Mango Show Update 3

After maybe an hour the surface got really too wet to work, so stopped at this point.  The value shifts are stronger in this photo than in the actual piece.  Not sure why that it is.  The "mango" placement is less problematic now, though because (I think) the viewer's eye goes from the mango, to the crook of the "v" on the right, then "back" to the "v" on the left.  If I put a thin line of orange just to the right of that "v," on the horizon line, the view should go through the painting into the deep space in the middle.  Painting would basically be laid out at that point, with just fine tuning to do.  Maybe a couple of hours away from completion at this point.

Mango Show Update 2

Here's the latest iteration of the piece.  Painted Wednesday while also watching "Work of Art" on Bravo.  Umami thinks it's really funny that the artist's narrative about his or her work (answering the "what does it mean???" question) on that show seems to be critical to doing well.

Anyway, starting to add in the "mangos" to this piece.  As it stands, the orange curve is too close to the cetnter-bottom of the painting to be a strong composition.  Had planned to add more orange anyway, so will try to adjust composition that way.  Also lost a bit of the value changes, so will need to restate the lights, perhaps emphasizing the large, tree-like "V" on the right and smaller, thinner vertical lines to the left.

Will take another crack at it tonight, but first, need to eat something . . . need strength for the battle ahead!

"Sharing" Posts

Blogger has just added "share" button capability to posts, meaning that if you like a post, you can share it to Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, etc.  Part of the social media landscape is the ability to "share" or "like" something instantly, so Umami's added the buttons under the posts.  Not sure if it reports back to the blogger if anyone actually does share, so it may be a matter of unrequited narcissism for Umami.  Umami will have to get over it!

Mango Show Update

Umami got some more painting done yesterday . . . essentially, bled some diluted titanium white (a "neutral white") and parchment (a "cool" white) to try to define the verticals, then worked the spaces with the blue tinged "dirty water" from two days ago (basically, the water used to clean the brushes; it has all the remnant paint in solution).  Interestingly, what happened was that the whites tended to settle in the lowest parts, revealing the brushstrokes from the underlying painting in darker blue.  There's some interesting things going on with the surface now, but it might be too subtle to pick up from a distance.  Still nothing that says "mango" yet either.  Considering dumping the old plan and treating this is an extreme close up of a mango surface, i.e., introducing, reds, oranges, yellows, purples into this.  Probably won't, but still playing with the idea.

Umami on the Prowl: Hakone

Umami went to a family birthday dinner at Hakone on Sunday.  It did not get off to an auspicious start when the restaurant called to say there would be no valet service because there was a wedding reception that was going to take precedence.  Regular restaurant customers could park at the Ilikai (Hakone would validate) or scramble for metered parking or very limited free parking at Ala Wai Harbor parking lot.  As it turned out, there was also a first birthday party as well, so there were tons of people milling about.

We were also there for the 5:30 seating, along with maybe two dozen other people.  So, when the doors finally opened, it was kind of crazy getting in, and then discreetly rushing to the fresh sushi bar.  Hard to say why there was such a rush for the sushi bar, since the sashimi trays are loaded with lots of varieties of fresh fish.  They are all beautiful pieces of meat, with a nice amount of fat . . . if fish could be buttery, these would be!  Also, the sashimi trays change as the evening progresses; a later tray had tako, and other fish.  Really, unless you have sushi fetish, you could do very well with just the sashimi and other items in the buffet line.

Umami likes this pic of the salmon.  The piece is about the size of a quarter, but it looks just like a mini salmon steak.

This is the Hiyayakko (Cold Tofu).  It's homemade, and comes with a number of toppings, but Umami liked it plain, with a little ponzu shoyu.  The little receptacle on the side held some citrus zest, and you poured the shoyu over it.  The tofu itself was creamy in texture, almost like a custard.  Beautiful with the sashimi . . . in fact, that's probably the best way to go.  Okay, maybe with some noodles, if you have to have a starch.

Or, just wait for dessert to load up on carbs.  These are four of the choices and they were all uniformly excellent.   Clockwise from top:  blueberry cheesecake (airy, with a cake "crust," so it was super-light, for a cheesecake), mini cream puff (filling was actually a custard . . . nice!), guava cake (very good, but Umami suspects DeeLite Bakery would turn in a superior version).

All told, it was a really excellent meal, and Umami thinks it's a value, even at $46/head for the buffet.  However, don't go at 5:30 and get caught up in buffet mania.  Instead, try a later seating.  It would be awesome to linger over the fish with good sake and good company.  Umami will be back!

Hakone
Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki (Umami calls it "the Waikiki Prince")
100 Holomoana Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815

944-4494
Dinner:

• Wednesday - Thursday, 5:30pm - 9:00pm
• Friday - Sunday, 5:30pm - 9:30pm

Yuki Lunchwagon - Korean Baked Chicken and Hamburger Steak

Yuki Lunchwagon had an interesting special:  Korean Baked Chicken.  It's a large chicken thigh, lightly breaded and baked, then covered with a shoyu based korean sauce topped with lots of green onions.  Very tasty.  Made a mix with homemade hamburger steak, which is was pretty decent, but a little on the petite side.  Oh, well, might have been one of the last ones.  One scoop rice and potato/mac salad.

Fooda Deli Revisited

Fascinated by the choices for the mix plate, Umami's been back to Fooda Deli a couple of times recently (first visit here).   The first time back, the idea was to try the shoyu ahi poke, since the spicy ahi only okay.  So this plate is (clockwise from top):  spicy tofu, spicy eggplant, brown rice, shoyu ahi poke.  The tofu had a surprisingly bland sauce, not bad in flavor, but lacking in intensity.  The eggplant was very good and it appears it will be a reliable choice.  The shoyu ahi was very nice, decent size pieces and a decent amount.  Remember, this comes with a soup too, for $7.50.

About a week later, plate three.  Umami really liked the smoked chicken leg from the first visit, and had therefore wanted to try the Smoke Pork Rib Bits.  So, from top:  shoyu ahi poke (we like it), teriyaki chicken, white rice with a little of Makizushi's chicken curry (also from Fooda), and the Smoke Pork Rib Bits.  The teri chicken was good, with boneless pieces of chicken in a teriyaki sauce that was close to being shoyu chicken.  Actually, it would have been good to dump it over the white rice!  Makizushi's curry turned out to be a very credible local style chicken curry.  Could have been S&B or Golden mild.  Sorry, no picture of Makizushi's plate, but it was a whole clamshell, half rice, half curry, a very filling lunch.  The Smoke Pork Rib bits are more accurately called BBQ Rib Bits, since they're spareribs covered a tomato based BBQ sauce (i.e., mainland style, rather than local style).   Got some very meaty pieces, and some not so much, so a fairly standard lunchwagon helping of spareribs. Not really smoked, either, but tasty enough.

Fooda Deli
Remington College Building (lower level, makai)
1111 Bishop Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

Mango Show

Umami got invited to submit a piece for "The Mango Show."  The press release for the show says:  "Mango season is officially here!  In celebration of this delicious summertime delight, local artists will present original works showcasing the mango’s diverse varieties and flavors at The Mango Show.  Through drawings, paintings, photographs and more prepare to take a look at the majestic mango like you’ve never seen it before.  The exhibit will take place from August 9 to 26, in the Courtyard of Honolulu Hale.

The show is not strictly representational, so "interpretations" are accepted, even encouraged.  As if you could ever tell artists what to do in the first place!

Umami's jumping off point, then, is the end of the mango season, prompted by the fact that his mango tree had a lot of fruit a month ago, but is now fruit free.  For a while, though, there were a lot of mangoes on the tree . . . and on the ground.

So here's Umami's reference photo.  The "Blair Witch" lights and darks are cool, so if the color palette goes to blue, the dark orange and yellow mangoes on the ground ought to pop.  Actually, this would actually be a pretty decent piece by itself.

How to translate it to a painting?  Umami's never been particularly interested in representational painting, capturing the scene, or making pretty pictures.  Far better to play with the paint and make a huge mess of it.

Not a lot of time for that though.  Show is coming up soon and Umami doesn't have a decent painting and is running out of time to put something together.  It's hard, too, because he hasn't painted in a while . . . so the work is proving difficult!  But this is what we've got so far:  heavy gesso over an old painting, with multiple diox purple and pthalo blue washes.  Some cad red mixed in to try to build some complexity.  Not a mango in sight yet, though!  Will have to see what happens next.

Umami Tries "Nutrisystem Vegetarian Chili"

Umami found this on the office snack counter, a parting gift from a retiring co-worker.  It was also past its nominal expiration date of April 2010, but Umami was sure it was still good.  The co-worker also left a packet of instant Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, but why would anyone eat that instead of nominally expired vegetarian chili?   Anyway, it came to pass that Umami was working one Saturday and in need of lunch.  How perfect is that?

The vegetarian chili is described as "Four beans in a zesty tomato sauce accented with flavorful chili and spices for a taste as satisfying as it is delicious."  Let's be clear, it's four kinds of beans (kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, and . . . pink beans . . . whatever the heck those are), not just four beans.   Glad we got that cleared up!  But it tastes like a chili, albeit one of the processed, canned variety.   And, to answer one of the office food critics, it was not like eating a salt lick, although with 650 mg of sodium (27% rda), it basically was a salt lick!  But so does every other canned chili, so on that standard, it's totally credible.  And edible.  However, it does raise an issue about these processed foods . . . they might be low fat, but they're almost inevitably high salt.  In this case:  .5g saturated fat, 0 monounsaturated fat, 0 polyunsaturated fat, 0 trans fat, heck, you might conclude it's good for you!  But definitely not for Umami's everyday consumption, but for one Saturday in the office, had to be tried!    

Blogging by Candlelight

Power's just gone out in Hawaii Kai. Can see lights on the ridges and down the coast, so this is just a local blackout. But no lights anywhere near, and it's weirdly quiet, no tv noise, no low ambient hum from the refrigerator. Not even the sound of people talking, just some crickets and the palm trees rustling in the occasional light breeze.

Umami had to stumble around in the dark, looking for his cellphone. Cellphones make good emergency flashlights. But he couldn't find it . . . Not in its usual place. But, managed to find the iPad, which makes an even better emergency flashlight. Used it to find some candles, and a lighter, so now have a little bit of light to work with.

Turned out to be a good idea to get 3G iPad, because with power out, the home WiFi is down. AT&T 3G is up, however, so can do a little blogging by candlelight. And check the internet for news about the blackout (none yet). So at this point, might as well go to sleep . . . save the device batteries and recharge my own.

Goodnight all!

Man Food!

Umami was late getting out of the office for lunch today.  Sometimes work crises become giant, sticky, BP scaled tar pits that stop you from doing anything productive.  Like getting lunch.  So today, Umami was a little late getting out and noticed DanaV trapped in her office.  Apparently there's a giant, sticky BP scaled tar pit at her desk, since she can't get away for lunch . . .  but would Umami bring something back?

Of course.  She wasn't going to wimp out and get some pitiful "mini" plate was she?  Hell, no.  Brown and white food was fine.  She wanted "Man Food!"

So much for Umami's "eat healthy" plan . . . instead, hamburger steak, two scoops rice, mac salad gravy over became the new plan.

Except that Yuki lunchwagon had a special today:  Pork lau lau with lomi salmon for $7 or so.  Mix another item and it's $8.50.  Heh, at that point, only issue was "what should the other item be?"  Umami briefly considered the Kalua Chicken and Cabbage, but in the end opted for Fried Ahi (w tartar sauce).  Because it's healthier.  Really.  So, from upper left:  Pork lau lau, side tartar sauce, potato/mac salad, lomi salmon, fried ahi (under lemon wedge), one big scoop rice.

Lau lau was petite, but really tasty.  Love the luau leaf, decent amount of pork, some butterfish, and a nice chunk of fat to give it mouth feel and flavor (no, Umami didn't eat the nice chunk of fat).  Lomi salmon nicely done, good amount of salmon and although the serving doesn't look like much, it's a pretty good amount.  Fried Ahi is lightly breaded and cooked through.  Tartar sauce had lots of relish, which is the way we like it.  Love potato mac salad instead of the usual mac salad . . . hard to believe a couple of cubes of potato make that much of a difference, but there it is.

It's very good food for a lunchwagon operation.  Umami would eat a whole 'nother plate right now, if he could!  But will just have to wait for next Friday!

Yuki Lunchwagon
Lauhala Street between Queen's Hospital and Board of Water Supply, on the Ewa side of the street.  It's the one closest to the street.

Umami sees the light . . . !

Umami's iPad has convinced him . . . no more Windows and IBM PC clones.  Tired of the lockups, crashes, virus worries, hardware/software incompatibilities.  Much better to have a computer with hardware and software made by the same manufacturer.  One cord for power (for an iMac).  Nice 21.5" display.  WiFi ready.  Did you ever think, "I should have done this ages ago . . . ?"  well, now Umami has . . .

we'll be back with new posts after we take the new system out for a shakedown cruise!  til then, chow!

Makizushi's Birthday Bash: Sugoi Food by Sugoi!

It was Makizushi's birthday on Friday (or, at least, that's when the party was) and the gang ordered out for lunch.  Umami and Ms. D got to pick the menu and decided to just order family style from Sugoi instead of ordering separate bentos.  We think it worked out to be a better deal.





If it was lunch for Makizushi, it had to include fried rice, which is her favorite food, much like sandwiches are for Joey (not to be confused with a "Joey Special" = Two Pizzas).  So this is the fried rice from Sugoi.  It has pretty much everything you would expect in a local style fried rice and one surprise:  bits of hot dog!  If you got a fried egg over this, it would be breakfast for two or three people.  There were six of us, so we ordered two orders.  ($4.25/order ala carte)

We ordered the pupu platter A, which had (top to bottom):  tonkatsu, teri beef, garlic chicken.  It's hard to make out, but this is actually a fairly deep dish, and so there's a lot of food.  ($35, serves 6-8).

The tonkatsu is decently thick cut, with the little strip of pork fat that it needs to give it juiciness.

The teri beef is very thinly cut and heavily marinated.  It would have gone well with some really hot white rice, or it would have made a  good sandwich with some mayo and lettuce.  Which is a roundabout way of saying that it was little too salty for my taste, especially with the fried rice.

The garlic chicken had large pieces and a flavorful sauce that was not too garlicky (which I'm told is a change from previous garlic-intense versions.

Ms. D and Umami decided to order the Yaki Udon, just to try, because, well, everybody said they would leave the ordering to us.  And Umami likes udon, but doesn't get to eat it a lot and never in prepared in this manner.  So it's basically a fried saimin, with udon instead.  If your favorite part of a fried saimin is the min, consider trying udon instead.  It's a larger, chewier noodle, with the same green onion, char siu, cabbage, and kamaboko.  ($5.50 ala carte)

Okay, there's nothing really special about the mac salad, except for the story.  It's a side that you order by the scoop, so we ordered five (remember, for six of us).  ($0.95 per scoop)  What we didn't know is that a "scoop" is not the ice cream cone size scoop, but is maybe twice as big.  Our five scoops filled the large clamshell they came in!

But, wait!  There's (much) more.  Due to some mix up, we ended up with two clamshells like this, ten ridiculous scoops of mac salad in all!  Which is funny, in a horrifying way . . .  

Finally, Ms. D brought this lilikoi chiffon cake from Dee Lite Bakery.  She says:  "It's the oblong passion deelite cake, very reasonably priced at around $10."
Umami thinks that anything named "oblong passion deelite" has got to be a winner, as this cake proves.  It's a chilled cake, with lots of light whipped cream between the layers, but what makes it is the lilikoi jelly glaze on top!

So that was Makizushi's birthday lunch:  lots of food, good people, good fun.  And six people who really needed naps two hours later!

Sugoi Bento and Catering
City Square Shopping Center
1286 Kalani Street #B-106
841-7984
www.sugoihawaii.com


Dee Lite Bakery

1930 Dillingham Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 847-5396

Goma Tei

. Testing testing testing

The Mysterious Disappearing Kombucha

Umami is a huge fan of Kombucha, which is a fermented tea that may (or may not) increase energy, sharpen eyesight, aid digestion, etc.  Umami thinks it calms his stomach, rather like how apple cider vinegar does.  It's been in the news recently . . . a couple months ago because it become in vogue with various celebrities.  "Celebrities such as Kirsten Dunst, Halle Berry, Madonna and Meg Ryan have all been spotted sipping on Kombucha, an ancient remedy from China that's said to contain a whole host of health-boosting properties."

More recently, though, it has been disappearing from store shelves.  Whole Foods has pulled it.  Kale's was down to a half dozen bottles when Umami last visited (and down to three when Umami left).  How to account for the scarcity . . . growing popularity among faddist late-adopters following their celebrity idols?

Nope.  Turns out, the problem is that since Kombucha is fermented, it may have trace amounts of alcohol in it.   The key issue is that it may be marketed as a non-alcoholic beverage if the alcohol content is less than 0.5% by volume.  However, if it's more than 0.5%, it's an alcoholic beverage and subject to a slew of additional regulation and, of course, there's a bigger risk to personal health with the higher content.  Some batches have apparently tested high, so the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is now investigating the matter.  According to recently issued TTB guidance, in addition to the labeling issues there may be tax, civil, or criminal consequences for the manufacturer.  Serious stuff

So who ruined it for the rest of us?  Who drew sooo much attention to Kombucha that people started freaking out about the alcohol and brought the Feds down on some fermented tea?  Why the root of all evil of course, Lindsey Lohan!  Sorry, that just slipped out . . . Umami's down to his last bottle of Kombucha and the thought of going cold turkey . . . well, he doesn't like to think about it!

Kale's Natural Foods
Hawaii Kai Shopping Center (ironically, next to Safeway)
377 Keahole Street
Honolulu, HI 96825-3408
(808) 396-6993

Onopop!

Umami was wandering through his favorite grocery store, Kale's Natural Foods, seeing what there was to see, when he happened upon a new display in the freezer case.  They looked like old school popsicles, but were obviously different, since these were a decent size and popsicles are now, like, freakin' tiny.

Onopops, ey?  According to their website, they're made with local and/or organic ingredients (which is why Kale's carries them).  Like the "Kula Strawberry/Maui Goat Cheese" flavor.  Faith, Kale's wife, really liked it, finding it creamy, which you would expect for something containing goat cheese.  Kale, however, thought there wasn't enough goat cheese.  Only one way to settle it.  Taste test!

Umami and Umami's friend, Sharla (who works at Kale's and whose sister is a good friend of one of Onopops owners, I know, I know, small island) tried the KS/MGC" flavor and decided . . . yup, not enough goat cheese and, therefore, not as creamy as you would think.  Maybe Faith got a special batch?  But, sometimes you have to focus on the good thing you have, and so it must be noted that KS/MGC is, in fact, a fine strawberry popsicle, which is to say that it tastes like a frozen strawberry and not like artificial strawberry flavoring. 

It all required further investigation.  So Umami convened another test at work the next day, with himself, Ms. D and Makizushi as testers.  Up for testing:  KS/MGC, Butter Mochi, and Mexican Chocolate.  Everyone thought that KS/MGC was a great strawberry popsicle, but that goat cheese fans would be disappointed.  Mexican Chocolate was a good solid chocolate flavor, but the cinnamon and chili spice were very, very subtle.  It could probably stand to be "kicked up a notch!"

Butter Mochi, however, was beautifully done and was easily the consensus pick for favorite flavor.  For one, it really does taste like a good butter mochi.  And, it's actually somewhat creamy, at least in comparison to the others, so it feels like a richer dessert.  All in all, they're all nice treats, but Butter Mochi is worth seeking out.

Kale's Natural Foods
Hawaii Kai Shopping Center (ironically, next to Safeway)
377 Keahole Street
Honolulu, HI 96825-3408
(808) 396-6993