Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Honolulu's Chinatown

Our one day adventure in Honolulu last week included a brief visit to Chinatown, since the restaurant where we had planned to eat lunch, Soul de Cuba, was nearby.  See my previous entry.

Honolulu's Chinatown is a bustling little area with a historial designation smack-dab on the edge of downtown Honolulu. 

It is an exciting mixture of businesses, gift and art shops, bead and gem stores, eateries, restaurants, bars, food and flower vendors,  grocery stores and markets loaded with fresh produce, meat and fish markets and exotic food products.  The smells and sights and looking at many a building's facade will make you think you have been transported to a busy little street in any Asian country.  All within a 15 block -25 acre area!

The Bank of Hawaii makes a statement in this neighborhood with it's red columns and Asian architectural details. 

It takes time to walk the several neighborhoods in Chinatown,  and we usually love to stroll and take our time....unfortunately, on this trip we only had a couple of hours to spend there as we were flying back to the Big Island that afternoon and needed to make it to the airport in time to beat the 'after work' traffic.

A tiny little 'pagoda' style pergola graces the roof of this business building on Mauna Kea Street.

A vendor on the sidewalk had a display of narcissus.  The art of carving narcissus bulbs is an ancient and honored Chinese tradition.  Along with the Chinese New Year's festivities in February, there will probably be some narcissus bulb carving competitions and exhibits.

The colorful Mauna Kea building facade is just the entrance to a warren of many little shops, eateries and businesses built around a center courtyard.

The Asian Cultural Center on Beretania Street also houses many shops, jewelry stores, travel agents and restaurants, including a vegetarian and a dim-sum place!  A stage in the courtyard is the setting for many cultural events which are held throughout the year.

As we were waiting for our cab to take us back to the airport, someone from one of the restaurants in the area came out with a pail of watery leftover rice and dumped it into the street.... in less than a minute, every pigeon, dove and bird in the area got the message that dinner was served and flew in for the banquet!

As I was working with the photos I realized I didn't take any pictures of any of the food markets!  I will make it a priority project for our next trip to Honolulu's Chinatown.

Honolulu here we come!

Recently we needed to fly to Honolulu for doctor appointments.  It was just a day trip, but we wanted to cram as much as possible into our one day of "country come to town"

We were at the Hilo airport by 7 AM and our doctor appointments were later in the morning.  The flight is short and quite pleasant and I took several photos of our mountain volcanos as we flew by.

In the center is Mauna Kea, our tallest mountain volcano on the island of Hawaii at 13,792 feet elevation with Mauna Loa and Hualalai showing up on either side.

   

As we came in for a landing in Oahu, the entrance to Pearl Harbor could be seen from our side of the plane.

We had heard about Soul de Cuba Café, a Cuban restaurant that had opened on the edge of Chinatown last summer and we had made plans to visit it and eat lunch after our appointments.

   

The mamey and mango colored painted walls were covered with the owner’s family pictures and Cuban memorabilia such as cigar box lids and labels and framed covers of ‘back in the day’ popular magazines like Vanidades and Bohemia and other art work by a Miami based Cuban-American artist Luis Molina.

There were only two other patrons there when we arrived a few minutes before noon.  Ten to fifteen minutes later, the place was packed as people left their offices and places of business during their lunch hour.  We were congratulating ourselves on our perfect timing.

The food was wonderful and brought memories of home. You can take the Cuban out of Cuba but you can’t take Cuba out of the Cuban…..Black beans and rice, picadillo, ripe fried plantains and a Medianoche sandwich, loaded with ‘masitas de puerco’ delicious pork marinated in the most traditional Cuban mojo sauce, redolent of garlic, olive oil and lime!

Of course, we ordered dessert, though I wondered how we were to find room… Never fear! The plantain ice cream with a mango cream filled empanada on the side was too good to not gobble it up!

We walked all over Chinatown afterwards making sure we made several little rest stops, but that story will be my next entry.  For now, I will share photos of our leaving Oahu at the end of the day for the trip back to the Big Island.

 

The most incredible Honolulu farewell rainbow as we were leaving Oahu.

 

Diamond Head, at the end of Waikiki Beach, the most famous and recognized landmark in Oahu, bids us Aloha ... until we return. A hui hou, Honolulu!

      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

A little side trip

No matter where we have lived, we have always loved to play the game of "where does this road go".  Many years ago, when I first moved to this island, this was the first little side trip we took.

Recently we decided to again take this little drive on "the road less traveled".  In our area, it means the Old Mamalahoa Road, which takes some quirky twists and turns and regardless of where you are, its always picturesque.

We started our little drive just a mile north of us at the entrance of Kolekole Beach Park.  In a previous little trip of our area, I showed a couple of pictures taken at the park and it's also the location where we celebrated our Thanksgiving day.

Kolekole Stream looking upstream from the bridge

The kolekole Stream framed by one of the old bridge openings.   

As you drive north on the meandering road, you come to the little quaint and sleepy Village of Wailea.  Just beyond, in Hakalau, you resume again on Highway 19 for a little bit until you can pick up the old road again just north of the Hakalau Gulch where the World Botanical Garden is located in Umauma.

Not sure of what these are called, but assume is some type of agave.  These are on one side on the mauka (up mountain) perimeter of where the gardens start.  I just loved the shapes and silvery greenish color!

Right in front of the welcome center for the gardens, there is an old sugar cane road that takes you mauka (up mountain) past several old sugar cane fields....some like the one above are now pastures for grazing stock of cattle and horses.

Continuing on up the old road, you come to this majestic old bayan tree.  This is one of my favorite spots.....a very quiet and secluded area, next to the Umauma stream -above the falls area for which the World Botanical Gardens is best known - and where the road reaches it's end as it has been fenced out just beyond where the road crosses the stream.

The old banyan is just out of sight on the left handside of the above picture.   The road ends here, so you have to turn around and go back down the way you came up until you pick up the Old Mamalahoa Road again. in front of the gardens. 

 

The same Umauma stream, but lower down, where it meets the Old Mamalahoa Road going north.

Poinsettia "hedge" lines the front of  this beautiful white picket fence bordering on the old road...

Papaya tree on the edge of the road....loaded with 'mini' papayas.

Our little trip ended at the Waikaumalu Park, just south of the little village of Ninole, where you pick up Highway 19 again.  After this little trek, we decided to return home, since rain was starting to come down again.

The farthest north of this whole little side trip is no more than a 6 mile radius from our house.

 

"You Say Tomato"....Recipe Contest

Photo of Chef Alan Okuda, director of the Hawaii Community College (Hilo) food service program and Richard Ha, of the Hamakua Springs Country Farms holding a colorful selection of tomatoes grown by the Hamakua Springs Farms.

I have written about my friend Richard Ha and his wonderful tomatoes in the past and given you a couple of recipes I came up with using his tomatoes.  Here is the latest tomato happening and one in which I am pleased to be involved!

HAMAKUA SPRINGS ANNOUNCES ‘YOU SAY TOMATO’ RECIPE CONTEST

FOR HAWAII RESIDENTS ONLY

ENTRY DEADLINE JANUARY 31, 2007

HAMAKUA COAST, BIG ISLAND—Fried Green Tomatoes! Melt-in-Your-Mouth Marinara! Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Salsa! What’s your favorite tomato recipe?

   The Hamakua Springs “You Say Tomato” Recipe Contest is in search of the best tomato recipe in three categories: entrée, salad and preserves/condiments. Enter to win up to $350 in Makana Card gift certificates redeemable at statewide Foodland and Sack and Save supermarkets. Three prizes will be awarded in each category to total $2,700 in Makana gift certificates. The top three winners of each category earn a personal tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepeekeo; neighbor-island winners will receive complimentary airfare to the Big Island and ground transportation from Hilo Airport.

   Deadline for entry—submit as many recipes as you wish—is January 31, 2007 and complete instructions and rules are posted at www.hamakuasprings.com. The contest is open to Hawaii residents and ingredients must be readily available.

   "I think the contest is a fun way to not only promote our company and the products we produce, but to also bring attention to the Hilo Community College Culinary Program," says Richard Ha, president of Hamakua Springs Country Farms. “They do a terrific job educating our young people to become the next generation of chefs. I'm hopeful that when people visit our website to enter the tomato contest, they will also go to our blog, 'Ha Ha Ha,' and learn more about this excellent culinary program.”

   All submitted recipes will be prepared by Hilo Community College culinary students for sampling by a panel of judges: Marlene Hapai, UH Board of Regents East Hawaii; Rockne Freitas, Hawaii Community College chancellor; Joan Namkoong, food columnist and author; Audrey Wilson, Hawaii Tribune-Herald food writer; Randy Nunokawa, Hawaii Community College director of continuing education and Sonia Martinez, food writer and author.  Winners will be announced March 14 at Hamakua Springs’ blog site, Ha Ha Ha! and personally contacted via telephone.

   Entries can be submitted two ways: via email at contest@hamakuasprings.com or mailed to Hamakua Springs Recipe Contest, 421 Lama St., Hilo, HI 96720. Each entry must include your full name, address, daytime phone number and email address (if any). Indicate which category you are entering, the name of the recipe, ingredients used with exact U.S. measurements, how the recipe is prepared and the number of servings it makes. Submitted recipes must be original and previously unpublished.

   Hamakua Springs Country Farms has been in the banana business for 30 years and has expanded to research, develop, grow and sell—not only bananas—but also several varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and watercress. Led by Richard Ha, the family company practices sustainability at every level—from environmentally friendly hydroponic farming to going that extra step to receive coveted Food Safety Certification. Although the certification isn’t required, it ensures that employees have healthy working conditions and customers get not only excellent taste and consistency, but also the safest produce possible. For information, phone (808) 981-0805.