E komo mai, e noho mai, e `ai a e, wala`au. (Come in, sit, eat and talk). I wanted to start that way this evening because I love being able to sit, eat and talk story with the people here. In many ways, this blog is the same. I get to sit, talk story, and share not only what I do, where I go and what I eat (and those around me eat) with whomever is reading this. Actually not knowing who you may be adds a bit of mystery. In fact, you may be no one at all and I am writing and talking to myself. The point of the blog is to recount my experiences and adventures here. I hope you enjoy but it is also so I don't forget. So let's talk story for today.
It rained last night. The walk to work this morning at 7 AM was cool and comfortable. The streets and sidewalks were wet but without puddles or mud. The flowers were wet but not drowned. The sky was slightly overcast which just made the bright colors of the flowers stand out even more. It was a bit surreal.
Walking in to work I encountered a co-worker and we chatted as I limped my way up the sidewalk and stairs. Right before going in I encountered the supervisor of Family planning, Candice. We were discussing a good time to meet when Ann arrived. We set an early morning meeting at 7:45. It was very productive and I gained a lot of useful suggestions. I returned to my office and e-mailed the list of suggestions to get input from Ann and Terri (the branch chief) and the folks at the meeting last Friday. Everyone agreed and I made the suggested changes. I had a quick 5 minute meeting with Terri to ask one quick question then finalized the last issue regarding what questions to include. I sent the final (hopefully????) draft out for any last edits for style, grammar, spacing, etc.
Meanwhile Ann had a bunch of things dropped on her plate. So she sent an e-mail saying the survey was mine to edit and tweak in these little details. So I was able to sit and look at the little detail editing suggestions that came in throughout the day.
Before lunch I was able to call and have a speakerphone conversation (which didn't bother Susan because she was out this morning) with Scott, Jeff and Rob while they opened the communal packages I sent home. The items for Debbie and my mother were included in the box to protect everything for shipping, so those will be sent on to Louisville Wednesday or Thursday. Everyone seemed to enjoy the items, especially the chocolate and toffee covered macadamia nuts. Also, the little monkey salt shaker was a hit. You turn his head so he smiles and you can dispense salt. Turn his head so he is sleeping and no salt comes out. I thought it was cute. Might go well in Rob's lunchbox or on someone's desk at work. It was a fun package to put together. Hopefully they (and the kids) liked the items.
Lunch was Pizza Hut delivered. They were quite late so we got $5 off. Not Hawaiian food but it was the first pizza I've had since I've been here. Half meat lovers and half supreme. It was a nice comfort food sort of lunch. I had to take a picture of the box. It has Hawaiian on it - Your Kama'aina Pizza Hut. That means basically Your local Pizza Hut... Lisa says it doesn't translate exactly but it is referring to the fact that it is special for locals. I thought it was neat so you have a photo. The pizza was good. Pizza Hut crust is very oily so I don't eat it more than about once a year. This was exactly the same as home. Nice to know a big chain like this is consistent.
For the afternoon I continued getting input on edits and am weighing those in my brain. Letting the suggestions percolate a bit. Shu was very helpful in some formatting suggestions. I should get the last of the suggestions in tomorrow and will made what I hope are the last of the edits. From there, the only changes would be IRB requirements or suggestions. Before I left Leonard (from Family Planning) stopped by and gave me a bag with some wonderful dragon's eyes. I have posted about them before. They are a fruit much like a lychee and are also called longans. I left them at work to enjoy more tomorrow.
After work I was wanting to go to Peggy's Picks. This is a local store that sells small items of jewelry, clothing, crafts and a variety of things not mass-produced from various countries and Hawaii. I thought I might find a few local or handmade gift items there. It was a super cool place. Honestly, I got so sucked in and enjoyed myself and forgot to take photos. No worries though because quite a few gifts that people will see will be coming from this shop. Kate, Jeff, Michael, Hunter, Alex, my mother, my sister Jacqueline, and little Samantha all got items from this store. I didn't know if Elijah would like any of these items but i have time to go back if I find out he might. I will only post pictures of these things if the people I mentioned specifically message, comment, text or in some way contact me to tell me I can. If they want their items to be a surprise then no pictures.
Lisa and Papa George drove me and looked around inside with me. Lisa helped me pick out a few of the items and we had an enjoyable time. After that Lisa offered to take me to Rainbow Drive-In (there are lots of links, you might want to look at more) to pick up dinner. I haven't been there yet and it is a local well-known spot I should try while I am here. It has been in business for over 50 years and run by the Lfuku family. The selection is HUGE. You walk up to the window, order and give your first name, then stand around or sit on some benches till they call you. Then you can leave or eat on the tables to the left in the covered portion. It is all open to the outside and very different from home. No roller skates, no delivery to your car or booths and jukebox music. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (DDD) with Guy Fieri did a segment on it. It was fun though.
They are known for their plate lunches (remember everything comes with rice and mac salad on a plate lunch). I have had a mix plate already elsewhere (fried ahi, bbq steak, fried chicken thigh) and that seemed like a lot of food. I got the loco moco which is also a favorite local dish. It is a scoop of rice flattened out, with 2 hamburger patties, 2 eggs (I got mine over medium), then topped with a brown onion gravy. Of course this comes with more scoops of rice and mac salad on the side. For $7.00. A TON of food. I also got a slush float which is a local thing - it is strawberry soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very good and very sweet! I couldn't even finish it. As you can see the loco moco is a ton of food, very fattening, lots of carbs and makes your waist expand and arteries harden just looking at it. I try not to think of the food touching. People here eat it by poking the eggs and aving the yolk run all over the burgers and rice and gravy, then forking a bit of all that and mac salad into your mouth in one big bite. I can't handle that. I eat rice, gravy and meat, sometimes with yolk. Eggs usually by themselves and mac salad by itself. Hey, i tried a bite of it all together before. I TRIED it, doesn't mean I have to continue to eat it that way! This is the first loco moco I have had of my own, though I had a bite of Lisa's one day at lunch.
Lisa was planning to eat at home with Wayne so ordered a side of mac salad to go with their dinner. Papa George wanted the chop steak plate with vegetables. It is more like what we call sirloin tips at home. It is grilled steak pieces but they have had a light teriyaki marinade. The grilled veggies were green peppers, onions and some asian veggies. He let me try a bit of the steak and it was ono! (delicious!)
Rainbow Drive-In also sells logo merchandise and gifts. While we were in line Papa George went and got me a Rainbow Drive-In bag. He is so sweet. I love this man :) Lisa is super lucky to have him as her dad!!!! He was showing me pictures of their trip to San Fransisco on his camera while we waited and on the trip back to my place. The world needs more people like Papa George!!!
So I got home and sat downstairs at the table to eat my huge amount of fattening, calorie ridden ono (delicious) food. Erin, Anna and Jen and 2 of their male friends (they are all NOAA interns) were down there hanging out and cooking. I chatted a bit with them while I ate. Then I dragged myself up the stairs and unpacked all my gift items and got ready for bed. It was still early but I wanted some time to sprawl and relax and do this blog entry.
I also borrowed a book from Ann's work shelf on Typhoid Mary. I had ready the Forward while waiting for Lisa to finish up work. It should be a GREAT book. It is Typhoid Mary by Anthony Bourdain (he has written many books and is on the travel channel). This is an urban historical novel about Mary Mallon. She was a poor, Irish woman who worked as a cook in New York. Cases of typhoid were breaking out and the public officials couldn't figure out why since they thought they had this disease under control. It was eventually traced back to Mary, who was infected and working as a cook for various families who were stricken with the disease. She earned the name Typhoid Mary and is a bit of a larger than life figure. Many people know this nickname but nothing about her or what really happened. There were only 33 documented cases and 3 deaths, though there were probably a few undocumented cases. This is no worse than some foodborne illness outbreaks but it was quite a story. Mary was ordered to no longer work as a cook and was detained. Since that was her only skill and way to make money she escaped, went into hiding and continued working as a cook to survive. She was eventually found and incarcerated in an asylum to protect the public from her disease spreading.
Many people have looked at this situation through the years from a variety of viewpoints. However this man, Anthony Bourdain, tells it from the view of a cook/chef. How in the world of kitchens (especially in this time when jobs were hard to come by for women and Irish female immigrants especially) being sick is no excuse to not be at work. A missed day of work often means the loss of the job for good. During this time when bacteria and microscopic organisms were more theory that fact for the populace there was no sympathy for domestic help who were ill missing work. Many times people didn't understand that these sick domestics could pass on these diseases if they were still able to function and felt ok to work (not half dead in the street). This book is a super quick read and I was hoping to finish it before bed tonight. I high recommend it and will probably have more comments tomorrow once I have finished the book. This is NOT fiction, it is based on facts and the only supposition are comments from the author regarding the attitudes and expectations of people towards cooks and domestic help that he researched, including some comparisons to his own experience in the culinary world. I want to finish it before stating whether I agree with that or not (purely historical with comments added). So far it is super witty and I love his comments and personal insights to the world of cooking. I was laughing in the office and probably read half the Forward aloud to Lisa before we left work. A good start :)
So I'm off to explore the adventures of a well-known nickname but also factually unknown woman in the United States during the last century. This reminds me of the book I read last summer The Life of Henrietta Lacks. Even people who have heard of HeLa cells may not have known WHO this woman was and why those cells were called what they were or why they became so famous. So I'm hoping to learn more of Mary Mallon and this story. It should be a delight.
E pili mau na pomaika`i ia `oe, (May blessings ever be with you)
~Melissa
You should read Kitchen Confidential - it's fantastic
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