INTERNATIONAL DINING IN PURGATORY

I've got all these food fotos on my desktop, so will clear them with this posting.  This one will be especially long because I eat and drink a lot, with a few side adventures.

During the past few days I've had a wide range of fare.  Let me start with two "Italian" bentos for those who need to gain weight or will very shortly be running the marathon, and have no particular concern for your health.

My two favorite meals in this special category come from Rainbow Drive-In and Zippy's.  The cost of each is half what is charged at 15 Craigside for lunch guests, so every time I do this, I am really paying three times the cost of the bento.  But, so what.

Zippy's has their Zip Pacs that are worthy of entry into this genre, but my choice is spaghetti/chicken with macaroni salad and garlic bread.

Similarly decadent is Rainbow Drive-In's spaghetti/hot dog with two scoops of rice and macaroni salad:

I usually go up to Diamond Head Lookout and dine in my car with a view of the Pacific Ocean:

Sometimes you can see Molokai and Maui on the horizon, and on rare days, even the Big Island.

From the depths of local cuisine, next to Uzbekistan, Silk Road Cafe,  I think the only former Soviet Union restaurant in the entire state.  Located in downtown Honolulu, close by the Post Office and Roots'nRelics (golf store), this take-out with only a few seats, focuses on things like blinis and samosas and pirozhki.  It's not my spelling, for there are variant English versions.  

The owners are Aki and Mamura Yuldashev.  They came to Hawaii from Tashkent (capital of Uzbekistan) in 2014.  Sunni Islam is the dominant religion, so, yes, the hijab (head covering) is used by women working there.  Men in the country sometimes wear a skullcap or taqiyah, but those were not evident here.  The prices are slightly higher than Zippy's.

I was looking forward to my first Borsch soup in a long time.  That's a photo of what it could have looked like.  Alas, that was the only item not available.  They also, I heard, always run out of lamb and just about everything else.  They are popular and I was amazed at how many typical business-types stood in line to bring back to their office desk a styrofoam box of Uzbekian food.

I was incredibly lucky, for I got the best table in the house.  See in the top Silk Road photo of the eating lady?  Just as I got my order, she left.  

I got a pirozhki and think this one was filled with beef, but it could have been lamb.  I forgot the name of this soup, but I think it was dairy and potato based.  That  straw?  Beer.  

Next, you can already guess the location with the photo on the left if you're from Hawaii.  Monthly on Fridays from 5-9 PM at the Pagoda on the second floor is a word of mouth wine/sochu/beer tasting with a mostly healthy food buffet dinner and karaoke for all of $25.  

A true bargain if you drink a lot, for the Byington wines are all $50 bottles in the market, and the assortment of awamori, sake, sochu and soju, with an emphasis on products from South Korea, was impressive.  

I went for two reasons.  The organizers are thinking of adding yet another attraction to this already melange.  I wonder how successful this would be, but they are considering also featuring interesting talks, and wondered if I could present something on the Blue Revolution in the future.

Also, the setting was the first meeting of the group going to France this month to visit Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Moet Champagne and Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac.  What was just another of my fantasies will become reality, as we sealed the airline, hotel, and other details.

Next, a traditional Japanese meal at Natsunoya with the Worldwide Uchinanchu Business Network.  At one time there were at least a dozen, but I think this is the only old Japan tea house in Hawaii left.  Anyway, I had three drinks with University of Hawaii colleagues, but before dinner decided that I'd walk back to 15 Craigside before it got dark, first because I was supposed to walk 18 holes at Ala Wai that day, but couldn't because of computer repair issues, and, second, it was more important to take care of other matters.  Mistake.  I should have called Uber.  I got a ride to Natsunoya.

At least the walk was to be all downhill.  However, there are two curves with no sidewalks, and walking on the road is most definitely hazardous with cars whizzing by.  I made it almost halfway back when at a bus stop I saw The Bus approaching.  As I have a free pass, I boarded and asked the driver if he eventually would get back to Nuuanu Avenue.  He said he was on his way to Sand Island, but stay on, as he would drop me off where I could catch a bus going the other way.


Disheartingly, the one I was on zoomed by Natsunoya, and dropped me off two stops later, with the driver indicating that I should walk down a block and turn left to the bus stop.  It was all downhill and I could not find any bus stop.  After getting totally lost wandering around for fifteen minutes, I came the conclusion that the only sensible option was to enbarrassingly again stroll by Natsunoya, then another dangerous mile and probably more to 15 Craigside in the dark.  Was that stupid or what?  I ended up having a 15 Craigside dinner with my traditional table mates.

Yesterday was to be a fully-packed Saturday, for I had on my list Chinatown for the New Year celebration, the Punahou Carnival, and two basketball games on the Manoa Campus.  I first caught the #4 bus to Punahou.  Thunderstorms were predicted for the day, and it was slightly drizzling at the bus stop.  However, that was the last drop that fell on me for the entire day.

There are three musts for the Punahou Carnival:  Portuguese bean soup, malasada (also originally from Portugal) and rain.  Thankfully, the latter was absent during my one-hour stay.  I wondered if that place to the right was for the soup, so I asked the last person in line.

Not only did he say yes, but he asked if I was Professor Takahashi.  Lawton Kaya (left) had taken a class from me in Civil Engineering almost forty years ago.

Amazingly enough, his wife also recognized me, and said what teachers seek more than anything else in life.  She also took a course from me and said that was the best class she ever had.  They put on a skit at an energy conference that was seen by Department of Education officials, who paid the expenses for a dozen of them to repeat their performance on all the islands. The class also produced a book that was adopted as a text in the public high school system.

My mind is not so good anymore, but I think she said her maiden name was Jeannie Tanaka, who also graduated in Civil Engineering.  They have three children who went to Punahou, and a son is now in Civil Engineering at the University of Hawaii.  People like them make one's life worthwhile.

That line for the soup was long, and it seemed like we waited forever, but, then, I had a chance to talk to the Kayas all that time.  Apparently, they fix batches of new soup, and the line grows to ridiculous lengths, then move fast when ready.  You would think after 87 years of annually doing this they would find a more efficient way.   I bought a cup of soup for $1.50, then went on to purchase an ear of corn from that booth to the left.

The line for malasada was not as lengthy, but mostly because there were so many preparing this dangerous delicacy.  If you say those look like donuts, you're probably closer to the truth.  The one I ate had no resemblance to the Zippy's or Leonard's version.

My Punahou Carnival lunch:

Everything consumable in this photo cost a total of $5, while the Punahou Carnival shopping bag also was $5.  The Portuguese bean soup had no beans, and was similar to a stew with a lot of broth, plus macaroni.  But it was, indeed, excellent.  I'm wondering if someone forgot to put in the beans for my batch, as the sign says Souper Trampobean, with a painting of a bowl of soup showing beans.

On the way out I also bought what looked like a comfortable shirt.  Only $18.

Then on the #4 bus back to Chinatown, where there was quite a festival air, with numerous booths and loads of people.  As the activity ended virtually across the street from Fook Lam, my favorite for Shanghai Soup Dumplings, and a Blue-Bar Pigeon was there to show me the way, here is the subsequent series of photos:

The Father of Modern China, Sun Yat Sen, went to Iolani School, whose early campus was on the land where I now live.  My meal:

After all these years of Shanghai Soup Dumplings, I finally figured out a better way to prepare it.  Turn it upside-down, for the bottom is soft, make a small hole, then pour in the scotch.  Thus, every bit stays in the dumpling.

Returning home, I thought I would skip those two basketball games on the Manoa Campus, for they were televised anyway.  I took a green bath with a green drink.

What a day.  What a week of international cuisine in Purgatory.

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