Browse Author: beakatude

Business As Usual

On Friday morning (3/11/11), I got a call from my mom telling me that there was a tsunami warning in Hawaii.  We checked our flight and it was still scheduled to leave so there were no worries.  Once we got to the airport that morning, I tried to check in at the kiosk and for some reason, my name was no longer on the itinerary.  Thankfully it wasn’t too busy at the ticket counter and the ladies helped us get it all squared away.

The flight was bumpy but I managed to take a little nap.  Yoon picked us up at the airport and said that we lucked out with out timing. Apparently HNL was closed all morning until noon.  We landed at about 12:20.  Nice.

Once in Waikiki, there were no signs of danger anywhere.  Only thing was that the beach outside of the hotel was not as crowded but otherwise all was well.  Our first stop after checking in was Ramen Nakamura, Jes’ favorite ramen place in Hawaii.  It was delicious but Jes was saying that maybe it wasn’t as good as he remembered.  Oh  noes…

After our late lunch, we sat out at Beach Bar sipping fruity drinks and reading.  The weather was warm but not too hot.

Dinner was at Sushi Izakaya Gaku and we ordered omakase.  Chef prepared a bunch of cool items including chawanmushi, oysters, and seaweed salad.  It was delicious.

Personal Sanity Lunch Truck Day

On Tuesday, I took a “Personal Sanity Day” from work and had a productive yet adventurous day.  I had two rolls of 120 film sitting in my house for the last 2 years and thought this would be the perfect day to go to the camera shop to turn them in.  Being able to wander downtown on a regular work day made me feel like a tourist in my own city.  There’s a different vibe in the streets compared to the weekend.  There are lots more people, cars, and sounds.  All the stores are open and you are more likely to find random lunch trucks and street carts around every corner.

On my way over to the Ferry Plaza, I found a street cart that was selling onigiri.  Yum.  It was $1 so I thought I’d give one a try.  This teriyaki chicken one was tasty.

At the Ferry Plaza, Hapa Ramen was there along with a couple other food stands.  Inside, I went to Miette for a couple French macarons and a gingerbread cupcake.

I also walked past Jes’ work building and found a lunch truck selling Japanese curry.  Score!  I called him up at 12 and we ate lunch across the street before his 1:00 meeting.  I had pork katsu curry and Jes had the chicken.  Both were yummy and very satisfying.  Apparently they’re parked out there every Tuesday…lucky Jesse.

I ♥ Wine

On Sunday, we went to SFMoMA for their wine exhibit.  They had a bunch of really cool displays including this huge wall of wine that was categorized by label themes.

There was also a cool display of “portable wine”.  I was delighted to see these single-serving glasses of wine made to look similar to the juice containers you get at the hospital.  Just peel the foil off the top and you’ve got a tasty beverage!

On another wall, they had a bunch of flasks with a bulbs attached.  They’re made for you to squeeze the bulb and sniff the funnel to get a certain smell from the wine.  This one was gooseberry.  Pretty neato.  They also had bellpepper, star anise, and some others I can’t remember.

Overall, it was an educational and very unique exhibit featuring one of my favorite things in the whole-wide world.  Here are more photos from our afternoon.

Such liars…

Last weekend I was misled by the weather reporters. I should know better to believe anything I see on TV but I was hopeful that this would actually come true. We were having REALLY cold temps during the week and lots of rain earlier in the week and there were reports of possible snow in SF…at sea level! The last time it had snowed in the city was in 1976. So on Friday night, I stayed up until midnight to see if it was actually going to happen. It was really cold but there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight. Boo…no snow for me. I’m such a sucka.

Day Off


Yesterday was President’s Day and while I went to work, Jes had the day off.  Before I left for work, I put a Post-It on the computer that said “Dog needs a walk and food.  Store opens at 11.”  When I got home, I asked him how his day was and he replied, “Meh.”

Today I got an email from the Husband with the subject line stating: “My Day Off” with a link to this picture.  I think this is what he wished he did yesterday because he actually did walk the dog and picked up two 5-pound bags of dog food.  On top of that, he vacuumed the house, bought groceries at Safeway, and made that delicious roasted chicken in yesterday’s post.  I’m not sure I’ll be this lucky next time.

My Husband the Chef

As most of you know, Hubs does most of the cooking in this house.  It all started when he was a victim of the 2001 Dot-Com Bust and spent a few months in the apartment unemployed and watching hours of the Food Network.  He learned the proper way to use a knife (and how to buy a good one), learned how to make sauces, and grilled a mean steak.

Ten years later, he’s still kickin’ butt and these past couple days were no different.  On Sunday, I was treated to Pork Loin Chops with Pineapple Relish.

Tonight, I came home from work on Presidents’ Day to a husband massaging an organic chicken in butter and rosemary preparing a hybrid of Thomas Keller’s Roast Chicken Recipe and Smashed Potato Recipe from our Ad Hoc at Home book.

I’m one lucky girl.