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.
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.
On Sunday, we went to SFMoMA for their 
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.
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 
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 
We had a gorgeous day in the city today. This is a photo I took in the middle of this morning’s run along Pier 14. For lunch, Jes and I took a walk to the Farmers Market and got a good dose of Vitamin D. I was actually in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops! Jes waited in line for the porchetta sandwich at 
We slurped up the ramen while we were in line and finished it just in time for the sandwich. I ordered the ramen with a slow-cooked egg and it was extra tasty with the oozy yolk that I L-O-V-E.
After such a savory lunch, we picked up a 
On Saturday after lunch, we drove up to Napa and brought the dog along for the ride. We got an early check-in at the Westin, dropped off the dog, and headed out to Far Niente where they were holding their Cabernet Release Party.
We got there at about 3 pm and spent the afternoon tasting lots of wine and snacking on a variety of appetizers that were passed around. It’s a fun event since it’s in their maze-like cave system where there’s either another tasting station or a server with a platter of goodies around each corner. My favorite was their 2006. Of course at the end, we got a glass of Dolce dessert wine and an assortment of petit fours. Mm…
Afterward, we went outside to enjoy the late afternoon sunlight with a cappuccino provided by the servers at the exit. They have a nice grassy area down the hill and it was so nice to be outside in warm weather for a change.
For dinner, we went to Ad Hoc. Our reservation was at 9:30, which was perfect considering we had stuffed ourselves so late in the afternoon. We had a great time and everything was delicious! Here’s the menu for the evening:
The prime rib had a nice salty crust and the buttermilk onion rings were so yummy. Dog even got to have some when we brought back a box of meat scaps for him.
My favorite was the apple tart…it was perfect.
On Sunday morning, we went down the street to The Model Bakery, which was featured in “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Local Favorites”. The episode featured their famous English Muffins and it’s true…they’re tasty. The muffin is fluffy and chewy – different from your usual Thomas’ English Muffin. Mine was used to make a breakfast sandwich of canadian bacon, egg, and cheese. Yum.
Recent Comments