This morning I made my way to town to see the allergy doctor. I actually have never seen the doctor himself. Instead, I see a nurse practitioner who works for him. She's actually great. She checked me out and apparently, all is well. After that, I took my empty stomach to a place called Koji's Bento Korner. It's a downtown Hilo classic, serving traditional plate-lunch fare. Every day offers a different special. Today's was the beef short rib/chow funn for $4.95. It's a combo of beef short ribs, chow funn (Chinese flat noodles with veggies and sauce) all on top of a humongous mound of steamed rice and a side of mac salad. I never eat the mac salad here. With noodles and rice, another starch seems unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that, while I do enjoy mac or potato salad on rare occasion, I prefer a little more mac and a lot less mayo than is the norm for recipes here. Local style is to smother the poor, hopelessly overcooked macaroni in mayonnaise here, making for a big, mushy blob on the plate. Still, I'd go back to Koji's, for sure. It's a bargain and the food's not bad, especially for the price. It was also a treat to walk across the street and sit under a coconut palm in the grass to enjoy my lunch.
The plate lunch or bento is a product of the plantation days. People often wonder, "What's with the two scoop rice and mac salad with everything?" My theory is that plantation workers, whose days were physically demanding, needed all those carbs just to keep going strong in the cane and pineapple fields. Rice was the primary staple food for the Chinese, then Japanese, then Korean workers who came here. The mac salad? I don't know about the origins of that tradition. One theory is that German and other European field bosses exposed the workers to potato salad. The workers then substituted cheaper macaroni for the potatoes.
Today was beautiful. It's been a solid month since we've had weather this nice. The ground is still very soggy, but I was able to mow most of the lawn, skipping the muddiest sections.
Tomorrow, for the first time, I may meet the owner of the winery. I'm told he has flown in from New York to check up on his little hobby.
A hui hou. Aloha!
The plate lunch or bento is a product of the plantation days. People often wonder, "What's with the two scoop rice and mac salad with everything?" My theory is that plantation workers, whose days were physically demanding, needed all those carbs just to keep going strong in the cane and pineapple fields. Rice was the primary staple food for the Chinese, then Japanese, then Korean workers who came here. The mac salad? I don't know about the origins of that tradition. One theory is that German and other European field bosses exposed the workers to potato salad. The workers then substituted cheaper macaroni for the potatoes.
Today was beautiful. It's been a solid month since we've had weather this nice. The ground is still very soggy, but I was able to mow most of the lawn, skipping the muddiest sections.
Tomorrow, for the first time, I may meet the owner of the winery. I'm told he has flown in from New York to check up on his little hobby.
A hui hou. Aloha!
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