Food Fest - Round 2

Saturday night was our second Food Fest experience at BYU-H. All the international clubs on campus set up their booths and sold their favorite foods from home.

Brent also set up a table to get students to vote for the theme of the upcoming Winter Ball that he's planning. Look at my cute Vice President of Special Events.

This year I went straight for the Tongan plate dinner.

I was honestly in heaven while I ate my Lu Pulu (corned beef and onions wrapped in Taro leaves, drenched in coconut milk, and baked) and Manioke root that I had fallen in love with ten years ago when my family lived in Tonga. It took me back to Tonga and I was happy for the rest of the night.
Brent loved his Yakisoba noodles from Japan.

We also enjoyed an omelette from China, fried won tons from Hong Kong, and a yummy, caramelized waffle dessert from the Aikido club.

Food fest was especially fun this year because my cousins from Kaneohe came out to Laie to join us for the delicious event. Between the 8 of us, we enjoyed food from Tonga, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Fiji, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hawaii, and more. Food Fest Round 2 = a definite success.

Invasion

This is Howard.

Apparently Howard has decided to take up permanent residence on my blow dryer, while two of his friends seem to have moved into my closet.

I'm not sure how I feel about our new house guests. They're harmless enough, and honestly, they were to be expected. But they give me a heart attack every time I walk into the bathroom or the closet. And I'm definitely concerned for the next time I reach for my blow dryer or my Levi jacket.

Luckily, we received the good news that we can finally move into on-campus married housing at the end of February.

Hallelujah! While we will miss our nice landlord, the extra privacy of living in a house instead of an apartment complex, and especially our cute neighbor kids...

...it will be nice to save a little money on rent, have an oven and start making real food again, be closer to our friends, and live just a small jaunt away from school and the temple.

Of course, that's not to say that we won't have a lizard problem in our new apartment too...

Crab Hunting

On Saturday night, we met some friends down at the beach for a bonfire. One of their sons, Hunter, was carrying around a Sobe bottle filled with sand and five crabs that he had already caught that night. Brent and I were fascinated. Those crabs are fast little buggers and we've never been able to catch a live one before. So while the rest of the adults sat around the fire, Brent and I followed Hunter down the beach as he gave us some crab hunting lessons.

After five lessons -within about 15 minutes- Brent had caught three or four crabs. (I held the light and left the crab grabbing to the boys). Apparently, the trick is to find one on the sand, guard their hole before they can run for cover, put your finger on their shell and push down lightly (this will cause them to pull their pinchers and eyes in) and then pick them up while holding their legs in.

Our master teacher, Hunter/Spiderman.

**No crabs were harmed during these events. All were released to their holes before the night was over.

Everything's Better in Hawaii

I don't mean to make anyone feel bad, but it's true: everything's better in Hawaii. I can prove it.

Chocolate. One of the best things in the world (in my opinion). Chocolate makes life better. At times, it's what makes life worth living. And... believe it or not, chocolate is even better in Hawaii.

It's not just because we've got these.

Or these.

Or even these.

But it's because the temperature in Hawaii is perfectly conducive to chocolate consumption. As soon as you put a piece of chocolate in your mouth, it begins to melt. And I feel like I never actually tasted chocolate before I came to Hawaii. But when you eat it here and it starts to melt, it's like the flavor, in all of its chocolaty goodness, bursts in your mouth.

We bought some Caramacs before Christmas so we could take them home to share with the family.

We were too excited when we bought them to wait until Boise, so we opened a box for ourselves. I don't remember chocolate ever tasting so good. So when we got home and opened some to share, I was expecting the full flavor burst that I had experienced just days before in Hawaii. And I was somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the Caramacs were still delicious, but they were missing the perfect texture and taste and temperature that Hawaii seems to give them.

And so, my point is this: when you all come to visit, we'll be sure to enjoy some chocolate together --> Hawaiian style. You won't be disappointed.

Victory

This morning, with Brent already at school, I found this guy on the curtains in my closet.

Needless to say, I was terrified. I've seen my fair share of large bugs in my life, but I've never seen anything that looked like this. It was like a huge, metallic, buzzing, scary ant with wings. I had no idea what to do. Brent's supposed to take care of the big ugly bugs. So, in order to put off having to take care of it myself, I grabbed the camera and took pictures.

Then, mustering up all my courage, I grabbed the roach/ant spray. Brent doesn't like to use the spray because then there's poison all over our house. But I refuse to try to kill bugs with just my hands and some toilet paper. Shoes don't work very well either. Cockroaches especially are surprisingly fast and very hard to kill. Plus I had no idea what this bug was going to do when threatened. So I sprayed him (and our curtains) with a healthy dose of poison. He spread his wings and started crawling all over the place. I was screaming all over the place. After the poison had time to slow him down substantially, I smashed him with my shoe and used an entire roll of toilet paper to pick him up. Victory. Janelle's Self-Confidence = 1 point. Big Ugly Bug = 0.

Surfing: Hawaii's Favorite Sport

On Monday, Brent celebrated the holiday by giving surfing a second try. This is how cool our car looks when it has a surfboard strapped on top.

This is me, looking ecstatic about being dragged out of bed at 7am.

Brent really is happy because he found a baby lizard.

Here's Brent being cool with his friend Jeremiah.

And here he is out battling the waves.

In the afternoon, we drove downtown and walked along Waikiki. Waikiki is the prime tourist location on Oahu. It was fun to feel like we were on vacation. Do I look like a tourist?

The street along the beach is lined with tons of shops; a lot are upscale. We stopped in at the Ferrari shop and saw this.

I said "cool" and moved on, but Brent just stared with his mouth wide open for about 5 straight minutes. Then he had this look on his face for the next hour.

When I could finally get him to come look around the rest of the store, we found Ferrari bikes and strollers, car seats and cologne. I had no idea Ferrari was so versatile. I found a pair of newborn Ferrari pajamas for $90. Crazy?!?

Here is the beautiful and famous Waikiki.

Notice the old guy in the speedo. Oh wait, we got a close up for you.

You're Welcome. Here is where the locals can store their surfboards.

It's a beautiful sight, isn't it? Honestly makes me feel like we're living in paradise.

And here are just a few more pictures we've taken in the last week.

Our Weekend

Last Saturday, Brent and I took our bi-weekly trip into town (about an hour drive) to get the essentials at Costco and Wal-Mart. Every single time we make this drive, I see this guy.He's the biggest bull I've ever seen and he's always in this pasture right next to the road. No fences holding him in; just that one chain. Every time I see him, I can't help but exclaim, "There's that bull again. He's humongous. Look at him, Brent. Can you even believe it?"
So this time, Brent pulled over to take some pictures for me. I bet he's just a big, gentle giant. I like him. We decided to name him Bullock because we were in the middle of a conversation about favorites and after much discussion and consideration, we had both decided that Sandra Bullock is our favorite actress. So there ya go.

On Sunday, since our church doesn't start until 2pm now (yes, 2pm) we decided to take a walk. There's a pathway at the end of our street leading up into the mountain, but it's blocked off by "No Trespassing" signs. Still, the neighbor kids go play up there all the time. So, we decided to see for ourselves what was at the end of the trail. It's just some type of water preserve, but the little hike itself was gorgeous.

While our skin may be appreciating the return of moisture in the air, some of our possessions are not. Yesterday, I pulled out my black flats and found this. Yuck. All moldy. Good thing I've been looking for an excuse to throw those things away for a while now. Shoe shopping time.

And, just in case any of you are dying for a reason to escape to Hawaii in the next month, the next Food Fest is scheduled for February 12!