LarryG

I've been neglectful... there is another new blog, Sonia Tastes Hawaii, that's very worth visiting. Sonia has just added her RSS feed. Note that you still need the "www." at the front until they fix that. Sonia is a long-time member of the Slow Food Community and I'm looking forward to reading her posts, now available to everyone. I've tried to list the headlines of the most recent posts of Hawaii food blogs that interest me over on the right side of my blog, The Free Range Gourmet. It seems to work -- when I checked the states, it seems that some people visit my blog just to go off to the others (sigh). Well, that's ok, the idea is to tie them all together somehow. Maybe one day we can do a portal, with several blogs on a newspaper-like home page for people to read. Cheerz, --Larry

Welcome to Pomai at The Tasty Island, and thanks to Reid for posting the notice of your new blog. I've added you to the blogroll over at The Free Range Gourmet which I try to keep somewhat comprehensive. Cheerz, --Larry

I played around with listing both the food blogs and the titles of current articles instead of just a blog roll -- and I like it. I can't tell from conventional blogrolls what's happening on a blog, so I don't know whether to click or not. This is soooo much better - I can see what happening and decide to go have a look. It's possible these days to put together one's own "home page" of links including RSS feeds, so why not join the trend.

Hmmm... not too difficult to do. For those blogs that have feeds. (See right side of freerangegourmet.com for results. I could also have included a few lines from each post.) If anyone wants to steal the code, feel free. I used FeedDigest, maybe there are better ways to do this)(please clue me in, I'm not very experienced at this, via eGullet email). (Thanks). --Larry

Reid, thanks for the list! I am Googling around to find how to include the current item title of each of the Hawaii food blogs on the right side of my blog. Maybe time also for an article someplace to point traditional print readers to this wonderful resource. If anyone discovers more food blogs, please post them here. Let's keep the food blogs rolling. Cheerz, --Larry

Pho 97 is at the Maunakea Street entrance to the Maunakea Market. It's one of our favorite places for Vietnamese food. It's been a while since I've had their pho, tho, since we're busy working our way through their menu. I had #17 last trip, separate cup of broth and bowl of noodles and seafood stuff. Reminded me of something in Japan out in the boonies, couldn't find it in Tokyo. Bac Nam on King Street is worth a visit. I haven't tried their pho. See skchai's writeup here. Cheerz, --Larry

The current Eat Feed podcast features an interview with Joan Namkoong and chef Peter Merriman. It's good publicity for Hawaii and its cuisine. To listen, you can click here. Eat Feed is getting popular, and if you like the podcast, please click here to vote for the program on Podcast Alley. It's at #17 now, so just a few more votes could get it onto the Top 10 list which really attracts listeners. Cheerz, --Larry

Glad to hear that you're doing a podcast and I look forward to hearing it! I have to update my own blog with food podcast links, I've been neglecting to mess with it for too long. If you see this in time, there's a meeting of Hawaii podcasters and interested people today (Monday) at noon in Kakaako Park, just inside and to the left of the entrance to the park at the Ohe Street parking area and the blue engraved sign, but it could move to the pavilion on the water nearby. There's a cellphone contact which I don't want to post here, but it's in a June 17 message about the meeting in the podcasting group of yahoogroups.com, which you might enjoy joining anyway. I don't have a podcast in me yet, maybe one day. But meanwhile I'm enjoying being a pod-listener and reviewing some of the food podcasts on my blog. Cheerz, --Larry

One step beyond blogging is podcasting. There are a number of food-related podcasts already, even though podcasting has been around only a few months (check out the website of the Hawaii Association of Podcasters for info on podcasting). My favorite is Eat Feed. I've been suggesting that they do something on Hawaii and introduced them to Joan Namkoong. Looks like the program is about to happen. Usually it's available on a Sunday or Monday, so maybe tomorrow. You don't need a podcatcher to listen, just click on the link to listen on the computer speakers. Of course, having it in the mp3 player is even better (I listen while folding the laundry). If Nanette and I are listening together, we also stop the player when we want to say something about the program. You can't do that with real radio. Cheerz, --Larry

We were both craving something spicy today, so we visited So Gong Dong Restaurant for lunch. They have an additional new menu besides the usual one. We tried the Kim Chee Pancake from the new menu and the thick noodle with spicy sauce from the regular menu. It seems that each time we go there we want to try something different, to work our way around the menu, but we end up ordering the sundubu because we love it so much. Maybe we just need to eat there more often. I was feeling grateful to Sun-Ki for introducing us to this restaurant through his original post last year. Cheerz, --Larry

>Better to try Siam Garden on Nimitz. Its in the same shopping center >as Eagle Cafe, clean, comfortable and very good food. Yes, we enjoy Siam Garden also. Among restaurants, it's right up there. And very attractive interior also. > I can only speculate that there may be an ethnic Thai cook in the kiitchen. [Club New Pattaya] Yup. When Cookie is there, the food is great. Trouble is, she and her husband are building a new house in Thailand. Her plan is one day to go back there. She's made a few trips during which the food wasn't up to par. We were in there last week and had some home-made sausage that I don't think was on the menu. Essentially we now put ourselves at her mercy and it has always worked for us. We don't mind the seediness of the bar, but I wish smoking weren't permitted. I'll put up with it because one day Cookie will be outa there, and then so will I. Meantime, I can't get enough of the place, we brave the tobacco fumes about once a week pretty regularly. --Larry

I'm going to change the hosting for my blogs soon, and maybe all the permalinks and things will work better then. So my apologies. The event docs can be found at: http://freerangegourmet.com/Docs/CFSAgenda.pdf http://freerangegourmet.com/Docs/WorkshopSummaries.pdf http://freerangegourmet.com/Docs/CFSGenInformation.pdf http://freerangegourmet.com/Docs/CFSAdult_Reg.pdf and the image I cut out of their docs is at: http://freerangegourmet.com/Graphics/hands.jpg I have no connection with this event, just I noticed that there isn't much publicity. I wish them great success, it looks very worthwhile. Please feel free to link directly if you wish, I'm not having bandwidth problems. The entire server was down much of today and I see that they are re-connecting themselves gradually to the rest of the world, but I mention this in case something stops working for a while. Thanks and regards, --Larry

I wonder if other food bloggers could consider mentioning the sustainability conference coming up. Please see my blog, freerangegourmet.com for the details. I don't see much publicity for this worthy endeavor. If it fits the style of your blog, perhaps you could put in a mention. It's ok to link the documents from my blog. They don't have the info available on the web that I am aware of, though I could have missed something. Thanks! --Larry

I've been going back to VivreManger's post a few times wondering if I should say something and how to say it. Well, I'm reckless enough that I will post something, even if it's controversial. At least I've had a month to figure out what bothers me about Hiroshi's place, which is certainly fine dining, even if I don't care for it. Nanette and I decided not to go back. I'm thinking that it is probably because we were compensated well in Japan and learned the various traditions, rituals and the art of different cuisines. We ate at the best eel joints, the kind you need an introduction from someone more important than yourself, to get into, and also neighborhood yakitori dives. And that probably explains my reaction to the fusion cuisine at Hiroshi's. We were also exposed to different cuisines in other Asian countries we visited, even if we can't now tell anyone much about them because we can't remember all the names and places and things we enjoyed. I mean to say that the names in the different Chinese dialects didn't stay with me, and I didn't pull out my notepad to write things down... In a way, I found the tampering with the food at Hiroshi's to be almost alarming. I didn't put it in words, but if I have to now, I'd say that too much tradition had been abandoned, leaving me wanting the dish done, well, "right". There's such a pressure in fusion cuisine to depart from customs that have been preserved, for good reason, for a long time, even unto the hundreds of years. This is my personal reaction. A person who did not have my experiences would also not have my prejudices. It's just me, I admit it. And yes, I know I'm living in Hawaii now, not in an idyllic past life in Japan. I know, I know. My meal at Hiroshi's simply made me want to get back to Japan when I can, and to savor the ingredients prepared in those places that have survived for perhaps hundreds of years because they know how to cut the ingredients, the order of serving and the temperature they should be served at, the art of applying the appropriate technique or preparation to the ingredients, even the appropriate vessel to present the dish to the diner. Not that food doesn't evolve, of course it does. But I'm not used to it going crazy. It's supposed to behave! That may be part of it. Another part was that we felt that there was competition in the plate, some of the ingredients were fighting with each other, not cooperating. So there, I've said it. Most people will greatly enjoy their dining experience at Hiroshi's, but I won't be going back. <sigh> I think I'll start saving for that eel joint in Akasaka, if I can ever figure out how to get an invite to it again. Cheerz, --Larry

When we lived in Japan, shuu kurimu was a popular joke. I think it was mentioned in one of the books by foreigners about Japan. My individual problem was that I don't speak French, and so my pronounciation of many French words was derived from reading Japanese kana. It was good for many laughs, all on me. Some Japanese people of course did speak French, and I noticed that they pronounced shuu kurimu correctly in French, not as it was written. It was a time, I think, when people were beginning to try to pronounce foreign words (including Korean and Chinese) as they might be spoken by the foreign speaker. Japan was notorious for Japanifying Chinese names - that is, using the Japanese readings instead of the Chinese, totally ruining people's names. There was also a great leap in interest in foreign food. Bagels were available in many department stores - actual bagels! Anyway, just then, darn, we had to leave. These kind of shuu kurimu were available all over. Near where we lived there was an excellent bakery and their shuu kurimu was quite nice, although I have no way of course to compare them to Shirokiya's. And I doubt that they had the fully automated machinery. --Larry

We get our curry leaves from MA`O Farms at the KCC Saturday Farmers' Market. I believe they are there one day a month. You can check at the Hawaii Farm Bureau web page, or better yet, give MA`O a call at 696-5569 to see if they will have curry leaves and which market they will be at (there are now three markets on Oahu!). Cheerz, --Larry

Just learned that Chika (She Who Eats) has moved back to Japan. I sent some writing to the Honolulu Weekly, where (as opposed maybe to our dailies) they do some fact checking, and was embarrassed to learn that when I wasn't looking (and I should have looked), one of our best food writers and photographers has left Hawaii. So I was writing about a blog that isn't here anymore. As long as I'm lamenting this loss, let me ask if anyone is aware of any new food blogs in Hawaii that I might check out and possibly write about. I think the latest is nattokun by Jupiter -- but I could have missed something. Please point me if so. Thanks --Larry

Just learned that Chika (She Who Eats) has moved back to Japan. I sent some writing to the Honolulu Weekly, where (as opposed maybe to our dailies) they do some fact checking, and was embarrassed to learn that when I wasn't looking (and I should have looked), one of our best food writers and photographers has left Hawaii. So I was writing about a blog that isn't here anymore. As long as I'm lamenting this loss, let me ask if anyone is aware of any new food blogs in Hawaii that I might check out and possibly write about. I think the latest is nattokun by Jupiter -- but I could have missed something. Please point me if so. Thanks --Larry

Nanette and I went there with friends a couple of months ago. I hate to be the odd guy out, but we both found the dishes to be, how to describe, "over engineered" or something like that. I know it's us, the rest of the world raves about this place. I think we had ahi, but you couldn't taste the ahi -- it was buried in creativity. Maybe it's because we've lived in Asia and know how important fresh fish is (as an example), and when you can't taste the fish for the sauce, it is considered a negative. The best fish (again, as an example) stands by itself and is not improved by being dumped on excessively. In Japan it is served instead in a way that enhances its flavor. Maybe I'm too imprinted by my experiences, who knows. Of course, limiting preparation in this way would not lead to much Eurasian cuisine, but I'm just reporting how I felt. In fact, I felt a bit cheated because I'm sure the ingredients were the best available, but I felt the artistry overwhelmed the basic goodness of the main ingredient in most of the dishes. And there were some I loved. Ok, I'll put on my flak jacket and check back here later for the flames. Cheerz, --Larry

Thanks so much for this topic and for the great pictures and review. I am really appreciating the advantages of this medium over newspaper reviews where the space is limited and reviewers sometimes inexperienced. I can't imagine that as good a job could ever be done if the editor limits the length to 800 words and all that's allowed is maybe one black-and-white picture of the smiling restaurant owner behind a counter. Nanette and I tried both Sogongdong Restaurant at 1489 Kapiolani (easy to park) and the one on Makaloa Street across from Tower Records. We went deliberately to the first a few days ago, and last night found ourselves stopped in traffic in front of the other wondering where to eat dinner. Nanette looked out the passenger window, and immediately to the right of the car was an empty parking space right in front of the restaurant. When the universe delivers such a great parking space to you, it is not the time to question why. So we blinked, turned in to it, and had our second sundubu experience in a week. Actually, this took me back to my many trips to Seoul, usually arranged selfishly for Spring or Fall, but occasionally and unavoidably in February when it is bone-chilling cold there. I disliked the imperfectly sterile air-conditioned environment in the Lotte or Chosun hotels and would escape to the narrow streets across from the Lotte where there was a warren of numerous tiny, cramped small eating places. Inside each of them were people with steaming breaths dressed warmly and eating hot, steaming things that looked and smelled irresistable. It was nearly as cold inside the eating places as outside, and not only could you see your breath but everything steamed, the tea, soup, pots in the kitchen, everything. Without much language I had no idea what was going on. Mostly I chickened out and walked by, but eventually I would find someplace with an empty seat, go in, and point to what the person next to me was eating. I didn't even have a way to ask what it might have been called. Once I drew a big question mark on a napkin and the person next to me wrote something, but not very neatly, and I couldn't decipher it in my language books when I got back to the hotel room. Even the pictures of food in the guides didn't match what I saw in the shops. It was all fancy tourist stuff, not what anyone was actually eating in the real world. I would go back to the same place the next day, feeling comfortable in at least one place. Yes, I could have made a better effort to learn the language, but anyway, I did manage somehow to get fed and to enjoy myself immensely. Back to Honolulu and the present, we tried the beef-and-pork and the seafood versions at the Kapiolani Blvd. place. The beef-and-port seemed much better integrated than the seafood, which seemed to have kind of been added to something they didn't fit with very well. Both were good, just that we both agreed that the beef-and-pork was better. The tofu was softer at the second place, but overall, the first was a quality experience for the money. At the second place we also tried the oyster pancake, very nice [clearly you can't count on me for a detailed review!]. Odd though the combination may be, we went into the nearby omochi place (a few doors towards Keeaumoku from SGD) for dessert (ohagi) and tea. So thanks again for a fantastic review and discussion, which has enriched our dining experience! Cheerz, --Larry

Offering seeds for Manoa Lettuce is a good thing, and I am wondering if the UH might be convinced that it is also valuable to offer seeds for heirloom varieties of vegetables that are tasty and could use a little help from their friends. Right at this moment (or when it is daytime in Italy), a Slow Food meeting is working on preserving plants, animals and artisanal products. For info, try Google "slow food" Italy in Google News, or see my blog Free Range Gourmet for info on Hawaii poi and salt that have just been put on the Slow Food Ark for preservation. I'm also wishing that the UH web page could indicate which seeds are GMO. Did you know that the virus-resistant papaya were created by mixing in actual virus DNA in the soup? I think I have this right. I don't know if it's harmful or not, but I would like to know what genes I'm ingesting in case there should be good reason not to eat a particular variety one day. Cheerz, --Larry

I haven't compared, but I suspect that those establishments who buy into the weekly dining out section will get into the `Ilima booklet. Anyway, and quite fortunately, the `Ilima Award overlooked the best Thai eating place in Honolulu again this year. See: Safe from the `Ilima award for another year Cheerz, --Larry

Yes, there are audio archives, though it could take a couple of days to a week or two before the program appears. The archives are at: http://hawaiipublicradio.org/Aarchive1.htm . It is actually the "fusing" that you talk about that intrigues me most. On the Mainland, I think it is more the common thing that (for example) Japanese restaurants stick with the stereotype. Variations are few and often would seem weird in the home country (California rolls, for example, as "sushi"). The fusion sometimes works well, sometimes not. This is probably an area of discussion where people will reasonably differ according to their own culinary preferences, experiences elsewhere, and expectations. Remembering back 30 years ago when I started coming to Hawaii, it certainly wasn't meeting my expectations. Things have come a long way in certain respects. For eating, speaking generally, I don't know where to place Hawaii on a scale at present, or how that scale should be calibrated. There are plenty of places I'd place lower. I recall going into a "Chinese" restaurant in Columbus Indiana (not Ohio) and ordering chow mein. It was peas and carrots mostly. Cheerz, --Larry

Depends on how you look at it. The pink tomatoes in Safeway are the standard, but at the KCC Saturday Farmers' Market you can get real tomatoes. No one, anywhere, should be made to eat those pink things when there are alternatives. There are indeed a few excellent Asian restaurants, no argument. Several have been reviewed right here! Now,there is also plate lunch, some pretty fattening, tasteless, greasy, etc. There's McDonalds most everywhere. I think we would like to have good local produce if we want to eat produce -- not only does it keep a Hawaii farmer alive, it also avoids paying for petroleum to carry the pink imitation stuff across the ocean to us. I feel I would like to pay even a bit more to avoid all that air pollution and support of repressive regimes etc. (Does buying a local tomato make me unpatriotic??). The islands are no longer "Hawaiian" and so while the food of the original people is still here, and of course it is here in homes, it is in retreat from the asphalt and concrete being applied by the current occupiers. With this indisputably foreign invasion come the trappings of Western life, the expensive wines, restaurants of many nationalities, smelly cheese, fiery chillies, strange salt or oil anchovies, fermented fish sauce, Spam even, bagels, Macademia Nut Flavored Coffee, triple chocolate suicide cakes (hint: try Indigo's version), and so forth. At least, I hope for the best of all that wherever I live. Cheerz, --Larry P.S. I have heard that the city-sponsored markets are run by a very small number of wholesalers, and the produce is not necessarily local. They have garlic, for example, which is not grown here. P.P.S. We could use some nopales, cabuches, and colonche here too!!

Speaking of the KCC or (soon to start) Kailua markets, if you see this in time, please tune in to this radio program on Thursday. Here's my promo for it: ---------- There will be a new Farmers' Market in Kailua, and there's other news. In fact, we'll definitely take a bullish view of Hawaii's market future with guests Ryan Lum of North Shore Cattle Co., Don Murphy of Murphy's Bar and Grill, and of course Joan Namkoong, continuing on from her last appearance. Tune in on Thursday 8/26 at 5 pm on Hawaii Public Radio, KIPO, 89.3 FM or via computer at: hawaiipublicradio.org if you're not located on Oahu. It's a call-in program, so please call in with questions or comments. 941-3689 or toll- free from Neighbor Islands 1-877 941-3689. ----------- If you miss the broadcast, in a few days the audio archive usually appears on the Hawaii Public Radio website. Cheerz, --Larry