CUISINE WITH A VIEW OF HONOLULU

In continued E3, I had exceptional meals on my 15 Craigside lanai this week...with the view on the left.  It started with take-out from the Dining Room of corned beef/cabbage with a salad.  I fried the corned beef in butter.  Same for the cabbage, which came with some potatoes, but I added tomato, broccoli, onion and mushrooms.

Thus, I had corned beef and six vegetables, with some Stanford Merlot, beer and a spot of Jameson.  Somehow, I associate this meal with whiskey from Ireland.

Okay, that wasn't much, but the next day for lunch, a friend alerted me to Au's Garden (1350 Mookaula Street, and hard to find), which serves Shanghai Soup Dumpling, but off the menu.  I couldn't eat them there, for I was driving, so paid $9 for eight dumplings and took them home.  Heat them in a microwave oven.  Some judgement is required, for too much hardens the top.  Also, watch out for that first bite, which can be scalding:

Make a small hole on the bottom of the dumpling, turned up side down, and pour in some cognac.  With a big spoon, you don't waste any cognac or soup.  I should improve on this ladle, and will at Daiso.

After I finished, it occurred to me that I should have wrapped one piece with a green shiso leaf, another with a red shiso leaf and a third with a large basil leaf, for they were growing right in front of me.  Also, next time I'll make a second sauce of the hot Hawaiian chili pepper and Calamansi.  That would make for a truly international meal from China, Japan, Italy, Hawaii and the Philippines.

I did, though, subsequently invent a new drink using the Calamansi, with Creme de Cacao, La Clandestine and vodka, over cracked ice:

You would think that the drink would turn blue, but it was white-colored, with a hint of Pernod.  Filipino White?  Or is that too racial.  White Russian is not an insult, but White Filipino might be.

Took that shot of the Honey Moon earlier week from my lanai.  Never could get the combination with Jupiter in focus.

Friday morning before going golfing I had ikura (red caviar) over natto (probiotic soybeans) and rice, on top of which I placed two eggs over easy.  On the side was fried poke (leftover from my Thursday night dinner table) and onions, with tsukemono.

Having walked 18 holes at Ala Wai last Wednesday and Friday, then this week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,  I thought my body needed a good reward, for surviving, so I stopped by J-Shop and bought Shizuoka wagyu beef for an astronomical price

The sauce was of calamansi, my hot pepper, sake and shoyu:

What can I say?  Heavenly, fabulous...  Why did I golf so much?  My policy is to walk three times/week if my knees allow, and I weigh 160 pounds or over.  Twice/week if 159 or 158 pounds, and once/week if 157 pounds and lower.  Maybe you think I'm eating too much?

Well, let me continue.  I also paid $5.80 for a plate of salmon collar and head at J-Shop, so for dinner last night I fried them on my lanai with dabs of salt, pepper and shoyu.  Also, had some ahi poke with sea asparagus, kazunoko (herring eggs) and onions.  15C provided the Caesar salad.  Incredibly, maybe my best dinner this week:

Originally looked mostly of bones and skin, but the last two pieces show how much flesh was included.  At the end, the pan had around an eighth of an inch of oil, all from the fish, with a lot of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid.  Better than the wagyu dinner?  Well, close.  If the dividends are wagyu and salmon, with the divisor being the cost of each, then comparing the quotients, the beef meal (I only used half) should have been 14 times more enjoyable.  The former was better, but not even close to that factor of 14.  So, factoring in cost, the salmon collar/head dinner was superior.  Plus, salmon is far better for our environment.

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