Well, another season of Hawaii Five-0 is in the books. In the spirit of that show, here’s a video taken by some fellow American tourists on vacation in London of the Buckingham Palace Band playing the famous Five-0 theme song. Sadly, they couldn’t name the TV show it was from. But at least they knew it was a TV show and seemed to enjoy the music and setting.
The Red Ti Leaf Plant
February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Red Ti-leaf Plant
This ti leaf plant, aside from adding color to any garden, represents good luck. Most yards in Hawaii have the ti leaf plant in their yard and there are many varieties, colors and sizes. Many use it for cooking, where they will wrap fish or meat and put it over the grill or bake it in the oven. Ti leaves are also used in floral arrangements and lei-making. Below is an article to read more on using ti leaves for lei making.
How to Make a Hawaiian Lei with Ti Leaves
By veryirie, eHow Member
Go to eHow article: Making a Hawaiian Lei with ti leaves
“Making a Hawaiian lei with ti leaves is a simple matter if you’re lucky enough to have access to the leaves. The ti leaf plant is thought to bring good luck and ward off any evil spirits; the ti leaves are still used in religious ceremonies by priests for just that purpose. So to give a Hawaiian ti leaf lei to someone is to wish them good luck.”
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The Chinese New Year Narcissus Flower Tradition (as told by Carmen)
February 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Narcissus Flower
I still remember those days my mom and I walked all over the Macau market searching for the best narcissus bulb. I was only in elementary school, but my holy duty as her daughter was to help her to carry her groceries whenever I went to the market with her. To prepare for the Chinese New Year, her holy duty as a Chinese housewife was to buy the best flowers and plants to celebrate the New Years.
Flowers and plants are part of the traditional decoration of New Years. The amount of fruits and flowers, and the taste of the fruits have a strong bearing of how the family does in the coming year. Therefore, it is a very important task for my mom.
She will start her search for the best bulbs 3 weeks ahead of the Chinese New Year so that she would have a big pool to choose from. She has to select the bulbs that would bloom right before or at Chinese New Year. Seeking advice from experienced housewives in the market is one technique. She hardly get advice from the flowers seller unless she thinks they can be trusted. I remember in one year, there was only 3 flowers that bloomed from the bulbs. My parents was kind of upset at that time. In certain years, my mom had to do something to control the growth of the flowers so that the flowers will not bloom too earlier as she did not want the flower to wither during the Chinese New Year. That is not a good sign either. Unfortunately, I never learned that technique to teach others. My mom, through her years of experience in selecting Narcissus flower, she has become the advisor for the younger housewives in the market. Most importantly, to my father, the flowers and plants she bought for the Chinese New Years have bloomed beautifully and the fruits have tasted delicious.
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Best Version of Hawaii Five-0 Intro
February 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Which of these three Hawaii Five-0 intros is the best? Please cast your vote on the top right of the page.
Current Hawaii Five-0 intro
Current Hawaii Five-0 (alternate version, changed before series started)
Hawaii Five-0 from 1998 starring Gary Busey
Original Hawaii Five-0 series intro
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Chinese Clock & Interesting Architecture on Maunakea Street – Downtown Honolulu
February 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Maunakea Market Place - Downtown Honolulu
When you walk around Chinatown in Honolulu, there are many interesting sights. Here’s one - This tops the entry to Maunakea Market Place, where there are markets, food and souvenir shops and the clock numbers are in Chinese characters.
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Hawaii Five-0: The Best Intro of All Time
February 18, 2011 By 2 Comments
What’s the best opening credits of any TV show of all time? Hands down, it’s gotta be Hawaii Five-0, the original series. The music, the beat, the drums, the brass…they all strike a deep primal nerve. Granted, I’m a guy so certain kinds of music make me feel aggressive and manly, which is part of the appeal I suppose. Another factor is that it is also one of the fight songs for the UH football team (more aggressiveness), which reminds me of being at Aloha Stadium with 50,000 fans basically amping out. Anyway, the orginal Hawaii Five-0 intro is my favorite of all time.
But that doesn’t mean that everything else sucks. There are many other good ones. Here are my Top 5 Greatest of All Time (that I could find on YouTube). Don’t forget to vote for your favorite at the right of this page and let us know in the comments below or on Twitter or Facebook if your favorite is not even on the list.
#1 Hawaii Five-0
#2 Miami Vice – This video has some sort of weird intro graphics but after a few seconds the actual TV show intro begins.
#3 Airwolf – The show didn’t last long and it was pretty cheesy and fake (supersonic & silent helicopter,…really?), but opening 10 seconds is as good as it gets!
#4 Magnum PI – This intro has it all – great song, actions sequences and humor. By the way, we sell that shirt Magnum is wearing in the last scene.
#5 McGyver – This guy made being smart, like NERD smart, cool. Even my physics teacher liked the show. He told the class he doesn’t watch TV, but he watches McGyver.
Honorable Mention – The A-Team – I really wanted to put this in my top 5 but found the intro to be just a little bit too long. I love the song and the show though.
Favorite Foreign TV Intro – Kamen Rider V3. I know, most people probably prefer Kikaida. Afterall, that was THE show for Hawaii kids (girls too) who were in pre-school around the mid-70s. But the Kamen Rider V3 music just feels a bit more powerful.
And just for comparison, here’s the Kikaida opening. Kikaida was my favorite show of all time until I was about 6 or so.
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Chinese New Year in Chinatown Honolulu
January 30, 2011 By 1 Comment
Dragon Dance
Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the year of the Rabbit in Chinese astrology and those born in the year of the Rabbit are said to be artistic, talented and enjoys a quiet and peaceful environment. The dragon dance symbolizes good luck, power and wealth and is performed at many cultural and special events.
These scenes were taken at the Chinese New Year Festival in Chinatown, Honolulu.
Feeding the Dragon for Good Luck
- Street lined with food booths
Year of the Rabbit T-shirts
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Winter vs. Summer on the North Shore
January 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The North Shore of Oahu has two personalities. During the summer, many beaches can be flat as a lake. During the winter, it can be downright treacherous. Take Sharks Cove, for example. This is what it looks like during the summer. So calm. So inviting. So kid-friendly.
And this is what the same beach and tide pool can look like during the winter.
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Ukulele Lesson: Picking & Strumming (video)
March 26, 2010 By 2 Comments
Besides Hawaiian clothing, few other things are associated with Hawaii as much as the ukulele. By the way, the Hawaiian ukulele is actually based on a small guitar-like instrument that was brought to Hawaii by immigrants from Portugal. But that’s another story. The ukulele has always been a popular instrument because it’s small and relatively simple to play…although I can’t play it because I am what you would call “untalented”. Interest in the instrument has also risen in recent years because of the music of the late artist Israel Kamakawio’ole, especially his renditions of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and other songs.
Bruce Shimabukuro, a Hawaii ukulele musician and instructor, was kind enough to give us a free lesson on picking and strumming at Ukulele Pua Pua, and ukulele shop at the Sheraton Waikiki. His picking and strumming lesson is not meant to teach you how to play but rather simply to give you a starting point before you dive in and sign up for lessons and buy your own ukulele. I actually saw him perform live a couple times before and can tell you that he is both talented and quite the entertainer. And he also explains things very clearly. In fact if you ever visit Hawaii, I suggest you to Ukulele Pua Pua at the Sheraton Waikiki and see if you can get one of his free lessons just to see if the ukulele is something you’re interested in.
We hope you enjoy watching and listening to this video. Please give us your feedback as we hope this is just the first in a series of ukulele video lessons we will produce over the next few months.
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Sangria for “Home Made Pizza” Theme Party
August 19, 2009 By 4 Comments
I’ve recently acquired a taste for sangria and have been wanting to make some at home for a party. Well, that opportunity suddenly popped up today. I didn’t even decide to make it until I got to the supermarket to get other ingredients. In case you’re wondering, tonight’s party theme is “Home Made Pizza”. While I made the crust from scratch, I didn’t have time to look up a recipe for the sangria so I decided to cheat a little. I saw a giant jug of sangria for $10 so I figured, what the heck.
I know I could probably have just chilled it and served it, but where’s the fun in that? Part of the excitement of drinking sangria is seeing all the fruits floating around. So I bought a couple of apples and oranges. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that sangria contains many other fruits like pears, peaches, pineapple, etc. Next time when I make it from scratch, I will go with all of those fruits and more. But for tonight, it’s just apples and oranges.
I only got apples and oranges this time, but next time I will go all out.
This giant jug-o-sangria cost just $10,…what a deal, I think.
The jug and fruits made a lot more than I expected!
So anyway, this will probably be the featured beverage for the party tonight. I am even making big ice to put in these containers to keep the sangria chilled during the party. I think this will go well with the pizza I’m making tonight. It sure looks festive! I can’t wait for everyone to come over so I can taste this fun looking beverage!