Lox of Bagels
on Nov 17, 2009 in Hawaii Tastes Good It's easy to overlook this place. I should also add that the exterior doesn't do Lox of Bagels justice. In most cities, a post about bagels would seem downright silly. After all, a number of well-known bagel shops, especially chains such as Einstein...

My First Newspaper Publication
on Aug 21, 2009Well, I finally got a piece of food writing published (not counting my short story about a guy who confused eating with love). For anyone who's interested, please have a look at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin website where it appears as a feature story.A...

Fifty Foods for Fifty Years: Commemorating Hawaii’s Statehood
on Jul 29, 2009 in Hawaii Tastes Good Food Essays Hawaii, nearly three thousand miles from the West Coast of the United States, became our country’s fiftieth state on August 21, 1959. Despite the intervening fifty years, much of the Islands’ culture remains unknown to mainlanders. This is partic...

36 Hours in Vung Tau, Vietnam
on Jun 20, 2009 in Vietnam Tastes Good Vung Tau Tastes Good Travel Writing After disappearing for a few weeks, I'm back. Well, sort of. I've been buried under various work- and writing-related commitments (i.e., teaching a new class, critiquing people's writing, freelance stuff, etc.), and I'm also trying to rewrite a 300-p...

Buri To Daikon No Nimono (Simmered Japanese Yellowtail and Daikon)
on May 22, 2009 in Recipes Recipes (Japanese) Japanese yellowtail (buri) and daikon simmered in mirin, soy sauce, sake, and sugar. The garnishings are Japanese parsley (mitsuba) and slivered ginger.After a bit of a hiatus from the blogosphere, which may be extended due to other commitments, I wa...

Okara Chicken
on May 12, 2009 in Recipes (Japanese) Homemade tofu and grated ginger with a side dish of okara chickenCooking with okara -- the pulpy byproduct of tofu and soy milk -- is a great way to make your meals more nutritious. Okara has been used in many Asian cuisines for centuries, and vegans...

Homemade Tofu, Soy Milk, and a Vietnamese Ginger-Tofu Dessert
on May 3, 2009 in Recipes (Vegetarian) Recipes Recipes (Vietnamese) Recipes (Japanese) In Honolulu, I regularly pay more than I can stand for 12 oz. blocks of tofu and half-gallon containers of soy milk. After tax, the former usually costs around $3 and the latter around $6. We easily go through this much tofu and soy milk in a week, w...

Coastal Foraging: Kaena State Park
on Apr 27, 2009 in Hawaii Tastes Good Foraging (Hawaii) Kaena Point TrailLast weekend, wanting a coastal hike that might yield some edible seaweed and a sea critter or two, my wife and I headed to Kaena State Park in northwest Oahu. It's a one hour drive from where we live, and the trail starts just past...

First-time Foraging: An Unplanned Attempt in Nuuanu Valley
on Apr 22, 2009 in Foraging (Hawaii) Sorry for the poor photo quality. That's what you get when you rely on a cell phone, I guess.This weekend my wife and I headed to Nuuanu Valley, just off the Pali Highway, to go hiking. The day was picture-perfect, and at 9:30 a.m. we couldn’t have...

Yakiudon (Udon served with stir-fried pork, kim chee, mushrooms, and chives)
on Apr 17, 2009 in Recipes (Japanese) I'm working on a number of different writing projects all at once, but until any of them are finished and ready to share, this will have to suffice.Here's another simple Japanese dish that uses udon (Japanese wheat flour noodles). While many non-Japa...