Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!


Here's a passage Umami is thinking about, from Just Kids, Patti Smith's memoir and remembrance of Robert Mapplethorpe . . . here, she's talking about the scene surrounding Janis Joplin:
Janis was the queen of the radiating wheel, sitting in her easy chair, with a bottle of Southern Comfort, even in the afternoon.  Michael Pollard was usually by her side.  They were like adoring twins, both with the same speech patterns, punctuating each sentence with man.  I sat on the floor as Kris Kristofferson sang her "Me and Bobby McGee," Janis joining in the chorus.  I was there for these moments, but so young and preoccupied with my thoughts that I hardly recognized them as moments.
Preoccupation being not the sole province of the young, Umami wishes everyone, the young and the old and everyone in between, the time to recognize the moments when they happen.

Have a happy, and safe, new year, and we'll see you in 2011!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Guilty!


Umami would eat this . . .
"This" is, of course, the Denny's Fried Cheese Melt.  It consists of four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese grilled (in butter???) between two slices of sour dough bread.  It comes with fries ('natch!) and a marinara sauce (vegetable group!)  For $4, you couldn't buy a cheaper coronary!

While Umami would eat this, the question remains . . . would he deep fry it?

Magic 8-Ball says . . .

"Very doubtful."

Well, that's disappointing.

What about dipping it in egg and making it a grilled cheese sandwich frittata?

Magic 8-Ball says . . .

"Signs point to yes."

!!

Stay tuned . . .

 

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas to the C&D Staff!

The Land Use section deputies were in charge of the Christmas gift for the Counseling and Drafting Division staff.  Part I of the gift:  a gift certificate to the House Without A Key at the Halekulani.  Nice!  But not necessarily photogenic (the gift certificate, that is), so let's move on.


Part II of the gift:  Cupcakes from Hokulani Bake Shop!
From left to right, first box: chocolate and red velvet. 2nd box: strawberry guava (killer!) and chocolate. 3rd box: snickerdoodle (also killer!) and chocolate chocolate. 4th box is snickerdoodle and red velvets.
Here's a strawberry guava.  It's an outrageously red cupcake, with an intensely guava flavor.  
And, the last carrot (cup)cake.  Apparently, this was the one to get, because they were gone in the time it took for Umami to retrieve his camera.


Kelly needs to take some back to LA, so, just for her, two locations, both downtown.  Restaurant Row parking is much easier . . . 


Restaurant Row
500 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 4-B
Honolulu, HI 96813
808-536-CAKE
Monday-Friday  9-6
Saturday  10-5
Closed Sundays

Pioneer Plaza - Downtown
900 Fort Street Mall
Monday- Friday  9-4


Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Shopping Adventures

Just some odds and ends from the season's shopping:


First, breakfast at Panya Bakery.  This is the egg white omelette with turkey, provolone, green onions, mushrooms.  Comes with toast and fresh fruit.  Umami probably fouled up the healthiness of the endeavor by having a side of bacon, but it was early in the morning and he hadn't completely woken up.  But two cups of coffee (Illy) later, he's good to go!
Williams-Sonoma, for some reason, had a bunch of Star Wars themed cooking items.  Cookie cutters, pancake molds, cupcake decorating cuts, and this snazzy number, a Star Wars apron.  Black with title logo and character heads (Yoda, Storm Trooper, Darth Vader, Boba Fett) embroidered.  Very cool.  $29.95 adult size in store (might be cheaper on-line before shipping).
Also very cool, even if it's also a little silly, this Darth Vader spatula ($12).  There's also a stormtrooper one, but that might be for completists.
 So wrong, on so many levels, but, seriously, "Try Me!?"  At Sam Goody's, if you must.
Finally, this is an odd little shirt in the Hot Topic window.  Umami's not a huge Hello Kitty fan, but he is a fan of cheeseburgers and food comas.  ($22 online).

Panya Bakery, Bistro & Bar
(Facing upper level makai parking, Diamond Head of Longs)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Ala Moana Center, 2054B
Honolulu, HI 96814 USA
Phone #:808-946-6388
Fax #: 808-946-6988
M-Sat: 7:30am-10:00pm
Sun: 8:00am-8:00pm

For you Daniel Dae Kim Fans . . .

Here's a pic of Mr. Kim during a break in filming of "Hawaii 5-0."  He's standing in front of the "5-0 Headquarters" aka Aliʻiōlani Hale, current home of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Ward Warehouse: Butter Melter and Pa'ina Cafe

The Most Amusing Thing
Umami was being completely unproductive when Trish called to see if he was up for some Christmas shopping.  Well, Umami was game (and, also, hungry), so agreed to meet at the Ward Shops.

As it turned out, Trish had a very successful shopping run.  Umami, not so much, but he was at least amused.  And they got to try Pa'ina Cafe.

The Most Amusing Thing?  This "Microwavable Butter Melter" at Executive Chef.  The idea is, you put  butter, or chocolate, or some other meltable thing in it (ice, for example), put it in the microwave, and it will hold the melted end product.  Umami thinks:  Isn't the name misleading?  Because it's actually the microwave doing the melting, not the cup.  The packaging should say, "Microwave NOT Included."  Still, all kidding aside, it would be useful for anyone who doesn't have a Pyrex measuring cup . . .
Pa'ina Cafe:  Hawaiian Poke Bowl
Pa'ina Cafe is a small take out window near Town & Country Surf Shop at Ward Warehouse.  It does various sandwiches, plates, etc. but they are known for their poke bowls.  The bowls come with choice of rice (white or brown) and choice of poke (spicy ahi, shoyu ahi, hot shoyu ahi, limu ahi).  Umami, however, wasn't fooling around and therefore chose the Hawaiian Poke Bowl:  brown rice, kalua pig, lomi salmon and spicy ahi ($7.25).  Very generous amount of pig, not too much salt or juice.  Lomi salmon was very tasty and this batch was pretty salty.  The spicy ahi was not really that spicy, but had good chunks of fish.  The brown rice is actually really good with these mains, because it's earthier, like poi, in a way that white rice isn't.

There are healthier options.  The Roasted Veggie with Portabella sandwich is supposed to be very good.  Umami will have to try it next; actually, there are a lot of things Umami wants to try next!

Executive Chef
1050 Ala Moana Blvd.  #1560
Honolulu, HI  96814
808-596-2433


Pa'ina Cafe (Next to Town & Country Surf Shop)
1200 Ala Moana Blvd.  Store #24
Honolulu, HI  96814    
808-356-2829

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquors


Umami was killing time before dinner one evening and wandered into Tamura's.  Just to check out the wines and liquor selections.  It was an impressive array indeed.  But the best thing?  They sell Icees!

Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquors
3496 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu, HI  96816 
808-735-7100 

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Restaurant Week: JJ Bistro

It's Restaurant Week in Honolulu, but, alas, Umami hasn't made it to d.k. yet!    But he and Trish did go check out JJ Bistro and French Pastry, which was running a four course prix fixe for $24.70.  For that price, you get . . . 

Sweet pea soup with scallop.  Cute little bowl/mug of soup.  The soup was thinner than you would expect, but with a delicate pea flavor, with hints of butter, and a scallop.  As it turned out, one cute scallop per bowl/mug.
Choice of appetizer.  Trish and Umami normally coordinate their orders to get as many different dishes as possible, so this is appetizer #1 . . . manila clams.
Appetizer #2 was the Bake Lobster Avocado:  lobster on French bread croutons with a sauce that was almost a cross between a guacamole and salsa.  A little of the sauce went a long way for the lobster, plus some sprouts for crunch.  Good fun.
Seafood Brioche
Inside the Brioche
Entree #1:  Seafood stuffed Brioche, served with leek, Shiitake mushroom, red bell pepper in chef's special black pepper cream sauce.
Entree #2:  Baked Lamb Wellington:  Rack of lamb with bell pepper & Cheese wrapped in puff pastry, served with side pan seared potato and black pepper cream sauce.  This was an interesting dish.  Umami is not normally a lamb fan (because sometimes the taste can be a little strong), but couldn't resist.  It's a neat little dish, worth trying.  Oh, if ordering the restaurant week special, this entree costs $5 more.
Dessert Case
Now, the interesting thing for this special is that you get one dessert with the meal, and one to take home!  Though you can eat both there.   Plus, a little baby creme brulee as well.  So, doing the math, that's six desserts between Umami and Trish!
From left to right:  Iced Drop Framboise, Red Velvet Cake, Creme Brulee.

Sorry this is so dark!  From left to right:  Chestnut cake (very delicate chestnut flavor, reminded Umami of the chestnuts from Shirokiya), Chocolate Pyramid (intense dark chocolate flavor that was awesome with coffee . . . they also have mini pyramids ($1) and raspberry chocolate pyramids).
It was a veritable dessert fest!
The restaurant does a smaller scale prix fixe menu daily; it's worth checking out:  www.jjfrenchpastry.com.  It's always fun to try a lot of different things, and the Restaurant Week special is a great excuse to do so.  And . . . six desserts . . . !!  Check it out.   


JJ Bistro and French Pastry 
3447 Waialae Ave 
Honolulu, HI 96816 
Tel(808)739-0993
Fax(808)739-0991 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Restaurant Week!

Restaurant Week is back, November 15-21!  It's one week of special deals and menus at participating restaurants, with some of the proceeds going to support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific.  Umami went last year and is looking forward to this year!

Here's the link:  http://www.restaurantweekhawaii.com/About.aspx?c_id=1.  Check out the participating restaurants for the various deals.  Umami is very intriguted by this one, from d.k. Steak House:

APPETIZER:
PEPPER CRUSTED FRESH HAWAIIAN AHI NICOISE
With Nalo Farms baby Arugula, Ho Farms Tomatoes, Haricot Verts, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Quail Eggs
ENTRÉE – CHOICE OF:
“VINTAGE NATURAL” 22 oz. BONE IN RIB EYE STEAK CLASSICALLY AGED FOR 28 DAYS  (NO antibiotics, NO growth hormones, All Grass & Pineapple-fed, All Natural).  Accompanied with some specialty sides
POTATO AU GRATIN - Scallop potatoes topped with Maui Onions, Nalo Thyme & baked with Parmesan Cheese
ASPARAGUS MILINANESE - Steamed Wailua Asparagus topped with an “Over Easy” local farm egg, topped with Italian Bread Crumbs and Truffle Oil
OR
KING CRAB & DILL STUFFED FRESH CATCH OF THE DAY
With roasted Kobaocha and Garlic puree, sautéed Nalo garlic Swiss Chard in a Thai Lobster Cream sauce.
DESSERT:
THE CHOCOLATE BOMB
Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Semi-sweet Ganache & Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
COFFEE or TEA
All for $42 per person (Food Only)!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Curry Potatoes with Greek Yogurt and Dill


Diced some potatoes and onions, cooked with a little butter.  Added salt and curry powder (could have used a lot more salt, but then Umami has a bit of a salt tooth).  Mixed some dill into the yogurt and topped the potatoes.  The yogurt is a little sweet, so, definitely, more salt on the potatoes!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Cafe Europa: Napoleon


Puff pastry, frosting, confectioners sugar.  (This one was exceptionally puffy!)  Ms. D calls it "a little piece of heaven."

Cafe Europa
801 Alakea Street, Suite #101
Honolulu, HI 96813.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Umami on the Prowl: Doner Shack

Umami had seen the Doner (with an umlaut) Shack stand on Fort Street Mall before, but had never gotten around to trying it.  In fact, Dawn T tried it first and recommended it highly.   On this particular day (i.e., today), Umami was wandering about aimlessly at lunchtime when he suddenly found himself in the Doner (with an umlaut) Shack vicinity and decided, "why not?"  Let's be clear, though, it's not really a shack; it's more like a cart.

But what's a "doner?"  According to Wikipedia (which never lies), it's a middle eastern dish consisting of meat, usually lamb, roasted on a vertical spit, and sliced to order.  And, indeed, the Doner shack has two such spits, only with roast beef and chicken.  Umami opted for the BBQ Chicken Feta Doner ($6.75).  It's basically a large, Mediterranean style burrito, with roast chicken in a tortilla, with feta and BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a yogurt garlic sauce (essentially a tzatziki sauce).   Pepperoncinis are optional (but Umami recommends them highly).  Think gyro sandwich with BBQ chicken instead of the lamb, and you have it!  

The menu has a number of other options, including a veggie wrap, a sandwich, a rice plate, and a salad.  No fish though, but that's okay.  A number of different sauces are available too (Dawn T. recommends the hot sauce too, but Umami missed that, so he'll have to go back and try it again).   Umami is curious about the other choices but like the BBQ chicken w pepperoncinis so much he might be locked in!  All told, it's a very flavorful and surprisingly filling lunch!  Umami would go (back)!

Doner Shack
Corner of Pauahi and Fort Street Mall (next to Dreamers)
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Umami Goes Shopping: Spam Lite Single Pack

Ms. D and Makizushi scoffed when Umami said that Spam was sold in single serving packets.  "Ridonkulous!" they said!  "Balderschnitzel!" they cried!  But, Umami does not lie, for here, in Safeway Hawaii Kai was a 3 oz. Spam Lite Single Pack!  That's right, 3 oz. of salty goodness for only $1.79 Safeway Club Member Price.  Obviously you'd be better off just buying a can, but sometimes you just want one slice!  (Umami thinks if that's the case you might as well buy a spam musubi and score some rice and nori while you're at it, but that's just him!)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Umami on the Prowl: Rosarina Pizza

(This is for Jesse, who passes by Rosarina all the time . . . )

Umami's friend, Trish, has started a new job that is conveniently located near Chinatown, which makes it a lot easier to wander around for food.  On this particular day, Umami was craving some pizza and, since Trish had never been to Rosarina, they went there instead of J.J. Dolan's.

Rosarina is a very small restaurant, near the corner of Hotel and Maunakea . . . narrow storefront, maybe five tables inside.

Small Antipasto Salad

But the food is inexpensive and good.  Umami and Trish got out of there for under $20 and shared a small salad, two mini pizzas and a couple of sodas (Trish liked that they had root beer).

The small antipasto salad  ($4.75) has ham, cheese, salami, pepperoni, pickled celery, cauliflower, carrots, black olives, tomatoes, and onions.  So there lots of good stuff, and it's topped with a very good Italian dressing, more of an herbal vinaigrette.  It's used as the dressing for their sub sandwiches too.  The sub sandwiches are good deal too:  an 8" super (ham, salami, canadian bacon, pepperoni, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions) is only $5.45!
L:  Vegetarian Mini 8"    R:  Combination Mini 8"
The mini pizzas are perfect for one person.  Trish had the vegetarian ($5.75), with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, olives, and mushrooms.  Umami had the combination ($6.50), with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, black olives, cheese and extra cheese (that's what the menu says!  but it doesn't see excessively cheese-y at all).
Close up of Combination Mini 8
Umami likes these pizzas because they are very generous with the toppings.  The Combination is literally piled with the stuff.  The crust is also good, it's thicker than thin crust, but it's not overly bready.  Also, try pizza with Tabasco instead of red pepper flakes.  You get heat, but also a little zip of vinegar.

Working on this post has Umami getting hungry!  Maybe will have to make a run in to Rosarina again this week, maybe for a sandwich this time!


Rosarina Pizza
1111 Maunakea Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817
(808)533-6634
www.rosarinapizza.com

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Thrown Together Dinner

Umami is keeping tabs on the Hawaii - Nevada game (at the half, UH 17 - Nevada 0) and needs something to eat.  But there's not much in the fridge . . . must make do with the stuff at hand.
Sauteing Tofurky Italian Sausage ("with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil!") and some onions.
Scramble with two large eggs (and some extra egg-white-in-a-box that was in the fridge), top with cheese, and with what's left of some chipotle salsa.  Had to supplement with some enchilada sauce and some Brother Bru-Bru's African Hot Pepper Sauce ("All Natural No Added Salt!").
So odd!
Rolled it up burrito style in an Ezekiel 4:4 Sprouted Grain Tortilla. Umami really likes those tortillas!

Now fed and watered, Umami hopes that UH can put Nevada away and win the game!










Umami's Bosses' Day Lunch

Umami works in an office with the best staff in the world (and he's not just saying that because they read this blog)! For Bosses' Day, they took the attorney staff out to lunch to Hale Ikena ("House with a View"), which is a casual restaurant at Fort Shafter. It's run by the U.S. Army's Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.  For lunch, it does a pretty nice buffet . . . this is what we had:
Lunch Buffet includes Salad Bar, Soup of the day, Dinner Rolls, Baked Idaho Potato with Sour Cream, Crispy Bacon Bits, Chopped Chives or Green Onions and melted Cheddar Cheese.  Top off your buffet with Ice Cream Sundae Bar and the Chef’s selection of Fresh Fruits or Dessert
Friday 10/15/10
Taco Beef
Fajita Chicken
Spanish Rice/Refried Beans
Flour Tortilla and Taco Shell w/Condiments
Fajita Vegetables


The soup of the day was Tortilla Soup, very tasty bean and tortilla flavor.  Not too much heat, though.  For that, Umami had to go for the salads!



Clockwise from top, macaroni salad (under the bacon bits), potato salad (also under the bacon bits), a blob of sour cream (intended for the tacos . . .  it was easier to just spoon it out onto a plate than to spread it on a taco), spanish rice, jalapenos, and kim chee.  Umami was surprised that the kim chee actually had some heat!  And the jalapenos were also on the fiery side (sometimes they're almost sweet).  A happy accident also occurred when the sour cream got mixed into the potato salad and bacon; it was like a baked potato salad!


Underneath all of this lettuce are two chicken tacos, with refried beans, cheese, salsa, tomato, and onion.   It was an interesting buffet, since it everyone that goes through bottlenecks at the taco toppings.  Fortunately, our buffet captain, Lushus, let us go first, so the line was not bad at all!  It didn't look like a lot of food, but Umami was so full that he passed on dessert!

It was a fun lunch . . . good food and good company.  Only problem is:  how will we top this for Administrative Professionals' Day??

Hale Ikena
Bldg 711, Morton Drive
Fort Shafter, Hawaii 96858-5000
Telephone: (808) 438-6712









Thursday, October 14, 2010

Umami Tweets!

Yes, it's true, Umami broke down and signed up for Twitter!   There's a little widget to the left that shows the most recent activity.

Signing up was easy, and setting up to send tweets via mobile was fairly straightforward.

But, then, the fatigue caused by a long day set in, and Umami became convinced he could tweet and display pics.

Alas, not to be!  The best he can do is feed pics to Twitpics, which then posts a link to Twitter.  Not an ideal solution, but okay.

Will keep working on it.  Maybe missed something the first time around.  Maybe should just go to sleep!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Umami Goes Vegas (2010): Day 4: Serendipity 3

Serendipity 3 at Caesar's Palace is the Las Vegas branch of the famous New York eatery.   In Vegas, they're on the promenade in front of the hotel (not in the hotel) in a blazing pink awning-ed building.  That's why all Umami's Serendipity pics are bathed in this warm light.  Including this pic of their "Mr.  Reuben" ($15) Sandwich.  It's a large classic flavor corned beef reuben that didn't look all that big, but turned out to be a nap-inducing late lunch!  (and Umami definitely wanted fries with it!)
Asian chicken salad.  Honestly, can it really be called a salad if there's almost as much chicken as vegetables?  Umami's thinking that if that's the case, maybe there's room in the world for a turducken salad.  Hmm, must think on that . . .
For a lot of people, the whole point of going to Serendipity is to get their signature dessert, the "Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate" ($8 or so).  It's a slush that tastes like, wait for it, . . . hot chocolate!  Topped with a ton of whipped cream, and chocolate shavings.  This is awesome on a hot day in Vegas (i.e., everyday) and there's a take out window on the side of the restaurant facing the hotel, if you don't want to actually go in.  Even better, the Paris hotel, where Umami stayed, is part of the Harrah's hotel group, which gave a coupon book for some specials for deals at the hotels in the chain.  As it happens, Caesar's is part of the group, and the coupon is for a free Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate with purchase of an entree . . . so dessert was free!

And, after that dessert, a nap was definitely in order!

Serendipity 3 (Caesar's Palace)
3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las VegasNV 89109

(702) 731-7373

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Signature Chef's Food Festival


Umami's friend Lis's friend had two tickets to the Signature Chef's Food Festival that he couldn't use, so he gave them to Lis and Lis persuaded Umami into going.  The event is a benefit for the Honolulu Firefighters Foundation and is held at Hale Kinai Ahi, the Honolulu Fire Department HQ.  It turned out to be an excellent event for foodies, great food, not too large, perhaps maybe even a bit under the radar!


Umami got there a little late, so didn't try everything, but had plenty too eat anyway.  First up, this "Curry Tempura Lollipop Chicken with Macadamia Nut Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce" from Roy's.  It's a neat little presentation, with the meat of the chicken slid to one end of the bone, flattened so it stands up, breaded and deep fried.  The curry flavoring was very strong, and sauce more to the sweet side, as those sauces tend to be, at least to Umami's palate.



Next, a quick pass through the silent auction items.  Umami bought four tickets to the UH Women's WAC Home Season Opener.  The team is scrappy, the games are entertaining, the seats are general admission so you can get really good seats because the team does not draw (yet!), the beer is served in big cups, cold and reasonable, and the food is . . . appropriate to an arena setting.  Not all the concessions are opened for the Na Wahine games (one downside of low attendance), but there's enough to graze.

Speaking of grazing, we wandered back out for more food, making a beeline to the Honolulu Firefighters for their "Braised Beef Vygytal Melange on a bed of Japonica Rice with chilled Kartoffelsalat."  Translated, this is "Chief Tomita's Beef Stew with local style white rice (i.e., sticky, but not like Thai sticky rice), and Potato Salad."  It was so good, and we grazed through it so fast, Umami neglected to get a picture.  Maybe next time!


From "Beef Stew Bowl," we moved on to "Sustainable Catch Sushi with Soy and Sansho on Shiso Rice topped with Scallion Pesto and Pickled Green Papaya Ribbons" by the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College.  This was an amazing mix of flavors between the Shiso and the fish (which was beyond Umami's ability to identify).  The pickled green papaya basically functioned and tasted like gari, decorative, crunchy, and would have cut the heat of wasabi, if there had been any.  A very impressive dish.

3660 on  the Rise prepared "Braised Shortribs with Truffle Jus" which was good solid piece of beef and a strongly truffle flavored jus.  They had run out of mashed potatoes (one downside of being late) which was too bad for us, because it would have gone really well with the dish.



From the Sheraton Waikiki, "Kiawe Smoked Big Island Red Veal with Meyer Lemon & Tarragon Spaetzle, Kona Lobster, and Maui Goat Cheese."   Umami is struck by how lobster seems to be popping up in the sides to several of the dishes he's run across recently.  First, at Bouchon, and now in this dish and one other we didn't get a chance to try, the beachhouse at the moana's "Grilled Mongolian Flat Iron Steak with Molokai Sweet Potato and Lobster Corn Hash."

Umami's starting to believe that the way to eat lobster is as little chunks, with similarly sized chunks of vegetables (corn is ideal), pasta (tarragon spaetzle!), or rice.  A little goes a long way!

The veal was excellent.  It was a lot of red meat for Umami over the course of the evening though!



Finally, dessert (!), which was a coconut custard (very rich) on a coconut cookie (nice and chewy) topped with coconut macadamia brittle and coconut sorbet (delicately flavored . . . Umami was grateful that it was cold, because it was a warm evening!).  Umami's not positive, but he thinks this was from the Royal Hawaiian.

All in all, a good time!


The Signature Chef's Food Festival
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hale Kinai Ahi
636 South Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813


 

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Umami Went China I


Back in 2005, Umami went with his sister on the trip to adopt his niece.  It was quite the adventure!  Part of the fun, was trying Chinese-Chinese food, which is different from local Chinese food.  These little guys were the most fun food on the trip.   Basically, it's manapua dough shaped into little buns.   You can order the steamed or baked.   But when you get them together, they're "silver and gold buns."   Supposedly a special occasion type food.   Comes with a condensed milk and sugar glaze (at upper right), that finishes it off perfectly.  This was one of Susan's favorites too.   When we got back from Xi'an, we made a point of getting more of these--only the baked ones!   Umami had forgotten about these, but now is on the hunt for them again, so if anyone knows someplace that makes these here, please tell!

Lake View Hotel Nanchang
33 Hong Du North Big Road
Nanchang, Jiangxi, P. R. China