Aquanetta’s Neighborhood

Hey everyone, happy 4th! 

Today I received an email for "Subscriptions for Soldiers" from magazines.com, soliciting $10 donations, which would provide a soldier with a free year-long magazine subscription. I thought it was a pretty good idea, so I did it. I thought some of my neighbors might like to as well.

I'm against the war, but I know these guys go through a lot. And they could probably use a little slice of home in the form of their favorite magazine.

As you may know, I'm a big proponent of local food. I like knowing where my food came from, and having some connection to it. I think that having a strong connection with your food encourages a healthy relationship with food. 

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Tomato bug

Eaten leaves

Tomato hornworm poop

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Wee beans

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

This is going around my neighborhood, and I really like the idea of encouraging people (including myself) to read the classics. However, I'm changing the game, because I prefer the Modern Library's list of the 100 best books of the 20th century over The Big Read list.

1) Bold: I have read.
2) Italics: Those I intend to read.
3) Underline: Books I love.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated. 
5) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track dow these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them

Share a song you listened to in 6th grade.

RIP, George Carlin :(

How have you changed in the past year?
Submitted by littleduckling.

One year ago today I owed $30,000 in credit card debt.  I had accumulated it during the divorce, and dealing with that, and other things.

I have never been good with money.  Saving it was a joke, and i never really made a budget.   I also really had no plan of how to deal with it.

Today, I have a balance of less than $800, and I could pay this off today.  What's amazing about it is that I've done it with nobody else's help.  I just cut out a few things I was doing.

It's hard to explain how different you feel after doing something like this.  One of the things you get is the feeling that no matter what, you aren't trapped anymore.

Show us the wallpaper on your cell phone.
Submitted by jacolily.

Maui Sunset

I had to laugh when I saw this ad in my Oprah magazine:

Botox Ad

"It's all about freedom of expression."

Botox paralyzes the muscles in the face, which is how it prevents wrinkles. So isn't that like, the exact opposite of freedom of (facial) expression?  Um, helloooo...?

I'm in marketing, and I have to write taglines all the time. It's actually one of the more difficult things we do. But you usually take the product benefit to write the tagline. I mean, how about something about looking good, feeling young?  Or maybe, "Botulism isn't so bad after all."

Last night I had dinner with my dear friend J at the Farm House Cafe, which I had been wanting to try since I read about it. It took over some of the old space The Linkery used to occupy (it has since moved to a bigger space), and like The Linkery, Farm House Cafe specializes in farm-to-table cuisine.

Farm House Cafe

Let me begin the review by explaining one thing -- that I think the first impression you have of a restaurant can greatly color your review. When I judge a restaurant, I not only judge the quality of the food, but also how I feel when I first walk in and dine. I'd like to feel immediately welcome, like going to dinner at the home of a friend who really wants to cook for me. A restaurant should give particular care to making you feel welcome, and just... good.

The Farm House Cafe occupies a small but really cozy space, nicely decorated. My only beef with the space is that there's no real hostess area. You walk in and you're in the middle of the restaurant. There's a small sign in front of you that says "See the bartender to be seated."  I don't like that. It makes me feel unwelcome. I turned to the bar, and the bartender wasn't there. Several waiters passed by, and one said, "Do you have a reservation?" We didn't, and he said, "Yeah, you can just wait for the bartender then." I wouldn't say that's outright rude, but it's not how I would treat a guest at my house, which is the standard of service to which a good restaurant should aspire.

Anyway, we were seated at a nice table. The wait staff was friendly during service, and the menu was limited but good. I much prefer that to a large menu that's not well thought out. Since they're a big local food proponent, I expected to see information on ingredient sources on the menu, but it was lacking. I really enjoy reading about where my meal came from, though some people might find it comes off as elitest - so you could go either way on this one.

J ordered Atlantic salmon (maybe this place isn't about local after all?) with white bean ragu. It was rustic - nothing over the top. I appreciate simplicity, and this was good, but not great. The flavors didn't pop out at me. The salmon was cooked a tad more than I like.

I ordered lemon ricotta gnocchi with chicken in a lemon rosemary sauce. The gnocchi were perfect. Little fluffy pillows of cheese pasta goodness. The sauce was very good - lemony but not overpowering, creamy, but light. The chicken was good, but I'm not really a white meat chicken fan, and this didn't convert me, either. I really ordered for the gnocchi.

That was all we had, because we headed over to Elipse Chocolat for dessert. [Eclipse was closed by the time they got there, but they let us in to get a couple of truffles.]

Now, to be fair to Farm House Cafe, I'm going to link to a positive review from a trusted local food blogger, Alice Q. Foodie. Alice, like me, appreciated the quality of the food but didn't mention ambience... and she went for lunch. 

The final word
(1-5 rating:  1=BAD, 2=mediocre at best, 3=ok, 4=wow, pretty good!, 5=one of my all-time favorites)

Food (Taste, Quality): 3.7
Value: 2.8
Service: 3
Ambience: 3 (2 for the entrance but 4 for the rest)
Memorable Experience: 3
Price: $18 - 24 per entree
Menu recommendations: not sure... I didn't sample enough
Notes: This could grow into a solidly good restaurant if they pay more attention to detail for each aspect of the dining experience.
Would I make a point to go again, paying full price?:  No, though I wouldn't balk at going again

Show us the very last picture you took. No cheating!

Outdoor kitchen, Laupahoehoe, Big Island of Hawai'i