Mele Mei

The Hawaii Academy of Recording Artists and friends are celebrating Hawaii's music from April to June.  Come to Waikiki and enjoy - you won't be disappointed.

Filipino Fiesta - coming soon ...

Murphy’s Bar & Grill - 2016 St. Patrick’s Day block party

Honolulu’s “Irish Corner” will be the scene of the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the Pacific, with thousands thronging the annual block party to revel and celebrate all things Irish on Thursday, March 17, 2016. 

More than just a party, however, the Murphy’s St. Patrick’s Day Block Party will again benefit worthy Hawaii non-profit organizations always in need of support. To the present day, Murphy’s Bar & Grill’s Saint Patrick’s Day Block Party has raised over $100,000 for local charities.  Owner Don Murphy expects to sell 2,500 pounds of fresh corned beef, and will donate $2.00 for each pound sold to the Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation. The projected $5000 will help the charity continue to provide services that pediatric cancer patients and their families have come to rely on over the years. 

Beginning at 11:00 am the parking lot across the street from Murphys will be featuring the Guinness oyster bar and libations. Also, $.30 from the sale of each of 6,000 oysters sold at the Murphy’s Oyster Bar will be donated to local non-profits, including Ronald McDonald House, Hospice Hawaii, and the Hawaii Foodbank. Last year, Murphy’s went through 6,000 oysters in only 3.5 hours.

In addition there will be a tent for keiki to crafts and receive treats in celebration of St. Patrick’s day from noon to 4:00 pm.

Clearly, Murphy’s commitment to community remains as strong as ever over 28 years, and indeed, continues to grow. Again this year, the first 100 women who come in to Murphy’s for lunch on March 17 will receive complimentary flower lei, bringing the total number of lei presented over the years to 2,900. 

In addition to all of the support the event provides the community, it continues to offer attendees a variety of a menu items, including corned beef and cabbage, steamed clams, fresh salmon, fresh oysters, and Marion Murphy’s legendary Irish Whiskey Cake and Bread Pudding with Irish Whiskey Sauce. This year’s event includes a variety of new menu items as well: lamb shank, grilled steak, calamari, shrimp, a Bailey’s cheesecake and much more.

Live music will be provided by Honolulu’s favorite Irish pub rock band Doolin Rakes, and Celtic Pipes and Drums Hawaii.

Hungry for great tasting Okinawan food?

A nearly hidden gem of a restaurant offering traditional Okinawan (and Japanese) fare that is sure to satisfy anyone’s craving is Utage Restaurant + Lounge.  Open for lunch and dinner, Monday – Saturday, the restaurant is tucked away at City on Square on Kalani Street (off Dillingham Blvd),

I recently returned for lunch and, as usual, there was a nice crowd already seated.  The menu offers so much to choose from that it can make it difficult to decide what to order.  There is a variety of Okinawan dishes (like Goya Chamupru or bitter melon with tofu and eggs), Okinawan soups (including pig’s feet soup), local favorites (such as hamburger steak with onions), Japanese dishes (like pork tofu) and the Utage Special (more about this soon). There are also sandwiches, side order portions of favorites, a mixed plate option and daily specials.

Hungry and was, I ordered the Utage Special where you get choose either the Ahi Poke or Sashimi and any two items:  Shrimp or Vegetable Tempura, Teriyaki Beef, Teriyaki Kalbi, Kalbi, Tonkatsu, Fish Katsu, Chicken Katsu, Shoyu Pork.  This and all meals include a choice of soup or salad, beverage (Green River, Fruit Punch, Iced Tea, Japanese Tea, or Coffee) & dessert  I settled on the Ahi Poke, Vegetable Tempura and Shoyu Pork – yummers!

As usual, Utage did not disappoint. 

Give it a try and you’ll soon become a fan of this great restaurant.

For more information, menu and great photos of many of the dishes, visit utagehawaii.com

Converting videos to DVD

While I know there are probably lots of companies around that do this, I recently found one in my neighborhood that offers the mini DV to DVD conversion at a reasonable price. So, earlier this week I took my tape to the shop and luckily, the owner said he would work on it right away. I left for a quick lunch and when I returned, it was done.

Now that I’ve finally taken the step to convert one of my tapes to DVD for easy viewing, I plan to take more, including the old video cassette of home movies that a cousin previously converted from 8 or 16mm film, so I can easily watch it too.

The shop I went to is called 808Burners. It’s a small family-owned business in the Aiea / Pearl City area which got its start in late 2002 as an internet café. Today, they still have computers for internet use but have added many additional services including tape to DVD transfer, slide show development and computer repair. 

To check out the prices for various services and for more information, visit, http://www.808burners.com/