Tasting the Good Life

Tasting the good life.   Mmmmm.. delicious goodness of tea, ok, maybe the Lili'koi cake is what I'm thinking of since I didn't exactly have any tea at the Wai'oli Tea Room. :)

Yes, we're off exploring the town again - this time we headed off to the Wai'oli Historic Tea Room and Bakery in the Manoa Valley.  I had been to a tea room only once before, a bridal shower for my good friend Lindsey and it was quite an event.  

This tea room was open and welcoming - the food was delicious.  We were surrounded by beautiful flowering plants and green luscious trees and birds came and went all around us. Not like Hitchcock's "The Birds" or anything, it was nice is all I'm saying. :)

The building and interior were in great condition. The only things that gave away the age is the plaque here that says it was opened in 1922 and the menu's we received at our table - clearly from 1922 as they were tattered and dirty. :/

I ordered the Chicken curry over rice with strawberry lemonade. Nina enjoyed the English breakfast tea with quiche and salad.

Me with the beautiful trees on the left and long tea room on the right. 

This Lili'koi (passion fruit) cake was the highlight of our afternoon.  The cake wasn't rich, it was fresh and moist, just divine.  On the side there is pineapple and passion fruit syrup. Yum.

Valentines with Nature and the Descendants

Nina and I were driving past the Honolulu Academy of Arts the other night when Nina pointed out the structure that was being built out in front of the museum.  She thought it was a Patrick Dougherty project so we went home and looked it up and sure enough it was.  She was very excited because Patrick has built one of these near her home town and she just loves it.  We learned on the Museum's website that Patrick needs volunteers to help strip the twigs and help organize, we signed up right away. :)

Yesterday we went over from 1-4 to help in any way that we can.  We were sorting, stripping leaves, bundling, clipping off edges (on the actual structure), raking and cleaning up.  We had a great time and got to meet the artist himself. Something Nina and I both loved about him was that he was right there working along with us, including the clean up.  He's a humble man and that's cool.

Afterwards we walked home, up hill. We were exhausted so we decided it was about time we dove into the pool at our apt. complex. :) We're glad we did - it took us so long to get in there (we've been here 6 weeks) because its in a shaded area but to our pleasant surprise the pool was heated so it was perfect.

Afterwards we went off to see the Descendants.  My roommate had seen the movie and loved it.  We wanted to see if we recognized the sights and sure enough, we've been in some of the restaurants, we recognized the buildings from his office, when he's driving around town - we knew a lot of it.  :)

An inspiring quote...

A full 18 years ago on Valentine's Day seventy-four-year-old Dr. V inscribed this quote from Sri Aurobindo in his journal: "In me the spirit of immortal love stretches out its arms to embrace mankind. Imperfect is the joy not shared by all."

Where is everybody?

Its Saturday night and Nina and I are itching to go out dancing.   We've been here more than a month and its about time. :)

I had a late evening so I stayed in while Nina went to go check out a blues band at Wards Rafters tonight. There she met a few wonderful/colorful people who suggested Addiction Nightclub and Dukes.

I looked it up and found Addiction was a bar on the first level of the Modern Honolulu Hotel.  We arrived around 1030 and luckily found our way in via the lounge by following hotel patrons in through the back which helped us avoid paying the $20 cover/each. :)  We weren't planning on it - it just happened. :)

I wanted to take a pic of our first night out dancing but every time the flash would make Nina blink - it looks like we're having a great time though, no? :) Honestly we weren't, but we're good at taking happy pictures. :)

Turns out Addiction wasn't our type of crowd.  Young kids, electronic music and the artwork that kept circling on the screens were various artistic shots of naked women.  Its a man's world indeed. :/

At 1130 we decide its time to hightail it out of here and head to Dukes, further down in Waikiki.  Its a Saturday night and its nearly midnight, you would think the streets/bars would be busy, yeah? Wrong again. It was deserted as if it was cleared out for a movie. No cars on the streets and no people on the sidewalk.  A stark contrast from the day time hustle and bustle of hundreds of tourists walking all over.

By the time we got into Dukes (just about midnight) it was empty and dead. Literally, music had stopped, people were leaving and everyone was mellow - this was SATURDAY NIGHT in a major tourist town. Where are all the people???

Trip to the North Shore! :)

The north shore is just under an hour drive from our apartment in Honolulu. We decided to go check it out today. :)

On the way we decided to stop at the Dole Plantation and take the Pineapple Express :)

Only $8 for the ride, but $7 for us as showed our local id. :)
Now I need to go see the movie, "Pineapple Express"

On the tour we learned that the pineapples are handpicked and each plant is hand planted. A worker can plant up to 10000 in a day!

Stopped off for lunch at Jameson's and off to Sunset Beach to catch the awesome waves! :)

If you could only hear the sounds of the waves crashing.. music to my ears!

I can NOT imagine what may have been going through his head at that moment.

Another gorgeous day in Hawaii. :)

To see all the pics from today, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150575543897017.379916.749997016&type=1&l=1d4a0f048a


PS.  I'm going to do it. I'm going to start the catering biz. :)

An exciting day, indeed! :)

This morning started off in a rush. I had a job interview! Yay! Problem, it was 930, interview was at 10, all I needed to do was catch the bus because the interview was just down the street. Wrong! The street was yeah, just down the street from me, but the address to the location was all the way at the airport! Oh no! The closest bus will take nearly an hour to get me there. :( I called the potential employer, explained my mistake and apologized for the tardiness. They said it was no issue, they understand the bus and were ok with me arriving at 1020. Thank goodness.

I got in to the dealership (oh yes, forgot to mention, I was interviewing for the position of a warranty administrator - nothing fancy but hopefully pays well) and filled out my app and sat down with the op director.  Great interview, he was impressed with my work history and was eager for me to meet my potential supervisor. She was in one of their other offices, he had one of his employees drive me down to meet her - how awesome was that? I met with her and it went great - hopefully they extend an offer. First thing I did when I reached home was write out thank you cards for her and the director.

Next, I check my email and see that I received a response from the ad company who was looking for a voice over. They had placed an ad on craigslist looking for someone to read for a commercial. They gave a link to a youtube video of a sample of what they're looking for. I checked it out, called them up and left a vmail with a 30 second read from the back of "Infinite Vision" a book I'm currently reading. Apparently the liked it because the email today asked me to read the official script and give them 3 different readings. I recorded on my iphone and sent them off - I hope they like it. If I get the gig I would be beside myself - how cool to hear my voice on a commercial! :) (Just a tid bit - when I was younger, I wanted to be an airport announcer so I can hear my voice on the loudspeaker) :)

Anyhow.. it was a beautiful day so my roommate Nina and I decided to head out for a quick drive to Hawaii Kai. Its the ritzy part of Oahu. :)  We ended up at Miguelz - a new bar right on the harbor - the VIEW was amazing and I had to take a pic so I stepped out and took this shot:

Gorgeous, isn't it? *sigh* it never gets old. Its just wonderful. I mean, there are some views like this in California, but its cold/windy. Not here, the weather is just perfect.

Anyhow, after taking the pic I was headed back in when a few folks off to the left (who I assumed were also tourists and were probably thinking I was a dork for being so excited about the view and taking the pic and getting locked out of the bar and having to now walk ALL the way around the building to get back in :)) stopped me and asked if I was Indian.  It was so unexpected that it took a moment to process and I realized the 3 of them were also Indian. I was so excited, shaking hands with all of them and getting their names, I remember Mayank (or Maynak or Manyak or something like this) and Priya, but the tall one, I didn't quite catch his name as Priya was mentioning that he was a wrestler visiting from India who was here in the states to participate in the OLYMPIC TRIALS. What are the odds of that.. wow.. we talked for a bit, exchanged contact info, talked about Hawaii and the AMAZING weather and had to say goodbye. I didn't want to leave my roommie alone inside for too long. Anyhow, I was able to take a pic with the *will be famous someday* wrestler. :)

Not afraid...

So.. Nina (my roommate) and I were having dinner at Auntie Pasto's the other night contemplating what is to become of our future if we don't secure jobs soon.  Neither of us wanted to admit that we may not be able to stay but the job hunt has been grim thus far and we don't know when we'll get our break.

We both gave ourselves till March and made our way back home.  I couldn't sleep all night - I don't want to go back to Cali, I really want to stay and live here in Hawaii.  Starting my own biz will be great, but it will take time, and my family and friends are right, I really need a job.

Yesterday morning started great - I found a job on Craigslist for a Warranty Administrator for a high-end dealership. It sounded promising and they called me in for an interview to see me the next morn (today).

I couldn't be happier. But still.. I was worried.  As I was riding the bus home from Waikiki, I noticed the windshield wipers were going crazy on the bus, yikes, its pouring and I didn't bring an umbrella/jacket. I was unsure of what will happen, will it be safe? Its about a 1/2 mile walk home, will I get sick? Is it going to be slippery (we live uphill).. etc etc. Funny thing is, as soon as I stepped out into the storm, Eminem's voice started booming through my headphones - his song "Not Afraid" started playing just then. Here's the chorus of his song:

"I’m not afraid to take a stand
Everybody come take my hand
We’ll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just let you know that, you’re not alone
Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road"


Anyhow.. at that moment I knew everything was going to be ok.  I was going to find a job and I am going to make it. I'm not afraid. :)  As I was re-energizing my spirit listening to that song and thinking I need to stop second guessing myself and my choices, the next song came on: Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten.  Talk about songs that I needed to hear, right! The lyrics are:


"Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten"


I was literally walking home in the rain and feeling the bliss of excitement for the future and not knowing what tomorrow brings but no longer being afraid. Those songs were just what I needed to hear.  Wow - the lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes through itunes. :D

A walk to the top of Waikiki

The thing about Hawaii is that the weather is great at all hours of the day.  My roommate Nina and I decided to leave the house for a walk around 630 in the evening. We went down to Waikiki, and walked all along the strip.  It's like Vegas's main strip - lots of fancy shops and lots of tourists walking up and down the street. :)

Nina and I ended up at the "Top of Waikiki" a beautiful, classy revolving restaurant in the heart of Waikiki. Here's a photo from their site of the view:

Must meditate

I'm such a scatterbrain at the moment - so many ideas/thoughts are bombarding me on a continual basis.  I've been anything but productive in the past few weeks.  I must meditate so I can let my thoughts settle, only then I can figure out and listen to what my heart is truly yearning to do.

Since my last post of deciding to not pursue the restaurant/catering biz, I've been thinking about "do I/do I not?" and "why/why not", non-stop. Aye, its so frustrating.  My landlord had made the generous offer about having me cater a party for him and I was thinking "No" from the very first moment. Tell me why then did I just send an email thanking him for considering me, along with a sample menu and my availability.  Did I do it because I was afraid of saying no or was it because secretly I knew I could do it, and it would be great, and he and his guests would be happy and I wanted the satisfaction of knowing it was the food I had made?  I don't know what I want to do.  I was thinking to start an indian bangles/bracelets store down in Waikiki and perhaps spices too. Then I thought, what if people bought the spices but didn't know what to do with it? Well, then I would need to start a YouTube channel with videos showing them how to make some of my most favorite dishes.  That way I would hand them a recipe card with the link to the video and off they can go and recreate and be happy! :)

Hopefully, that's how it turns out.  Another thing is I'm not good with business matters. I'm not a sales person, I simply cannot sell. Back in my realtor days, I would actually convince people to not list their house and show houses but convince the buyer not to buy it.  Anyhow.. back to meditating. Yes, I need to.

Breakfast on the beach...

Blessed to be living this amazing life :)

First Friday's Downtown Honolulu

Prior to moving to Honolulu I had joined the "All Things Oahu" meetup group which is a great local and very active group.  My first event with them was attending the Lani M. show in Waikiki earlier in Jan.  Unfortunately, we arrived late that night so we missed meeting the group.

Last night was the First Friday "Pau Hana" happy hour event. I showed up right on time, 430 at Bar 35. :)  Checked out where we were to meet inside the bar and headed over with my pear cider in hand. "Hello, are you with the meetup group?" "No, we're here for the going away party." "Apologies... Hi, are you with the meetup group?"  "No."  "Apologies... Hello, are you by chance with the meetup group?" "No, its my going away party."  At this point I decided it was time to head back inside, grab a seat at the bar, finish my cider and join the art walk. :)  

At the bar I was completely fascinated by all the different types of beer they had and the shapes/labels they come with.

These bottles were just on my side. The other end of the bar had more/different selection. Crazy amounts of beer. :)

Anyhow, since it was a "First Friday" event, the bar started filling up. I started up a convo with the guy next to me (Max) re how the 3rd bottle second row looks like a batch of BBQ sauce and the 5th one in from the end on the first row looked like a medicine bottle (Red Stripe is apparently a very popular beer).  From then on craziness ensued. :) I met his friend Ray who's full of life and definitely a joy to be around and he brought his friend Dan. Then his friend Becca (who's birthday it was) joined us with her bf. Now its time for a round of shots for all. I rarely drink.  Max was drinking Southern Comfort so he bought us all shots of that and damn, it was good. :)

My shot is the one on the right, they had the bartender mix it with lime/lemon? and something- good stuff. :)

After a bit we walked around and came upon this group doing a Brazilian dance/fight - really good music and fun to watch. :)

Streets were closed off to the driving public. It was nice. Obviously great for downtown businesses.. thought it must be like feast or famine. They get practically no traffic all month long and then scramble to keep up on First Fridays.  Anyhow, all in all, a fun night. :) 

Yes! (pause.. reality sinks in...) uh, wait, I change my mind?!?

Last big idea was starting the restaurant, right? Well.. to start research on that I had contacted the commercial realtor. Received a call back and set up an appointment to meet and ask questions about starting a restaurant.  It was just my luck, I ended up speaking with a realtor who has been in the Hawaii Restaurant/Real Estate biz for over 30 years. He's not only a realtor, but also a restaurant consultant and a part owner in multiple local restaurants. If there was anyone who I needed to talk to about opening a restaurant, it was him. :)

I met him at Starbucks yesterday morning and he answered a whole multitude of questions and also provided some insights on things I hadn't even thought about.  I won't get into all the details, but basically, after I was done with the meeting, I realized I was way in over my head.  Restaurant biz, difficult I understood, but going at it solo is pretty much impossible.   I would need help, and money too, a lot of it.  So, my dreams of starting a restaurant are not totally unrealistic, just bad timing for now. I need to find a job/or start a biz where I can make $$ now.  With a restaurant, it will be months of prep (finding location/getting funding (loans), getting supplies, employees, etc., which is something I can return to later in the future. 

What to do now? With that thought I set off to Home Depot via the bus to buy drapes for my bedroom. :) The bus is great, but its also a time killer. My handy dandy iPhone says the bus will arrive at 315. Perfect, I reach the bus stop 10 min early.  315, no bus, instead I watch helplessly as not 2, 4, or even 8 - I watched 13 buses drive by that were "Not In Service". Finally at 343 I see my bus in the horizon, but he doesn't stop. As he's driving by I see he's at full capacity. :(  Eventually I catch a bus close to 4, get off downtown to change to a diff bus and reach home. *sigh* Oh well.. Its not like I have anything important, like a job to get to in time. Yet. :)

Ah, so yes, here's "uh wait, I change my mind" bit.  I reach home and my roommate tells me the landlord had called for me. Hmmm.. I wonder what's up?  I give him a call back and he tells me he wants to hire me for a catering job! YES! He says 25 people, Indian food (his daughter is going to India for a few weeks/month for a volunteer project).  At first, I'm beyond excited - my first "gig". If I can do this, he'll help spread the word. More people will find out and thus, more catering opportunities.

However, instead of jumping for joy, I felt like a bag of bricks (is that the right analogy?). Anyhow, what I mean is, I started thinking of what he wants, what I have, what I'd need to get, the time to do it, can I do it?, do I want to do it? Yikes, I was overwhelmed and all I could think of was, my boss was right. I cook because I love to. But now that "have to" is a part of the equation, all the excitement and joy is gone. Yikes! Thank goodness I found out now! Ha!  Time to call the landlord and say no can do (just being honest, I don't have the facility, the cookware, the serving dishes, etc. - this one gig (even if just to be polite) will cost me more than what its worth) so.. I'll offer to make some of my specialty "pakoras" as a gift and be done with it.  :)

On to the next project/idea...  There's lots of tourists, lots of wealthy tourists.. what kind of service/product can I provide that will involve them?  Or maybe not them, not the tourists, but perhaps the business clients that come to Oahu and are wined/dined/entertained.  I wonder if there are any casino party rentals in the area?  A great majority of the tourists are Asian - and everyone knows they love to gamble. :)  There's no legal gambling on the island, but what about casino parties?  They get all the fun of gambling even though there's no money involved.. I see a potential market/need. I'm going to explore it. :)

Door #4, please.

Sometimes decisions are easy to make.  There's usually a clear distinct answer, or rather 2 options that are clearly wrong which leaves you with your answer. But what if doors 1-3 are all wrong? Well, that's when you have to either look for door #4 in out of the ordinary places or create the door from scratch.

With the job situation not exactly going as planned/imagined, I'm definitely looking at some out of the box solutions to the slight "money needed to pay for the roof over my head" dilemma.  Not that I've stopped job hunting entirely, I'm just starting to look at some more entrepreneurial options.

I've loved to cook ever since my dad said one day, "Hey, this is even better than when your mom makes it!" My mom is a great cook. :)

I put a lot of love into everything I cook. Being able to feed a hungry stomach is such a blessing and it makes me happy. So, that first week when I moved to Hawaii and I had my first dinner party at the apartment and I made chicken curry, potato curry and fresh tortillas (lame, I know, I usually would have made 3-4 more dishes) but I had just moved in and needed groceries/dishes. Anyhow.. the food came out great and I was encouraged to start a restaurant.  The next week, after making several more dishes, my roommate insisted I look into possibly a food truck.  She had done this herself many many years ago. I started to think it would be possible for me to do this. There's a market definitely as there are very few (I think just 2 in Honolulu) Indian restaurants and I've heard they are pricey. I would cater to the students at the university or perhaps the military as they are usually diverse in nationality and option to different cuisines.

So, with the idea in my head, I started off doing my research. Called up the Dept of Health, asked tons and tons of questions and found out what exactly I would need to do to get started. My two largest hurdles: finding a catering truck and a commercial kitchen to cook from.  With a quick Craigslist search I found this:

 

 

Yeah, the Jammin Wagon.  I didn't exactly mind the name, I figured I'd be blasting my bhangra music anyhow, so the name did work. Though the interior needed a LOT of work.  The steps into the van were broken, there were propane tanks everywhere and they were NOT secure so it seemed like it could be a disaster waiting to happen. This beauty was for sale for $12k. What more, the seller was in a rush as he was headed back to the mainland within the week or 2 so he needed me to decide right away.

I figured it would be a lot of work to clean up, but that didn't scare me away. What did was the fact that this was a 1995 Diesel truck with more than 200k miles on it.  If I dropped what I had saved up thus far "my life savings" into this truck and have it turn out to be a dud in the near future would total bad news.  Plus the fact I was being rushed didn't set well with me. After hearing the opinions of my former bosses, I decided to move on.

Next idea.. skip the truck, go straight for a restaurant. :)  Today I called up a few commercial realtors and checked in re a few interesting properties I had walked by and found on the web. After all, running a small scale restaurant couldn't be too bad, right? Wrong! :) I found out quickly that the budget even for a dinky lil place was well over 100k - not my cup of tea (at the moment). So, on to the next idea. Ha, the wheels never stop turning. :)

So as of now, Tuesday (Jan 31) night at 11:15 pm, the idea that is brewing in my head is to start a small catering company.  I love to cook. People love to eat what I cook. There's a need and demand for good/quality Indian food in Honolulu.. so why not go to where the people are? Meaning, if someone was hosting a dinner party but didn't want to cook, I'd totally be happy to go to their place (take over their kitchen temporarily) and cook the whole authentic Indian meal there, either before or even while the guests were there.  I've done this before several times - as a gift. I'd ask what they wanted to eat (I'd prepare a menu for them to select from), buy all the ingredients, bring my pots and pans, and head over to their place and do all the cooking and cleaning right there. Always a joy, always a success.  So, why not as a business?? I'm thinking about it as I'm headed off to sleep. Tomorrow's task, find out from DOH, what would be needed to start such a biz, contact other "personal chefs/caterers" and pick their brains. :)  Good night.