Make New Friends but Keep the Old

Last night my friend Nely (who was also our wedding photographer, check out her stuff here) invited a bunch of us out to dinner at the Shabu Shabu House. Nely is visiting from San Diego for a bit so any chance to hang out with her is a cause for celebration (as if we needed one).

It was great being able to hang out with some of my old friends that I haven't seen in a while whilst eating some great thinly cut slices of meat. Shabu shabu is a style of cooking in which they set up pots of boiling water and give you trays of meats and vegetables. You then drop in your food and let it cook (my wife always complains when we go to places like this because she says if we're going to cook our own food we might as well just stayed home). But doesn't this look appetizing?

A plate of raw beef that my friend Stacia ordered





The Shabu Shabu pot in action

Apparently shabu shabu is supposed to be really healthy because all of the fat gets boiled off of the meat when it's cooking. But I would say the highlight of my night was just catching up with old friends (and listening to their laughter). Between Tisha and Nely's laughter I wasn't sure if the restaurant could handle. I started to ask for tape so I could tape the windows lest they whole store exploded! Seriously though, hearing and seeing some old friends was so great. I hope we can all do it again sometime.

Tisha, Erin and Rachel share a moment

My Newest Addiction

So I've always been addicted to reality TV (it started innocently with Survivor and spiraled downward from there) but recently I've found myself obsessing with a different animal, American's Best Dance Crew. Now, when I watch reality TV I can sometimes imagine myself doing what they're doing on TV. With Survivor, I could imagine myself on a deserted island with some of my closest friends (or enemies), with Top Chef, I could imagine myself cooking up a storm and so on and so on. The weird thing is with America's Best Dance Crew, I cannot, even in my wildest dreams, imagine myself moving like those guys. Maybe that's why I'm so enamored by them.

Unfortunately Kaba Modern didn't make it to the final two because they certainly deserved to be there. But here's a clip of their last dance.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Luckily one of my other favorite groups, the JabbaWockeeZ, did. Here's a clip of their interpretation of the history of Hip Hop. Their schtick is the masks and gloves (which I think they do very well). If you haven't voted yet you can go to mtv.com and do so. I think the final episode is tomorrow (unfortunately or fortunately, I'll be on Maui).

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

North Shore Musings

Mokolii Island aka Chinaman's Hat

A few weeks ago after church, my friend Tricia introduced me to a girl who had just moved to Hawaii from Dallas, Texas. Because she was new to the islands a bunch of us decided to head up to the North Shore and show her some sights.

The first place we stopped at was Kualoa Regional Park (although technically it's on the East Shore, it's on the way to the North Shore). Kualoa is easily recognizable by Mokolii Island or more commonly known as Chinaman's Hat.

While we were there, I'm not sure how, but the subject of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" came up. Now, I know there are some people who like to listen to songs and take them at face value. That's great. My friend Ruthy is one of them. She likes the song that tells of a nice dragon that frolicks in the land of Honah Lee. My other friend Kevin, on the other hand, likes to shatter images of nice dragons in the minds of those who like to listen to songs and take them at face value. Kevin informed Ruthy of a common interpretation of the song in which Peter, Paul and Mary are not singing an innocent song of dragons but instead they are singing about smoking a joint (you can read about it here). This is Ruthy's priceless reaction:

"Puff" is NOT really a magical dragon?

But anyway, we continued on to Waimea Bay and jumped off the rock. It's probably only a 25 foot jump, but for some it was enough to make them shake in their boots! Jasen, on the other hand, proceeded to launch himself off the rock and do some crazy poses. Although this one is a little blurry, you can see his superman pose.

Jasen's textbook suicide pose

And of course, what trip to the North Shore would be complete unless you had shave ice? Instead of going to the more famous Matsumoto's (which was closed), we went to Aoki's. Even though it was getting late and everyone was freezing from the beach. We all had to take part in this delicious dessert. If you've never had shave ice it is basically ice shaved with a blade from a block of ice (hence, the name). They then place it in a paper cone and add flavored syrup (I had the li hing mui, watermelon and lychee flavors). Sometimes they put azuki beans and ice cream on the bottom, but I opted not to have any of that. Overall, it was a beautiful weekend that I'm sure will be remembered by all. Join us on our next island adventure!

Jenny and Joy enjoy a refreshing shave ice!