loved this piece

If you have kids of your own or if you have children as guests in your restaurant this is soooo worth a read.

Harry Potter "uncovered"

Like many people in the world, I am a huge Harry Potter fan... and I can't wait for the July release of the last book. IN HP news today, as covered in Reuters; Final Harry Potter book covers revealed Personally I love the locket cover. and the countdown is truly on for the book and movie releases this summer.

YIKES!!!

After the movie supersize me... I have had more than grave concerns about Micky-D's... What exactly are we eating when we buy their food. One reason I know people like it is that it is always the same. you can go to a McDonalds anywhere in the world and it has the same taste... BUT today I found out something totally scary and weird. Take a look at this youtube video posted up on one of my favorite food blogs A HAMBURGER TODAY.

18 years!
unbelievable. :(

Adi back from hong kong

 

The Chef de Cuisine at the restaurant I run Fujimamas, was away with the Executive Chef/Owner Mark Vann doing a visiting chef gig in Hong Kong. He returned this week. This type of visit to other kitchens can really help chefs stay inspired, and in Adi's case, get real life experience of cooking in different locations, with different systems and guests etc. Someday I would love to go along and see what a trip like this is really like... not sure I would ever have a chance, but it would be fun to travel around and see how other kitchen and restaurant operations work. This is one area where chefs are a bit more lucky, traveling and being a visiting chef, or even line-cook is very common, but front of the house folks don't get the same kind of opportunities.

Anyway, good to have Adi back home.
And he says he will send me new food photos from the trip as well.

coffee or cake?

 

I can't remember if this is Coffee or Cake? (the names of the two goat-inhabitants of Fujifarms.) But I LOVE this shot. This post is by way of celebrating that we launched a new website for FUJIFARMS!

FF is a gorgeous little sustainable farm up in Waimea that supplies Huli Sue's and Fujimamas Kona with delicious lettuces, herbs, veggies and more! There are also 4 dogs, 3 sheep, and two goats who live on the farm.

You can read all about the farm on the new site.

afternoon treats from across the street

  near to our apartment there is a little co-op set up, restaurant, bar, shop and a bakery. I especially like the bakery, a few rosie cheeked young japanese folks seem to do all the work. Today while working at home I went out to get a treat for the hubby and me. This is kind of a mini chocolate bread stick. I tried the fig and caramel too. But I think the chocolate is more my speed.

Opatoka has breads, sandwiches and in the summer time various flavors of soft serve ice cream. It is too close to home to be good for my weight, but fun anyway. I do love to buy from small independent companies and can't understand why anyone would walk around the corner to buy bad fake bread at the 7Eleven when this place is right here!

just getting started

 

Cherry blossom season is upon us. Just getting started. the buds are ready to burst open. It was sunny and goregous today which should speed things along. We live along a very long stretch of cherry trees lining a small river/stream. Really beautiful and something we really look forward to every year. In the evenings the neighborhood is filled with strolling blossom viewing parties. And the HANAMI season traditions, food, wine, beer, and more food! Everyone puts on little impromptu spring parties with friends and co-workers. To see my photos from full bloom two years ago check out http://princessdirtball.blogspot.com/ more photos for sure from this year- coming soon.

one of my favorites

 Around the corner from Fujimamas where I work is what I think is one of the best thai restaurants in all of Tokyo. The place is called Kaffir Lime, it is small, cramped actually and I have NEVER had a bad meal there... ever.

This dish above is called a crispy fried egg salad. (this is half of it actually as the other half was on my husband's plate) it is spicy, sweet, sour, all at one time. And the fried egg is delicious.

We try many different things when we go there, but this one dish we always get- we always start with it, this and some thai steamed rice. We usually spend about 2500 yen a person for dinner there, sometimes more. But it is always worth it.

wine school #3 Lots of Fun!

 

Our third class in our Saturaday Wine School Series, yesterday, was a lot of fun. We sold out the class at 40 guests. The theme of class number three was "Rose- Think Pink" in honor of the budding cherry blossoms.

We tasted and discussed 5 wines, (4 rose and 1 sparkling blanc de noir.) One special treat was trying two very nice wines from Wolffer Estate and Comtesse Teresa from Long Island NY. Both wines were from small boutique wineries, handcrafted- and it showed. Other offereings were A to Z rose from Oregon and Ata Rangi Rose from New Zealand.

The basic structure of each class- a short overview on the topic, basic hits and tips on tasting, and then tasting through and discussing each wine. We finish up with delicious Asian Tapas from our menu at Fujimamas and some fun networking time for students.

Our next class will be "Drinking Green" focusing on Organic wines, and will be held on May 26th. Email us info@fujimamas.com to reserve, but if you are interested do it soon as we sell out early every time.

Thanks to all the Wine School attendees and regulars, as well as thanks to Jan Nelson from Orca International for teaching the classes with me.

Bee Season?

as you may know, in addition to being a foodie, I am interested in the politics of food, the slow food movement, and being aware of what big corp. business is doing that is bad for us all.

About two summers ago I started reading some pieces about the dying bees in the usa. California had lost so many that they were importing hives from florida to polinate their grape and other california cash crops. Odd? and worrisome! A fantastic illustration of the interconnectedness of life.

Now Germany too is losing their bee populations at catastrophic rates.

and some further indications that genetically modified agricultural products may be one of the causes. Read more here.

Skelpin

 
This week we had another one of our Fujimamas Music Nights, this time with an irish american band SKELPIN. They describe their music as Irish-Fusion. they were really great although the event ended up being much more stressful than I bargained for.

I started my day with a meeting with boss and chef owner, Mark- at 9:00 am and I was working till close at midnight in order to give my second in command a needed day off. Anyway, it was going to be a long day anyway, and then add in this...

The Band who asked to play, (they wanted to come to us!) was supposed to be set up and start playing on our second floor at 7:30 pm. Usually my bands arrive and set up an hour before... at 7 there was no band, 7:15 still no one, 7:30 NO ONE.... 8:00 NO ONE!!!!!!!! and the room was full of guests waiting to hear great irish music! I called and tried to find them to no avail. Finally got a friend of mine who knows them, and he told me that they had, unbeknowst to me, scheduled a show before mine and were probably running late.

Needless to say, when they showed up at 9pm !!!! I was pretty pissed. They were truly sorry, though i still can't understand why they didn't telephone. They apologized and played a fantastic set for us, basically for free- the guests loved it, and all was forgiven, so I guess it had a happy ending.

their music is fantastic and they are quite talented and nice. I would still recommend them in spite of my experience. And I think everyone had a good time.

Still- much more stress than i wanted or needed.

double decadence

 

Feeling like spoiling myself last night. Worked a long-ish brunch at Fujimamas and then headed home for dinner with my husband. There is a little Hawaiian place down the road. (a very tokyo version of Hawaiian) They have nice food, good clean atmosphere and great coffee. We split some Ahi Poke and then I had kalua pork and potato for dinner which I of course forgot to photograph- I have been such a bad food blogger lately. But then for dessert I remembered my camera was next to me.

I had the 100% Kona Coffee hot Mocha, and Chris and I split a HULA PIE, which is a very nice version of an icecream cake. All in all a tasty meal. I do like this place, it is called M&L Hawaiian Cafe. just down the street from our house. A nice connection to Hawaii while I am back in town in Tokyo.

Down front of Huli's

 

One of the first days we were open at the New restaurant Huli Sue's this nice man with a great bike came in for lunch! the photo op was too good to pass up. I also have a b/w version of this I am thinking of blowing up and framing.

It has been a busy busy 8 weeks. And soon I will be winging my way home to Tokyo. But i was thrilled to be a part of the opening of Huli Sue's!

my virtual me....

this was fun... picking and choosing and creating a virtual character to represent me... (you can't see it in this pose, but I am wearing bunny slippers!)

Huli Sue's Sandwich - totally YUM

 

well, we opened up the second hawaii restaurant a week and a half ago. It has been a bumpy, interesting and exciting ride. Everyone is a bit a tired but some new servers have been hired and the good news is the food is great.

This shot is not a great picture... but-it IS a great dish- it is the Smoked Pulled Meat Lunch Sandwich, served piled mile high with homemade onion rings, slaw, and hand cut fries. These french fries really remind me of festivals, or the Bloomsburg State Fair, back home They are DEEEE-LISH. Totally makes me feel like a kid again!
The rolls are also made fresh every day right in the Huli Sue's kitchen!

you can see the rest of the Huli Sue's Menu for dinner at HuliSues.com

an aside

one of my favorite beaches on the Big Island is the Hapuna Beach state park. It is a great beach when you are looking for the Iconic HAWAII BEACH, white sands, palm trees, lava cliffs shallow enough to get in and out easily and with waves enough on somedays for some body boarding.

It has nice facitilies, showers, a snack stand (with good pink lemonade) and just a fun place for families, for fun afternoons. There are beaches I like more for other reasons... But when I am just feeling like BEACH, I like hapuna.

time flies when you are having fun!

Time passes quickly these days. So much going on. not even time to pause and write about it. This photo is from a week ago, we did a catering at the DONKEY MILL ART CENTER in Holualoa in the mountains above Kona. It was a fundraising kick off event to start to build new classrooms etc at this very beautiful community art school and gallery.

There were 5 other catering or chef's tables there. Ours was lovely and simple but held it's own. We were serving Smoked Salmon tartar on crostini with tobiko, and Smoked pork on homemade tortillas with red pepper jelly. My catering partner was Masami and lovely German Japanese chef we brought here to Kona from our Tokyo Restaurant. The event started at around 4pm and went until about 8. We saw a lovely sunset. And we got rave reviews on our food. More pictures of the Fujimamas Catering Table here.

I loved the little town where the center is, lots of galleries, coffee shops and coffee farms. I wouldn't mind living there until we have something going in Hilo. some day!

The rest of last week until thurs. I was working at fujis in Kona then On THURS we FINALLY OFFICIALLY OPENED HULI SUE'S !!!! So the last three days have been a whirlwind of activity, customers, and trying to figure out some start up systems as we get going. The food is BBQ and some great Chef Mark Vann apps and grill items. Plus I really like the pork stew! (this photo gallery is from a tasting the week before we opened.)

More on all things Huli Sue's and Hawaii- as I have time.

thinking back to vienna

so just about two months ago- I was excitedly exploring and enjoying vienna and prague. this shot was from the MOST adorable bread stall in a christmas market in downtown vienna. What a wonderful experience. Now, with a little more distance from the whole thing I can say this was really really a happy discovery. Such a fun way to enjoy the christmas season, literally on every street corner and town square.

I really enjoyed the food, and especially the cafes/ coffee houses. What a fun pair of cities. I definately want to explore more holiday travel in the future. I also really want to take mom with us to vienna sometime in the future. My mom is a bigger christmas fan than me, and that is saying something. I know she would enjoy it.

So back to the food. Really- outside of the hotels we never had a bad meal. And the breakfasts at all our hotels were perfect. The food and the hot wine in the christmas markets was worth the whole trip. I highly recommend this kind of tour.

visiting the kona brewery

More food news from Kona, Hawaii.
I am still here working happily in our Kona Restaurant. (will be back in tokyo in a few weeks I think...)
Last week the owner of the Kona Brewery and restaurant came in to dinner at Fujimamas. We use Kona beer both here in Hawaii and at the home restaurant in Tokyo. Chatting with Mattson the owner was lovely and I am hoping that when he visits Tokyo in May we can do a beer and food pairing dinner.

So he invited Chris and I over to the Brewery restaurant. We went on Friday night, and were treated wonderfully by the staff. The place was packed. a Big Highlight of the experience is to be able to try a Kona Beer sampler. 4 small tasting glasses.

we had, from left to right above...
Kona Big Wave
A new Lillikoi (local passion fruit) beer
the Black Sands Porter
and
the Hefeweisen which had a little bit of banana taste YUM

I loved both the lillikoi and the hefeweisen!

The restaurant was nice. good outdoor seating. And the pizza was good. All in all a lovely evening.
I am looking forward to doing more with the Kona Beer folks in the future.

Dining over at the competition

So today, I have a cold.... which is no fun even in Hawaii. So I was laying low and taking it easy a bit. I had lunch over at the new restaurant Fish Hopper, down the street from our very own Fujimamas.

I tried their Fish Hopper combo.
here is the menu description....

Fish Hopper Combo 16.95 Fish of the day, jumbo shrimp, calamari with French fries, Island slaw.

it was a little pricey but basically fine. I was disappointed that they forgot my Island slaw... and when the waitress brought my meal she didn't say what kind of fish, or tell me anything about the dipping sauces. The food was fine. The fish and shrimp were much better than the calamari which was pretty tasteless. Great ocean views! really lovely,
and a nice space. But seemed un-inspired.

I think it would be fun for families and tourists. Staff kept the hall neat and clean.

But it just felt lacking... I wanted a bit more zing.

and 16.95 is a lot for lunch.

The company is very similar to ours. Family biz. only 2 restaurants so far. Seems like nice people, give to lots of charities and support sustainable fishing.

all in all a nice lunch, but I have to admit that my feeling when I left was that the experience was "lacking" there just wasn't the personality I was expecting. It felt a bit like a corp. chain even though it isn't...