Good times at I Mua Lounge...

Good times at I Mua Lounge,

That's where a couple my friends and I hit up for some good food, good company and good laughs.  I'm more into the laid back on the downlow kind of fun, in comparison to my more "wilder" college days.  But ya, I Mua Lounge is the place to go if you just wanna go somewhere casual.  And if you're gonna order any food, you GOTTA order their pork chops, oh man, it's the bomb diggity to the max. 

The original crew was only three of us (my Zumba adventure buddies, if you've been following my blog) who ordered a double order of those killer pork chops and kalbi, which is a Korean-style bbq beef broke-yo-mouth dish.  As we were talking story and what not, a 4th person came to the table to cruise and talk story with us.  My friends knew him, and I didn't, but he was a hella cool cat.

Arthur is his name, but he goes by "Ata" which is more of the local way of pronouncing his name.  He's a make-up artist and one of the top notch dudes of his game in the 808.  He styles the reporters of Hawai'i's top television news station and has his own studio where he does his more regular clientele work.  He's also been hired as a stylist for Hawaii 5-0 and a number of other bunch of worthy gigs.  But man, he was hella funny.

But in our convo, he was sharing how he was kinda interested in the latest "urban" scene and how he really liked the art of this one dude "Woebots" and that he wanted a piece from him.  I started cracking up, "Dude, I know the guy and I totally follow the 'urban' art scene."  Ata, in his line of work, has met tons of movie stars and models, but when I told him that I knew who (Angry) Woebots was, it was like he was floored and star struck, lol.  I told him about my collection and showed pics of some of my pieces and what not and he was super interested. 

So I told Ata, "Wait, hold up, I have something for you."  So I went to my car and gave him one of my Woebots prints.  He couldn't believe it, he kept thanking me over and over again and I just cracked up.   My other friends were trippin too, but I dunno, it just felt like it was the right thing to do.  That's what I truly enjoy about the 'urban scene' because you meet tons of awesome people along the way, and this was another one of those positive moments.  And ya, sometimes you gotta just pay it forward and down the road the goodness will return back to you. 

I'm addicted to these goodies...

I'm addicted to these goodies,

I was first introduced to these mouth breaking spring rolls by my highschool buddy's wife's mom, I swear they are soo friggen good.  I've had my fair share of spring rolls from tons of different restaurants and parties, but these in particular are hands down the best. 
 
One day, my friend had a get together at his place, and his mother-in-law put a platter of these on the table.  She looked over and told me "Try these."  I quickly grabbed one and took a bite into it, omg, bomb diggity.  It was like my body had gone into a spring roll eating trance and kept eating one after the other.  I looked over to my friend's mother-in-law and said, "Is there crack or something in this, because these spring rolls are addicting!"  My friend and his wife were laughing their bootays off, lol.

If you've never had a spring roll, it's a beautiful tasty treat.  It's made up of a killer mixture of some kinda protein (chicken, pork and/or shrimp usually) and chopped up veggies.  The mixture is then wrapped up in a thinly rolled out flour-based sheet, rolled up and then fried to a crisp.  And then it's usually served with a sauce.  My friend's mother-in-law has a killer vinegarette, diced carrot, chili pepper, and patice (and I'm sure there's other goodies in it) sauce.  Oh man, orgasmic, lol.  So when I eat 'em, I like to wrap 'em in lettuce and somen (Japanese) noodles.  I swear it's heaven in your mouth!

But ya, my high school buddy and I are super good friends.  He got married to a wonderful person (cuz she keeps him in check) and eventually had children, and when they did, they gave me the honor of giving their two sons (and my godsons) their Hawaiian name, being the Hawaiian-speaking dude that I am.  It's a Hawaiian custom to throw a big party for a child's 1st birthday, so when the boys made one, my artsy side in me painted up these huge banners for each of them.

My friends were super grateful and wanted to pay me in cash for my work, I refused.  But what they did instead was pay me in spring rolls handmade by their mom.  Yessssss!  So to this day, when our schedules align and we meet up, they'll hook me up with these bad boys.

At our last get together (http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-day-for-great-cause.html), my friend's wife handed over a bag to me, and I didn't look in the bag until I was on the highway driving home.  When I looked in the bag they surprised and gifted me with two ziploc bags of spring rolls.  Oh man, I was in friggen heaven!  Because I haven't had 'em in such a long time, I polished off 12 spring rolls in one crack, haha.  Everytime I get these goodies, I swear, I'm one happy camper.

Good day for a great cause...

Today was a good day for a great cause,

I booked it on over into town to meet up with some high school classmates of mine to meet up, talk story and eat, and we did it all in the outdoor garden area at my friend's apartment.  (It's something we do once in a great while.)  It was pretty awesome.

It was a potluck shindig so I went to grab some fried noodles from good old Zippy's.  It was quite the adventure, before hitting up Zippy's I drove from place to place trying to find something to take for the potluck.  For one reason or  another nothing was working for me, either there was too many people waiting in line, restaurants that I thought were open were out of business or what they had to offer didn't sound appealing, so Zippy's it was.  Today was hella hot so I just had to hook myself up with an Icee, Pepsi and strawberry mix, yeaaah baby.

So I made it to my friend's place, and it was pretty cool.  We chilled in the garden area and looked at photos from our (much slimmer) high school days.  I also got to see my friend's crib, which he fixed up, pretty nice place I must say.  So when we booked it back down to the garden area, we met up with the gang.  I got to talk briefly with them and then I had to book it on out.  I wish I could've stayed longer, but that's what you get when you're Mr. Busybody.  It's all good, there will be more opportunities.  But ya, I got this killer shot in the garden area of my friend's place.

So after the shindig at my friend's place I drove over to grab my other friend and then we headed on over to the windward side.  Today there was a "I Heart Japan" fundraiser that took place, which was a Zumba, slash Kickboxing, slash Hip Hop two and a half booty workin' event, all for $10.  All of the proceeds went towards Japan and their very unfortunate situation that took place there.

At the "I Heart Japan" fundraiser, there was a (non-mandatory) dress code of wearing the colors red and/or white to kinda go with the theme of the event.  So I busted out my red Dickie's (oh yea baby) and threw on my "Aloha for Japan" shirt, so I was good to go.

So yup, there we were again, the "fly dancers" dancin' backup for my friend Mara.  (If many of you remember, we all did a very similar fundraiser a couple of weeks back. http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/zumba-dunny-and-haynmade-what-combo.html)  The only difference was, the stages were more stable and I didn't have that fear of falling between the stages "tectonic plates" cracks.  But ya, all in all we did a pretty good set in front of 150+ peopz.

After the workout, my friend and I booked it on over to get some grub, cuz we were hella starving, lol.  So we headed on over to Kailua Town Pub & Grill.  I ordered me my French onion soup and a club sandwich, my friend got her a pastrami melt sandwich.  Man, that was some good stuff.

And what's a meal without dessert?  Haha.  (I know we burned calories for nothing, lol.)  So we headed on over to Coldstone to have some icecream.  I had me my typical order of coffee icecream with malted powder and Kit Kat, in a waffle bowl oh yea baby.  My friend jus' had her some coffee icecream.  I was one happy dude.

Upon leaving I snapped a couple more pics...

And then there's pic at a fountain nearby...

I made state finals for the science fair Uncle HaynMade Part 2...

So tonight was the awards ceremony,

For the state finals for the science fair here in the 808, which was held at the Hawai'i Convention Center.  As many of you remember, I guided my niece and her partner in getting their presentation board ready (http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-made-state-finals-for-science-fair.html), and tonight was the awards night for all of the entries.  In a nutshell, she didn't place, lol, but that's okay, I was still proud of her accomplishment, being that she made it that far, that's commendable in my books.  So as usual, I seized the moment to snap some pics for memory's sake.

My niece's board...

And some other entries in my niece's bracket...

Also at the state finals for the science fair, there was an art competition for next year's science fair information booklet cover.  I must say, these kids have some ridiculous talent, you'll see what I mean.

1st place winner...

3rd place winner...

Honorable mention...

Another entry...

After the awards ceremony the family went to have some dinner together to celebrate my niece's accomplishment, so we head on over to Ricado's for some killer Italian food.

Two words...shrimp piccata...

Dim Sum, Dave's and Dunny Action...

It was a day of dimsum, Dave's and Dunny action,

My friend gave me a call after our tsunami surge session had ended, asking if I wanted to chow down on some dim sum.  For those of you unfamiliar with dim sum, it's these super delish (usually) steamed Chinese stuffed morsels.  They're filled with all kinds of stuff, depending on the type of dim sum you get, from pork, to chicken, to seafood and so forth.  Being that dim sum addict that I am, I couldn't pass the opportunity, so we hit it. I called my other good friend and we all booked it for Happy Day in town.  I really like their dim sum, lots of dim sum to choose from.  My absolute fav dim sum is Happy Day's har gau, which is a dim sum stuffed entirely with shrimp, hella good stuff.

One of my friends had to go into work (seriously, what boss calls in their employees on the day of a tsunami?) so we dropped him off and then we booked it to my other friend's husband's workplace to drop off some dim sum with him (which he really appreciated).  My friend was in cruise mode so we then hit it to a carwash, and I snapped this killer pic.

Before hittin' it at home, we hit it over to Dave's Icecream, as if the dim sum wasn't enough, haha.  But oh man, it was super good stuff, and I went home hella stuffed, good times.

Checkin' it out at Bishop Museum...

So today I went to check things out at Bishop Museum,

For  a poshy by invite only reception that I went to for a television station where we aired commercials for where I work.  I got there about an hour early, so I casually walked past the reception area and snuck my way into the museum's displays, lol.  Very recently the Bishop Museum had redone Hawai'i Hall, where a number of artifacts are currently up for display.  In the past the stuff they had for display were pretty drabby, and it remained like that from when I was a lil kid until my adulthood.  The museum made the smart move of bringing in a group of Hawaiian artists, educators (like my boss), and cultural practitioners to give Hawai'i Hall a facelift, and it sure paid off.  You gotta just see it for yourself, there's art done by Hawaiians, and the displays tell what I feel is a true story of our people.

The museum does come with its share of controversy, where they have in storage bones of our ancestors.  Why the controversy?  Well, many Hawaiians (like myself) believe that the bones (along with their noho pu or sacred belongings) of our ancestors or kupuna belong in the ground where they were buried.  That's why, when I'm long gone, I want my body to be cremated and thrown into the ocean, so that I can drift about and feed a school of fish which will feed a family.  I know, it's pretty profound and deep stuff, but I figure I share.

I then walked over to the exhibit museum area, and met up with this dude, for an upcoming dinosaur exhibit.

So after some "site exploration" at the museum's premises, I walked back over to the reception area.  I got my table # and walked over to sit down.  When I sat down, there was this guy and his wife sitting there.  So I sat down and started rappin' and jokin' around with 'em.  They were hella cool, and I introduced mysef.  To my surprise, he introduced himself as Kim Taylor Reece.  I was humbly blown away, cuz of the mere fact that he's a pretty popular photographer who's known (but not limited to) for his photos of Hawaiian women dancing hula, super cool guy.  You didn't hear this from me but I overheard a phone convo he was having with his agent about a lil camio appearance in Hawai'i 5-0 as a...photographer, lol.

Came time for lunch, I was hella happy, good old Hawaiian food from one of my favorite eateries, Highway Inn.  If you want some good Hawaiian food, that's the place to go to.  But ya, they catered this posh event I attended.  So for those of you who never had Hawaiian food before, here's your intro lesson.  At the back left of the plate is squid lu'au, which is made up of lu'au leaves which come from the leaves of the kalo or taro plant, mixed with coconut milk and squid, mmm, good stuff.  To the right of that is lomilomi salmon, which is made up of chopped tomatoes, salmon, onion and green onion.  Then there's a slice of pineapple.  To the front left is chicken long rice, which is made up of long rice, green onion, chicken and chicken broth.  To the right of that is kalua pig which is an underground smoked pork and next to that a healthy heaping of rice, no poi this time, but that's okay, it was still good.

Happy VDay peopz...

Happy VDay peopz!,

Man, it's been awhile since I've posted anything with more than a sentence.  It's been a crazy past several weeks with work, crazy man, crazy.  I've been hitting the sites that I often frequent to see what's been going on or droppin' a really quick post as a temporary escape from the madness.

Anyhow, today, I met up with some good friends of mine for a VDay celebration.  Today we hit up The Willow's, a local place to eat, mainly for their buffet.  Man, I'm so hella full, there was all kinds of food, from Japanese, to American to Hawaiian food.  It really made it difficult for me to go to work after, feeling all full to the brim. 

The first round was salad, which I made myself a caesar and somen combo.  Round two I hit up the mochiko chicken, round three was the Hawaiian food and the final round was dessert, complete with icecream, cheesecake, brownies and tiramisu...damn, I so super full.

But beyond the food, it was nice to sit with a group of people I respect talking stories and sharing laughs.  So ya, for all of you out there may it be that special someone, a close friend or a family relative or few, give 'em a hug and let 'em know how much you appreciate having them in your life.

Happy VDay peopz!

Blastin' into 2011, literally...

On the eve of the New Year,

We headed on over to my mom's again, this time to bring in the new year as a family, along with good friends.  As usual, it was a night of good times.  We spent the night talkin' story, sharing laughs and munchin' down on some serious grub.  As far as food goes, there was turkey, noodles, potato salad, char siu (sweet pork), chicken, sushi, shrimp cocktail, mashed potatoes, and ya, I think I got 'em all.  The ladies washed it all down with wine, my brother, the men, with beers, and the kiddies, my sister in law and me (being the non-alcoholic self that I am, haha), with some cokes and bottled water, haha.

After all of that, there was still dessert.  Yups, there was custard pie, strawberry shortcake, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and the two and a half gallons of icecream that I bought, which was an epic failure cuz it was all melted.  Haha, oh well, happens to the best of us.

Throughout the evening, my niece and my friends' son popped fireworks, and I stood there as the fire marshal making sure that my mom's crib wouldn't burn down to the ground.  The stuff they popped were legal fireworks, but where my mom lives, there was a whoooooole bunch of peopz blowin' up the "illegals" or "aerials", the kind you see at Disneyland.

The eve of 2010 marked the ending of popping fireworks in Hawaii.  From now on, popping fireworks is illegal.  That whole new law is irritating to me, much due to the fact that the ban was brought up by "concerned community members" which I theorize are transplants who move to Hawaii and have a hard time adjusting to local culture.  That strikes a huge nerve for me.  Ya in the past fireworks has torched homes, caused burns and what not.  (But hey, that's what you get when you play with fire right?)  Those were the very reasons that came to the table when the bill for the ban was first introduced, but the more bigger issue was because of the smoke and the noise.  You gotta be friggen kiddin' me.

The celebration of New Year's in Hawaii began with the Chinese, with the intention of warding off bad spirits and bringing in good energy.  Since then, it has become local culture in Hawaii, where families and friends come together, share food, pop fireworks and bring in the new year with your loved ones.  To me, THAT'S what's more important than the smoke and the noise that the "transplants" are grumbling about.  Can I get a witness in hea?  Haha.

But more concerning to me, is now there's law in Hawaii that puts a ban on people from practicing their culture.  So the Chinese (and others) are banned from popping fireworks.  What next?  A ban on pounding mochi?  A ban on fishing in our ocean?  Food for thought...

But back to positivity, I really did have an awesome time with my family and friends.  I must say, 2010 did have its bumpy roads, but it was overpowered by the many good times I had.  I'm super stoked that I've met people from across the globe in the urban collecting world, many of whom read my blog.  It's only been about three months and the blog has gotten over 1600 hits so far, that's pretty sick.  I'm super humble by that and much thanks to all of you out there, my fellow buddies.  I'm looking forward to 2011 for more positive memories.

Much aloha

Deja Vu...

So for Thanksgiving,

For the past several years I've been goin' over to my friends' place for a huge pig out sesh.  It's almost deja vu like when I went to my brother's place, TONS of food to eat.  There was all of the normal Thanksgiving dishes, ham, turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.  And then I was beckoned to make make my "ma'alahi stuffed shrimp" and my mudpie, two of my top two secret recipes, lol.  There was also noodles, string beans and bacon and macaroni and cheese.  My friend also gets into the festive spirit and makes these cheese and meats platters and relish trays, she cracks me up.  I for sure gained some major poundage.

 

Feastage with the family...

It was feastage night with the family,

Saturday evening my lil brother invited the family over for some potluck din din.  Since my brother has started a family, this year he wanted to take the reigns and do some serious family style cooking.  Both him and his wife made a majority of the grinez, turkey, ham, bisquits, mashed potatoes and corn, and my mom brought veggies, potato salad and pies, my sis brought noodles and I brought a huge bootay drum of icecream from Dave's.  We majorly feasted, and all in all it's always good to hang with the family.

Stop playing with your food HaynMade...

Momma always said,

Stop playing with your food.  I guess that artsy fartsy side in me could never resist, lol.  A fellow collector friend of mine hooked me up with some cupcakes from Cake Couture, damn, it's pretty good stuff.  But when I first opened the box, I thought to myself, "Hmm, these guys would look good with some of my figs."  And poof, here you go, lol...

Red Velvet (with a Luke Chueh Possessed figure)...

Pumpkin Creamcheese (with a Sam Flores Wyger figure)...

Mocha (with an Erick Scarecrow Soopa Maria figure)...

And Peanutbutter and Jelly (with a Mark Landwehr Paw figure)...

Thanks friend for fulfilling my sweet tooth!

Day 12, time to wrap it up...

So it was time to wrap one killer vaca in Cali,

So I spent the majority of the day packing up and kickn' back.  My friend picked me up and we headed to The Soup Plantation before heading to the airport, pretty killer place to go to if you want all you can eat soup, salad, etc.

It was time to say my goodbyes and wrap it all up so there I was at the airport.  My flight was delayed by an hour because Mr. Obama stopped by in California to do a rally speech at USC.

Made it on board and back to Hawaii safe and sound.  At least the airplane food this time wasn't too bad, ham sandwich and brownie, yum yum.

I gotta say, it was one solid trip got to make memories with my friends and their family, and meet up with my Cali friends, good times, good times.  So big thanks to my friends and their family for allowing me to travel with them and for staying at their folks' killer crib, thanks to my traveling Cali buddy for staying at her crib for the remainder of my stay, thanks to my Cali buddies and their awesome family for the grub, the vinyl figure and the Kikaida performance and a HUUUUUGE thank you to my Cali twin for taking me around and being an awesome hostess, I hope to be back up there soon.

Day 11, shoppin for the crib...

Before day 11's adventure,

Had to get some morning grub, this time, my friend took my to Dinah's, oh man, killer food there.  I had me steak and eggs and a Belgian waffle...

We then hit it to my fav place to shop for my crib, Ikea.  That place is the bomb diggity, super cool stuff, for good deals...

We did more shopping and then met up with another bunch of my Cali friends, and to no surprise, we ate again, lol.  This time it was at Lazy Dogs.  For pupu's we had nachos...

And for din din, I had this shrimp stir fry thing, pretty killerz...

We then headed back to my friends' crib and kicked back for a bit.  My friend and his son did a Kikaida performance for me and my other friend, sooooooooo awesome!  I swear I have the coolest buddies, lol.  (Thanks man for the figure, he'll look awesome with my collection!)

You would think that would be all for the day right?  Big negative, haha.  After cruisin with my friends, we then hit it to the nearby hometown aka Korean Town, aka K Town for some late night dessert.  The latest thing that's a craze in Cali are these food wagons, which serve anything from Korean kalbi tacos, to dim sam and the list goes on and on.  The one we went to, called Get Shaved, if I remember correctly serves shave ice, yup you heard it, shave ice Hawaii style with all of the flavors including li hing mui, haha awesome.

And another thing they make are these icecream sandwiches, oh man, it was sooooooo good.