SPAM Hot Dog Sushi Kids

I saw SPAM hot dogs for the first time at the store yesterday and just had to try them out!  For our lunch today I cooked the SPAM hot dogs in teriyaki sauce and used them to make sushi.  I decorated them with nori faces and used these cute picks that I picked up for the Ward 99 cents store which is now called Marukai Zakka Avenue.  It’s located right next to Marukai Market Place at the Ward Farmers Market.  They also had these cute $1.99 bento boxes for sale along with a bunch of other adorable bento boxes and accessories that I haven’t seen there before.  As for the SPAM dogs themselves, they had the consistency of a regular hot dog and did taste exactly like SPAM.  Sean loved it, Paige just thought it tasted okay, and I liked them except I thought that they were a bit pricey in comparison to hot dogs.   

Variety School of Hawaii Sandwich Bento

This morning Paige and I visited the Variety School of Hawaii .   The children are currently studying Japan, including the Japanese language and culture.  They were all so wonderful and whenever appropriate spoke in Japanese to us.  As an activity, we made jelly sandwich bentos using cookie cutters, sugar paste eyes, cake decorations, and icing (as our glue).  The children filled their bento boxes with the sandwiches, pretzels, and fruit snacks.  They all did such a great job and were very creative too.  Thank you to the children, Jolene, and the staff at the Variety School!    

Bear Breakfast Bento

Today’s bento post is dedicated our good friend Trina who is battling cancer.  Trina is an amazing woman who is both beautiful inside and out.  I am so thankful that she calls me her friend and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate and love her.  We are all praying for you Trina!

I made the bento for breakfast this morning and it includes bear musubis, corned beef hash, tamago with turkey bacon, and grapes.  The Totoro bento box is from the Marukai 99 cents store at Ward.     

Hello Kitty Bento Box

My niece, who recently came to stay with us this summer, brought me (actually Paige) this beautiful Hello Kitty bento box!  I filled it with maki sushi, fried noodles, and stir fried pork with string beans from Gulick Deli.  I bought a big plate and split it between Paige, Sean, and myself.  Lucky Paige got to eat from the Hello Kitty box. Thank you to Caitlin and her mommy!  :)  

Fried Rice Pikachu Bento and Camp Malaekahana

Every Fourth of July weekend, our church goes camping at Malaekahana Beach Park, which is about 40 minutes north of Honolulu.  The beach is absolutely beautiful and camp is a great time for our church family and friends to fellowship and enjoy God’s many blessings.  We also celebrated Aliisa’s (our beautiful young friend’s) birthday.  Happy Birthday Aliisa!!!

After all of the Fourth of July festivities I was too tired too cook and we had Costco rotisserie chicken (which I love) for dinner.  The next day, I made Pikachu out of fried rice made with the leftover chicken and vegetables.  The rest of the bento included sliced rotisserie chicken and honeydew melon flowers.

I’m Back!

This year we decided to stay close to home for our summer family vacation and went to the Big Island where most of my family resides.  We went to Kapoho, south-east of Hilo town, and rented a six bedroom beach house, big enough for the whole clan.  The 40 minute drive to Kapoho was beautiful with the terrain constantly changing.  We went from rainy Hilo town, through this fantastic wooded area with trees that seem to touch the sky.  After breaking through the wooded area we saw acres and acres of papaya trees which soon turned into old lava covered terrain.

The kids loved this statue!  It reminded them of the Easter Island statue that was on the movie Night at the Museum .
There was so much to do there!  This path took you from the beach house to the beach where the kids collected shells and sea glass.  They also had great fun fishing for small reef fish with hand poles and even accidently caught a baby eel, which we later returned back to their ocean  homes.  The beach house also had a great pool which the kids and adults absolutely loved. 

Campfire smores!

Before leaving Hilo we had to stop off at the famous Cafe 100, home of the loco moco!

When we came back to Honolulu, my sister and her family returned with us to stay for a week.  Yesterday we went to the water park in Kapolei and had more fun in the water.  While they were here I made the kids hot dogs on a stick, pictured at the beginning of the post.  It was just your standard hot dog wrapped in store bought crescent rolls, brushed with egg wash, and baked for 15 minutes.  I stuck the skewer in after the hot dog was cooked.  My nephew Dillon liked it just because there was a stick in it!