Check-in: Spring Breakers and JAPAN!

It's almost here! The elusive Spring Break can finally be seen just around the corner.  

Alyssa is off to Japan today so prepare yourselves for some amazing pictures of everything and anything you can imagine.  She'll be eating great up there!  My good friend Matt is also heading to Japan for spring break today for two weeks.  SUPER Jealousssss.   I'm thinking I probably missed the memo that Japan is the place to be this break.  Whatevs aha.  I'll be cruising back home in Hawaii.  My plans include parking myself at a primo spot at a beautiful beach down (or is it up) at the North Shore and not leaving until I lose this sad, pale color.  As long as I don't have to think about school or studying I'm sure it'll be a relaxing break.  So I raise a can of Izze Sparkling Apple juice from The Curb to you all who have busted butt this past mid-term/finals week.  May your spring break be joyous, even though we totally got jipped two holidays off.  Yeah I'm salty about that, can you tell?   

良い春休みを持っている！

Have a good spring break!

Laters, 

Kiyana

P.S. Do you folks like the new banner? Big shout out to our friend Tracy for making this for us. Lord knows we would NOT have been able to do it ourselves.  

Photos taken with a Canon PowerShot G11 by Alyssa

Morsels: Fresh Café

My younger sister Kayla and I decided to have a full-blown study session today, trying to get a handle on assignments that are being piled on by professors and prepare for upcoming midterms.  I don't know about you but I have a really hard time getting in solid studying done at home.  There are too many distractions, namely my bed, that keep me from really getting s**t done.  

Fresh Café is definitely a cool place to go to when you want good food and a place to study.  They found that great balance of vintage, home-y interior decoration with clean industrial accents.  Free wifi and friendly staff make it a good place to crack down on the week's studying.  They have a wide menu featuring gourmet soups, salads, and sandwiches, and all of your standard café beverages.  Massive acai bowls and smoothies are also on the menu if you want something sweet.  

Fresh Café also hosts community events in their Loft in Space space in the back of the café like Art and Flea the last Thursday every month where local venders, live music, and artists come together for a night of festivities.  Other events are Pow Wow Hawaii, a contemporary art movement, First Thursdays where HawaiiSlam, the largest poetry slam in the world, and many other events like weekly Zumba classes and yoga.  

I'm super stoked for this month's Art and Flea, 90's Grunge! It's our childhood people! My good friend Amy is working a booth run by some fashion students from UH so be sure to stop by and check it out. Anything she has a part of is definitely going to be cool.  Hopefully I'll get to go and chill.

Warm Spinach Bacon & Garlic Salad

house blend soy vinaigrette dressing, bacon, mushrooms, sautéed garlic over spinach 

Bacon Eggs & Cheese Omelet Sandwich

bacon, eggs, and american cheese omelet in a honey whole wheat bagel

Half Chicken Caesar Salad

homemade caesar dressing, chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, croutons, parmesan cheese

Lemon Bar

Fresh Café hours:

Monday - Saturday 8am - 11pm

Sunday 9am - 6pm

831 Queen Street

Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

(808) 688-8055

http://freshcafehi.com/home/

Photos taken with iPhone 5 and Droid Razr by Kiyana and Kayla

Finals Week: A Celebratory Lunch at Mariposa

Alyssa and I headed to Neiman Marcus' restaurant Mariposa for a celebratory lunch on our last day of finals for the Fall 2012 semester.  It was a tough semester of classes, especially our Latin class.  What better way to celebrate the end with amazing food and company?

Illy Cappuccino

The Mariposa Burger

All natural beef, melted cheddar, basil-tarragon aioli, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, on a potato roll  

Ribeye Roast Beef Sandwich

Sliced thin, wild arugula, kamuela tomatoes, melted brie, maui onion au jus, french bread, sweet potato fries   

Mariposa

Photos taken with Canon PowerShot G11 by Alyssa.

Product Preview: Saeco Via Venezia

I work at a specialty cookware store here on Oahu, and so when I've the money to spare (or, in cases like this, when I've saved up enough to blow my money on something shiny), I love to pick up new products. In this case, the Saeco Via Venezia, a semi-automatic espresso machine that I have been eyeing out online for a while. Bemoaning my misfortune that our sole semi-auto sold by the company was sold only online, when I saw the shiny new boxes stacked up by the snowcone machine the other day I couldn't resist, and I promptly made my first big purchase as an early Christmas present to myself.

An eggnog caffe macchiato I made with my new toy.

The Via Venezia is a semi-automatic, which means the hard stuff with steam and pressure is all done automatically by the machine. It's a single boiler type espresso machine and a fifteen bar pump, and it comes with a pressurized portafilter which will dole out espresso into one or two cups, depending on how many shots you're looking to pull. Since the portafilter is pressurized and comes with an adapter for pods (which I'm sure the mother will use), it's great for a beginner, and from the get-go I've been pulling some pretty decent shots. A few internet videos in and I'm already sipping an eggnogg late in bed while typing this out, so I'm pretty happy with my purchase--but plan to hear more from me in a month or so once I've really got this down!

xAlyssa

Coffee Talk

Having just bought my first espresso machine from work (the semi-automatic Saeco Via Venezia, which will have a little more said about after I've grown more comfortable with it), I've been perusing Youtube's coffee tutorials, and I've been loving the short and sweet videos done by New York barista Mike Jones for Howcast in a segment called Coffee Talk. Each video is short and sweet, meaning my over-caffeinated mind (I cannot express how many shots I've downed in my experimentation) can follow it without getting bored and fast-forwarding through to the more interesting bits. Each video is carefully framed, filmed, and edited, and Jones' carefully picked notes on expert coffee brewing are delivered in a confident, encouraging manner to aspiring caffeine addicts like myself. To anyone who's in a position like mine with their first espresso machine, or to someone considering one (or trying to chose between an auto, semi-auto, or manual type machine), or even to a person who just likes knowing where their coffee comes from, these videos come highly recommended.

Wish me luck with my new toy!

xAlyssa