Great Classic Eats, Vol 1
Of all the drive ins the now Ubiquitous L & L brand name has prospered over the years, and with good reason, the one over in pucks alley was the one for us during our Lokelani and Wainani days. We would go solo, zipping on our mopeds or as a group, walking down into the quarry and past the swimming pool and J hall. Everyone had a favorite, rarely changed, mine was the chicken cutlet mini plate or regular if extra hungry. There was never any let down, just the great food at great prices. In Wainani where we had to cook for ourselves, I would go to L & L two or three times a week, they had a points card where ten meals got you one free. Getting a Chicken Cutlet Mini Plate to go, I would zip off on the ped back to the Apartment where extra rice was waiting in the rice cooker, I could eat about half of the plate for lunch, half for dinner.
Later in life when I was feeling more flush with money (haha) I would splurge for the seafood combo with shrimp, fish and teri beef, it was huge. Recently I had layovers at the Ala Moana Hotel, where I could go to the L & Ls next to the Foodland Downstairs. Ahhh Chicken Cutlet with the gravy and some hot sauce, pepper on the mac salad and shoyu on the rice. Still ono. In the Bayrea, there are some copycat places called Hawaiian Drive In where legend has it some cooks from L & Ls in Hawaii came up here with the recipes and pretty much re-created the classic lineup. Yas and I go infrequently as a way to get a quick Hawaii fix.

Sidebar: Didja ever notice there are certain foods which make or break fast food places? for McDs its french frys, for do you wanna go and fry potatoes in hot oil for yourself at home? for most local plate lunch places, its the mac salad, for you could make some on your own, but save a picnic or potluck when are you going to be able to eat all that you've made? yes, the mac salad is the make or break point of a good plp, only the best places fit the right mayo to noodle ratio. oh and L & L has an outstanding mac salad...

that's it for this blog, add your own fellow bloggers: Pat and Steve, Mamma Mia's and Sanoyas await your comments, Dave, a remembrance of Kengo's would be great...
- posted by brent @ 12:32 PM

 
hokay, since this is the uh college daze post, this is my contribution as a karmic things are all connected kinda post...I have been a practicing Buddhist for years now, though i will be the last to admit my practice has not been as strong as it could be...how else could ya think this is a cult offshoot pat...but i gress, boys....for this part of the year we are in the winter training, austerity practices with services every day for bout 3 weeks, we do chanting, try the water ablution cold over our heads, purify ourselves....so with every service, 5 days of opening, 4 days of reflection and 5 days of going forward, we have testimonies from the followers,,,and guess hoo was doing the proof from hawaii....b matsu, (name edited for blog purposes...) who i left the phototron to...yowsa, a bro to the bud has followed the same path and is now inda teaching. for as much doubt as i get as a realist and skeptic, this teaching continues to amaze me and i cannot fake the serenity i get from learning to live life in a buddha centered way...for all of the turbulence in the job, the shinnyo has me on a diet of kenny loggins "i'm allright, nobody worry bout me..." for without the attachments to physical things we are just floating and learning not trying to keep our "stuff" (carlin) together....

anyways, hearing and seeing the testimony of my fellow co worker from the old waikiki hotels brought back fond memories and serves as a backdrop to how much we are now hopefully going forward....phototron or not...


- posted by brent @ 1:33 AM

 
wassup, guys got da blog steve thanks for keeping the faith and writing updates of our gangies. called ed in queens after his op. funny thing, got to talking a lot, since i guess he doesn't have the grind and all to weigh him down. here's hoping the next op goes better and he has a full recovery. went golfing the other day, totally hacked it up, the ground was wet from days of rain, but i hadn't golfed for one month and the turf jones was building more than a set of a virgins's blue balls....played with bud ricky, long hitter and a good partner to play with as we usually are about the same handicap. but he totally rocked and i totally didn't. still, it was a fun time to go out and hit the ball.
work is more busy and all, flying more in country domestic stuff two day trips as Yasuko is in NRT japan flying half of the month and no one is here to take care of the cats...
geez guys are we all turning farty this year, a milestone to be sure. i say we drink shots till the sun comes up maybe at the robs good time grill, or the sexual nexxus of kauai, as evidenced by iwa steve and i. the wifal units will have to understand, its a passage thing...
or will we have to go to vegas for this meeting of the minds? remember what goes on in vegas, stays in vegas...unlike lihue, where what goes on in lihue, gets repeated to every resident until you hear your dirty deed from your mom....
szit for now, blog on gents

- posted by brent @ 10:57 PM

 
greetings, all. steve, have been golfing my a** off, and getting back to where i was before, which is a little better than a sh**ty golfer. working the "batting cages" hitting station at poplar creek and the range at mariners point. have a bit of a stiff neck for all of the matt practice.
patrick, it looks like the housing gambit will pay off, as greenspan wants to raise rates and it may put the brakes on the housing market. looking forward to seeing the new digs when the right time comes.
have been flying alot lately, busy busy busy. as to your queries about united and business, i think its weird, as we have been flying full so there is the illusion of prosperity. though maybe the fares are cheaper, with our givebacks and if the gas prices stabilize things may get better.
but i want to leave you with this thought: register to vote and consider whether this government has made your life better the last four years. from my view, it has not, and i resent the current government making a atsb commission to help airlines, then reject our loan because our business does not look good, while starting a war to inflate gas and oil prices making it harder for us to be viable. so thats my two cents...blog on dudes

- posted by brent @ 9:24 PM

 
hey stevo, mr sulu originally was lt-helmsman then lt cmdr in the movies still called mr sulu or sulu anyways. tokyo rose i believe was the hawaii born japanese who went to japan and became a radio host broadcasting to the allied forces in the pacific, trying to demoralize them with propaganda and rhetoric. "you are losing the war, give up your wives are sleeping with the men back home, etc, etc." interesting life, though as a board member of the japanese american musuem i would think he would promote more of a 442/100 batallion war story ala "band of brothers" (excellent miniseries on dvd and played on history channel on mondays) the ww2 memorial is being dedicated on memorial day, and with the 60th anniv of d day coming up along with v day and vj day there would be an interest with the gen public. plus a plethora of actors of asian descent hangin around la, george howsabout it?
and how about phils winning the ultimate greenie, the green jacket? mr mickelson, set path for poipu bay at the end of the year, you are our next contestant on the gs of golf....plus, whoz up for the shinnecock us open, last won by short hitter corey pavin, if the winds up, its anyones ball, i for one would like to see big jahn daleey knock the third leg of his career gs here, though the penal rough and test of patience make it a long shot...
last spoke to dave, he is now in the rc plane action again, working and flying and rebuilding and working again. thats it for now, off and over...
- posted by brent @ 11:13 AM

 
ah steve, i remember all of the many incidents B and E went through , and believe me we should log them for her canonization. E has mellowed and matured over the years but remember the pure E we all knew and loved (or loathed, depending on wheter he raided our atm card or drank our guinness) his appetites were our superego personified, and we weathered the storms because he was our bud, for better or for worse...there was no middle ground with E, it was love (Raiders, Lakers, Snow) or Hate (UH Football then, Denver, Shivaldos).
As for Sanoyas, ahhh I hoped one day to do the sanoyas challenge, but for the most part it was just eat the noodles, not go for the grande portion to get on the wall of fame.
Now i am very happy to have found Santa ramen here in the bayrea, and the many good noodle shops in Japan. Now have the full jones for saraudon, crispy noodles with seafood roux which i have found in NRT town.
as for the E man, i remember working the reception table for the wedding, and the fantastic wedding spread at the hale koa, full seafood, and that all of us were there, even evil iwa. it seems that we are separated by geography and life situations and for the most part we should move on, as patti put it, "what do you have in common?" nothing, i guess except the shared experience of growing up nerdy on a small paradise with multiple ethnic groups bonding with music, sports, and alcohol (and weed)....
listening to the aol radio "awesome 80s" channel, and am about to give up the ghost and just remain in the 80s for life, after all, its the music we all grew up with, had our first slow dance to, groped our first breast to, saw our first stripper dance to, got drunk or high to, can we evolve and move on to the new stuff and still have that same connection...DISCUSS
oh, and the sting concert was a total suck fest, as he was sick with virus and cancelled on us, so the only sting siting was the police concert in 85 or so....remember the concerts we went to, aerosmith, heart, foreigner, rush, van halen, kick ass concerts at the blaisdell or waikiki shell miles davis comes to mind, along with kalapana. nowadays concerts cost your left nut and thats just for the service fee....enuff now, blog on dudes...



- posted by brent @ 1:15 AM

 
ahh steve wildman, got home allright, so that's troubling, can you say "functioning alcoholic"? check out my posts on the "now for nothing completely different" for more details re the japanese o-furo bathhouse experience. i think the best would be for alla us to be nekkid and sittin in the large ofuro with the oblig small towel on our heads, chillin'. then into the steam room, which always brings back memories of ed's room at old wainani place (hot, sweaty and moist) to chill and see who evokes the classic kramer seinfeld line "it's like a sauna in here.." with or without sal bass rushdie. out of the sauna and into the cold dip for some scrotum shrinking action, yowwww. then off to the restaurant for some gyoza beer action with ramen or curry....didja know i found the greatest ramen stand in osaka by the den den electronic town? open air sit onna stool, lots of pork char siu shoyu based, always a line to order, ya know its good if there's a line to get in....also around were the businessmans hibachi stands, where they give you a small charcoal grill and some fish and meat and you sit around your table withcha beer grilling your food, kinda like tailgating uh games in college, but with better cutsa meat, natch...
and to make it perfectly clear, i was talking about massage booths in beijing mainland china, where you could get a wonderful massage 1 hour for 5-10 dollars. chinese style is to massage through your shirt so no hanky panky, even blind masseuses are available, i just found this middle aged lady and her husband who were familiar with american flight crews and had a handy translation sheet of your trouble points in english and chinese. by the time you've flown 13 hours and are moving on empty gas at 4am your time, the massage is enough to make you pass out, but lovely nonetheless. thnks for the lmn drps, the dog is cute but whoa mama quite a package to take care of, lets hope it mellows with age as have we all....
- posted by brent @ 12:51 PM

 
ohoh, posted supabowl mammaries on the other blog, so visit donkeys point blog, but as it is about the high school years, i guess high school recoll of supabowls are apropo....

as for the infamous boob, i got it on vhs, not much as its a split sec, i would pay my weight in gold to hear what was said after that happened. i looks too much like a pub stunt, coming at the end of the number, and why couldn't this happen to britney spears when she did her supa bowl show?!?!? in quiring minds wanna know....oh did kazaa to download an image, she's wearing a sun shaped nipple pasty design, which only makes the pub stunt angle seem more likely.

as for the upa bowl, it's only when there's not much emotional stake that the best ones have been played lately for me, like pats/ cats and pats/ rams and titans/ rams. as stated before, last good one with team that was meaningful to me was supa bowl x boys/ stillers. other later supa bowl with boys/ stillers marred by the universal joke that was barry switzer, the ultimate coattail rider of destiny...talk about an actual boob...

anyway, stevo talk about the most meaningful raiders or skins game in the formative years, eric iwa, tell us if your love of the rams extended to when they fled to st louis....ed, get on the blog, son....haha out for now....


- posted by brent @ 2:02 AM

 
Holy S**t, did the gods give us a great bowl game or what??? When i said it would come down to the kickers, I didn't think it would be Kasay snap hooking it like one of my Nakakura tourney choking special drive out of bounds, and vinatieri winning free drinks for life in boston with his redemption kick at the end!!! Still sore at him for missing two in the beginning, that was the point spread, but for the sheer entertainment value i cant complain.
and how about justin timberlake giving janet jackson one of those "latoya in playboy" moments live to all of us lusting for her since her breakout herb ritts "love will never do without you" black and white video? not since the phoebe cates bikini strip in "fast times" did such an unexpected boob show up...and we all yelled "halleluyah"
For my part, i watched the first half live, getting ready for gohoshi at the temple taped the second half and watched it after the game was over, reminiscent of the "dont tell me the score" monday night football in the old hawaii days of mine... i sat slack jawed, like some kid saturday morning getting two looney tunes shows in a row, as the game evolved from a chicago bears 85 vs ravens 01 defensive battle to a san diego chargers vs miami dolphins mid eighties clash.
gowoooolee as gomer pyle would say, as the pats (who only had my support through the thin relativity that tom brady came from san mateo) became the immovable object to the cats irresistable force. golden vinateri misses two early? whatever he gets it in the end, brady floats a duck to the pats at the end of the game, whatever he guns third and long and makes the plays to bring them back and puts them ahead, even kasay the plausible goat made it from fifty out at the end of the first half to even bring them close. john fox's deci to go for two too early still may haunt them, though i think it opened the game up for good, it was like when ferris bueller left the ferrari to the two parking lot attendants and let them run all over chicago with it, woo hoo....
pat, lately have been thinking of 'fearless fly' which probably has not passed the test of time with it's anti pc foes dr goo-fee and his asst gung-ho, but was a neat hoot, i can still hear "my glasses, i'm helpless without them".... and did you find the theme to super chicken? when you find a super sauce (what is super sauce, a martini? they mix it in a shaker) and then you throw them for a loss ...buck buck buck buck. just squack for super chicken.....
oh ho, and im sure you've seen these, but reno 911 and chapelle show on comedy central are cooking, as well as the repeats of mad tv. Yas and i have found we share the same taste for sick off the wall humor, which makes this marriage thing much easier hahaha....
anyways, idea for posting memorable super bowls of our past, esp in the high school years and college. guys, any ideas???
- posted by brent @ 12:55 PM

 
is al a genius, or what? now he made Edward sweat (and boy can he sweat) with the "psyche" coaching offer to payton, now Ed is ready to coach his dream team without any of his demands (really ed, asking davis to bring back nebs quebee heistman trophy winner eric crouch...) is suggest defense drafting first, get your pass rusher in duh jevon kearse style, move heaven and earth to pick up jacksonville retread hugh douglas, find out if tui is for real (and that's where payton would have been valuable) coast to a 8-8 season, dump salary and get the ball rollin....

enough with the football alreeady

about the ameritrade acct, why not just either go index or equity income? if ya got the emailed story, why not put all yer money up in one fund, evaluate it every 3-4 months, then switch as feasible yearly two yearly to minimize cap gain taxes. individual stock picking is like putting money down on a hard eight at craps, you rarely win and rarely put up enough to make it significant.

re the refin make sure you watch out for the junk fees added in to the deal, that you find the best rate 30yr or 15yr fixed without points if possible .

pat, walked inta the apple store, my friend johnny says apple rocks and that they have a new add on sys with a "garage band" feature that allows you to midi/record ya licks. looking at the ipod, but canna afford it now, will have to wait a bit.

latas, boys take care and blog on
- posted by brent @ 10:54 PM

 
bloggin at steve and susan crib, yaaalll, on a mission to deliver exmas presents and spread some cheer...working alot this month to make up for the lazy november and correspondingly low paycheck to come....working on the steve and susan computer which i am trying to despyware....so far spybot installed seems to do the trick, go to cnet.com downloads for the free copy....must hele on soon, work day for the boy, take care all and blog on....
- posted by brent @ 12:32 AM

 
hoppy thanksgiving to all... steven don't ledda bastachs getcha down, things will get bettah. Raiders, they now may play well enuff with mirer MIRER?!?!? to play their way outta the eli manning bowl, but they need, NEED help on defense. someone younger than 35 without a criminal record will do fine, some DE or OLB who can bring the pain. woodson keyshawn and kevin johnson will go to the whiners, cause that's what they are. TO will go to any stadium big enough to fit his ego, hell he'll play flag football if they'll give him the long passes.

have been living the life of d nile, given up the cigs, now drying up the booze, and watching the weight. once we hit farty that big metabo clock moves like tim conway in a carol burnett skit. have been taking to swimming and will soon start doing the machines at the Y. wassa nice month, long vacation and all, worked one Japan and one portland and that was that. no paycheck but twenny five days off was sweet. went to japan to see the inlaws and spent the rest of the time working on the bills and setting up for taxes next year. hey i thought this internet was supposed to make all of this easier. it seems the receipts are running around the room like baby chicks, cant seem to make them stay in order...

dave, thanks for the visit last month, am really starting to hate windows ME (Massive Excrement, Moronic Electronics, Myopic Enhancement). Will have to wait until i get to Hong Kong to getta XP Pro upgrade disc. the one i have now is OEM, meaning i have to overwrite all my data. Just picked up a DVD burner sony dru-510a for 149 w/o tax (oregon) contemplating wheter to put it in or go for a fry's TDK DVD at 129 with %8 tax. ah well, the life of an upgrader.

Pat, Glad to hear from ya, the last months must have been a blur, even though the second time supposed to be easier. Remember, Lanipo trail awaits, but no running and lets take enough water this time... Yasuko has been totally doing the kazaa thing, i have been able to resist it for the most part, but instead have been loading my laptop with a bunch of my CD collection. all of Hendrix, Clapton, Rod Stewart, Led Zep, into mp3, locked and loaded for the time when i can feel i afford the ipod. (laptop gots firewire so the transfer should be okay) will keep filling it up until i run outta space. for now itsa cool jukebox to take on trips, looking for my ZZtop sixpack and Prince greatest hits to load up...

I am tahnkful for you all, blog on dudes and here here to stephen fer hittin 38 god almighty twenty years since high school...ricke dont loose that number, indeed....
- posted by brent @ 1:06 AM

 
wella hella guys, the blog is going the way of the dodo, now i know we are all busy and such but just take a moment to long on with a one sentence remark to keep your password lodged in your mind and let us know you're still ontha this.
the fish the fish, who sold their soul to get the fish to win the world series??? is guess that bermans right and "that's why they play the games" ah, to be young and choke free, is the formula to getting a ring be mediocre for three to four years, build up talent, hire old school crony to manage, win series, dump talent, start over again....i am sorta looking at baseball as the last one sport i coulda watched, not even following football, even with the tuna squeezing wins out of the lemons in dallas....
okay, here's the plan, get the raiders to la, build lux boxes on the rose bowl (and a dome while you're at it) have davis hire steinbrenner as gm and go waaaaay over the salary cap, hire the afc all star team straight outta the pro bowl and insert them inta the silver and black...
or, just have kept gruden for one more year and you woulda won last year, gettin tiny tim his friggin ring by now "god bless us, one and all..."
but enuff about sports, met with dave on his visit here ta the bayrea, here's the 411...picked him up in the new wheels, toy highlander limited, sweet ride but it's a SUV ya say, okay i joined the pack so sue me... ate biiig breakfast at nini's too much even with the basic twoeggssausage with the famous fried potatoes. hung out at the condo and did some computer tweaking and shooting the breeze, went with dave to meet his friend gabby at saigon city in sammateo. nice girl, one of the ones that makes me ask dave why not her...? but enuff of other peoples buziness....she works at hukilau, rest i did not know of before in the citee, but is partly owned by kurtozaki from kapaa and the dorms at uh (small world reference inserted here).
after eating out twice in six hours rolled out of restaurant and sluggishly chatted and worked on computer (sorry dave, i know it's your vaca) and then slugged out and slept until his other friend lorraine called to meet him for dinner. was good to hang out with the boy, wish he coulda been here longer, he's now in la fighting the smoke and going to a friends wedding. i think he had some fun as it was nice catching up and he got to play with the two cat units, momo and gin who are always a good entertainment value.
okay steve, time to knock down a few and get in character we need more diary entries and secret agent x missives....
- posted by brent @ 12:22 AM

 
hello out there, back for a quick blog just got a new laptop and will be able to blog from the road like chuck kuralt. now i am at home, lately have been flying more, or at least it seems like it. preparing for the taisai or festival of joy with the shinnyo-en, to take place tomorrow. am on the a/v staff, so i will be handling the camera like in high school or on the donkeys surf break...found l and l type drive in close by, woo hoo, took the so over and she loved it, so now will be fighting the urge to carb up with chiken cutlet mini plates and seafood combo with teri beef lunches. have been working out, or at least trying to, ya know guys, after the turn of 35 or so, it gets hard to do the machines and treadmills and such and not have the aches and pains later, and the gutt is still there, so then diet comes into play, and ya know what? its been about a month and a half off of nicotine and i am whining too much....
just got a music jones so have been loading the laptop with eno, king crimson, mark and david knopfler, pat metheny, all of the atmospheric stuff, brought over the small speakers and bow, a music system in the hotel room. with lotsa room left over for hunnerts of albums...
wella wella, gotta go, take care and blogondudes
- posted by brent @ 10:49 PM