what am i going to eat??

having days off are important and precious to me.  it's a time for me to catch up on errands, grocery shopping, beach time, spending time with friends, and enjoying time to myself = shopping at ala moana.  i have come to the conclusion though, that if i didn't work at roy's, i would definitely starve to death.  

i've never been one to cook, my mother and father are amazing, don't know why it didn't catch on.  i am an excellent prep cook and i can help execute a dish for 1000 people at a special event.  i must say though, i am a great baker!  lilikoi poundcake anyone??  cooking for myself has always been a struggle for me; hence why i gained some extra weight and was diagnosed with a "fatty liver" a year and a half ago.  since then, i've been careful with my diet and been working out consistently.  i definitely won't deprive myself of delicious food - i just try to not eat fried/greasy/fast food and don't eat past 10pm.

it is definitely a luxury working at roy's - it's not everyday that anyone can enjoy roy's food, but luckily, five days out of seven, i can.  it's nice because the chefs get creative with me and come up with ono dishes!

this is a "canoe" roll.  on our dinner menu, we have a canoe appetizer dish - includes:  spring rolls, mini crab cakes, tuna maki roll, shrimp sticks and baby back ribs.  all five of those items are IN the roll, wrapped in rice and nori!

do you see how massive those rolls are?!?!  i swear to you, i did not eat all that - i finished like two pieces, i shared the rest. 

here's another one - hawaii kai's version of animal fries.  they were trying to make me feel like i was back at home eating at in&out.  trust me, i am not greedy - i always share!!

i really enjoy my days off when i get to go to the beach and watch all the boys body board.  i love this picture!  pretty cool effect with my camera, yah?

the boys have no shame about rolling around in the sand!  it's a great life here.  growing up in hawaii must have been so cool!

i hope you can see this video clip - it's of the boys at sandy's beach.  sandy's is known for its strong current.  it's definitely not a swimming beach.

(fyi - these "boys" at the beach, they're not random boys!!  hahaa i'm not a creeper!)

going to the beach remind me of summer of 2007...

when matty, kam, isaac, gina and i would go to malibu or san onofre on our days off together.  looking back, it was awesome how we ALL had sunday and monday off together - i guess that was the perk when matty was our boss!  hahaa.  i miss those days.  those were the good ol' days at roy's downtown la.  of course, i had to drive us back home to matty's - where the party continued.  take me back to 2007!

anyway, here's some other pictures to share...

these are some of the girls that work at roy's - we literally only have.. six girls (besides the hostess) that work at my restaurant, the rest are... well, handsome boys!  you know that makes me enjoy my night at work!  ;)

from top to bottom/left to right:  steph, maya (used to work at roy's), reri, carmen, michelle, sheila and sharde (now works at roy's waikiki).  it's definitely nice having girlfriends to hang out with and talk about inappropriate things with!

that's lisa and kristina.  lisa used to work at roy's, she's currently living in san fran getting her masters.  she came home for a bit during spring break!  this is us at st. patty's day at the shack.  kristina and i try to hang out at least once a week (usually wednesday nights) either go hiking or paddle boarding and then go eat dinner.  

it's nice finally finding good girlfriends here.

these are my brothers...  maybe more like my sons.  kinjo and nicky.  they're both japanese speaking boys, two years younger than me.  they have this captivating personality that when they're around, i can't help but smile and laugh.

here's a la jolla reunion for ya - francisco now works at the roy's in san fran, apoli is now the restaurant manager at the roy's in poipu, and krizpin is with me in hawaii kai!  it's great how roy's has kept us all together throughout all these years, regardless of where we live.

that's mama-stacey and her daughter, aubrey.  we hiked koko head together on saturday morning.  stacey has never done it so it was a huge accomplishment that she made it to the very top on her first try!!

one of my challenges on my nights off is... "what the hell am i going to do for dinner???"

fortunately, carol called me today and invited me over to have spring rolls for dinner!

pretty good for rolling my own spring roll right???

i have one more day off tomorrow - i'm going to spend it at ala moana shopping center.  shopping!!!!  

but shit, what am i going to eat tomorrow????

now that i know how to upload a video (thanx gooch), i came across this one of jalen ella - my goddaughter.  this is taken after dimsum one sunday last year.  she's so funny!  man, i miss her so much!!!