Lovely people

Jay and Denise looking absolutely lovely for the gala American Patriot Award Dinner on Saturday, at Pearl Harbor.

Today, at CSWo, we were looking for a chest of drawers to replace our old one inside our closet, when we found, instead, my cousin Shirley and her son.

Has it been over a year since we last met?
How lucky I was to have been there at that particular time and place to be able to bump into her!

But we found our set of drawers at Inspiration on sale.
Of course, the price almost doubles when you add on the assembly and delivery fees.
Unfortunately, assembling 10 drawers is beyond our patience and skill, but we do save a lot if we pick them up at the store ourselves.  

Bye Christy

Penny, with a full tummy and tired after a day of separation anxiety issues and playing.

Today our naginata class was cut short as we headed to Manoa MacDonalds for a farewell snack for  Christy who is going away to study for her PhD.

We'll miss her, especially Janie and I who are her fellow students at Shimizu Voice Studio also.

Christy getting some "teacherly" advice from Sensei and Sempai.
Goodbye and enjoy your new experiences.

Sake Sampler at Tokoname

At Tokoname today, I tried the Mu Sake Sampler, with three different sakes: Mu, Katana, Snow Maiden.
I always order Katana whenever I want sake with my meal at Tokoname, but Mu and Snow Maiden are new to me.

Mu, a Junmai Daiginjo from Hyogo was so smooth, with a medium body.  It had the same sweetness as Katana, but more rounded.  (15.5% alcohol)

Katana, from Shizuoka is a Junmai Ginjo and is supposed to be extra dry, but I think it is a bit sweet.  (15.5% alcohol)

The cloudy Snow Maiden is a Junmai Nigori from Kyoto's Kizakura Sake brewery.  It reminded me of the Amazake served to children on Girl's Day, because it is unfiltered and has rice sediment floating in it to make it cloudy.  But it is 14.9 % alcohol.
Great dessert!

The sake was great with my Hamachi and Maguro sushi, and edamame chaser.  R had the Chirashi Sushi without shrimp and shellfish (allergies) but substituted with unagi, tako, and extra maguro.

Penny Pic

Flooring, Museum or Art, Farmers Market at Blaisdell

Today we went to look
at tiles and flooring.  The showroom was located across from
Kapalama Canal which was
cleared of the homeless tents along it's banks.

So many tiles and woods
to choose from.  Hmm, this
will take time.

Time for a cold snack at
Alana's Shaved Ice!

                                   A visit to the Honolulu Museum of Art.
                         We were happy that the first wednesday of each
                   month is free.            

Beautiful Golden Shower trees in the parking lot of the Museum of Art.  The petals fall and scatter in the wind, like sakura.

There was an interesting exhibit of Rodin's bronzes.

There was also an exhibit of works from local artists.

Some of the displays from the local Artists exhibit.

Kannon from the Buddhist Gallery

The second floor gallery has interesting works from Latin America and Africa.

 Take the time out to listen to the gurgling of the water in this Courtyard.  

Across the block at the Blaisdell Center, the Farmer's Market was underway so we made our way there for some food.

We found the Pig and the Lady booth of Vietnamese Street Food and ordered sandwiches.
Other booths were selling coffees, kombucha, and various delicious meals.

Shirokiya, City Mill

Today, we went to Shirokiya as soon as it opened at 9:30 a.m. to try to sell some of our books that we had bought in Japan.  There is a used book and DVD concession there.  

A made in Hawaii festival was being held and I found organic local grown ginger and turmeric chips, flavored with sugar and lemon juice.

While our books were being evaluated, we had coffee and  pastries from Brug, a bakery from Hokkaido.

                 Many of our books were not in good enough condition so we took them to Kaimuki Library.  The ladies at the Friends of the Library office there were welcoming and took all of our books.
But they will soon be moving to Halawa, which is farther away.

 Hopefully they will have a book drop area in Honolulu.
And Manoa Library also accepts donations.

We needed a Dolly to help us organize our storage space,  and found one that can hold 600 lbs. at City Mill.
It was fun and interesting to browse there.  So many useful items. 

And very friendly customer service.   Luckily he put the Dolly together for us because it was more complicated than it looked.
Thank you!

Naginata pups,Nico's, House W/O a Key, Manoa Library, Food Court

We have quite a few dog lovers in our Naginata group.

Gracie and Penny, the mini dachshunds .  Gracie has a sister named Lucy who is training to be a show dog.

Penelope, the pesky barker, with Gracie.

Kathy's Corgi, held by Denise.

And on Saturday we were introduced to Lacey's new puppy:

George, the little Corgi.

She was an instant hit - so friendly and quiet.
****
Kids are visiting so we took Penny and went to Nico's for dinner.

Even with a Prime Rib in front of her, and having spent the whole day at day care without food, Penny was a quiet, good girl throughout the meal.

The other good thing was Nico's Short Ribs, of course.

Before going to the airport this morning, we went to House Without a Key for breakfast.
We were pleasantly surprised at how the buffet has improved from a couple of months ago.  (So has the price, unfortunately).

The quinoa and olive salad, for instance, and the watermelon and tomato mix were fresh and tasty.
Even the little pancakes and waffles were fluffy and good.

After dropping M off at the airport we took some books to donate to Manoa Public Library.
It's tough to clean out our storage (our present project) and have to give up old books, but we need to make room for more things that will
 occupy their space and also be forgotten.

The librarians were friendly and helpful.

After all that cleaning and hauling, we were hot and wanted shaved ice!  Our favorite spot was closed on Mondays, so we ended up at the Food Court at the Mall.

It's been quite a while since we visited it.  After renovations, it's much brighter and more inviting.