Identity crisis: Job vs. career
Photo by PaurianSomeone once told me there’s a difference between having a job and a career. A job is something you do to make money. You don’t necessarily need to enjoy it, but you tolerate it because it’s a means…
Author: Ed Morita
Party pics: ‘Transitopia’ designer showcase
Up-and-coming designers showcased their talents Saturday evening at the Honolulu Community College fashion technology program’s “Transitopia” student designer showcase.The gala fashion show featured designs from current students, special guest collections by “Project Runway” alums Casanova Carlos, Christopher Collins, Michael Drummond, Mondo…
The problem with Paper.li lists
Paper.li has been growing in popularity as a way for people to share interesting links in a published, newspaper-like format. At first glance, the service looks great on Twitter. A link to an individual’s “newspaper” is tweeted out along with…
Chefs & Farmers Facing Future
Chefs, farmers, culinary students and food professionals from across the state converged at Leeward Community College Friday for Chefs & Farmers Facing Future, a forum to discuss how Hawaii can foster a sustainable agriculture industry. Similar to the way local…
Party pics: Grease Lightning bowling night
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Kokua for Japan
Nonstop went behind the scenes for Kokua for Japan, Sunday’s huge fundraising concert at the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Great Lawn. The superstar lineup was filled with both local and national acts, including Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, Mick Fleetwood, Jack Johnson,…
Musicians for a New Day
Local musicians gathered at NextDoor Friday night to help raise money for Japan and generate awareness for Hawaii’s talented and diverse independent music scene. The acts who performed last night include RootHub, Zack Shimizu and Eli Oguma, Wait For It,…
First Thursday poetry grand slam finals
First Thursday celebrated its eighth anniversary in grand style at Fresh Cafe Thursday night. Kealoha kicked off the evening with an original poem inspired after a day at the beach. After warming up the crowd, he started the competition that…
Why Klout scores are irrelevant
Recently, local web developer and Hawaii Social Media Club member Rob Bertholf launched Hawaii Klout, a website that aggregates Hawaii social media users with the highest Klout scores. Although I periodically check my Klout score, I do it mostly out…
What bakers don’t want you to know
I’m often asked about the primary drawback of being a pastry chef. It may sound strange, but the problem virtually every person who works in a bakeshop suffers from is an overabundance of boogers.As you may know, boogers are basically…
Finer things in life cigar and scotch tasting
The new Macanudo Cru Royal cigars and Dewar’s double-aged Signature Scotch were among the “finer things in life” available at the cigar and scotch tasting at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Wednesday night. More than 50 people paid $50 to sample…
Review: ‘Patisserie Coin de Rue’
As soon as I saw HIFF’s spring schedule, I knew I had to see “Patisserie Coin de Rue,” which centers on a brash, eager woman named Natsume, who leaves her father’s cake shop in Kagoshima for Tokyo in search of…
What makes a chef?
This past weekend, a culinary student volunteering at the Honolulu Festival Friendship Gala asked me what it takes to become a chef. Although there are a lot of qualities involved, the main requirement is that a chef must be both…
Party pics: Cherry Blossom contestant reception
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Getting ‘Enchanted’
Have you ever had to keep a secret? Probably one of the hardest secrets to keep are not the forever secrets, but secrets that have an expiration date. For the past eight months, I’ve been carrying around a digital copy…
Video: First Thursday poetry slam
Featured poet: C.R. AveryFirst place: Sterling HigaSecond place: Jonathan Clarke “iNTREPiD” SypertThird place: Hong Guang PyoHuman Beat Box Jason Tom
Eat A Rainbow cooking demos
Aside from being National Pancake Day, March 1 is also the beginning of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Many studies have proven that eating a high fiber diet consisting of a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables can help…
Waialua Estate’s new chocolate vintage
On Saturday afternoon, Melissa Chang and I attended the Chocolate Festival at Dole Cannery. I have to admit that upon arrival, I was disappointed that the “festival” was more of a trade show, with vendors offering samples of various chocolate…
Visiting ‘Hawaii Five-0’
Abercrombie 'Five-0' ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 5 From left to right: Grace Park (Kono Kalakaua), Gov. Abercrombie, Alex O'Loughlin (Steve McGarrett), Abercrombie's wife Nancie Caraway, Scott Caan (Danny "Danno" Williams), Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly), Larisa…
Welcome to Hawaii
No doubt, you’ve heard the Japanese welcome message played in airport terminals. Today, the Honolulu International Airport unveiled its new Hawaiian language greeting to welcome travelers to Hawaii. The message in both Hawaiian and English will be played over the…
Should they give a Grammy for Hawaiian music?
In case you were living under a rock and missed the news yesterday, Tia Carrere won her second Grammy for Best Hawaiian Music Album, beating out perennial Na Hoku Hanohano winners Amy Hanaiali’i, Ledward Kaapana and Jeff Peterson. Since the…
Party pics: Koaloha Ukulele Factory BBQ
Koaloha Ukulele Factory BBQ 1 ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 25 Alvin Okami talking with Japanese performer Iwao jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('90c9cd59cb2eaf96e614bdac38840384', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });
Tips for going whale watching
I had the opportunity Wednesday to go on the Star of Honolulu’s whale watching cruise. While on the boat, I noticed that many people were whale watching for the first time and weren’t adequately prepared. So here are three tips…
Smoking permitted by law
While at the American Cancer Society on Tuesday, one of the employees told me he was asked to testify on behalf of the ACS at a State Senate hearing on a bill addressing the smoking ban.Thanks to a little help…
Video: First Thursday – February top three
First Place: Tui “Tui-Z” ScanlanTied for Second Place: Bridget GrayTied for Second Place: Ink
Nuuanu Okazuya andagi
Best andagi in town ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 10 By Ed MoritaNonstopIf you know okazuya in Honolulu, you know Nuuanu Okazuya's dual claims to fame are its umpteen varieties of homemade fishcake and andagi. This photo gallery…
Party pics: Hard Rock Cafe Pro Bowl party
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Party pics: Senor Mustachio Yelp party
Senor Mustachio Yelp party at Pablo's Cantina ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 14 jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('32c6c75f27bd27191b43a9ed94b43391', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });
Party pics: Moms’ night out – Crazy.Sexy.Shoes
Moms' night out - Crazy.Sexy.Shoes ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 7 jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('522cb97a1b48b20e538d62bb77b749e4', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });
Party pics: Going Gaga at Apartm3nt
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Zodiac identity crisis
No doubt you’ve heard about the new zodiac calendar announced by The Minnesota Planetarium Society last week. Like with many people, my sign changed, so I went from being an Aquarius to a Capricorn. I’ve never really put much weight…
Moms in Hawaii preview
Like Metromix Honolulu, Hawaii.momslikeme.com became part of the collateral damage when The Honolulu Advertiser was sold to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. With The Advertiser no longer in existence, the local Moms Like Me site lost its core audience and most of…
Party pics: Cary Tagawa tweetup
Once he was introduced to Twitter, actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, best known for his role as soul sucker Shang Tsung in the “Mortal Kombat” film and recently “Hawaii Five-0,” enthusiastically embraced the world of social media. After spending the past few…
Happy birthday, Foodspotting!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my favorite food porn site, foodspotting.com, officially launched. If you follow my Twitter stream, you’ve no doubt seen at least one of my sightings. I remember beta testing the iPhone…
Vitalsox: Not just for running
You may have seen Melissa Chang’s Vitalsox video from the Honolulu Marathon Expo in December. I asked on Twitter what size socks would I wear, and in a prime example of social media in action, Vitalsox responded. Unfortunately, all they…
Omiyage: Trader Joe’s?
Photo by Melissa ChangOkay, don’t hate me, but I just don’t get it. I don’t see what the big deal is about with Trader Joe’s. Don’t get me wrong, I like the store. If it was here in Hawaii, I…
Omiyage: The Beef Jerky Store
Every time anyone in my family goes to Las Vegas, we always visit The Beef Jerky Store to shop for omiyage. Located near Fremont Street, this store is filled with li hing goodies, dried fruits, candy, nuts and of course,…
Review: Jabbawockeez ‘Mus.i.c’
As Melissa Chang and I cruised down the Las Vegas strip on our way to our next food location, I saw on one of the giant billboards that Jabbawockeez were performing in a show called “Mus.i.c” (Muse I See) at…
Omiyage: Max Brenner
During my last visit to Las Vegas, I saw that Max Brenner would be opening in the Caesars Palace Forum Shops. When I started planning my trip, the first thing I told Melissa Chang was, “We gotta go to Max…
Tempting fate
Well, another New Year’s Eve has come and gone and my string of bad luck continues. Yesterday morning, I called Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace to make reservations. A few minutes after I hung up with the restaurant hostess, I…
Cirque du Soleil ‘Viva Elvis’
Viva Elvis ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 17 This week, I paid a visit to the Elvis Theater at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas to check out Cirque du Soleil's latest show, "Viva Elvis."After the…
A thousand Nutcrackers
One of my family traditions that I look forward to every year is Christmas dinner at my Auntie Rosie’s. She’s by far one of the best cooks in my family, and my mouth salivates in anticipation for her chocolate chip…
Holidays in Vegas: Will the jinx continue?
Presents are unwrapped, parties are over, and I have packed, unpacked and repacked my luggage for the third time as I prepare for my holiday trip to Las Vegas. I’ve been putting off this trip for the past eight months.…
Holiday humor: ‘Island of Misfit Toys’ deleted scene
Merry Christmas to my online ohana! It’s been a fantastic four months here on Nonstop Honolulu, and best wishes to everyone as we move forward into 2011. In honor of Christmas, enjoy this deleted scene from “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer…
Cookies for Teri
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been taking orders for a private cookie sale with proceeds going to help my friend Teri pay for her cancer treatments. Unfortunately, one week before the sale, Teri lost her battle with cancer.Whenever someone…
Video: Doolin’ Rakes at O’Toole’s
While making my rounds going from bar to bar covering the 12 Bars of Christmas pub crawl, I stopped in at O’Toole’s Irish Pub, where the Doolin’ Rakes were performing. Well, I wouldn’t really call it performing, more like setting…
Gingerbread village at the Princess Kaiulani
I recently stopped by the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel to check out the phenomenal gingerbread village built by Chef Ralf Bauer and his staff. When I arrived at the hotel lobby, I found Chef Bauer, a true showman, dazzling a…
Secrets to Christmas eggnog
When I worked at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, the day after Thanksgiving was not Black Friday; it was eggnog day. The thing that made Greenbrier’s eggnog so unique was the curing process. The day after Thanksgiving, the food…
A double encounter with death!
By now, many of you have seen my interview on the local news about almost being struck by lightning on Thursday night. For those of you who don’t the story, it began at the Gubernatorial Inaugural Gala at the Hilton…
