I’m in Sapporo after a painfully long flight and long bus ride. To add Sendai to their list of destinations, Hawaiian puts them in as a stopover on the 441/442 Shin-Chitose flight. That means 12-hours in the packed-out seat of one of their oldest 767’s instead of 9. It’s not unlike a OGG stop on a ITO flight from HNL, but imagine your frustration if every time you had to go to HNL from OGG, you had to go all the way to ITO!  I guess they are banking on capturing the Tohoku market with this destination, though maybe only a quarter to third of the nearly full flight got off at Sendai, and maybe 20-30 new passengers got on. A good part of the ramp time was security coming on board and inspecting the plane, and a brief cleaning on the open seats that would be reused: I think the actual flight from Sendai to CTS was 30 to 40-minutes. Considering the past experiences I’ve had on Hawaiian, this aircraft (N588HA) was dirty and run-down. Considering it was cold at the gate, they had all night and morning to clean it properly, so it’s the Hawaii cleaning contractor to blame. Continue reading ‘Shimari-yuki’
Woo hoo, it’s like I won the lottery! Got TSA pre check for the first time ever. Was so fast didn’t have time to take off belt until I was at the X-ray bins, and I took off my shoes by habit.
Just got back from Ward theater where they are screening Studio Ghibli’s Kaze Tachinu, The Wind Rises. I am so happy to report that it was in original language, which you won’t know until a good five minutes into it. I take exception to some of the subtitle translations, but for the most it was good.
This is supposedly Hayao Miyazaki’s swan song, he’s announced he’s retiring after this. There’s even a line of dialogue in the film stating that engineers and artists have 10 good years in them. Everyone says, yeah right, Miyazaki Sensei! But if he does stay true to that, this is a good note to go out on. The story is about the Japanese engineer who created the Zero, so Miyazaki has free reign with the airplanes he obviously loves. And while this is a Japanese story set in Japan, he also gets to put in the European and Italian flavor which he also has an affinity to. Continue reading ‘Kaze tachinu’
Over a week of calm days with temperature inversion has made Salt Lake City a soup of smog to rival anything I’ve seen elsewhere. At least going up the mountain gets out of the murk. But also means clear warm weather up top. Considering it hasn’t snowed for over a week, the riding was not bad, we’ve been in much worse. We’ve only gone riding every other day though.
We had rumors of Salt Lake City, UT having good sushi. So far in the years we’ve been visiting, it has not been so. Today we found some, you have to go downtown. Takashi I can report was excellent. Yes there was a fairly long wait, but this was a good sign. Our waiter was good, friendly, knowledgable in the menu and specials. The sushi and nigiri was excellent, included a number of selections ive not usually seen. Honestly it rivaled some of the best I’ve had. Only criticism I’d have was the rice was a little too mushy. Not the perfect balance where the grains were individual yet sticked together.
Aside from that I’d say it was worth the $60 per head bill we racked up.
4 out 4 finally sushi satisfied monkeys.
We’ve arrived uneventfully. Security at hnl was fast, everything on time. Hispanic IHOP breakfast. Checked out a few shopping targets. Lunch at In N Out. Checked into hotel which looks pretty decent, although its right next to the train tracks.
Back in August I blogged about doing a job on Maui, what I neglected to write about was the wonder that is Stillwell’s cream horns. This past Thursday I found myself back in Kahului for work. I had enough time before my flight to take a quick drive toward Wailuku to Stillwell’s and pick up a dozen of their signature mini cream horns. 
These pastries are different from the cream horns I’d been used to from the Japanese style bakeries I’ve had before. Instead of a bready pan, it is a flaky pastry shell coiled into a horn shape. Then filled with a great custard filling, the ends sealed with chocolate, and finished with a generous dusting of powdered sugar. Continue reading ‘Horn of Wonder’
Pound beer, dang it notice too late they get Hoegarten, go to gate, no need wait, timed just right as end of line going in. See u at hnl.
Rental Altima, kinda annoying. Keyless entry w/push button start. How do you turn on car without starting it? Couldn’t adjust power mirrors without starting car, radio turns off as soon as u turn off engine. Brakes overboosted, seat reasonably supportive. No USB.
Blurb says something about dark Belgian sugar, so I approached with a little trepidation. pours a dark redish brown, small head that dissipates quickly but does leave some lacing on the glass. My sinuses are acting up so my taste is pretty muted. Roast comes through in aroma, but there isn’t a strong smokeyness. There’s a fair bitterness, but not a lot of floral. Guess it works with the sugar as the bitterness doesn’t linger as long as some other beers, and there isn’t the syrupiness that often turns me off, its nicely balanced here. Medium mouthfeel balanced with carbonation to keep it clean. A solid medium dark beer.
3 out 4 Belgian sugar monkeys.