Pau hana, Sam Choy's and Bon dance

August 3, 2012

Aloha auinapo. (Good late night, after midnight)

What a day! I woke up and took a nice leisurely shower. Knowing that tonight was Pau Hana at Sam Choy's I knew I'd be at work late so I went in at 7:30. I spent the early morning doing a last quick check of the revised charts, tables and graphs and correcting any mistakes in formatting or spelling. I also added some color to them. Shortly thereafter Rose Marie returned! She has been gone for several weeks but today was her first day back. She is usually fairly soft spoken, very intelligent, and I really enjoy how she phrases things. She is a classy woman and reminds me of Shirley back home - a woman who just radiates class and an understated elegance. We both worked on our projects until Ann returned from her meeting downtown. We paused so  Ann and I briefly updated her on the status of the survey and DVFR (Rose Marie works on prevention of sexual assault) then we all immersed in work again.

Ann came in to discuss where to go for lunch. She had brought her car so Lisa came down the hall and we discussed lunch options. I hadn't realized how much time had passed. By this point I was starting to go through the report narrative and making the changes that the new tables, charts and graphs necessitated. Ann and Lisa decided on a place and we headed out to Tokkuri Tei. This is a Japansese gastro-pub type restaurant with sushi, rice and noodle dishes, pu pus (appetizers), tons of other food options and a HUGE alcohol selection.

 The menu is delightfully bizarre. For example the Bata Itame (sauteed in butter and seasoned with soy sauce) they have: Takol Imol (potato and octopus), Shimeji Bata (Shimeji mushroom), Popeye Bata (makes you strong!) (which is a joke regarding Popeye getting strong from eating spinach for those of you not familiar with the character Popeye), Aspara Bata (Fresh asparagus and pork), and Okra Bata (Nice and slimy). The words nice and slimy don't ever go together in my vocabulary regarding food but hey - it's cute. The entire menu is like this.

 The lunch specials, we didn't order any of these since we wanted to try a variety of pu pus (appetizers) and small items.

 This is Norichos. Nori that is coated in tempura batter and deep fried, then topped with diced tomatoes, scallions, microgreens, roe and drizzled with a shoyu sweet sauce and a tangy sauce. They were remarkably good and VERY unique!

 Agedashi tofu - deep fried tofu in a sweet fish broth called tentsuyo. It is topped with paper thin shreds of bonito. Now for the funny part. Ahem. Let me begin by saying I should have won an award for making A of myself. The server sat the bowl of agedashi tofu on the table and I think my jaw hit the table. The little shreds on the top looked like they were wiggling and waving! I immediately asked what in the world was moving on it. I think Ann and Lisa about fell out of their chairs laughing. Apparently bonito shreds are so then that when they are places on something hot and steamy they cause the shreds to react to the steam and heat by contracting and releasing, making them move. Since we don't use bonito shreds at home I certainly didn't know this but was glad they hadn't ordered tofu topped with worms. Once past my initial panic, I tried it and it was good. I'm not super fond of fried tofu but it had a good flavor. MUCH better than what we had an Genki Sushi.

 Oki yakima (no idea if I am spelling that correctly) - this is a finely diced squid pancake. Don't cringe. It is seriously very good. It has some sort of sauce on it and bonito shreds. Yes, they were wiggling. No, I didn't freak out this time. I was very pleasantly surised at how good it was.

 Spicy kori tofu - Fried tofu with mushrooms in a sweet chili sauce with a side of mixed green salad. This had a good flavor but I don't care for chunks of mushroom or fried tofu overly much.

 Ahi katsu - ahi coated with panko and fried also served with a side of greens. I am very fond of ahi and this was delicious. There was some sort of sauce on this but I also dipped it in shoyu (soy sauce). Very good.

 Shiso maki - diced pork and shiso made into thin spirals and skewered. These were SUPER good. I ate most of them.

 Salmon musubi - rice with I believe a little rice vinegar pressed around cooked salmon then a nori wrapper place on the outside. The nori allows you to hold it and eat it much like a sandwich. This was good but I was so full I couldn't eat much.

 Ann and Lisa, we had finished and we all had full bellies. Too bad we couldn't just go take a nap.

We went back to work and I spent the rest of the afternoon editing and writing new sections on the DVFR report. I had really gotten into it and was moving right along when Ann stopped by to say it was time to go! I wanted to get a bit more done so I stayed and worked while she ran her errands. She came back 30 minutes later to pick Lisa and I up. I had gotten to a better stopping point by then so that worked well.

We all went to Sam Choy's where we met up with Emily, Hiro, Barbara, Linda? and another lady whose name I cannot remember (sorry it is after midnight already). We nibbled half-price pu pus and I just had a soda. We talked and laughed and talked story about past events in our lives and just had a great time. Here we all are outside waiting for valet parking to bring the cars - it was packed!

Emily, Hiro and I left and went to pick up their friend Bryan. Hiro is Emily's boyfriend and works for the state in I believe Infectious Disease. Emily is an epidemiologist who is the PRAMS coordinator in Department of  Health Family Services Division. Bryan is an epidemiologist who works at Diamond Head Health Center which is I believe an STD clinic. Bryan just moved here from Louisiana (where Emily and Hiro went to grad school at Tulane). I am so happy to have met so many wonderful new people and learn about their experiences and talk story with them.

We then went to a Bon dance at University of Hawaii. I took lots of photos but I can't really explain any of them. A Bon dance is a Japanese ceremony to honor those who have departed. There is food, beverages and dancing. The dancing is a LOT of fun. The dances they did tonight are fairly simple and they repeat the music twice. Once so you can learn the dance and then a second time to hopefully perform it. It is sort of like Japanese line dancing, in a circle, in these kimono-like garments. It was a lot of fun and I want to go to more of these!

You buy scrip and make your purchases with those. Here is a menu to give you an idea how much things will cost to help you decide how much scrip to buy. As you can see, the food options are quite different from Kentucky!

I didn't try a kimono dog - I couldn't get past the image of eating Odie (the dachshund at home for those of you who don't know, his nickname is Schnouticus).

I tried a bite of mochi - it is kind of a gooey rice based dessert. I liked the texture but it doesn't have a lot of flavor by itself. It has flour on it to keep from sticking to the other pieces. Mochi is VERY popular here.

This is butter mochi - it tastes like sugar cookie dough!

This is konnyaku with miso sauce. It is kindof like chewy extra firm jello, with a miso sauce (fermented soybeans and shoyu). It was... interesting. I still can't decide if I did or didn't like it. I think it grows on you. I think i'd like it if I could keep trying it.

Okay, this was too cute to pass up. A make-it-yourself peanut butter and chocolate sandwich kit.

This is the Buddhist temple where they Bon dance was held. Also, photos of the shrine and some other carvings around the temple.

 Yes, this sign DOES say "Please do NOT touch food or leave food here".

 There is a water spigot here with a long handled dipper. You fill the dipper and pour water respectfully over the Budda's heads. It is part of the healing prayer listed on the sign below.

Bryan on the left, Emily in the center, and Hiro on the right.

 Me and the guys.

Me and Emily.

We left and walked back to the car while Emily told us stories of her family. They drove me home and we made plans to do breakfast in the morning. This whole day has been quite lovely and full of wonderful people, great food and amazing cultural experiences. I am so incredibly thankful to have these opportunities. It is very late now and Emily and Hiro will be picking me up at 8:30. So off to bed for me!

E pili mau na pomaika`i ia `oe, (May blessings ever be with you)
~Melissa