Fallin' for Colin

Imagine yourself at an elegant black-tie affair attended by high society's elite inner circle and being introduced to wedding/event planner extraordinaire, Colin Cowie. That, in a nutshell, was my experience last night.

Sort of.

Swap out the black-tie affair with a potluck dinner party, replace the elite inner circle with a group of friends from the wedding biz, and substitute the living and breathing Colin Cowie with the next best thing (a DVR of Mr. Cowie's appearance on Oprah)...that, in a more realistic nutshell, was my experience.

Seeing Cowie's amazing designs prompted me to squeeze in a quick peek at his web site this morning. There are times in life when you see something so beautiful that there are just no words to describe it. Check out some of the images on the site and you'll be speechless.

All that jazz

At a mere three months into the game, my husband and I are the quintessential newlyweds. We still talk about about our fabulous wedding day, we still love looking at our photos, and we still have wedding paraphernalia sitting in (not-so-neat) piles in the corners of our house. However, as newbies to the game of marriage, what we're enjoying above all else is the return of that wonderful thing called FREE TIME.

For all of you brides that are knee-deep in wedding magazines and suffering from headaches brought on by out-of-control wedding budgets, there WILL come a day when you have FREE TIME again. For now, my dear brides-to-be, keep your chins up and I'll remind you of all the fun things that are waiting for you on the other side!

Last night, we met some friends over at Jazz Minds Art & Cafe. This cool little hangout tucked away on bustling Kapiolani Boulevard is the perfect spot to watch some of Hawaii's best young jazz musicians. We got to hear the Randy Wheeler Quartet blasting some "live groove underground New York jazz" last night while we ate and drank and bopped our heads to the music. Though a little pricey, the bar food was tasty - we opted for steak strips and black and blue ahi. And if you're not into stuffy jazz clubs with tiny little cocktail tables, Jazz Minds is the exact opposite. Weekends bring more of an urban, funk vibe to the place and in lieu of hard wooden chairs, you'll find cushy loveseats and overstuffed chairs that swivel round and round. Get comfortable and settle in for the night!

Happy birthday

Earlier in the month, I took my husband out for a little birthday dinner to Hiroshi, a restaurant that neither of us had had the pleasure of dining at before (gasp!). This little well known gem at Restaurant Row had eluded us for years, and we decided that this would be the perfect time to finally take the plunge...and plunge, we did!

We were seated at an intimate table for two in the corner and knew from the get-go that we wanted to enjoy a leisurely meal. My husband ordered a glass of wine and I jumped at the the chance to try their signature foam martini...simply because I had never had a foam martini before.

With drinks in hand, we turned our attention to the menus before us. Selecting our food was a much bigger challenge since everything listed seemed to be calling our names. After much debate, we settled on three tapas dishes to start with (and because I love to torture my hungry readers, here are our selections straight from the menu):

Seared Sea Scallops
bacon-tomato takana ragout with kabayaki butter sauce and tobiko

Spicy Tuna 2 Ways

spicy tuna "sushi" and spicy tuna "sandwich" with cucumber, basil and taegu

Sizzlin' Kona Kampachi Carpaccio

ginger, Hau'ula tomato, Mrs. Cheng's tofu and ponzu vinaigrette

For our main entree, my husband and I decided to split one dish so we'd have room for dessert. Oh, I should probably mention that instead of bread, Hiroshi diners are served baked rice crackers with an ono wasabi/nori/aioli dipping sauce. THOSE crackers in THAT sauce are totally and utterly addicting! They refilled our bowl at least 2-3 times before I remembered that we had this lovely entree headed our way:

Crab-Stuffed Mahimahi

citrus aioli, seasonal vegetables with lemon pepper broth

Again, we did have a tough time deciding on an entree so we took a solemn vow to return to Hiroshi and partake in more of the menu's offerings....and then we sealed that vow with dessert:

Bananas Foster Ice Cream "Puff"

chocolate lollipop truffles with Hawaiian vanilla bean dip

Chocolate Cake "Ooze"

vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce

Yes, we opted for ONE entree and TWO desserts, not a bad decision. After winding down our 2-hour gastronomic adventure with coffee and green tea, we rolled out of the restaurant completely happy. With fabulous food and a helpful/attentive waitstaff, Hiroshi is a restaurant that I'd recommend without hesitation!

Made in Hawaii

Confession time. My father is certifiably mad...mad for metal, that is. Where my medium of choice is paper, my dad is a hardcore metal man.

Just six days short of his 75th birthday, my dad will again be setting up shop at this weekend's Made in Hawaii Festival. Pictured above are just a few of the hundreds of items that will be sold at the CJ Metal Creations booth: Japanese maple (momiji), "Happiness" plaque (sachi/shiawase), turtles (honu). If you make it to the festival, be sure to stop by and check out his latest creation, a beautiful cherry blossom wall hanging.

MADE IN HAWAII FESTIVAL

Blaisdell Arena + Exhibition Hall

Friday, 8/17: 10am - 9pm
Saturday, 8/18: 10am - 9pm
Sunday, 8/19: 10am - 5pm

Post-wedding projects

I had the best of intentions - really, I did. But I've come to the reluctant realization that I'm only one woman, with two hands, and an unrelenting need for six hours of sleep...every night. In short, all of the projects that I put off until "after the wedding" have been pounding at my door the moment we mailed out the last of our thank you notes. Rats.

The biggest project I have on my plate these days is a much needed redesign of my Emi Ink web site. I've basically had the same design since day one of Emi Ink going "public," and it's time for an update...no, it's time for a total REVAMP. I've been working on a new design that is a much better reflection of the Emi Ink style and I'm SO EXCITED to launch the new site. Since I'm basically doing all the design and HTML work by myself (with guidance from my techie husband), it'll be a long road but I know the journey will be worth it!

Wedding style

Last night, I checked out the new Borders store at Windward Mall...yes, the Windward side of O'ahu FINALLY has a full-sized bookstore with a mini-Starbucks! I perused the wedding magazine section (as I always do) and flipped through the latest issue of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style. FABULOUS! BEAUTIFUL! G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! I saw images of some of the most exquisite table decor and an out-of-this world design by none other than Preston Bailey. I only had a few minutes to take it all in but I'll probably go back there today to purchase the mag. Of course, if you want a sneak peek, you can visit http://www.weddingstylemagazine.com !

Big time giveaway

Yesterday afternoon, I headed over to Borders at Ward Center for a fun event to celebrate the WHITE book release. Vendors were rotated every hour and we got to "show our wares" to the happy brides and grooms that stopped by our tables. The BIG draw, though, were the MEGA giveaways that took place every hour on the hour...100 gift boxes in all filled with tons of gift certificates for the lucky winners! Chances were pretty good that if you dropped your entry blank in the box, you'd walk away with one of the boxes. Happy, happy day!