MarkFromHawaii's blog

My Dad's Memories from WWII - Senpai Gumi

Tonight my sister emailed me with a link to a book called "Senpai Gumi" by Richard S. Oguro.  The book is basically a collection of letters and photos from those AJAs who served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II.  My Dad was one of them and spent over a year in a place called Byron Hot Springs as an interrogator/interpreter.  He also landed on a little volcanic island near Japan called Iwo Jima on the 4th day of fierce fighting.  He also served as part of the occupation forces in Japan.  He recounted these experiences in the book and I thought I'd share his section:

Download Senpai-Gumi Ben Yamamoto

Ryan, I Hardly Knew You...

I have to admit that I've not been very active in the local social media community for a while, except for maybe facebook.  I knew Ryan Suenaga but I wish I had gotten to know him a lot better.  I knew him to be "connected" in all things twitter and twitter-related.  But I also knew him to be caring in the way he interacted with folks on twitter.  One picks that sort of thing up watching the stream of posts, even an occasional dabbler like myself.  To those he took a shining to, @ryansuenaga could be the ultimate "uncle" - the right thing to do as a gentleman in Hawai'i'.  And Ryan was all about doing that which is right - we call it being pono in Hawai'i.  When he sensed some personal frustration and challenges in someone's tweet, Ryan didn't hesitate to ask "What's wrong?"  And he showed true empathy in his follow-up online support.  He could also be brutally frank in his opinion.  But that was also what made the man:  What you saw is what you get!  Just like his choice of casual clothes:  Typically T-shirt and colorful jams.  And I loved that about him. 

I knew that he was challenged with Type 2 Diabetes and that he was doing something about it.  When my wife was diagnosed a couple years back with Type 2, I directed her to Ryan's excellent Athletic Diabetic blog.  Little did I know that I would also eventually be challenged with this ailment.  One of his last tweets to me when I found this out:  "Not fun but I can honestly say diabetes saved my life."  That floored me!  Then I started paying attention to what he was doing about his health - how he took charge and lost over 80 lbs., running, biking, and hiking as well.  For that encouragement by example, I'll be eternally grateful.  Thank you Ryan!

Easter Sunday was eerie.  For some reason I logged onto twitter and started paying attention to the tweets Sunday afternoon.  I noticed a few between a few local tweeps that I follow and there was concern about him and his group of hikers who went up Mt. Olomana.  Within a couple hours it became clear that Ryan was the hiker who had fallen to his death.  I, as were many others, was in shock...  I had to take a walk to clear my head.  Dealing with Ryan's passing in the days that followed was a strange mixture of sadness and regret; guilt (why didn't I form a closer relationship with him and with all local tweeps?); and the need to DO SOMETHING (reading Cody Onizuka's suggestion for a scholarship in Ryan's name, I felt the need to jump in and support that).  Then a feeling that, what I'm saying in public, is this all a shibai to make myself feel better?  Well, this rememberance is a feeble attempt to make right on all accounts.  But the Ryan Suenaga effect is such...  Do what is right!  To Ryan's family, close friends, and the local online community who knew him, please accept my sincere condolences.

I did have a chance to meet Ryan a couple years back at the Mililani Bon Dance.  We didn't have much to talk about except our mutual interest in this part of our heritage, thanks to the efforts and encouragement from another online friend, Champuru.  ;-)   Just today I looked at the video I took of that event, and I'll be darned, there he was.  Colorful jams and all.  So Ryan, I had the extreme honor of knowing you and calling you a friend on twitter, facebook and IRL!  Ahui hou and someday we'll have a good run.  For all my pals on twitter and facebook, here's something you might enjoy:

 

Bacony Goodness

This Sunday, a local tweetup that was organized by @LaurieCocitello and @tracitoguchi at @BigCityDiner, celebrated all the goodness (and a little out-of-the-boxness) of bacon.  Having a recent episode of Diners Drive-Ins and Dives fresh in my mind, I set out to attempt to recreate, dun-dun-dah...  The Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf!  I found such a recipe on the web but I thought, hmm...  a little too complicated, no?  So I improvised.  At the tweetup, tweeps busted out all kinds of bacon edibles and artifacts:  Someone had a bacon tattoo, there were bacon band-aids (really), bacon-flavored toothpics, bacon-flavored jelly beans, bacon-peanut butter doughnuts (they rocked), bacon-chocolate cupcakes, bacon-cheese chips, little bacon-peanut butter rounds (they were good as well), bacon with green beans (gotta have your veggies), and battered deeep-fried bacon with various dipping sauces.  So the meatloaf was in good company.  Must've been good because I managed to snag a "major award" (think Ralphie's Daddy in A Christmas Story, hehe).  Actually I didn't know there'd be prizes...  really.  Here's the recipe.  For something put together at the last minute, it came as quite a surprise that it actually tasted pretty darn good if I say so myself. ;-)

Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf

 

Topping

 

½ Cup Ketchup

1 t Sriracha or other hot sauce (optional)

4 T Cider Vinegar

4 T Brown Sugar

 

Loaf

 

1 medium onion – diced

2 cloves garlic – diced

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

2 T Dijon Mustard

1 T Ground Black Pepper

1 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Milk (Whole or 2%)

1 T Parsley Flakes

1 Package Lipton’s  Onion-Mushroom Soup Mix

1 Small Can Sliced Black Olives – drain brine

2 Lbs. Ground Beef

2 Packages Bacon

 

Mix topping ingredients and set aside.  Mix meatloaf ingredients and set aside.  Spray large heavy duty foil sheet (enough to cover at least a large roasting pan) with non-stick spray.  Set oven rack to mid-level and preheat oven to 375 deg.  Place sheet in pan and lay bacon strips along width of foil, overlapping slices.  Form loaf in center of bacon and bring the sides of the bacon strips up to cover the loaf.  Wrap the loaf with the foil and place the pan in the preheated oven – bake for 35-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and increase temperature to 425 deg.  Open foil and spoon topping mixture on the top.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes until bacon crisps and loaf is done in the center.

 

Optional gravy

 

Pour drippings into medium sauce pan and skim most of the oil out.  Add about ¾ cup of beef stock.  Mix ½ cup stock with 3 T flour.  Bring stock/drippings mixture to boil and whisk in flour mixture until thick.

 

Thanks to the organizers and all the good Hawai'i tweeps (and out-of-towners) and our families who put up with our madness, hehe.  Uh, sorry no nutritional information available.  You can best assume that there's quite a bit of saturate fat and cholesteral in a couple servings.

When the Warriors Lose a Close One...

...what's left to do but bake?  Seriously, UH lost a close one to a spirited UNLV Rebels team tonight that wouldn't give up.  A few costly mistakes gave them the W.  Hats off to them.  And hats off to the Warriors too - they played hard.  Time to lick the wounds and get ready for LA Tech 9/30/09.

Here's a real easy recipe (I'm trying this for the first time tonight) from Ruby S. at work.  The cake's in the oven right now as I type and I plan to take it to church tomorrow.  Hope it comes out as good as Ruby's.

Ruby's Easy Apple Coffee Cake

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 can apple pie filling
One box Butter Golden Yellow Cake mix

Topping

1 cup chopped walnuts
3 T cold butter cut up
1 T all purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 deg.
Spray 9" x 13" pan with PAM
If you want, cut the canned apples into smaller pieces (I was too lazy tonight to do this)
Mix in a large bowl the eggs and apple pie filling
Add to cake mix and get lumps out
Pour into prepared pan
Sprinkle topping over batter

Bake for 30 min.

 

Labor of Love

Yes, it's been a looong time since I posted here.  I've been engrossed for the last 1/2 year or so with a project at the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii Nanakuli Youth Education Town.  What I have out there is a 1.2 kW photovoltaic system with DC lighting for a few offices, a conference room and a workroom.  The most exciting thing for me is the development of a data acquisition system with a web-based dashboard to view the data.

Hardware

I'm using a data acquisition system by a company called Obvius.  They make great modbus data acquisition I/O modules, power monitors, modbus to mesh radio transceivers and a modbus to TCP/IP gateway called an Acquisuite.  I'm monitoring input power to the DC power from the PV panels and makeup grid power, as well as output power to the lighting.  I'm also monitoring weather data (windspeed, wind direction, OA temperture, OA RH, PV temperature and irradiance.

 

Web-based Dashboard
Here's the fun part.  When I started out I started to shop around for ready-made dashboard systems.  They tend to be expensive and proprietary - anything custom cost extra $.  So I started to research on how to build one from scratch.  The usual reaction I'd get when I started this was, "Are you nuts?!?"  This just added fuel to my

curiosity.  I settled on a cheap (free) apache web-server through xampp.  Xampp also comes with a free (open source, as they put it) mysql database system and a free php scripting engine.  There are other server-side applications that come with xampp but the most important were mysql and php.  I also settled on a nice flash graphics package from AnyChart.  In a nutshell, I download the Acquisuite and other I/O modules and import the data into a mysql database.  PHP scripts are used to format the data into xml that AnyChart can use to build the graph.  HTML code is used to link the xml to the Adobe flash graphic.  I also use some javascripts to extract "real-time" xml from the modbus modules.  These scripts create other xml files that are used with flash gage graphics.  Bare in mind I started out knowing ziltch about mysql and php.  Google is a great friend in situations such as these - you'd be surprised how much information is out there on php and mysql.

 

Moving Forward
For now, I've created a simple website that contains these dashboard charts and gages.  This proof of concept was done on a LAN connection to the Acquisuite.  Now I need to find a real remote host for all of this.  This has been real hard work but I rather enjoy it.  The final product will be something that the kids can use to learn about and perhaps promote awareness of renewable energy and sustainability.  It is indeed a labor of love!

OkONOmiyaki

Okonomiyaki sliced and topped

Inspired by No Reservations - Osaka I've been wanting to try making homemade okonomiyaki ("Japanese pizza").  This dish is a favorite late-night snack or pupu made with a pancake batter, cabbage, various meats and other vegetables - all topped off with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.  I found a nice site with a recipe and step-by-step instructions with pictures so I finally decided to make it last night.  First step was to go to the Pearl City Don Quijote for ingredients.  The recipe calls for Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie) and okonomi sauce.  I also picked up the requisite head cabbage from Don Quijote.  It's very easy to make.

Ingredients for a large single serving:

1 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup water or water with dashi no moto (soup stock made with bonito)
1 t sugar
1/8 to 1/4 head cabbage finely shredded

Optional things to add:

chopped meats (I used roast pork and char siu that I bought from the chinese take out place in the food court by DQ)
sliced onion
chopped green onion
cheese
You can use your imagination here and add shrimp or fish cake, etc.

Toppings:

Japanese mayonnaise (actually Best Foods would've been fine)
Okonomiyaki sauce
Katsuobushi (shaved bonito flakes - I chose not to use this here)
Furikake (nori or dried seaweed flakes, sesame seeds, and other seasonings) 

For this type of cooking, preparation is eveything - slice the vegetables and meats and shred the cabbage first.  I'd also recommend sauteing the onions with a little salt and pepper.  If you are using raw meats or seafood I'd also recommend sauteing them as well.  Just be mindful of not overcooking so as they will be cooked further in the pancake.

shredded cabbage for okonomiyaki

Mix your wet ingredients (egg and water) and whisk into the flour.  Add the raw cabbage and mix.

Okonomiyaki batter

Heat a large skillet or (as in my case) a griddle to medium-high heat with a little cooking oil.  Pour half the batter onto the heated griddle and then add your meats, other vegetables and cheese. 

Okonomiyaki batter cooking

 

Stuffing added to Okonomiyaki

Pour the rest of the batter over this.  Use the back of a large spoon  or a spatula to press everything down.  When the underside is cookied to golden brown, use 2 spatulas to flip the okonomiyaki over. 

Okonomiyaki cooking

For a large okonomiyaki, it may take two or more flips to fully cook the pancake.

 Slice and serve with the toppings.  I think Anthony Bourdain said it best:  "Served piping hot, it goes good with beer."  ...something like that. ;-)

Okonomiyaki sauces

Happy Mothers Day

Wow, haven't posted in a while.  I might as well just start with yesterday.  We had my Mom stay overnight with us and we took her to church.  My daughter and I have been practicing this tune "The Prayer" - the Hawaiian version - for a while.  Always the perfectionist, I've picked away at all the faults in the performance.  But the big picture is that it turned out alright.  I think that she'll really be ready in a couple years to sing this song properly.  But for now, I think she did pretty well.  And all the kind church Moms loved it.  You be the judge.  Oh, and Happy Mothers Day (belated as it may be). ;-)

 

The Prayer (Hawaiian) - PBC Mothers Day

Kualoa Cub Scout Camping Trip

Cub Scout Pack 322 spent this past President's Day weekend at Kualoa Regional Park.  As we're a very small pack, we invited Pack 75 and Boy Scout Troop 75 to the camp.  Through a lot of prayer and preparation, we managed to:

• Reserve Campsite A - the large site with the kitchen and pavillion
• Arrange for a canoe ride for the boys
• Get the Koolau District Order of the Arrow to perform the Arrow of Light bridging ceremony for our two Webelos

- all with the Lord's help.  He certainly blessed us because no one in our group got injured, the weather was beautiful, all the food preparation and cleanup was done without a hitch...  I mean, this outing was just perfect.  Thank you Lord!

This camp was especially meaningful to me.  You see, my son was one of the two Webelos who completed all his Cub Scout requirements for the Arrow of Light.  This also marks the beginning of the end of my tenure as Cub Master and Webelos Den Leader for Pack 322.  I will be helping out with the pack until the end of May, especially with the recruitment - Pack 322 is down to one lone boy and his Dad who has agreed to take over the reigns of the pack.  I would greatly covet your prayers for Pack 322 to survive and grow.  Otherwise, Pack 322 will have to shut down and that would indeed be a shame.

But I digress...  Now is not a time for nail biting and hand wringing, but to celebrate this great time that was had at Kualoa.  Enjoy!

Scenes from Kualoa Camp 2/15/08 - 2/17/08

 

Arrow of Light Ceremony

Valentines Day or The Big Pay Back

The title sounds kind of mean-spirited but it's true.  My wife does so much for me and the kids and puts up with so much of my ...  stuff, that she really does deserve bigtime lavish treatment on Valentines Day and Mothers Day.  In the last couple years we've noticed that going out to eat on VD is just not worth it anymore.  First, if it's a weekday, we have to rush the kids off to a sitter and/or rush home from work (and everyone has the same idea, making traffic a nightmare).  If you're lucky enough to get reservations, you still have to wait for seating.  The service is usually poor due to the huge volume of customers and the food is usually not up to par.  Last year I had the brillant idea of ordering food from Golden Wheel, our favorite Chinese restaurant while I sat in traffic.  When I got to the restaurant I still had to wait about half an hour for my order.  Seems like a dozen other guys had the same brilliant idea.  Duoh!

So this year along with the dozen red roses, I decided to put my culinary skills to the test.  I bought a nice pork loin roast from Sam's Club last night.  I roasted it very simply and made a pan gravy for it.  To go with it, I made Rice-A-Roni (OK, someone I know is chiding me for this, but we actually like the stuff on occaision).  I also made a nice mocha chocolate-silk pie.  It's an adaption of Roy's Kona coffee white-chocolate silk tart.  For one thing, I think strong instant coffee works in a pinch (I used Member's Mark Columbian Instant - Sam's Club, remember?).  Also, my wife and I prefer "real" chocolate over white chocolate.  So anyway, here's the recipe with some anotations:

Roy's Kona Coffee White Chocolate Silk Tart

 

Servings: 8-10
8-10 prepared tart crust
or 1 prepared pie crust (I use one of those Oreo prepared crusts)

Kona Coffee Pudding:
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly pack
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 1/4 cups milk
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. + 1/4 cup extra strength Kona Coffee, brewed (here's where I use the instant stuff - just make it strong)
1 package powdered unflavored gelatin, about 2 1/2 tsp.
1/4 cup cornstarch, packed
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To Make the Pudding:
In a small medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the dark brown sugar and cook, stirring until melted and bubbly. Gradually add in the heavy cream and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the milk and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside until lukewarm.

To Make Gelatin Mixture:
Pour the 2 tablespoons of Kona Coffee into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top, do not stir. Set aside to let the gelatin bloom. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 cup Kona Coffee. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the pudding mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until the mixture thickens. Reduce the heat to low; stir briskly, and bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin mixture and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Pour into a prepared tart crust or piecrust. Cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

White Chocolate Silk
4 oz. white chocolate (I use bittersweet chocolate)
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

(I also mix in about 1/3 cup of Mounds sweetened coconut flakes)

Melt chocolate over a double boiler. In a mixing bowl beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the sugar and beat until pale white. Drizzle in white chocolate and add eggs one at a time. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes for each egg addition. Spread white chocolate filling over the top of the Kona Coffee pudding and allow to chill for 3 hours or until set.

Serve with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  ( I use the canned stuff and skip the shavings)

 

And if you're wondering, dinner was a smash. ;-)

 

End of January Cleanup and Goings On

I've decided to replace all the embeded players to the tunes with hyperlinks to the SoundClick page for each tune.  This is so my blog page loads faster.  A little housekeeping if you will.

I realize I haven't posted here in a while - been busy with work, family life, church and Cub Scouts.  Here in Hawai'i, this year sure has started off violently.  Two tragic tragic deaths that could've been avoided.  First Janel Tupuola, a lady who is trying to get her life back together gets hunted down and then (allegedly - I guess I have to use that word) clubbed to death by her ex-boyfriend.  Then poor little Cyrus Belt gets thrown over a freeway overpass walkway into traffic...  I'm still at a loss for words.  I mean, the alleged perp seems insane but apparently a druggie, so can this guy plead insanity, spend a little time in the State Hospital and then walk???  I dunno...  I know Jesus would say, forgive these guys and let God, the Father do the judging.  I'm having a hard time with this.  Sheesh.

OK, bad stuff out of the way...  My son is on his way to getting his Arrow of Light - WOOT!  Way to go son.  One more Webelos merit badge and he's there.  We're planning a crossover ceremony for our Cub Scout Pack's 2 Webelos II scouts during our family camp over Presidents Day weekend.  Being the Cub Master I gotta really hold in the tears, hehe.  It's been a LONG ride and I'm glad it's nearly over.  Still, I'll miss Cub Scouts. *sniff*

Speaking of Cub Scouts, I almost forgot that we visited the Pacific Aviation Museum and USS Bowfin this past Saturday.  We had a great time.

 

More meme stuff.  When I was on vacation I fooled around with more guitar backing tracks.  First off, here's a minor blues tune I've renamed MehLoveBlues.  Read the description on the SoundClick page for the story behind the title ;-)

MehLoveBlues

Still in a blues vein I decided to do a Gary Moorish treatment to this horn-backed track:

AKingsRansom

Nothing worse than a 49-year old guy trying to shred:

Mr. Squeally

Alrighty then:  From the basement to the penthouse - I actually wrote this schmaltzy tune for my company's Aloha United Way donation drive.  My wife's business partner at the time, Ruth Ann Fortuno, was kind enough to sing on this demo.  Truth be told, I liked this demo better than the final product.  The girl's got chops!

It's All About Love

Well, that's about it other than some mundane things.  Super Sunday this weekned - don't party to hard, har har and may God Bless!