All things Japanese!

Hi Hi,

The past week was basically a Japanese filled event week for me? As you all know, Hawaii is a melting pot of cultures and it is nicknamed " the gathering place". The biggest population based on ethnicity are the Asian Americans which makes up 38.5% of the population of Hawaii. Out of that 38.5%, roughly 13% of the Asian American population consists of Japanese people! When you come here, there are many authentic Japanese cuisine, signboards in Waikiki and even menus have Japanese translation and one of the criteria for working in high end brands in Ala Moana or Waikiki, is that you can speak Japanese! Alot of Japanese tourists come here too:)

Well...lucky me, I love Japanese culture and their food, so when I am craving Japanese cuisine, I can go out and take my pick of all the different kinds of Japanese food there is here..yay!!! Anyways...... last weekend, I was at the Utada Hikaru concert, she basically kicked off her American tour in Hawaii. It was super super packed and it was like a standing concert, no seats and I felt so suffocated and the worst part was that we had to wait for her for like an hour!!!!! Sooo...when she came on, Kendra and I didn't feel like a big enough fan to squeeze with the rest of her true fans, so we went to sit down at this cushion area and actually ordered snacks( I know, our other friends laughed at us)! We watched her from the big screen instead.....aiks!!!!!

I have to say, her voice is super powerful and she can sing really well! If you were expecting showmanship, don't bother because she doesn't dance much but she sings very well and it is live! If you are there to hear her sing, you will definitely get your moneys worth:)

Last Tuesday, we had dinner at this Japanses Izakaya place like in Japan! These little bars/restaurants serve food and Japanese people go there to chat, talk, snack on food and drink! They focus more on the drinking and camarederie then on eating basically. So, when I was in Japan and my friend brought me there, I was super hungry after because I did not drink and the food was so little!!!ehehe...I know..piggy me! And to my suprise, there was one of these Izakaya places at Ward center, very secluded and its called Bistro Aun! We went there to spend some time with Lea before she leaves next week:(

Kendra doing her kawaii peace sign!

Lea in her European outfit!super hot!

Agedashi tofu! One of the best I have ever tasted!

Grilled Hokke! Apparently it is in most Izakaya places in Japan

Okonomiyaki! Love this dish! My favourite since I first tried it in Malaysia

Deep fried yakisoba..reminded me of Chinese noodles(gong fu chao)

Dessert, coffee jelly!

One last pic before we leave:)

The food was really good and it really reminds me of Japan! That to me is already a winner, I give it an authenticity chop! The best part was everyone around me was speaking Japanese!! hehe:)

xoxo

Meiz

Haiti needs your help

I was deeply saddened when I read about the Haiti earthquake...the death toll was a staggering amount of 200,000 lives and counting. After reading countless news of the events that happened in Haiti, I felt a need to respond and try to help by blogging and donating to this cause. Their hospitals are overruned by patients and they had to turn many who were injured away.....Not only that, many of these people especially in Port au Prince are helpless due to the fact that their homes and basically their lives were destroyed by this tragedy.

As Obama stated "they do not need blankets but money". So, please if you are thinking of helping, here is a link which I sourced out from yahoo which you can donate to help these victims:

http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/

In your hearts of hearts, think of how many lives you can save with this money you will be donating just by forgoing a meal at a fancy restaurant or stopping yourself from buying a dress,etc. If you do contribute to the fund, I thank you from my heart for helping the Haitian victims.

HUggggggzzzzzz

Meiz

Papa papa Razzi................

I know...not bad right???Two posts in one day......very unusual of me...I thought that the the previous post and this one should go hand in hand....because it kinda happened on the same night!d-uh...

Anyways, I have been meaning to check out this new al-fresco club/bar with my friends in December....but was just tooooo busy.....so I figured, since this is the last weekend of fun I can have without thinking of work for the next few months, better do it now!

To be honest, I had no expectations for this club as I thought it would be like alot of clubs here, a restaurant untill 10pm and then it converts into a club. There are only a handful of good clubs here which is a true club like Zouk or MOS. Lo and behold, it exceeded my expectations! This club called Paparazzi is super chic and hip, the interior of the club has was plush and roomy, plus they had an outdoor bar too! I really like these kinds of concept, the half in, half out type.....If you feel that it is too stuffy inside, then you can adjourn outside to chat with your friends..:)

The name of the club

The cool statue on the wall when you first enter..you know you just had to take a photo there!

The lights that decorated the interior was so interesting that it created a plush feeling

They had these two signs the entire night! And a photographer pretending to snap pictures like the paparazzi..cute!

On the dancefloor...it was extremely hot!! Kendra, don't kill me for posting this picture..you were definitely smokin hot:)

The lanai....very chilled out

We went to Wailana coffee house after...Louis and Gen bought Sundaes together..sweeties..hehe...And I took a picture for all of you to see my favourite late night snack here...Muesli cup!! Its has granola, oatmeal, fruits, raisins and honey....so delish!

For those coming here to Hawaii or who are already on the island of Oahu...I highly recommend Paparazzi as it is fun and has a good mixture of club + bar feel! Great job!!!!!!

HUggggzzz

Meiz

Chicken lovers unite!

HIII!!!!!!!!

Guess what????????????????????School has already started..this is the first week of the semester....It isn't too bad...trying to get pumped up for the crazy amount of work I will be completing this semester * hopefully*

Knowing the reality of going back to school was a weee bit of a stretch for me( You should have seen me in Malaysia being all anxious...sigh). The last weekend before school started, I had to cram in some fun too right?????????!!!???? And of course, fun to me is eating and hanging out with friends...woo hoo!!! Gen and I met up with Jasmin and her brother who was visiting at this Korean bbq chicken place. Trust me, when she asked me on the phone, "do you like chicken?" I was like "yeah, why not???"......In my mind I was thinking, I mean we cannot be eating just chicken, I am sure there will be other dishes such as fish and vegetable's and stuff......

So, we went to this Korean bbq chicken restaurant and guess what????????????????? Truly, every dish on the menu was chicken.....I was amazed!!!!!!!! As it was a Korean restaurant, we had some kim chi before the huge amounts of chicken dishes...take a look...

This was the only dish that was not chicken...Kim chi pancake!

Spicy bbq chicken(the best dish ever!)

Honey chicken and spicy chicken gizzard

Jasmin and her brother David

Waiting for our meals......

The biggest shocker at the end was the price!!!!!!!!!!!!It was so so so cheap...... the whole meal amounted to USD 33.00, can you believe that?????? I have never found a place in hawaii that was so cheap for so much food, so please go and try it out because not only was the food and pricing good, the service was good too:) I wish I knew the name of the place but it was written in Korean, sorry! I have the address though, it is 1269 South King st, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Remember to call me to when you guys go there!!yum!!!!

Xoxo

Meiz

Christmas compilation!

Hi Everyone!

I must say my christmas was filled wuth never ending good cheers and happiness! I travelled from Japan to Singapore to Malaysia and got to see so many beautiful christmas lights:) Christmas is a time for giving, sharing and being with family and friends, I am glad I got to be with mine this time around.

It started off when I transit in Japan for a night, I decided to go to Tokyo to shop and meet my friend Minoru. Honestly, I was afraid to take the train down by myself to Tokyo from Narita even with directions as I only knew basic Japanese, I really thank my lucky stars when I bumped into a friend Yoshie Teh from college who was holidaying there on the bus to Nikko Hotel(seriously, what a coincidence??) and we went down together! Yay!!!

Arriving at Harajuku, so kawaii!!

Christmas lights out in the town

Lolita costume

Minoru took us to this quaint Japanese restaurant right in the middle of Harajuku district

In front of one of the biggest Forever 21 I have ever seen!

Christmas decorations!

They even had christmas lights in the hotel!

Off to Singapore I went after I landed in Malaysia. I got to spend time with my grandfather and parents and I love love love the Christmas lights in Singapore! So vibrant and surreal:)

Orchard road

One of the biggest christmas trees in Takashimaya

Mom & Dad( my father liked this tree!!)

With my father and grandpa

In Dempsey hill, look at the backdrop...

When I was back in Malaysia, I went out for a traditional christmas dinner with friends in a restaurant at Ampang called Suisse Chalet, very beautifully decorated......food was pretty good too....but company was the cherry on top of the pie!

So authentic!

All of us really loved the backdrop of the restaurant, I think everyone of us used up every square inch of the place to take pictures and it wans't that big!

We then adjourn to Bar 21, it was a dissapointment though as the crowd was rather rowdy and I wasn't use to the smokey atmosphere!!!!! The well publicized scenery was nice but the atmosphere and music somehow did not fit the music and surroundings...but maybe it was just that night because it was too packed????

Christmas eve went really well especially with good friends around to joke and laugh with:)

On christmas day itself, after opening of presents, my brother and Marry Ann brought us to this new Spanish restaurant called El Mason! The decorations were really simple and christmasey and service was good!

One of the dishes! Very tasty! Spanish food is an acquired taste but most of the dishes we tried on the menu was delicious:) I knew my mom was happy with it!

Ending my Christmas with a family photo! At least we opened my dad up to try new things besides Chinese food!!!eheheh....

I am not sure about all of you but I am like a child, I am amazed at beautiful glittering lights and colors! This christmas being able to be in three countries and looking at the christmas decorations was a real treat for me! The best part of my whole christmas though was being in Malaysia with my family and friends, there is no place better than home! Huggzzzzzz....Stay Merry!!!

Ho Ho Ho
Meiz