We were awakened by the sounds of a violent storm outside. It was 3:00 am and soon after, the telltale beep of my UPS’s indicated that we had just lost power. Snuggled up with Hubby, we listened to the storm outside until we both fell asleep again. Wind and torrential rain pummeled the islands overnight, leaving debris, chaos, and widespread power outages in its wake.

It wasn’t until after 3:00 pm when our power was restored. Not that I’m complaining, since there are many locations that are still without electricity tonight. I give the good folks at HECO big time kudos, especially in times like these. They are definitely earning their money today.

So, will tomorrow be the calm after the storm? I hope so, since we’re scheduled to do some video shoots on the road tomorrow. Luckily, we don’t have to film any “talent”, just B-roll.

Well, back to editing.

Truth be told, I love blustery, wet, winter weather. Hearing the wind howling outside and the rain pelting against my window pane makes me feel all snug and happy in my toasty house. If only the temperatures would dip a little lower, low enough to require wearing socks to bed. It’s not quite there yet.

This low-pressure storm system is expected to bring high winds and lots of rain through the weekend. It seems that every time Joyce and I make a date to play tennis, a storm passes over the islands. See a dark cloud looming overhead? I probably touched my tennis racket. We’re better than a rain dance, I tell you.

Someone just Twittered that high winds are causing power outages in certain areas. I’m keeping my Surefire flashlight at the ready, just in case a blackout hits my neighborhood. This weather also reminds me that I need to get an emergency kit together. I am so unprepared!

On a completely unrelated note, it seems that since I got into the habit of blogging daily, thanks to NaBloPoMo, it’s become somewhat of a compulsion now. In a way, I suppose it’s a good thing. This journal was always meant to be a record of my life: good, bad, ugly, or boring. A chronicle isn’t as meaningful if there are gaps in the timeline. What’s your opinion? Do you think personal blog entries should be used for recording significant events/thoughts — or are you okay with the mundane daily entries, too?

With that said, I’m going to hit the shower before the power goes out. (Hopefully it won’t, but just in case.) There’s hardly a thing worse than being caught in the dark, totally naked, soaking wet with soap in your eyes.

In high school, instant saimin was a quick and easy meal to make. I ate a lot of saimin back then. In fact, for a snack-on-the-go we used to eat uncooked saimin. Here’s the secret recipe: smash the dried noodles into tiny bits, put in a ziploc bag, sprinkle the seasoning, shake, and eat. A salty, crunchy snack, not unlike potato chips, I suppose. In those days, who the heck cared about the silly information listed on the back label? Definitely not me.

Fast-forward to today; I am just a wee bit older and a tad more health conscious, so consuming a staggering 1580 mg (!) of sodium (66% DV) is somewhat frightening to me. It also packs a lot of calories into a single steaming bowl: 380 calories. If you look at a Maruchan Ramen (Chicken Flavor), you’ll see 190 calories listed — but the serving size is 1/2 block of noodles. What the heck? Who eats only half a block of instant saimin noodles? Deceptive labeling, I say! All of these factors combined make instant saimin one of those foods that I would love to eat, for convenience and nostalgia’s sake, but simply have a hard time reconciling that with my conscience.

Instant Okinawa Soba

Champuru Pops brought me a package of instant Okinawa Soba to try. It sat in my pantry for quite some time, but tonight, after a vigorous, two-hour sweat-invoking karate workout, I felt sufficiently satisfied that I could eat it with less guilt than if I had been sitting on my okole (buttocks) all evening. So, before better judgment had time to kick in, I opened the package and started boiling the water. I was past the point of no return!

Dried Noodles

The product was purchased in Okinawa, so everything on the packaging was in Japanese. My lack of kanji-reading skills prevented me from reading much. I suppose it’s just as well. With my luck, it probably contains 2000 mg of sodium and 1000 calories.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Okinawa Soba noodles are thicker and flatter than ramen nooodles.

Seasoning - Dashi soup base and Tongarashi to add spice

The Okinawa Soba also came with two flavor packets: one for your dashi soup base, and the other to kick up the spicy factor. The rafute (shoyu pork), fishcake, and red ginger pictured on the package were glaringly absent. Oh yeah, I probably couldn’t read the “suggested serving” notice in Japanese.

After cooking for a few minutes on high heat

I cooked it like I would instant saimin, careful not to overcook the noodles.

Mmmm… yummy

I had forgotten just how salty instant noodles can be. I really should have only used half of the dashi packet, because even now, two hours and four glasses of water later, my tongue still feels like the Dead Sea. Aside from being a little too salty for my palate, the noodles were quite good for instant/dried, and the soup had that warm, comforting effect that only a steaming bowl of Asian noodles can have.

If I look extra bloated tomorrow, it probably means I’m retaining water because of all the sodium I just ingested. Instant Okinawa Soba, a guilty pleasure, but one that I really mustn’t partake in too often for my own good.

The already hectic pace of life tends to get kicked up a notch or two during the holidays and this weekend was a prime example.

Friday: Long video shoot at work, drive home in rush hour traffic, dinner with Hubs, and whirlwind shopping spree for Christmas party supplies and prizes.
Saturday: Dental appointment in the morning, lunch with Joyce, shopping all day, dinner with Hubs, watch UH’s historic victory against Washington on TV in between prepping prizes and games for the Christmas party.
Sunday: Church, more shopping for last minute supplies, order potluck dish, more prepping, then the party.

All of the above was enjoyable, but yet, having zero downtime can be tiring when weekends are intended for recuperation. But, I must say in spite of the busyness, pulling off a successful event like tonight’s Christmas party for our Karate dojo is extremely satisfying. Trisha did the bulk of the work and she deserves some big time kudos. This is the second Christmas party we’ve planned together and it seems like our track record is pretty good.

My only complaint was that it was tottemo mushiatsui (extremely humid) tonight! I mean, it wasn’t just humid, it was Okinawa humid. It was so humid that my hair totally went back into wavy mode. This is even after I had flat ironed and doused my hair with ample amounts of product to prevent frizz. I was sweating just standing around. Dude, that is HUMID.

We all had a wonderful time, and although it was such a blast, I am relieved that it’s over. It’s nice to be on the other end of the climax.

Shari and Champuru Pops
Shari just joined karate and Pops is an honorary member, since he
always helps with the service-related activities we have periodically.

Me and Joni
Joni also joined the dojo recently, but is currently on hiatus

Seared Ahi and Furikake Encrusted Honda Tofu Salad
Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room, Ala Moana Shopping Center (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Photo taken with Palm Treo

First of all, I feel compelled to comment on the poor quality of this image. Quite frankly, it disappoints me and gives me serious iPhone envy. I love the functionality of the Treo’s calendar, contacts, memo pad and ability to save to SD, but I don’t like the way the phone works and the touch screen is sometimes slow to respond. And, let’s not even compare the photos taken with a Treo vs. an iPhone. Certainly, the Treo does a good job keeping me organized, but it isn’t really a joy to use. The only reason I used my Treo to take this picture is because Hubby was borrowing my Canon Powershot SD550 and I can’t fit my digital Rebel in my purse. (Doh!)

But, enough gadgety ranting, let’s talk about the day!

After my dental appointment (no cavities!), Joyce and I went shopping at Ala Moana Shopping Center. The first order of business was lunch. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice, sit down lunch at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room located on the third floor of Macy’s. Our growling tummies were promised a 15-minute wait for a table, which ended up being closer to 45-minutes. I’m convinced that it must’ve been an evil ploy, because by the time we were seated, we were both ready to order everything on the menu. In spite of my initial inclination to order a big, fat, juicy burger or the Kalbi Loco Moco, I opted for the Seared Ahi and Furikake Encrusted Honda Tofu Salad (seen above). Upon initial inspection, I was a little disappointed at the lack of seared ahi, which appears first in the description. (I suppose you can’t read a menu like you would an ingredients list. Just because it appears first doesn’t necessarily indicate the quantity of the said item.) However, in hindsight, I believe that including more of the seared ahi might have overpowered the delicate balance of the components of the salad. I couldn’t have asked for more delightful salad. And the chili soy dressing, (oh, the dressing!) had just the right amount of spiciness to add a little kick to the dish. It had to be one of the most palate-satisfying salads I’ve ever had. This, coming from one who isn’t really keen on salads, gets a solid thumbs up. Of course, feeling totally entitled since I had a salad for lunch, I followed it up with dessert: mocha chip ice cream with fresh fruit served in a ginger tulip. All that and a bladder full of plantation iced tea, lunch literally had me waddling out of the restaurant.

Our shopping trip was also very productive, allowing us to check some folks off of our Christmas list. We ended our day at Ward Centre where I picked up a t-shirt for Hubby from Rainbowtique that proclaimed the University of Hawaii as WAC Champions. Now, he can wear that shirt to church with pride tomorrow morning to celebrate tonight’s victory against the Washington Huskies and UH’s perfect (12-0) season.

With all of that accomplished, I even managed to get us back home before the first kick-off of the big game.