I'm addicted to these goodies...

I'm addicted to these goodies,

I was first introduced to these mouth breaking spring rolls by my highschool buddy's wife's mom, I swear they are soo friggen good.  I've had my fair share of spring rolls from tons of different restaurants and parties, but these in particular are hands down the best. 
 
One day, my friend had a get together at his place, and his mother-in-law put a platter of these on the table.  She looked over and told me "Try these."  I quickly grabbed one and took a bite into it, omg, bomb diggity.  It was like my body had gone into a spring roll eating trance and kept eating one after the other.  I looked over to my friend's mother-in-law and said, "Is there crack or something in this, because these spring rolls are addicting!"  My friend and his wife were laughing their bootays off, lol.

If you've never had a spring roll, it's a beautiful tasty treat.  It's made up of a killer mixture of some kinda protein (chicken, pork and/or shrimp usually) and chopped up veggies.  The mixture is then wrapped up in a thinly rolled out flour-based sheet, rolled up and then fried to a crisp.  And then it's usually served with a sauce.  My friend's mother-in-law has a killer vinegarette, diced carrot, chili pepper, and patice (and I'm sure there's other goodies in it) sauce.  Oh man, orgasmic, lol.  So when I eat 'em, I like to wrap 'em in lettuce and somen (Japanese) noodles.  I swear it's heaven in your mouth!

But ya, my high school buddy and I are super good friends.  He got married to a wonderful person (cuz she keeps him in check) and eventually had children, and when they did, they gave me the honor of giving their two sons (and my godsons) their Hawaiian name, being the Hawaiian-speaking dude that I am.  It's a Hawaiian custom to throw a big party for a child's 1st birthday, so when the boys made one, my artsy side in me painted up these huge banners for each of them.

My friends were super grateful and wanted to pay me in cash for my work, I refused.  But what they did instead was pay me in spring rolls handmade by their mom.  Yessssss!  So to this day, when our schedules align and we meet up, they'll hook me up with these bad boys.

At our last get together (http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-day-for-great-cause.html), my friend's wife handed over a bag to me, and I didn't look in the bag until I was on the highway driving home.  When I looked in the bag they surprised and gifted me with two ziploc bags of spring rolls.  Oh man, I was in friggen heaven!  Because I haven't had 'em in such a long time, I polished off 12 spring rolls in one crack, haha.  Everytime I get these goodies, I swear, I'm one happy camper.

Good day for a great cause...

Today was a good day for a great cause,

I booked it on over into town to meet up with some high school classmates of mine to meet up, talk story and eat, and we did it all in the outdoor garden area at my friend's apartment.  (It's something we do once in a great while.)  It was pretty awesome.

It was a potluck shindig so I went to grab some fried noodles from good old Zippy's.  It was quite the adventure, before hitting up Zippy's I drove from place to place trying to find something to take for the potluck.  For one reason or  another nothing was working for me, either there was too many people waiting in line, restaurants that I thought were open were out of business or what they had to offer didn't sound appealing, so Zippy's it was.  Today was hella hot so I just had to hook myself up with an Icee, Pepsi and strawberry mix, yeaaah baby.

So I made it to my friend's place, and it was pretty cool.  We chilled in the garden area and looked at photos from our (much slimmer) high school days.  I also got to see my friend's crib, which he fixed up, pretty nice place I must say.  So when we booked it back down to the garden area, we met up with the gang.  I got to talk briefly with them and then I had to book it on out.  I wish I could've stayed longer, but that's what you get when you're Mr. Busybody.  It's all good, there will be more opportunities.  But ya, I got this killer shot in the garden area of my friend's place.

So after the shindig at my friend's place I drove over to grab my other friend and then we headed on over to the windward side.  Today there was a "I Heart Japan" fundraiser that took place, which was a Zumba, slash Kickboxing, slash Hip Hop two and a half booty workin' event, all for $10.  All of the proceeds went towards Japan and their very unfortunate situation that took place there.

At the "I Heart Japan" fundraiser, there was a (non-mandatory) dress code of wearing the colors red and/or white to kinda go with the theme of the event.  So I busted out my red Dickie's (oh yea baby) and threw on my "Aloha for Japan" shirt, so I was good to go.

So yup, there we were again, the "fly dancers" dancin' backup for my friend Mara.  (If many of you remember, we all did a very similar fundraiser a couple of weeks back. http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/zumba-dunny-and-haynmade-what-combo.html)  The only difference was, the stages were more stable and I didn't have that fear of falling between the stages "tectonic plates" cracks.  But ya, all in all we did a pretty good set in front of 150+ peopz.

After the workout, my friend and I booked it on over to get some grub, cuz we were hella starving, lol.  So we headed on over to Kailua Town Pub & Grill.  I ordered me my French onion soup and a club sandwich, my friend got her a pastrami melt sandwich.  Man, that was some good stuff.

And what's a meal without dessert?  Haha.  (I know we burned calories for nothing, lol.)  So we headed on over to Coldstone to have some icecream.  I had me my typical order of coffee icecream with malted powder and Kit Kat, in a waffle bowl oh yea baby.  My friend jus' had her some coffee icecream.  I was one happy dude.

Upon leaving I snapped a couple more pics...

And then there's pic at a fountain nearby...

Hope for Japan for $5...

What's up peopz,

 I know there's a bunch of you out there who are decal collectors or wouldn't mind dropping $5 for a good cause.  Well here's your opportunity.  Pictured below are these "Hope for Japan" bumper stickers and they're for sale, and may I remind you once more that they only cost $5.

Slap 'em on your ride, blackbook or as a decal-collecting keepsake.  100% of the sales will be going towards the "Aloha for Japan" campaign.  To top it off, a local company here in the 808 will be providing a dollar for dollar match for every bumper sticker sold, how's dem apples.  For more 411 on how you can get your hands on these bad boys email my good friend Shannon at akifraggle@gmail.com.  Much aloha...

I made state finals for the science fair Uncle HaynMade Part 2...

So tonight was the awards ceremony,

For the state finals for the science fair here in the 808, which was held at the Hawai'i Convention Center.  As many of you remember, I guided my niece and her partner in getting their presentation board ready (http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-made-state-finals-for-science-fair.html), and tonight was the awards night for all of the entries.  In a nutshell, she didn't place, lol, but that's okay, I was still proud of her accomplishment, being that she made it that far, that's commendable in my books.  So as usual, I seized the moment to snap some pics for memory's sake.

My niece's board...

And some other entries in my niece's bracket...

Also at the state finals for the science fair, there was an art competition for next year's science fair information booklet cover.  I must say, these kids have some ridiculous talent, you'll see what I mean.

1st place winner...

3rd place winner...

Honorable mention...

Another entry...

After the awards ceremony the family went to have some dinner together to celebrate my niece's accomplishment, so we head on over to Ricado's for some killer Italian food.

Two words...shrimp piccata...

Get a workout for the cause...

What's up peopz,

Just wanted to put a plug for some good friends of mine.  Come this Sunday, April 3, from 4:00-6:30pm, a fundraiser will be conducted to help out the folks out in Japan with their unfortunate situation that happened.  All of the proceeds from each of the $10 ticket sales will be going towards the cause.  There will be Zumba, Hip Hop and Cardio Kick Boxing from Hawai'i's greatest instructors, so bring it on!  Click on the fyer below for more detailed 411...

Zumba, a Dunny and HaynMade, what a combo...

Zumba, a Dunny and HaynMade, what a combo,

Yup, today was a day to remember.  My good friend Mara (the same one I talked about in an earlier entry (http://haynmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/sheeeeees-baaaaaaack.html) asked if my friend and I could help her as her "fly dancers" (hahaha) for a Zumba marathon fundraiser for a local Hawaiian canoe paddling club here in the 808.  Being the cool peopz that we are, (and in all honesty, we're all about helping peopz out) we accepted her kind request.

Mara isn't a certified Zumba instructor but as I mentioned in my earlier blog entry, she does teach a Hip Hop class with a "Zumbaish" feel to it, and it's the bomb diggity.  So her Zumba clan asked if she would be willing to do a few routines at the fundraiser.  So prior to the three of us going on stage, we feverishly learned the choreo, some routines I was already familiar with, a majority...not.

So came time for us to go on stage, we booked it and danced before a crowd of nearly 100 Zummba fanatics.  The entire time we were dancing our set, all I could think about was Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical", Jane Fonda's Workout and the over so popular "ooo la-la" 20 Minute Workout.  (All of you folks from the 80's know what I'm talkin' about, haha.)

So we get on stage, and we're doing our choreo, and the nearly 6 foot tall stages weren't secured to the ground, nor were each of the stages fastened to each other...hilarious.  As we went from one routine to the next, there were these gaps between each of the stages that were getting further and further apart from each other, due to our movement.  I was hella worried that 1...I'd fall through the gap or 2...I'd fall off of the stage in front of a hundred people.  But long story short, it worked out okay, I got my cardio on, had hell of a good time with my friends, got some pics of my fig and shook my ish for a good cause.

Slammin' it 808 style...

It's all about slammin' it 808 style,

Slam poetry has takin' off here in Hawai'i, and it is to no surprise that a bunch of talented peopz have taken on this message delivering genre to the next level.  Youth Speaks Hawai'i was created in 2005 to give youth in the 808 a venue to write and deliver poetry.  In fact, in 2008 and 2009 Youth Speaks Hawai'i took the grand champion title at Brave New Voices' national competition and was featured as an HBO series, produced by Russell Simmons...unreal.  And when you think of Slam poetry, Jamaica Osorio comes to mind, a former Youth Speaks Hawai'i title holding team member who was invited to speak at the White House for President Obama.  She dunked it with perfection.

Slam poetry competitions are held monthly here in the 808 on every first Thursday of the month.  Both youth and adults alike are on the same competitive playing field for a chance to compete in the national finals.  The youth version competition invites Slam teams from across the 808 with the chance to compete for national finals.

The vid below was produced by Makaha Studios, and delivers a power punch by Hawai'i's talent, check it out...