Homemade

sunday dinner: pork lettuce wraps and teriyaki flank steak. the pork filling is made with ground pork, chicken breast, mushrooms, water chestnuts, round onions, garlic chives (from my garden), ginger and garlic with a sprinkling of flour, oyster sauce, shoyu and sugar. then fill in lettuce (from my garden). everyone thinks flank steak is very tough, but if cut against the grain at an angle, it's probably one of the softest pieces of meat without all the fat! soaked in a teriyaki sauce for a couple of hours then grilled. with the left over sauce, i boiled it for 10 minutes, then poured if over the grilled meat. it was yummy, lots of compliments. cheers!

Homemade

i wanted to make an appetizer to take to a friends house and decided on a firecracker salmon roll with sweet chili dipping sauce. dust strips of salmon with cajun spice and place in a lumpia wrapper shell with leaf lettuce, cilantro and nori. roll and tie the ends with green onions, then deep fry. this is a sure hit! i then attempted to make roasted corn, the one they sell at carnivals, stadiums and farmer's markets. to think we all pay $5 for each corn! don't think i'll be spending that kind of money anymore on roasted corn. it was to die for and i could make some serious money selling these! just grill fresh corn, butter it, then sprinkle garlic salt, cajun spice, parmesan cheese and drizzle kewpie (japanese) mayonnaise. there are other options for toppings, but that was all i had. enjoy my homemade cooking. cheers!

Homemade

as much as i like to go out to eat and try different foods, i do cook some delicious dishes. as a little girl, i used to watch my mom and grandma cook and when i moved to the mainland i really had to take those skills and transform them into my own. i still take into account the "taste" my mom and grandma had. i have made a mojo de ajo with salsa. you can grill any type of fish sprinkled with paprika and salt and pepper. sauce it with butter, garlic and lime juice and top it with salsa. thanks to a friend who catches fish on a regular basis, this was fresh ono! all the greens are from our garden (manoa lettuce, mizuna, mesculan green and swiss chard).

next is garlic butter clams with sake. next is chicken assagio. thanks to a friend of mine, i ate it at her house and loved it! believe it or not it is really easy to make. bottled roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, capers, olives, mushrooms and lots of wine!!! lastly, is the cioppino. i was inspired to make this since someone made it for me. it's an italian seafood soup/stew. a little time consuming, but well worth it, plus it also has lots of wine in it! normally it asks for lots of random seafood, but i only put in shrimp and crab legs. you can pretty much put in whatever vegetables hold well in soups. if you need recipes, i'll be glad to share them with you. although, a lot of people get discouraged cause i don't give measurements. as long as i have the ingredients i just figure it out and taste as i go till i think it tastes good. cheers!

Sabrina's

never been to italy and have always wanted to. and one day i will go there. i used to eat at this really good italian restaurant in del mar, ca and when i moved back to hawaii, i never new of a place that was authentic italian cooking. so many people told me about this place Sabrina's off waialae. and low and behold this place was awesome! the wait time for your meal is a good 45 minutes or so, but so worth the wait. they prepare each dish as it is ordered, it's byob and no corkage fee! we had the escargot in butter, garlic and parmesan cheese. this was once of the best escargot i've had. lots of garlic and lots of parmesan. eaten with the warm bread and i was in heaven. the kids had the meat sauce spaghetti, which was even better than those "other" restaurants. my husband had penne with vodka cream sauce, which was so delicious. tiny bits of prosciutto mixed in, perfect! but mine was the best dish of all, black squid ink pasta. it's one of their most ordered pasta. the red sauce was perfect, a little spice to it was perfect, the whole dish was perfect! we will definitely go back for more. 5 stars, fo sho! cheers!

Bubbies

this is my all time favorite ice cream parlor. it's been in existence ever since i can remember and i used to frequent this place while in college. they have the craziest names for their ice cream desserts like "eat my balls", "keep it up all night" and "come here little girl". yes, a bit over the edge and kinda creepy, but who cares when the ice cream is to die for? all the ice creams are homemade. creamy, but not rich. we ordered green tea, chocolate, cookies and cream and mint chip. all excellent choices! they also have ice cream cakes and their semi newest item is mochi ice cream. 5 stars, definitely. cheers!

Cafe Kaila

cafe kaila in market city. simple and delicious! great place for brunch. wait staff is attentive and they also give you subtle hints of what's good. as you wait for your table they gave us samples of their belgium waffles. crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. delisioso!! i ordered the turkey club and the waiter asked hot or cold and i had to think about it and he said get it hot. so i did, and glad i did! served with a green salad, the dressing was sorta like a sweet balsamic vinegarette. they put a slab of cranberry sauce which makes it all the better! the only thing is the melted cheese got a little hard towards the middle of my meal. my mom ordered a sausage, spinach omelette with their grilled potatoes. the omelette was like any other omelette, but the potatoes were super good! a little on the burnt side, which i like and just the right amount of herbs. not oily, just perfect! my sister had their famous pancakes with a side of bacon. it seemed like they used the same batter for the waffles, taste was the same. the pancakes are to die for! the outside was a little on the crisp side and the inside was soft. these are the best pancakes i have ever eaten. usually pancakes are just a soft, flat, round piece of cake per say, but this one was different, i now have a new respect for them! this place gets really crowded, however the wait time is not that bad. try it! 5 stars! cheers!