Dash Gastropub

My brother invited us to a pricey pupu bar, Dash Gastropub, near McCully and King. Because it was expensive and because he was paying, how could I say no?

Dash Gastropub is situated in what used to be a bank (neither of the majors, i.e.,  Bank of Hawaii or First Hawaiian). The owners haven't spent much re-doing the interior---the vault is clearly visible from the dining area---but that doesn't dissuade the crowd of mostly twenty-somethings from coming.

The sashimi is very fresh and uniquely presented, and the young and pretty cocktail waitresses made sure our glasses were filled. Dash is a little noisy but not overly so like some other places where one has to shout to make oneself heard. It's about two miles from Waikiki, and the small parking lot requires the use of a valet.

Next time I go to Dash I will walk there from my relatives', who live about a quarter-mile away. That way I don't have to count the beers. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Matson Terminal

As a child of the 1950's I watched Matson's great cruise ships, the Lurline and the Matsonia, disgorge excited California tourists at the Aloha Tower. Matson has long since sold off its passenger cruise and hotel businesses but remains a significant player in Hawaiian freight. The Matson terminal at Sand Island has grown substantially to accommodate the revolution in the bulk transportation of materials (intermodal, roll-on/roll-off, etc.).

Matson Navigation was acquired by one of Hawaii's original "Big Five" companies, Alexander & Baldwin, in 1969. A&B last year spun off Matson as a separate entity. Headquartered on Sand Island, MATX is Hawaii's 14th publicly traded company and has a market capitalization of over $1 billion. Much has changed since Captain William Matson began shipping sugar cane to the Mainland in 1882; what hasn't is the importance to the Islands of the company that bears his name. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Honolulu at Night

The view south from St. Louis Heights 

Honolulu at night is comfortably warm. A T-shirt suffices when going out.  Unlike during the day, though, the lower temperature permits the wearing of a light jacket without overheating.  Wool suits, while elegant, are the mark of the newcomer.

Every year there are more lights from the decades-long building boom. Roofs sport solar panels, which are now making economic sense in the southernmost State.

The roads are jammed to capacity, and most of the residential construction is occurring west and north to where pineapple and sugar cane once grew.  However, Waikiki and downtown should remain the centers of commerce, culture, and government, and Honolulu at night should grow brighter for the foreseeable future.
© 2013 Stephen Yuen

Shokudo Japanese Restaurant

On our first day in Honolulu we went to Shokudo Japanese Restaurant near the Ala Moana Shopping Center. We have frequently walked past Shokudo without venturing in; the lines out the door should have clued us to try it earlier.

Yelp-ers give Shokudo 3.5 out of 5 stars, dinging it for slow service. Having made reservations ahead of time, we waited only a few minutes.

Agedashi tofu

We ordered the agedashi ("lightly battered and fried") tofu. The soy sauce, calamari, green onion, and turnip garnish provided just the right amount of sweet saltiness to accentuate the custardy squares.

The assorted tempura looked like the familiar dish found in many Japanese restaurants, but the taste of Shokudo's version is something special. Shokudo infuses its tempura batter with ginger, and the texture--crisp and dry on the outside while being moist on the inside--was excellent; IMHO the tempura didn't need to be dipped in the dashi soy sauce bowl to enhance the flavor.

Unagi Bowl before the stirring

We had to order the unagi bowl because all the other tables were ordering it. The bowl is super-heated, the rice and unagi (eel) are laid in it, and the dish is promptly stirred by the waiter at the table. The rice is slightly charred---the way I like it---but will overcook if left in the bowl too long. The dish was well prepared but with one's eyes closed didn't seem much different from a decent piece of unagi sushi. Five stars for an ingenious presentation but only three stars for taste.

We weren't planning to have dessert, but the restaurant brought us two complimentary half(!)-servings of honey toast in honor of the two birthdays we were celebrating that day. The dessert didn't seem elaborate---fresh bread, vanilla ice cream, and honey--but was delicious, and we ate more of it than we thought we could.

On our next trip to the Islands, we'll be back. 4 stars out of 5, but we're conservative graders. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Long and Winding Road

Nine years after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples the U.S. Supreme Court

dramatically advanced gay rights Wednesday in rulings that direct the federal government to provide equal treatment to same-sex spouses and allow the resumption of gay marriages in California.

In a pair of 5-4 rulings on the final day of the court's term, the justices struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to gay couples married under state law, and let stand a ruling that found Proposition 8, a 2008 voter initiative that ended same-sex marriage in California, unconstitutional.

The court tiptoed to the edge of declaring that same-sex marriage was a universal civil right but declined, ruling that each State should decide for itself. However, it would be wise for traditional-marriage defenders to understand that the battle is over.

You don’t have to have been Nostradamus to have known that the fight for same-sex marriage in the USA and in Europe has been over for twenty years or more.

Meanwhile, now that Proposition 8 has been declared unconstitutional, same-sex weddings in California will probably resume within a month:

Backers of the ban known as Proposition 8 have 25 days to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision. A midlevel appeals court also must lift a hold it placed on the lower court order before the state can be free to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Still, state officials moved quickly to signal their approval. Gov. Jerry Brown, who refused to defend Proposition 8 as governor and in his previous job as attorney general, said he had directed the California Department of Public Health to start issuing licenses to gay couples as soon as the hold ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is lifted.

Soon we'll again be witnessing scenes from marriages at City Hall. From 2004:

The line starts at the snack bar

Snakes its way past the gift store

Into the hallway

Clerk's office in the distance

After getting their license, many get married
right away in this magnificent setting

[Update - 6/29/13: Well, that was quick. Headline: Same-sex couples flock to SF for weekend weddings. ]

Education Bubble(heads)

A new app shows how to play and win the college game. It's all about throwing awesome parties and wearing the hottest clothes.

No job prospects and a hundred thousand dollars in debt? Just press "restart" and try again.  Who said the app was real life?

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Not Feeling the Aloha

Life transitions, like changing jobs or moving, force us to complete long-neglected tasks. Documenting our work for whomever inherits it, throwing out stuff that might have been useful in a future that never came, and packing our possessions in the right boxes are stressful activities because there is a hard deadline looming.  The afterglow of accomplishment is the reward (but little else because there's scant recognition for doing what we should have been doing all along.)

Extended trips don’t have the same finality as life transitions, but they also to a lesser extent make us clean up our act. For over a week I had been hand-watering a patch of lawn that had been yellowing due to a broken sprinkler head. Yesterday I finally fixed the sprinkler. I prepaid some bills (not all of them can be scheduled online), replaced some worn bathroom fixtures, and closed out volatile securities positions that I did not want to worry about while away.

We were tired when we boarded the plane, but we were pleased with the past few days (see aforementioned afterglow).  The trip has started well.

[Note: a group of high school students entered the plane and blocked the aisles while they tried to jam their duffels into the 777’s overhead compartments. They were well-behaved and probably weren’t familiar with airplane etiquette. When a flight attendant asked one girl to let other groups pass, she complied, but the request did not seem to register with the other teens.

Does social IQ take longer to develop than other forms of intelligence? Your humble observer admits that he was (more) socially oblivious in his youth. Unfortunately, any gains he made in that area are more than offset by the deterioration in his alertness, memory, and speed of mental processing.  If I only knew then what I know now.....]