Naginata test day.

Today was our  yearly Naginata testing day for rank.
Each school needs three eighth dans as judges to be able to hold tests.
Students who are third dan and above must go to Japan to be tested at one of the Seminars.

But we attend as support and help to those who are being tested.
Grant and Sharon will take the test, but Denise, Janie, Kathy and I can relax and help.

Getting in some practice before the test.
All seven did well!

Lucy! Soup tonight.

Lucy was such a cute puppy (she still is, at almost 2 years). She was the inspiration for M's choosing Penelope as her pet.

After Naginata practice, Penny got to meet Lucy again after quite a while.    Penny started out, as usual, barking up a storm, and was quite excited at meeting everyone.

Tonight is soup night.
Cooked some Sockeye Salmon filets and put them in a  soup of  Chicken broth (from a carton), baby bok choy, and cabbage and ginger.
Grandma told me how to make this!

It's good with a bowl of rice and Ume (pickled plum), especially since you can add the soup to the rice after you've eaten all the veggies and meat.
I also added some of Janie's kale.  They grow three kinds of kale from seed, and are so generous with their bounty.

Shimizu Voice, Kincaids

 Shimizu Voice studio, with Craig Sensei, and fellow student and friend, Yukie.
It was a tough, but fun lesson.  I used to think you just opened your mouth and out would come a song--if I thought about singing at all.  Well, well.  Speaking of starting from nothing.  It's amazing how Sensei has gotten me this far.

After our lessons, R and I went straight to the gym, but since there were no Zumba or any classes at that time, I just did the workout machines, which are not fun for me.

Happy Hour (3pm to 7 pm) at Kincaids.  That empty lot used to be Fisherman's Wharf, an old restaurant I remember as having a Pirate's Treasure Chest at the entrance for children.
Hope something interesting replaces it.

I tried a Vesper Martini.
Smoked salmon with chips.

'Teriyaki cubes over sushi rice.

Their delicious Key Lime Pie.

A tired out weiner dog after a long day at puppy day care.

Burger and cheesecake, yum. Maui.

R has karaoke with his friend tonight and they dine and sing.
So, I picked up something from Manoa SC's Fendu bakery for my dinner. 

Their ground Kobe beef sandwich is great!
Not a fan of cheesecake, I nonetheless was able to eat the whole Lilikoi cheesecake for dessert, and still want more.

Some beautiful photos sent from Maui.

The Jacaranda trees are in bloom in Kula!

Wailea shore

Penny/Pudge, Rokkaku

Morning "play" time.
Penny wants to be friends with Pudgie around his crab bag.

Birds are so territorial and Pudgie is all bird.
Luckily Penny is a gentle girl.

Our monthly lunch with Grandma,  Pat and May.
Usually it's at Michinoku but the owners are in Japan so we decided on Rokkaku at the Ala Moana SC.

The textile on the chairs has the sheen of soft velvety silk, but is vinyl.

May had a fresh Aji sashimi set.

R, the tonkatsu lover, had their pork tonkatsu.  The cheese in the center gives extra delicious calories.  The cabbage was finely cut.
In some Tonkatsu restaurants in Japan they keep bringing exta servings of  the airy cabbage which is so good and healthy with the fried tonkatsu.

Pat, the Hamachi Kama fan.

Grandma and I had the salmon which was really delicious-moist and tender and not too salty.

We've been coming here since they opened and only recently noticed the "Hamakatsu" added on to Rokkaku.
Hamakatsu is a 50 year old restaurant specializing in tonkatsu.

Kapalama, Utage, Elvin's Bakery, Ernest Pyle's grave

Today Linda took me on a drive into the older sections of Honolulu.
We passed Kapalama Canal in Kalihi and saw the line of tents of the homeless that was mentioned in the front page article of this morning's Star Advertiser, which dealt with the problem of  the rise of people living on the street.

We stopped in Kapalama SC to explore the stores there, one of which was Elvin's Bakery.

Beautiful cakes.
The Strawberry Shortcake
is supposed to be very good.

There is also a large number of Danish type pastries.   We bought Cinnamon Toasts and cookies.

So this is where Dairyu
moved to from Beretania St.

Part of their  menu in the window.
It is mainly a ramen place but also serves Japanese foods.

Then across the way to
Dillingham Square.
The character is "Utage" the
name of the Japanese and Okinawan restaurant where we
stopped to have lunch.

My Soki Soba (pork spareribs with Okinawan noodles) was  soo good.  The red ginger gave it a nice bite.

Linda's choice was the Shoyu Pork .
Both lunches came with salad, a drink, and  Cookies and Cream ice cream.
We met a couple of nice ladies seated next to us and chatted for two hours!

Later we drove to Punchbowl National Cemetery where the flowers are in bloom..

It was peaceful and not very crowded,  unlike last Saturday when there was a memorial ceremony for Ernest Pyle.

Gravestone of Ernest Pyle, Pulitzer Prize winning American war correspondent and journalist.

Plumeria trees

Fiery bougainvillea

Curds and Whey

         Since R went golfing with his friends today, I tried my hand at making some cottage cheese.  I found a recipe from Alton Brown on the internet which looked easy.

Heat half a gallon (I halved the recipe) of skim milk  to 120 degrees.

Remove from heat and add white vinegar.  It starts to curdle immediately but leave for 30 minutes.

Pour into a colander lined with a tea towel or very fine gauze.
Drain and rinse under cold water for 5 minutes, then squeeze out  until almost dry.
Add a little salt.

Curds and Whey.

I had some for my dessert, with a dollop of honey.  The recipe calls for adding heavy cream to give the curds more taste, but I didn't need any.
I enjoy the whey which is refreshing as it is, but it's good as a soup base too, among its other uses.

Penny is resentful because I gave her a bath.

Modern baseball's founder was our first fire chief

   Our Condo's security head,  who is interested in old graveyards, told us he saw a headstone in Oahu Cemetery with baseballs at its base and found out it belonged to Alexander Cartwright, founder of modern baseball.

  Now, I'm not a sportsperson, so I'm probably one of the few in Hawaii who didn't know he was buried here so we went to see it.

Oahu Cemetery is the first public cemetery in Honolulu, founded in 1844.  The first public crematorium in the islands was opened there in 1906.

It has old headstones, many dating  from the 1800's.

There it was. The grave of  Alexander Cartwright, who established 9 innings as a game and set bases 90 feet apart and 9 players as a team.
He brought baseball to California in 1849 and then to Hawaii, where he lived until he died in 1892.
He also served as Hawaii's first Fire Chief and was an advisor to Queen Emma.