MarkFromHawaii’s blog

Inspired by No Reservations - Osaka I've been wanting to try making homemade okonomiyaki ("Japanese pizza").  This dish is a favorite late-night snack or pupu made with a pancake batter, cabbage, various meats and other vegetables - all topped off with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.  I found a nice site with a recipe and step-by-step instructions with pictures so I finally decided to make it last night.  First step was to go to the Pearl City Don Quijote for ingredients.  The recipe calls for Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie) and okonomi sauce.  I also picked up the requisite head cabbage from Don Quijote.  It's very easy to make.

Ingredients for a large single serving:

1 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup water or water with dashi no moto (soup stock made with bonito)
1 t sugar
1/8 to 1/4 head cabbage finely shredded

Optional things to add:

chopped meats (I used roast pork and char siu that I bought from the chinese take out place in the food court by DQ)
sliced onion
chopped green onion
cheese
You can use your imagination here and add shrimp or fish cake, etc.

Toppings:

Japanese mayonnaise (actually Best Foods would've been fine)
Okonomiyaki sauce
Katsuobushi (shaved bonito flakes - I chose not to use this here)
Furikake (nori or dried seaweed flakes, sesame seeds, and other seasonings) 

For this type of cooking, preparation is eveything - slice the vegetables and meats and shred the cabbage first.  I'd also recommend sauteing the onions with a little salt and pepper.  If you are using raw meats or seafood I'd also recommend sauteing them as well.  Just be mindful of not overcooking so as they will be cooked further in the pancake.

Mix your wet ingredients (egg and water) and whisk into the flour.  Add the raw cabbage and mix.

Heat a large skillet or (as in my case) a griddle to medium-high heat with a little cooking oil.  Pour half the batter onto the heated griddle and then add your meats, other vegetables and cheese. 

 

Pour the rest of the batter over this.  Use the back of a large spoon  or a spatula to press everything down.  When the underside is cookied to golden brown, use 2 spatulas to flip the okonomiyaki over. 

For a large okonomiyaki, it may take two or more flips to fully cook the pancake.

 Slice and serve with the toppings.  I think Anthony Bourdain said it best:  "Served piping hot, it goes good with beer."  ...something like that. ;-)

Wow, haven't posted in a while.  I might as well just start with yesterday.  We had my Mom stay overnight with us and we took her to church.  My daughter and I have been practicing this tune "The Prayer" - the Hawaiian version - for a while.  Always the perfectionist, I've picked away at all the faults in the performance.  But the big picture is that it turned out alright.  I think that she'll really be ready in a couple years to sing this song properly.  But for now, I think she did pretty well.  And all the kind church Moms loved it.  You be the judge.  Oh, and Happy Mothers Day (belated as it may be). ;-)

 

Cub Scout Pack 322 spent this past President's Day weekend at Kualoa Regional Park.  As we're a very small pack, we invited Pack 75 and Boy Scout Troop 75 to the camp.  Through a lot of prayer and preparation, we managed to:

• Reserve Campsite A - the large site with the kitchen and pavillion
• Arrange for a canoe ride for the boys
• Get the Koolau District Order of the Arrow to perform the Arrow of Light bridging ceremony for our two Webelos

- all with the Lord's help.  He certainly blessed us because no one in our group got injured, the weather was beautiful, all the food preparation and cleanup was done without a hitch...  I mean, this outing was just perfect.  Thank you Lord!

This camp was especially meaningful to me.  You see, my son was one of the two Webelos who completed all his Cub Scout requirements for the Arrow of Light.  This also marks the beginning of the end of my tenure as Cub Master and Webelos Den Leader for Pack 322.  I will be helping out with the pack until the end of May, especially with the recruitment - Pack 322 is down to one lone boy and his Dad who has agreed to take over the reigns of the pack.  I would greatly covet your prayers for Pack 322 to survive and grow.  Otherwise, Pack 322 will have to shut down and that would indeed be a shame.

But I digress...  Now is not a time for nail biting and hand wringing, but to celebrate this great time that was had at Kualoa.  Enjoy!

 

The title sounds kind of mean-spirited but it's true.  My wife does so much for me and the kids and puts up with so much of my ...  stuff, that she really does deserve bigtime lavish treatment on Valentines Day and Mothers Day.  In the last couple years we've noticed that going out to eat on VD is just not worth it anymore.  First, if it's a weekday, we have to rush the kids off to a sitter and/or rush home from work (and everyone has the same idea, making traffic a nightmare).  If you're lucky enough to get reservations, you still have to wait for seating.  The service is usually poor due to the huge volume of customers and the food is usually not up to par.  Last year I had the brillant idea of ordering food from Golden Wheel, our favorite Chinese restaurant while I sat in traffic.  When I got to the restaurant I still had to wait about half an hour for my order.  Seems like a dozen other guys had the same brilliant idea.  Duoh!

So this year along with the dozen red roses, I decided to put my culinary skills to the test.  I bought a nice pork loin roast from Sam's Club last night.  I roasted it very simply and made a pan gravy for it.  To go with it, I made Rice-A-Roni (OK, someone I know is chiding me for this, but we actually like the stuff on occaision).  I also made a nice mocha chocolate-silk pie.  It's an adaption of Roy's Kona coffee white-chocolate silk tart.  For one thing, I think strong instant coffee works in a pinch (I used Member's Mark Columbian Instant - Sam's Club, remember?).  Also, my wife and I prefer "real" chocolate over white chocolate.  So anyway, here's the recipe with some anotations:

Roy's Kona Coffee White Chocolate Silk Tart

 

Servings: 8-10
8-10 prepared tart crust
or 1 prepared pie crust (I use one of those Oreo prepared crusts)

Kona Coffee Pudding:
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly pack
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 1/4 cups milk
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. + 1/4 cup extra strength Kona Coffee, brewed (here's where I use the instant stuff - just make it strong)
1 package powdered unflavored gelatin, about 2 1/2 tsp.
1/4 cup cornstarch, packed
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To Make the Pudding:
In a small medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the dark brown sugar and cook, stirring until melted and bubbly. Gradually add in the heavy cream and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the milk and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside until lukewarm.

To Make Gelatin Mixture:
Pour the 2 tablespoons of Kona Coffee into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top, do not stir. Set aside to let the gelatin bloom. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 cup Kona Coffee. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the pudding mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until the mixture thickens. Reduce the heat to low; stir briskly, and bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin mixture and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Pour into a prepared tart crust or piecrust. Cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

White Chocolate Silk
4 oz. white chocolate (I use bittersweet chocolate)
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

(I also mix in about 1/3 cup of Mounds sweetened coconut flakes)

Melt chocolate over a double boiler. In a mixing bowl beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the sugar and beat until pale white. Drizzle in white chocolate and add eggs one at a time. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes for each egg addition. Spread white chocolate filling over the top of the Kona Coffee pudding and allow to chill for 3 hours or until set.

Serve with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  ( I use the canned stuff and skip the shavings)

 

And if you're wondering, dinner was a smash. ;-)

 

I've decided to replace all the embeded players to the tunes with hyperlinks to the SoundClick page for each tune.  This is so my blog page loads faster.  A little housekeeping if you will.

I realize I haven't posted here in a while - been busy with work, family life, church and Cub Scouts.  Here in Hawai'i, this year sure has started off violently.  Two tragic tragic deaths that could've been avoided.  First Janel Tupuola, a lady who is trying to get her life back together gets hunted down and then (allegedly - I guess I have to use that word) clubbed to death by her ex-boyfriend.  Then poor little Cyrus Belt gets thrown over a freeway overpass walkway into traffic...  I'm still at a loss for words.  I mean, the alleged perp seems insane but apparently a druggie, so can this guy plead insanity, spend a little time in the State Hospital and then walk???  I dunno...  I know Jesus would say, forgive these guys and let God, the Father do the judging.  I'm having a hard time with this.  Sheesh.

OK, bad stuff out of the way...  My son is on his way to getting his Arrow of Light - WOOT!  Way to go son.  One more Webelos merit badge and he's there.  We're planning a crossover ceremony for our Cub Scout Pack's 2 Webelos II scouts during our family camp over Presidents Day weekend.  Being the Cub Master I gotta really hold in the tears, hehe.  It's been a LONG ride and I'm glad it's nearly over.  Still, I'll miss Cub Scouts. *sniff*

Speaking of Cub Scouts, I almost forgot that we visited the Pacific Aviation Museum and USS Bowfin this past Saturday.  We had a great time.

 

More meme stuff.  When I was on vacation I fooled around with more guitar backing tracks.  First off, here's a minor blues tune I've renamed MehLoveBlues.  Read the description on the SoundClick page for the story behind the title ;-)

MehLoveBlues

Still in a blues vein I decided to do a Gary Moorish treatment to this horn-backed track:

AKingsRansom

Nothing worse than a 49-year old guy trying to shred:

Mr. Squeally

Alrighty then:  From the basement to the penthouse - I actually wrote this schmaltzy tune for my company's Aloha United Way donation drive.  My wife's business partner at the time, Ruth Ann Fortuno, was kind enough to sing on this demo.  Truth be told, I liked this demo better than the final product.  The girl's got chops!

It's All About Love

Well, that's about it other than some mundane things.  Super Sunday this weekned - don't party to hard, har har and may God Bless!

Here's a Santana-ish guitar jam over a Latin rock backing track.  The guitar is a Floyd Rose Classic Strat with Duncan JB Jr. and Dimebucker pickups.  This recording was done with a close mic'd Vox AD30VT amp set to the Soldano model.

SuperAuNaturale

This one's a straight-ahead blues jam over a Stormy Monday blues backing track.  The guitar is a stock '62 RI Strat and the setup was again a close-mic'd Vox AD30VT set on the Boutique (Dumble) OD model.

NawOrleansSugarBowlBlues

Happy New Year!  Well the year started off on a little downer with the Univeristy of Hawai'i Warriors beaten soundly in the Sugar Bowl.  Hats off to the Univeristy of Georgia Bulldogs - they have a great, disciplined team.  Still, we Hawai'i fans are proud of our Warriors.  It's been a super season.

Woot - I'm on vacation!!!  I uploaded a few backing tracks and imported them into my Boss BR-1180CD digital multitrack recorder.  One of them is a smooth jazz track that I played over.  For gear heads, I plugged a '72 Gibson Les Paul Custom straight into the board with a COSM preamp setting on a modified "Heading Wes" plugin.  I threw about every George Benson cliche lick that I knew of in there...  A little busy but what the hey.  Hope you enjoy it.

Shmooooth

Well, it's that special time of year and I for one know how stressful it can be.  But when all is said and done, I hope you will find the joy that this season brings.  Here are a few Christmas tunes I've done recently and over the past couple of years as home projects that I hope you will enjoy.  Consider them as my gift to you.  May the Lord bless you and yours with health, peace and joy during this special time.

2007 Christmas Medley:  I did this classical guitar arrangement of "Away in a Manger", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", and "O Holy Night" as an offeratory piece at our church a couple of weeks ago.  Whew, talk about stress - but praise God, I was able to pull it off with His help.  I decided to record it - still a little rough around the edges but it is what it is:

2007 Christmas Medley 

Da kine Hawaiian:  I did this short tune a couple years ago.  It's the Hapa-Haole "A Christmas Luau".  Don't blame me if you start feeling ono for some Hawaiian kaukau. ;) 

Christmas Luau

 

Country-rock Christmas Praise:  Wha?  Yeah, it's true.  Maybe a little too much overzealous guitar riffage:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

 

OK one last one:  This is a home recording I did with my wife and daughter 2 years ago.  This is THE Hawaiian Christmas song:

Mele Kalikimaka

 

Well, as we say in Hawai'i, Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

Well today is the day of THE BIG GAME.  If the University of Hawai'i Warriors win against the University of Washington Huskies, a BCS bowl game is just about guaranteed.  So if you're a graduate of UH or just a fan of the Warriors, do you know our fight song?  No, it's not Hawaii Five-O!  Haha, it's the "Hawai'i Co-ed Fight Song":

University of Hawai'i Co-Ed Fight Song

Here's to our dear Hawai'i

Here's to our Green and White

Here's to our Alma Mater

Here's to the team with fight

Rah! Rah! Rah!

Here's to old Warriors calling

Here's to old battles won

Here's to Hawai'i's victory

Here's to each valiant son!

And now you can sing along:

 

Edited to add:  WE WON!!!! 12 and 0 baby!  We going to a BCS bowl!

I've been tagged by champuru to post this meme.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK, here is my weird stuff:

1.  I used to be a big-time Jasmine Trias fan and this really embarrassed my daughter.  I still support her but, I'm not quite as, errrr fanatical about it.

2.  Because I have rather short gray hair and wear glasses now, people are quite surprised when I can play a few Jimi Hendrix tunes.

3.  Then what really blows people's mind is when I'll start riffing out on some Pantera or Metallica.  Ehhh, that's all part of my sinful past.

4.  I keep my kids guessing by playing the "drill sergeant Dad" - using phrases like:  "You best move your rear into that car rikitick boy!"  or " Don't you eyeball me girl!"  or "Out of bed means feet ON THE DECK!  Now move, move, move!"  Pretty mean yeah?  And I was never in the service.

5.  One of my stress dreams is losing my teeth.  Quite a few times, I knew I was sleeping and would tell myself that the sensation of loose teeth in my mouth was just part of a dream.  Then I'd wake up in a start.  Spooky.

6.  Another stress dream - and a few colleagues at work have similar dreams - is that I'm back in college and am about to take a final for a class that I'm flunking and I haven't studied for the exam.  Usually I don't even remember what time the class starts.  Real spooky!

7.  Under this toughguy, geeky exterior lies the heart of a...

.

 

 

....baker.  Yes, I've been known to put together a pretty good chocolate kahlua macadamia nut pound cake with chocolate glaze or coconut crusted key lime pie. ;-)  Word to the wise:  Never try to whip eggs whites to a stiff peak on a rainy day.

 

 

Now for the tags:

HappySlip

april

auntiepupule

booyahman

carlos rull

dancingfly

lihingmars

Except for HappySlip, I don't really know these good people so hopefully they won't mind playing along with this.  So, uh, tag you're it.