Category Archives: Food

A visit to the “new” Chengdu Taste in Honolulu

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Chengdu Taste closed down for a while before reopening on the 2nd floor at 808 Sheridan Street in Honolulu, upstairs from its former location. It’s a Szechuan restaurant, a spin-off from several sister restaurants in Los Angeles. It specializes in dishes that are hot. Peppery hot. Szechuan peppers that produce tingling in your mouth and lips, plus various hot peppers that produce sweat and related symptoms. And oh, so very good!

We hadn’t managed to get back there since they reopened. Last night we went with a couple of friends. Same management, many of the same servers. A bigger space with more tables. It was busy, but there was not wait in getting seated at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday evening.

The main menu includes photos and descriptions. The additional page of additional items is all in Chinese characters with no photos. You’ll have to ask your server to explain those options to you.

What can I say about the food? It was all wonderful. We over-ordered to get more tastes, and all of the things we ordered were wonderful. One–the chicken with double peppers–was a bit too wonderfully spicy for some, although it had a wonderful taste and hidden textures.

Take a peek at our repast. Click below for more.

Chengdu Taste Honolulu

A colorful table

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I’m just posting this because the colors all look so good!

It’s our dinner on Wednesday, May 1.

Oven-roasted salmon in a shoyu-lemon-garlic marinade, alongside sautéed garlic green beans with a balsamic sauce. With Meda’s bowl of heirloom tomatoes (found at Whole Foods) and olives. Red wine. Vintage Tampico plates by Red Wing.Looks as good as it tasted.

Food drive to benefit UH students

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This announcement arrived yesterday in an email from the University of Hawaii Alumni Association. It seems the public is being asked to donate food or money to be distributed to hungry UH students.

It sent me looking for further information on the problem of student hunger. The creation of a pilot program for “food insecure” students was featured in an article that appeared in Ka Leo, the UH Manoa student newspaper, in August.

It turns out that a survey “found about 40 percent of surveyed graduate or professional students on campus were food insecure and half of undergraduate students were.”

In addition:

“29 percent of graduate and professional students and 37 percent of undergraduates reported as being food insecure while having “moderate hunger” or “severe hunger.”

Last year, after being provided the survey results, Associated Students of the University of Hawai?i at M?noa (ASUH) voted to create a food pantry, known as “Food Vault Hawaii”, on the Manoa campus.

According to Ka Leo, the Food Vault operates on the honor system, and there will be no restrictions on how much food can be taken. Those coming to get food will simply have to show they are registered students by scanning their student ID cards.

If this is close to being accurate, I would hope that there will be additional reporting of the problem and its dimensions. And if it’s true for this many university students, what about their families? And the resident population as a whole?

Dinner for a warm evening

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We had friends coming over for dinner last night, and I was searching for something that could be served cold. The weather has been hot and humid, and I wanted to avoid warming up the kitchen any further.

It all fell into place. We started with heirloom tomatoes (from the nearby Whole Foods) and avocados that we had on hand. Meda turns those into a wonderful watercress-tomato-avocado salad. Meanwhile, I went shopping and brought home about three pounds of potatoes, and made a large bowl of potato salad based on the recipe my mother taught me. Then we went to Costco and got one of their signature roast chickens. I cut it up, plated it, and left it in the refrigerator until ready to serve. In lieu of french bread, I threw a few mini-naan, also from Costco into the microwave, and served them as we sat down to eat.

It all came together well. It was relatively easy. And it was a good combo for a warm evening.