Land and Sky

My father makes the best fried rice. I think it's because he lives life fully and, as a result, seasons without restraint -- but not with reckless abandon on either. Garlic, Spam, peas, eggs, onions, salt, pepper, beni shoga, and a healthy dash of furikake provides a wonderful fusion of salty, sweet, nutty piquancy in every bite.

Fried rice

Breakfast was to have been a light meal, but it was quite filling. For a mid-morning snack, I was tantalized by two flavors of Japanese Kit-Kat bars, pumpkin and vanilla. My father mentioned that Kit-Kat is very popular in Japan, a bit by chance and a bit by marketing genius. By advertising the bars with the slogan, "kitto-katsu" (go ahead, say it out loud), students and anyone attempting to overcome any challenge will "surely win" (literal translation). Neat, huh?

After we made our visits and did some shopping, we embarked on our journey to Japan. Our meal on our Hawaiian Airline flight was to have been Japanese curry with rice, then we were informed it would be Hawaiian barbecue pork. We received barbecue chicken and rice with edamame and bamboo shoots.

Airline lunch

The grilled chicken marinated in shoyu was neutral-good, neither dry nor moist. The rice was overcooked, but adding edamame and bamboo shoots is a good idea, perhaps with a little shoyu, mirin, and shiitake. Of course, I didn't eat the salsa (raw onions). Dessert was a cloying and semi-fluffy pineapple cheesecake slice. A drink that I often miss, the taste of Hawaii, passion-orange-guava juice, was offered throughout the flight.

- Cassaendra