Photos I love...

Here are some of my favorite photos from these beautiful islands...

Kohnotori : Yakitori in Honolulu

Khonotori is a Japanese style Yakitori with a friendly fun atmosphere.  Fried onions, rice balls, daikon salad, fried garlic, quail egg, bacon wrapped items, and prawns to name a few.  The menu is small, yet vast, and there is something for everyone.  From seasoned beef to asparagus, meat eaters and vegetarians will enjoy this little Japanese gem.  They also serve shochu and sake along with Japanese beers. 

The list of items is on each table, check what you would like and they will come out as they are prepared, hot and fresh.  Order one at a time, or all at once, but I think it is more fun to eat, then order more, and more, and perhaps a few more...

Asparagus and Prawns, yum!

Fried cheese, my personal favorite...

Shoyu Rice Balls

Sit at the counter or one of the little tables or booths.  Reservations are recommended, but sometimes you can get lucky and walk in and get a table.

The ultimate fried onion.  So amazing, panko battered, so crispy.

View Larger Map

Located near University, off of King Street.  Take King Street going West and take a right before Pucks Alley, you will see the bright signs of two restaurants (right by 7-11), Kohnotori and Imanas Tei.  They have a small parking lot, but there is usually parking nearby.

Location: 2626 S. King St.

Honolulu, HI 96826

Hours: Sun-Thurs. - 6pm-12am

Fri. & Sat. - 6pm-2am

Phone: 808-941-7255 (reservations recommended)

Sugar Cookie Fun

I love making sugar cookies!  WEll... maybe I just love eating them.   My favorite part about making sugar cookies is choosing the cutters.  There are amazing cutters out there and I recently made mustache cookies for a mustache party.  Here are a few pictures to share...

Always make sure your surface is well floured, otherwise it will stick and make you crazy!

Vintage rolling pins are the best.

Try to cut your cookies as close as you can together so you don't have to keep rolling more dough. 

Bake them until they are golden yum!

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies - whoopie pie!

Do you like red velvet, cream cheese frosting, and crazy good sweets?  Pretty much everyone is going wild about this chocolate cake with red food color, so I decided to make a red velvet sandwich cookie.  I found this recipe from  Paula Dean on food network.  You can make these any size you want, crazy big or tiny bite sized.  Use the smallest cookie scoop you have because they grow a bit in the oven.

INGREDIENTS:
 

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, optional
• 
  
• Directions
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

  Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

  Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time. Then beat in the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food coloring. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to wet. Mix until thoroughly combined.

  Onto a parchment lined sheet tray, drop batter using an ice cream scoop, forming 2-inch round circles.

  Bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Cookies should be cake-like and light. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
  For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

  Spread the cream cheese frosting between 2 cooled cookies (and roll the edges in finely chopped pecans if you want.)

Stache Fest 2010

This past weekend was "stache fest 2010" aka my friends very awesome birthday party.  We played pin the mustache on Burt Reynolds, volleyball, and everyone sported the stache.  What a success!

I dare say ... who is that?  

The day wouldn't be complete without mustache cupcakes, mustache cookies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a mustache cut out!

If it isn't Burt Reynolds...  Nice of you to join us!  

Only in Hawaii do we end a day with such a beautiful sunset!  Thank you Kaimana Beach for being such a great host and for the sunshine and spectacular weather!

Mustache Party!

Tomorrow we are having a mustache party to celebrate my friends 27th birthday!  Pretty exciting stuff.  So in honor of her birthday and the party I created an ode to the stache.

What is not to love about the mustache?  Go check out all these great products from etsy and throw your own mustache party!  Click here for this treasury page on etsy.

Haiku Stairs and the Beauty of the Windward Side

Just a quick snapshot from a 5 am hike yesterday.  Haiku Stairs/Stairway to Heaven in Kaneohe.  Beautiful, clear, and truly heavenly.

Stairway to Heaven - Haiku Stairs Photos

I posted previously about Stairway to Heaven and never posted more of my beautiful, stunning, and heavenly photos.  So here goes.  Read the other post to learn more about the hike.  Take your breath away!

The first view of the H-3

The stunning view from the top of the first lookout point.

Some more stairs...  Hold on tight, in some spots, it is a ladder with a slight lean backwards...

Me, loving the climb to the top.

Some spots towards the top had a lot of vegetation.

This is one of my favorite things to find on a hike: Orange MOSS.  Gotta love it.  You can find it all over the island in high areas.  Keep your eyes peeled for more pictures of it on my site...

Looking at the H-3 again from the top. The tunnels are nuts!  I can't believe they go right through the middle of that mountain.

Looking at Chinaman's Hat and Kaneohe Bay

Wedding Invitation and Stationary Favorites

I have been browsing etsy for a few days and have found so many beautiful and fun invitations, stationary, stickers, save the dates, and more.  Here are just a few of my favorites...  All of these items can be found on etsy by clicking the links below the photos.  (All images are from the etsy sellers featured)

This is going on my wedding gift registry.  I love it!  It would look so cool above the bed or night stand...

We Married For Love poster from here.

Ok, this one is catching me in my sweet spot.  I love gnomes!  

Tying the Knot card can be found here.

Custom silhouette stickers from nella designs on etsy.  These would be adorable on pretty much anything...

Find them here.

Ummm... Bachelorette Party invites??

Find them here.

Love love love these invites...  You may be seeing something just like this in your mailbox sometime in the next year...  Check out capturedmomentsbyamy on etsy here.

Bright and playful save the date cards from candy paper on etsy.

Fun New Earrings for my Shop

Today was my Sunday and I totally enjoyed it.  I went surfing at Bowls, got my flu shot, and made some beautiful new earrings for my shop.  I am trying to let my creativity go wild with some of my latest additions to my collection.  I went to the Soft Flex Bead Show and found some amazing beads!

Cool coin pearls that I found at Bead-It's booth.

Stunning amethyst and tanzanite.  Wow, look at the sparkle!

Vintage buttons, from my own collection.  They just happened to become super cool studs!

My favorite birdies and a score from last years show, sparkling citrine quartz.  

A Crowded Day at Cliffs

One of my favorite spots to surf on Oahu is Cliffs.  It is one of the breaks off of Diamond Head and is great for beginners.  I was walking above Diamond Head the other day and caught a few great shots of the surf that day.  It was a fun looking day of waves but crowded!  I like to go early in the morning to avoid all the people and catch the best waves with mild wind....

Looking out to the East from the top of the bridge

Look at all those people!

I wanna be in that wave!  So fun...