Author Archives: Aunty

About Aunty

Aunty is a new senior citizen and loving this phase of her life. Less responsibilities, less fear of being weird, able to do more of the things that I want to do! Older, yes, slower, yes, but life is even more wonderful in my golden years and I look forward to even goldener ones.

Aunty is prezzed!

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2016-01-03_10-06-27Awhile back, Aunty spocked President Obama in a motorcade and this sparked a letter to him, which Aunty sent out to the White House.

It was sent to Washington, DC earlier in the year, and then forgotten.  Since then, a lot has happened and the political coocooness, stock market roller coaster moves, and life changes continue on.

Then, just the other day, a very nondescript pale green envelope came in the mail to Aunty, with the return address of “The White House, Washington, DC 20500”.  Aunty tossed it aside, thinking that it was a pitch by the Democratic party to vote/donate/get involved.

When Aunty finally got around to opening old mail to make sure nothing important was overlooked before trashing, guess who wrote to Aunty in that pale green envelope!?!  It was the President of the United States, thanking Aunty for writing!  And appreciating Aunty’s perspective!

Okay, it wasn’t hand written, and maybe it was just one of those standardized printed on White House stationery responses, but it gave Aunty a thrill and made her day!  So nice, Aunty feels so spaaaacial!

Here’s the letter, scanned and saved:

prez

Eat to starve cancer and obesity

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foodlistWhen Aunty was young, which seems eons ago, hardly anyone had cancer.  Now, it seems commonplace, heart breakingly commonplace, and too often – harsh and fatal.  We live in a different time, with different environmental factors as well as different lifestyles, and we need to take charge of our choices before it is too late.

This TED Ed talk by Dr. William Li of the Angiogenesis Foundation explains why and how we can eat common foods to beat cancer and obesity before it becomes symptomatic or a problem.  Please take 20 minutes to view and absorb this valuable lesson.  Meanwhile, please drink green tea, eat broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, garlic, red grapes, strawberries, and other yummy great foods.

 

Kahai Street Kitchen = Yum!!!

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Kahai StRemember the old Guri Guri place on the corner of King and Coolidge, then it was HK Drive Inn, then a couple of other places that didn’t make it?  It is located just past First Hawaiian Bank and across the Moiliili softball park.

Well, it is now the Kahai Street Kitchen, and the food is DA BOMB!  Prices are a little higher than regular plate lunches but it is like eating the top chef local food on styrofoam plates.

food

A late picture, after eating about half of the plate

Aunty asked a customer about the menu, and what was good.  She didn’t know but she got to sample the Braised Boneless Shortribs and said it was ono, so Aunty ordered that ($12.95) and the Grilled Marinated Chicken Provencal ($9.25), both with tossed greens rather than the traditional mac or potato salad.

O.M.G. both plates were superb!  Cooked to perfection, the shortribs couldn’t fall off the bone because it was boneless, but it was soft and the gravy was French-like, rich and flavorful.  The chicken was strange looking at first with stuff on top.  It looked like it wasn’t going to taste good, but BAM! da buggah was SO good, the white sauce was not too heavy, not too light, but just wonderful.

Aunty took pictures of the menu board and saw even more entrees that tempted – which means, gotta go back!  Maui Potato Chip Crusted Mahimahi, several ono sounding salads, hamburgers, 3 different kind loco moco, sandwiches, local mixed plate combos, something for every taste, from simple to fancy!  They are open Tuesday – Saturday from 10:30 – 7:30, with menu specials that change and tantalize.  Aunty, the takeout queen is SO happy to find this kitchen!

Update:  Aunty went AGAIN to try something else.  Boneless Kalbi Shortribs with Kim Chee ($11.95) – rather sweet, very soft, good quality beef, and Crab Crusted Mahimahi ($13.95) in a delicious white wine cream sauce, topped with plenty real crab mix!  It was really great food, though Aunty has rediscovered that she doesn’t really like crab – or maybe is used to the fake kind.  If you like crab, go for it because you will love it!

The folks there are also SO nice.  Aunty ordered 2 Korean Cobb Salads to go so she can act like she can cook to a gathering tonight, and they packed the hot stuff separate from the green stuff which Aunty will put together on a nice big platter and impress her friends.  All credit goes to Kahai Kitchen, but for just a little while, it will look like Aunty’s creation.

 

 

Take you back

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See you this Sunday?

See you this Sunday?

There is a song called the Molokai Slide with the lyrics, “Take me back, (take me back), back to da kine…..” that the following film reminded me of.  Nostalgia for those days gone by when Hawaii was more for real than now.

This was put together by a talented George Mihal (dunno who that is) and is actually color footage from 1959-1960, which is unusual for that time era since we didn’t even have color tv yet!

I kept imagining what I was doing or if I saw that parade or knew of anyone in the crowd.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old, growing up in Palolo and about 8 minutes in, a fantastic little local parade of monks and dressed up little kids and lots of Japanese people congregated for what looks like the grand opening of the new Palolo Hongwanji Temple – was I even there?  Maybe!  Maybe not. But that was kinda neat!

We lived in simpler times.  We did not have the opportunities then that we have now, but still, it was such a wonderful place to grow up with “the tropical moon and the lazy palm trees” and the smiles, the luaus by the sea, mo’ bettah da kine.

When you have about 20 minutes, try watch the video.  Let me know if you spock yourself in it or somebody you know. Some of those Palolo priests were super young looking back then, and now they must be kinda really old.

Please visit Honolulu Aunty at the Collectible Show!

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dressIt’s that time of year, and Aunty will have a booth again at the 26th annual Hawaii All-Collectors Show this coming Sunday, July 17, from 10:30 – 5:30.

Last year, KITV interviewed Aunty in her booth.  It was probably because of the hat and outfit – very vintage, very old school, very fun.

Aunty has to figure out how to fix this old cut silk velvet cheongsam (holes and tears) and glue some orange chicken feathers back onto this old hat (from Bailey’s Antiques in Kapahulu), because Aunty will be wearing this for the Show.

The fine folks at the show have a preview page at ukulele.com as well as a downloadable coupon for $1 off the $5 admission pm their show page.  It’s a great place to browse and shop, learn some history, and talk story.

Please visit Aunty in booth 219/142 and say “Aloha, howzit, whatevah!”

Why the Hydro Flask

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hydroflaskEVERYbody seems to have a Hydro Flask bottle.  Big ones, little ones, fat ones, skinny ones.  Aunty couldn’t understand what the hype was about and figured that it was just a fad.  Plus, they were rather pricey – $23 for the small ones and $30+ for the bigger ones!

Instead of a Hydro Flask, Aunty had a cute slim aluminum thermos looking bottle with a screw on lid and screw on cup.  This was taken to seminars and outings if water was needed and it served its purpose, though it would leak if it wasn’t upright (gross when it was in Aunty’s handbags) and ice water would cause it to sweat.

Truth to tell, Aunty thought the Hydro Flasks were not very stylish, and the colors were kinda ugly, BUT Aunty’s cool looking thermos was not doing its job and Aunty was getting tired of wet bag interiors.

So, like footwear, function and durability won out over looks, and Aunty bought a slim Hydro Flask that had a screw on cap with a hole for her finger to carry it around, in a zen green color.  It kept cold water cold, without leaking, at all!  Hmmm.  Aunty joined the Hydro Flask movement and the kids thought mom was cool.

After a few months, though, it seemed like the ice cold water would become warm before the day was up.  The youngest kid said to return it and get a new one.  Whaaatttt?  You sure?  Yep, for sure, and it was easy to do by registering and then letting them know wassup with the flask on their website.

Soon after, Aunty received an email from info@hydroflask.com.  This had instructions and a case number for the return.  Aunty carefully packed the zen green Hydro Flask in a box with paper padding after writing the case number on the bottle (with a Sharpie pen) and also requested any color if possible (zen green was not such a great color, in Aunty’s opinion).

Taking it to the post office for mailing, Dwayne (super nice counter clerk at the Kahala post office) weighed the box (over 13 ozs.) and suggested that I ship it without a box, making it much lighter and cheaper to mail.  Good idea, and rather surprising that this could be done!

A few days later, a box arrived for Aunty, with a spanking brand new Hydro Flask bottle, a new screw on cap, and in a nice bright kiwi green color!

Pretty neat, huh!  They have shown excellent customer service backing up an excellent product (kind of like the Apple Store).  Recently Aunty bought a short little silver looking Hydro Flask for cold water sips during the day.  It may not be stylish, but it IS cute!  Why Hydro Flask?  They made a believer and a loyal follower out of Aunty.

Cute funny

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Soooo cute! Very rare white lion cubs in the wild in Africa

Soooo cute! Very rare white lion cubs in the wild in Africa

Just for laughs

Teacher: “If I gave you 2 cats and another 2 cats and another 2, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “No, listen carefully … If I gave you two cats, and another two cats and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “Let me put it to you differently. If I gave you two apples, and another two apples and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Six.”
Teacher: “Good. Now if I gave you two cats, and another two cats and another two, how many would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven!”
Teacher: “Johnny, where in the heck do you get seven from?!”
Johnny: “Because I’ve already got a cat!”

(Aunty:  “Ha ha ha ha Ha!”)

Aunty’s computer posture – fix!

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Aunty’s posture has been deteriorating – maybe because of entering the older lady phase of life, but maybe not.

TaiChi is helping with balance.  Still, poor posture from sitting hours at the computer watching Korean dramas, blogging, inputting into Quickbooks, google searching, checking emails, etc. etc. etc. was taking its toll.  Playing Kuku-Kube (thanks or No thanks to Jalna, lol) has really made Aunty sit transfixed for hours staring at computer screens.

Along comes a good AND EASY way to reverse and overcome poor posture with 3 simple to do exercises.

1.  Maintain a tight core while walking or standing.  Suck in that gut and keep your ears above your shoulders.  (This makes clothing look great on us – especially that lumpy looking part under the boobs and above the waist.)

2.  Backwards arm rolls with palms facing up.  This one will really feel foreign – we don’t ever use this motion or direction, but it works!

3.  Elbow pushing on a wall.  Something like isometrics (remember those?) but easier.  It is hard for Aunty to relax her neck, but Aunty will learn.

Thanks to the folks at Easy Health Options for this link to Dr. Brett Cardonick’s video demonstrating the exercises:

Look good, feel good!  Or is it the other way around?

Make you KuKu

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One of Aunty’s favorite daily escapes is going over to Jalna’s blog and seeing wassup.  (see? Aunty can do hip talk too!)

Jalna’s latest is about her score on a game that Aunty got hooked on for the last hour or so, as evidenced by an overworked right hand and mouse and for some odd reason, a very exhausted and sore left arm.

It is called kuku kube – a game of color – lasting exactly 1 minute long, though it seems much faster.  You get a point for each correct choice, and wrong choices do not count against you.  Jalna’s score was 38, which Aunty considers super duper especially since Aunty’s initial scores were 24, 26, 27, 24.

Twice, Aunty reached an almost zen-like state of seeing what is different, and then scored much higher.

OMMMMMM to you!

Ahlin’s Thai Spicy Sauce

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Aunty’s friend Ahlin is a terrific cook.  Sometimes she makes Thai green curry, Pad Thai, green papaya salad, unreal pork chops, etc.  All unreal delicious.  What makes it all even better is that she shows Aunty how to cook, several times.

Since Aunty is a slow learner in the kitchen (actually, Aunty is a take out queen of the highest degree), a video was made, and Joe Young at the Apple Store taught Aunty how to edit it with iMovie on her iPhone.  Mahalo to Ahlin and Joe – after you make this sauce for yourself, you will be SO happy, especially your happy mouth and taste buds!

Ahlin’s Thai Spicy Sauce

About 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 or 2 fresh Hawaiian chilis, minced
3 TBS rice vinegar
5 TBS fish sauce
1 TBS brown sugar
fresh lemon, to taste

Mince garlic and chilis, add to a dish or bowl.
Combine rice vinegar, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a small sauce pot.
Heat up the mixture (do not boil) until the sugar is dissolved.  Taste and adjust.
Add the hot liquid mixture into the bowl with the garlic/chili.  Stir.
Add lemon juice to taste.

This sauce is amazing over noodles, fried rice, meats, fish, etc.

Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator, and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!