Adventures in Lala Land!

I swear kimchi goes great with everything! This pizza is delicious, spicy and mouth watering! Cheese and kimchi are the perfect combination. Check out my video to see how it’s made.

Get the recipe at my other blog “Food La La”:

http://www.honolulupulse.com/food-drink/food-la-la-how-to-make-kimchee-pizza

In the words of my lyrical friend Toby Tamaye:

“Rice Rice Baby. Vanilla Rice Rice Baby.
All right stop, collaborate & listen.
Rice is back with a brand new invention.
Something grabs a hold of me tightly, flow like a musubi, daily & nightly.
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know.
Head to Magic Island and you’ll know.
To the extreme I eat the rice like a vandal
Head to the Rice Fest and eat as much rice as you can handle.”

There are two huge rice events going on this weekend!

Sake barrel opening ceremony at last year's Joy of Sake

This Friday September 9, 2011 is the Joy of Sake. It’s a celebration where you can eat delicious food from 15 restaurants and drink over 300 kinds of sake! Check out the restaurant and food details here: http://www.joyofsake.com/restaurants/restaurantsHON.htm

Rows and rows of sake

I am especially excited to try the Sauteed Escargot with Prawns in chili ginger sauce from Chai’s and the Char-Broiled Sake Kasu Marinated Black Cod on red bean rice cake and grilled green onion from Hoku’s. I’m drooling just thinking about them.
I’m glad they moved it indoors this year to the Sheraton and not the Academy of Arts again. Even though it’s beautiful at the Academy of Arts, it was way too hot and humid. Now at the Sheraton it will be nice and cool in the air conditioning!

This is one of my favorite events to attend and will be my 3^rd time going, so I will share some tips and advice:

• Make sure to eat all the food first (food runs out much faster than the sake)!
• Or you can have a friend watch your table while you grab all the food and bring it back to enjoy with some sake.
• Stick to the sake with the gold stars and the ones that you can only get in Japan! The gold stars are awarded to sake with the top scores annually by 10 judges from Japan and the U.S ( I want to know how I can get a job as a judge).

There’s no way to get through all 300 sake. Trust me, I’ve tried. Last year I got through about 55 of them and then it was all a blur.

When: Friday, September 9, 2011

Where: Sheraton Waikiki Hotel

2255 Kalakaua Avenue

Time: 7:00–9:30 p.m.

Cost: $80 per person

Buy Tickets Online or in person at The Sake Shop

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Then Saturday September 11, 2011 is the 2^nd annual Rice Festival at Magic Island!

There will be lots of rice dishes to eat, a spam musubi eating contest, “Rice-ipe” contest, celebrity cooking demonstrations, scavenger hunt and more! See event schedule here.

Rice Festival at Magic Island

10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ricefest?ref=ts

Looking forward to the weekend! Anyone going to these events? Make sure to say hi! I’ll be there taking lots of pictures and videos for my “Food La La” blog on Honolulu Pulse.

Today I went on a walk to reflect and contemplate life (haha lame attempt to sound poetic).

But really, walking is meditative. Usually, I walk up the mountain near my house to watch the sunset and get fresh air. There are lots of beautiful things to see and I constantly regret not bringing my camera. So this time, I brought my phone and snapped as many pictures as possible before my phone died (it was at 10%).

I climbed to the top of the mountain as fast as I could to sit and enjoy the view. It’s so beautiful watching the sunset from the same spot, yet it is always different. Different clouds, different lights, and different colors – it’s amazing what nature can create.

I also took pictures of my favorite garden up there. It has many different flowers and colors. My favorite is the lavender. Lavender feels romantic and has a fairytale feel. It also smells really good. I bought some recently for my garden. I want to try cooking chicken with it because it seems like a lighter version of rosemary. If it turns out well I’ll be sure to post pictures!

**I’ve been neglecting my website for too long but I will try to update more often! If you like food though (and alcohol!), check out my other blog ‘Food La La’ on Star Advertiser’s entertainment website Honolulu Pulse! http://www.honolulupulse.com/food-la-la . Oh and while you’re at it check out my videos too.  http://www.youtube.com/thelalalinzy Okay End of Plug =) **

I got the chance to talk with Nat Bletter — co founder of Madre Chocolate.  He shows the whole process of chocolate making in this video! It’s awesome because it’s locally made chocolate — even the cocoa beans they use are grown in Hawaii!

Check out my blog ‘Food La La’ on Honolulupulse for the whole story and review of their chocolate!

http://www.honolulupulse.com/food-drink/food-la-la-madre-chocolate

What an awesome party. Everything was pink! Lots of food — pizza, hot dogs and fries. Cotton candy and cotton candy drinks! The favorite of the night was the cotton candy vodka shot with pop rocks!

There was even a photobook area!

To see more pictures of the party check out the gallery on HonoluluPulse.

Recently, I started a cooking show with my friend Kelly Loui. So far we have 2 episodes up!

Episode 1: How to make Dukbokki

Episode 2: How to make Sweet and Savory Crepes

To get the recipe and see pictures of the food check out my blog ‘Food La La‘ on Honolulu Pulse.

http://www.honolulupulse.com/food-drink/food-la-la-how-to-make-dukbokki

http://www.honolulupulse.com/food-drink/food-la-la-making-crepes