pikolint

Usually, weekends are reserved for dim sum indulgence, but recently, we’ve entered a ramen phase. We dropped into Men Tei Japanese Noodle Cafe for our ramen fix for today. Tucked in a side street off of Newbury and Boylston, this little noodle shop serves up a hearty bowl of ramen. We were [...]

Read Full Post »

Congratulations, Waipi’o, the Little League World Series Champions! Waipi’o overcame a team from Matamoros, Mexico to win the championship game. It’s a good thing that this wasn’t soccer, or else there wouldn’t be peace in our household.

Read Full Post »

Maybe this snippet reveals a deeply subconscious reason for me marrying Alán.

A recent study published in PNAS by Princeton researchers Nikolaas Oosterhof and Alexander Todorov suggests that people make quick assessments of trustworthiness based on facial features, judgments that we continuously revise as we gain more information about a person. As a part of [...]

Read Full Post »

Every so often, I start craving a bowl of saimin, a steaming hot bowl of noodles in a tasty broth. In Hawaii, saimin, our local variation of ramen, is so common that it’s served at the concessions for sporting events or at McDonald’s. It’s the epitome of familiar comfort food.
So far, in the [...]

Read Full Post »

Once again, the pursuit of perfection, this time in the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, proves to be sadly warped. The ceremony’s music designer explains the dubbed performance, which used the public image of one little girl and the voice of another who remained unseen:
So we made the choice. I think it is [...]

Read Full Post »

Somehow, this portrait of Hawaii residents responding to Obama’s brief public appearance sounds just a tad bit condescending:
Mention shave ice and plate lunch and you may get a Hawaiian’s attention. Greet someone with the slang, “Howzit?” and say goodbye with a flash of the “shaka” sign (fist closed, thumb and pinky extended) and you have [...]

Read Full Post »

A few weeks ago, Ana, a long time friend of Alán’s, was in town for a visit, and I got to meet her for the first time. Ana is one of those people who radiate beauty, warmth, and a love of life, and I adored her from the moment I set eyes on her [...]

Read Full Post »

I know I’m longing for home when every mention of Hawai’i catches my attention.  In this case, even an article on a resurgence in the ukulele’s popularity tugs at my heartstrings.

Read Full Post »

Obama’s back in Hawai’i, and his local food preferences have been registered internationally, from the NYTimes to the Telegraph and France’s International Herald Tribune:
I’m actually here on vacation. I’m going to get a plate lunch. I might go to Zippy’s. I might go to Rainbow Drive-In. I haven’t decided yet. Get some Zip Min. I’m [...]

Read Full Post »

Photo taken by Dori (a photographer who shares my name)
Alán mentioned the other day that he might need a visit to the eye doctor. He says he can tell when his eyes change and when he needs new lenses. I, however, am relatively new to corrective lenses.
My cousin is an optometrist, so when [...]

Read Full Post »