Beach house bonanza!

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Somewhere in Ewa Beach...

Our co-worker Deborah rented a beach house again in Ewa, and since we had such a blast last time, we couldn't resist going again! When we arrived we were told that there was a monk seal sun bathing on the reef so we headed out there to take a look...

I brought along my trusty 20D (I didn't wanna get my 5D all sandy and dirty...) and ugh! my 100mm macro lens. I figured if I only brought one lens then I'd be forced to use it and hopefully fall in love with it. Damn! I really could've used my 24-70 or 16-35 for this one...oh well, I did the best that I could!

uh oh, someone fell face down into the sand!

as the sun started to set we headed back to the reef to see if our friend was still there...we got lucky, he was! Also, the lighting was beautiful!

**ok, I'm probably gonna get busted so I deleted some pictures...

And now the party really begins....

Sorry, I would've taken more pics with this lens but I would've been all the way across the house and I would've missed out on all the funny stories!!

The Chens

Sunday, January 16, 2011
Kakaako Park

Welcome back the Chen Family...Jalna and I first shot them in 2009. Jalna hunted down Laura and asked her if she was willing to let us photograph her beautiful family again. She agreed and we were finally able to squeeze in a photo shoot into their busy schedules. I'm glad cause these guys are good fun!

Since I was the second shooter, be sure to check out Jalna's pics too!

I think she sees a dog or something...

Oi! Someone's missing in this picture...

I think we know who the boss of this family is!

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Saturday, January 15, 2011
Morimoto's

We celebrated Kathy's birthday last night at Morimoto's -- yup, Iron Chef Morimoto! He opened up a restaurant at the new Edition Hotel, next to the Ilikai and Hawaii Prince hotels. The food was awesome, the company was awesome, we had a great time!

The White Lily was a hit

Green Flash

We all ordered the Omakase menu, which was 6 courses and a dessert. First course, Hamachi and toro tartar with five different sauces. Hmmm, let me see, I think from top to bottom....konbu paste, sour cream, wasabi, daikon, guacamole, and rice crunchies. In the cup was a really good shoyu

Calamari salad --This wasn't included in the omakase but we wanted to try it anyways

Kanpachi carpaccio

I don't remember what this was called but in the bowl is a hot oil with a garlic/anchovy paste in the middle. We dipped the veggies in the oil, let it sit in there for awhile, burned our tongue, and enjoyed every minute of it

This was my favorite dish. It was a foie gras chawan mushi...YUMMMMMMMM

Palate cleanser, konbu tea

Sushi assortment, from left to right, maguro, tai, sayori, opakapaka, and hirame. I think that's correct!

This was my main course - braised black cod, with wagyu beef and pork with this pear chutney thing. I could've done without this, it was my least favorite, probably because I was already full when this arrived.

Kathy and Anne got the lobster, with this lemon creme fraiche which was reallly good

Another palate cleanser before dessert - soymilk panacotta

And finally our yummy dessert - I forget what was in here but it was all sweet potato based

After dinner Kathy wanted a picture with chef Morimoto. He was busy at the time but they said if we waited a little while he'd be happy to come out. Here's Kat and Anne waiting patiently...

SUCCESS!

We walked around the gorgeous hotel after dinner

Overall, the dinner was excellent. The Omakase was a little pricey at $110 but we all agreed it was worth the try. Plus we got to meet Morimoto :)