last night we went to a fundraiser for the Historic Hawaii Foundation at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which was also an event honoring Senator and Mrs. Inouye.

The good: Our table was pretty close to the head table, and we had an excellent view of the stage. We got to sit next to our host (the guy that bought the table) and it was fun talking story and joking with him. The program was excellent - the MC was great, the invocation was excellent, and the video honoring Dan and Irene's accomplishments in the historic community was really informative and well done.

The bad: Despite our proximity to Dan Inouye's table, he was not there! He was in Senate hearings in Washington and he couldn't make it, but his wife Irene was there. Parking was a nightmare - after idling in line for 20 minutes they turned us and everyone else away at the valet because they couldn't accommodate us, which forced us to park at the top of the neighboring parking structure, so we missed the entire cocktail hour (I told my wife that I really wanted to get a picture taken and show up on the Paina section of the Midweek!!). The food was quite atrocious - super salty soup, the main course was really starchy with gnocchi and an edamame flan and a steamed snapper, and the "study in coconut" dessert was too heavy and too sweet. Lastly, the waiter spilled water all over me and our host. When the manager came out and asked if they could do anything for us, we both said no, but I later (jokingly) realized I should have told her "can you bring my car around for me?"

Trojan soccer

We went to see our old alma mater Mililani Varsity Girl's team play Campbell tonight. It was a pretty lopsided game but still fun to watch.

Rats

This is a place we used to shop at. With an emphasis on "used to".

I won a guitar!!

I entered this video for a contest called Coverband 2010.



After the judging went through, I ended up in second place and won this $1000 guitar.

Mid life crisis guitar

I think a lot of guys my age that go through mid life crises want to get a really nice custom shop Les Paul or a relic Strat. My mid life crisis guitar is this:



It is both awesomely evil and ridiculously silly, all at the same time. Part of the reason I like it is because it's the anti-Les Paul - it's devoid of beauty, class and refinement. And no, please do not remind me of the extremely poor resale value of something like this.

Eh HOWZIT!!

There was this guy that was in my Mechanical Engineering class back in 1986. I believe a year after that, he dropped out of Engineering and went into Computer Science.

Fast forward to around 2000 - I had been working for 4 years for the State, and this guy gets a job in my building. The first time he sees me, he's all like "Hey Ryan!" and I'm all like "Eh... howzit!!" (because I couldn't for the life of me remember his name, after only having him in one class 14 years earlier).

For years, my friends have joked with me about the guy named "Eh howzit". Every time he sees me, he says "Hey Ryan" and I say "Eh howzit!". I really should have just asked him his name the first time I saw him, but after seeing him like 12 times, I'd feel like a fool asking him his name.

After 9/11, we were required to wear our badges around the building. One day I'm wearing my badge, buying a soda at the snack shop, and I see him. I say "eh howzit..... where's your badge?" (hoping I can get a glimpse of his name on his badge). He replies "I leave it in the office". Dang.

Then a few years later, I'm standing in line with my son at McDonalds and he's a few people in front of me. He turns and says "hey Ryan" and I say (say it with me) "Eh howzit!". My son then proceeds to loudly ask me "DADDY, WHO IS THAT?" Well, at that point, I can't say "oh, that's Eh Howzit".

A few years back, he leaves our building to work for another division.

Fast forward to today. My wife and I are sitting in a restaurant and who should walk in but "Eh, Howzit". He walks in with my Aunt's brother, who immediately sees us and starts talking to us. As they're leaving, I hold him back and ask him "what's that guy's name", and he tells me "oh, that's Jared".

A long standing mystery, solved at last.

And by the way, if I ever see you on the street and say "eh howzit", please, please, just tell me "hey Ryan, I'm (insert your name here)", because as evidenced by this post, I am REALLY crappy with names.