24 LARGE

There are things in life that we need to do once in our lives, even if they may seem silly or stupid.

It all started a few weeks ago. After coming home from work, I went online (as I usually do) to unwind from a hectic day at work. I cannot remember which site I visited but as I scrolled down looking at pictures, I saw THE PICTURE. I had many reactions to this picture with the first thing being, WHY? These were trays and trays (possibly 7 or more) of McDonald's fries being consumed by Korean kids.

After the shock, I thought about it. Why not? Besides the fact that it's a great photo op, it's also a fun (funny, stupid, etc.) memory to make with friends.  Yes, we probably might break out, feel sick later or possibly have cardiac arrest but it's a once in a life time kind of thing. And so I invited my friends to a "French fries party" at McDonald's.

On Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 7:00pm, seven out of the fifteen invitees came to Moanalua Shopping Center to have the friends fries party. Twenty four large fries were ordered along with 3 large drinks, 1 milkshake, 1 chicken sandwich, and a McDouble cheeseburger. The fries were laid out on three trays and consumption took place.

Fries galore

If anyone reading this was wondering, we all threw in the towel.  We barely made a dent in that pile. And to my wonderful friends, and cousin - Tony, Glenda, Rhomel, Laura, Ronnie, Billy - thank you for making another memory with me, no matter how crazy they may be! I can guarantee that I will NEVER host nor do any fries parties anymore :)

Pug meet up in North Shore

This morning, our little family drove to the North Shore to meet with other pugs and their owners for their monthly pug meet ups. It was our first time going to this particular beach and it was beautiful. We were on the beach for an hour or so and only saw two people, pug owners not included. It's open to the public but it seemed as if it is relatively unknown to the public. There were over 10 pugs, all shapes and sizes. A lot of them dived into the water, whereas others (Guinness included) stayed on the shore.

Guinness who is afraid of any body of water (as mentioned on my previous post) got some swimming in though. We of course had to carry him in the water as he avoided the water as much as he could. Even when we carried him in, he always swam towards land.  Although Guinness still tried to avoid the water, we would like to think that he did warm up to liking the beach a little bit more. Overall, it was a great meet up because Guinness got to play with other pugs. Needless to say, he was knocked out the rest of the day.  

Of course, it would be a crime to not get Kahuku shrimp when on the North Shore. Luckily for us, the drive there from the beach took only 8 minutes. We normally go to Romy's but the wait was too long therefore, Fumi's got our service. It wasn't great as Romy's but we were hungry. 

Judd Hiking Trail

Hiking, a fantastic activity that anyone can do for free. This past Saturday, we hiked the Judd Trail on Nu'uanu, Guinness in tow. I originally wanted to go see the ruins but I had no clue where it was. Anyway,  Judd is a dog-friendly hiking trail that requires our furry friends to be on-leash. This was our pigs first hike and we were excited as to how he would react to this activity. The trail was muddy but needless to say, our pig LOVED every minute of it. He stopped and smelled for every little thing, crossed  and stomped on every mud puddle and even tasted a leaf or two in the bamboo forest.  The only problem we encountered with our pig was crossing the stream. He seems to hate bodies of water so we had to help him cross.  But after falling in, he seemed alright by it. 

As for us humans, we enjoyed this trail highly. We haven't hiked in ages nor do we exercise religiously so this trail was great for us. It is a looped trail so getting lost will not be a problem. Just a warning though, after you cross the stream, there will be a fork in the road. A bamboo forest to your left and a bamboo forest to your right. We took the left trail which goes up first. The right trail goes straight to Jackass Ginger which is a pool of water that you can swim in. If you are interested in swimming, bring some swimming wear. The route we took (which I prefer you take first because it will eventually lead you to Jackass Ginger), was a muddy and slippery experience. Billy had a few close encounters of falling/slipping in the mud. There are a ton or roots and leaves that do make the hike more slippery. If you feel lost, keep going. There will eventually be a brown sign with arrows that point to a path for the Nuuanu Trail (which is a hike that goes further up the mountain) and Judd Trail. We eventually descended down and nearing the end of our hike, we saw Jackass Ginger. After resting and watching people swim and/or jump off the rocks, we followed the stream back to the beginning of the trail.

Nutritional Yeast with Pizza Recipe

Nutritional yeast. What is it? I've never heard of it until this past Friday when our lead cook gave us a sample of a pizza with nutritional yeast in it. According to this site, it is an inactive yeast popularly used by vegans. It is high in vitamin B12 and can be substituted as protein. It can either be used as a condiment or a supplement.

Billy and I decided to visit Down to Earth this past Saturday so that I could purchase the nutritional yeast. I wanted to replicate the pizza the cook had made. We purchased it in the bulk bins. Warning: 1 pound will set you back $10.xx. If you haven't seen one before,  it is flakey and has a yellow color to it. Since it was my first time purchasing this item, I decided to get a small amount. That way I wouldn't waste money if I hated it. 

I finally got to make it last night. I purchased the rest of the ingredient from my local grocery store. FYI, the store was out of fresh basil. I opted for basil paste which was a great substitution because I ended up spreading the paste over my bread giving my pizza more flavor. This is very easy to prepare and does not really need any measurements as everything was done to to taste, but just in case, this is what I had done. The recipe makes for two pizzas. Prep time takes about 5 minutes and cook time is 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 whole pita breads

4-6 slices of tomato 

basil paste

olive oil

salt

pepper

4 pinches of nutritional yeast 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 355 degrees fahrenheit

2. Place pita breads on the baking pan / flat surface for baking and pour a small amount of olive oil to both breads. Spread the olive oil over the bread.

3. Squeeze a small amount of basil paste and spread over the bread. *if you have fresh basil, get a few leaves and cut them into thin strips to be spread on the pita bread.

4. Add in tomato slices (as much or as little as you want)

5. Add salt and pepper

6. Sprinkle about two pinches of nutritional yeast to each pizza - add more if needed.

7. Bake for 15 minutes

I hope you enjoy it :)

Cinco de Mayo at Sea Life Park

Twenty years living here in Hawaii and I've never been to Sea Life Park.  How about that, huh? Fortunately, a friend of ours invited Billy and I to the park today. Thank you Brad!! The company he worked for had rented the whole park for their employees who in turn were able to invite friends and family. I was so excited :) 

The entrance to the park was neat. We got to see an aquarium full of fishes and hammerhead sharks. We then proceeded to where the turtles were. Radioactively huge! I'm just kidding. They weren't radioactive, but they were humongous! In honest truth, there weren't really many animals to see but they were worth watching.  There were two performances today; the sea lions and the dolphins. We missed more than half of the sea lion performance but I enjoyed watching the rest of it. My favorite of course had to be the dolphins.  I had never seen dolphins in real life before and seeing them for the first time was amazing. I hadn't realized how humongous they were. It amazes me as to how they were trained. Such smart creatures!  I have a clip below of their performance. Here are a few pictures of todays activities.

Billy feeding a bird

From the park, with love.

Large (radioactive)  sea turtle

Dolphins performing!! FUN FUN FUN!

Free ice cream ticket

Have a good day!

The bug has bitten again...

The bug has bitten someone, the travel bug I mean. My mom, after living here for 20 years has finally set foot out of Hawaii. Her first one was in Seattle last fall and her most recent one, the Philippines. I love the fact that she finally has time to travel because she had been focusing all her energy on us (her kids) all these years.

While there (in the Philippines), she saw family and old friends. Twenty years of not seeing them must have been something! I can't imagine how delighted she must've been to finally hug/kiss/talk to them, especially her brothers and sisters, in person. She stayed there for almost four weeks, only calling home twice. I forgive her. ;p Anyway, she finally came home this Thursday and she had a lot of stories to tell and pictures to show. She also brought a ton of treats. I shall enjoy them highly. 

Guinness says hello! He just finished eating dinner

Saturday night.

Since mom and nay are still in the Philippines and we are "playing house" as you will call, Billy and I decided to have our own bbq this past weekend; just him, I and Guinness. I've been craving for filipino pork bbq for some time so I decided to go online to find a recipe. Click here for the recipe.

I prepped everything the day before. The recipe called for pork butt but the only pork butt I found in the market (Palama Supermarket) was pork shoulder butt. I'm not sure if they are the same but pork is pork.  We were also out of 7-up so we used sierra mist as a substitute. I must say that it was delicious. It tasted like tocino. And of course it was Guinness approved ;p Here was the result of last nights bbq.

We also bought steak the day of our bbq because Billy had invited his sisters to join us. I like to make sure that when I'm hosting, there is enough food to feed everyone. It's better to have more than have nothing, right? Unfortunately, they weren't able to make it so we have two uncooked steaks on hand. So, for Sunday dinner, we cooked the steaks. Billy pan seared the steaks for two minutes each side, then put the steaks in the oven for 5 minutes on 350 degrees (fahrenheit). The steaks were about 3/4 inch thick. Billy was disappointed because they ended up being well-done. It was still good. By the way, I'm not just saying that because he's my boyfriend. It really was still good.

Overall it was a good weekend with my two favorite guys!

7 month hiatus update

Wow, has it been that long since I updated? I'm just kidding. I'm not that surprised. But let me tell you though, it has been a very busy 7 months. Quick recap:

(Oct. 2012) We got a new puppy! Meet Guinness Puggleswerth. Yes, he is a pure pug.
 

(Sept. 2012) I turned a quarter century old! To celebrate, Billy and I jumped off an airplane!  Checked that off my bucket list.

(Oct. 2012) My first trip to Disneyland/Knotts Berry/California Adventures, and a road trip to Vegas.

(March 2013) San Francisco/Napa Valley Trip

V. Sattui winery (my favorite of all the wineries we went to in Napa)

(April 2013) W reached our 5 year anniversary.