Go to any Taco Bell on Oahu, and snatch a free crunchy seasoned beef taco.  Yes, you read that right.  So why are they doing this?  For every base stolen in the 2007 MLB World Series, Taco Bell is giving away a free taco to everyone in America.

Since Boston Red Sox center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury has stolen a base, Taco Bell is living out to their promise and giving out free tacos, which starts tomorrow from 2-5pm.

So make sure you head down to Taco Bell!!!  I’d say go early cause there will be a line guaranteed.  Here are the lists of Taco Bells on the island:

Ala Moana - 1450 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96814
Beretania - 1215 S. Beretania, Honolulu, HI 96814
Ewa Beach - 91-763 Papipi Street, Ewa Beach, HI 96706
Hawaii Kai - Koko Marina Shopping Center, Honolulu, HI 96825
K-Bay - MCBH Mokapu Mall, Kailua, HI 96734
Kahala - Kahala Mall, 4211 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, HI 96816
Kailua - 121 Oneawa Street, Kailua, HI 96734
Kaimuki - 3113 Waialae Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816
Kalihi - 615 Waiakamilo Road, Honolulu, HI 96817
Kaneohe - 45-1014 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe, HI 96744
Kapahulu - 717 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI 96816
Kapolei - 590 Farrington Hwy., Kapolei, HI 96707
Laie - Laie Shopping Center, 55-510 Kamehameha Hwy. #7, Laie, HI 96762
Makiki - 1345 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96814
Manoa - 2752 Woodlawn Dr., unit 5-1119, Honolulu, HI 96822
McCully - 1960 Kapiolani Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96826
Mililani - Mililani Town Center, Mililani, HI 96789
Moanalua - Moanalua Shopping Center, Honolulu, HI 96818
NEX - Naval Exchange Center, Honolulu, HI 96818
Pearl City - 98-376 Kamehameha Hwy., Pearl City, HI 96782
Pearl Harbor - 850 Ticonderoga St, Ste 200 Honolulu, HI 96860
Pearlridge Downtown - 624 Pearlridge Center, Downtown Aiea, HI 96701
Pearlridge Uptown - 98-1005 Moanalua Road, Uptown Aiea, HI 96701
Stadium - 4510 Salt Lake Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96818
Wahiawa - 146 South Kamehameha Hwy., Wahiawa, HI 96786
Waianae - 85-752 Farrington Hwy., Waianae, HI 96792
Waikiki - 2250 Kalakaua Ave. #104, Honolulu, HI 96815
Waipahu - Waipahu Town Center, Waipahu, HI 96797
Waipio - 94-790 Ukee St., Waipahu, HI 96797

HAPPY FREE EATING!

When I moved to Oahu several years ago, I just loved the local food here. Living in the New England area of the east coast did not really allow me to eat good Asian food for a long time. I really didn’t care why I was eating rice and mac salad at the same time. It didn’t feel strange about eating pounds of chicken katsu without a single gram of vegetables… I also got very fond of poke and poi as well. Unfortunately, I did gain a few pounds, which means that I can’t fight in the lightweight any more… Some of you probably know exactly how I feel: Portuguese sausage in the morning, spam musubi for snack, chicken katsu for lunch, kalbi for dinner with some beer, and shave ice or mochi ice cream for dessert maybe?

Now you can watch out for yourself when you each local foods. A team at the UH is developing a website where you can check the nutritional facts of local foods. You can either type in or browse by the name of food and get its facts. You can also register and get your online dietary assessment as well. The website is www.hawaiifoods.hawaii.edu.

I know it is not the greatest feeling in the world reading the nutritional facts of your food, and it does piss me off when people tell me how bad my food can be. But hey, if you want to find out how healthy or unhealthy your diet is just out of your curiosity, go on line and check it out. Maybe it will help you start eating more healthy.

Aloha Update is pleased to provide it’s readers with yet another way to quickly access content related to the posts they read. We’re doing it in the form of tags!

What are tags you ask? Well tags are like categories, but are more specific. Categories are very general, providing readers a broad look at what the article they’re reading is about. News has articles about news, sports has articles about sports, and surfing (a sub article about surfing in Hawaii here on Aloha Update) has articles related to surfing.

But what if the news article was about Waikiki, or Colt Brennan, or Hawaiian Airlines? It would be crazy to have categories about all those things and allow users to search all categories. (not to mention it would be a pain for us writers to have to sift through all those things too.)

That’s where tags come in. Tags essential pull out keywords from the article and group articles based on those keywords. This way, rather than searching using the search bar at the top of the page, you can quickly click on a link or tag and get taken to all the articles pertaining to that tag.

So to make it easier for you all we’ve added them. At the bottom of each post we’ve collected the tags and provided you with clickable links for each tag. No typing.

If you’re like me you’re always trying to upgrade your home to something new. Always looking for something bigger and better. In Hawaii, that’s often times hard to do, and not just the bigger and better. I’m talking searching on the internet for an easy to use site to find the home that fits your needs.

Sure theres sites like trulia.com and zillow.com but those sites don’t offer a lot when it comes to Hawaii real estate. There good in some areas of the US but not all. That’s why I was actually very interested when someone asked me to write a review about a site that deals in just Hawaii real estate. I’ve been looking but haven’t been able to find one, and this may be the one that people should go to.

The nice thing about the site is that it’s very interactive, unlike a lot of those that are out there today for Hawaii. The site allows you to navigate using maps (much better to see than read) and allows you to quickly deduce location and other factors involved in finding the perfect home. Things like price, rooms, type, etc. This sites automagically eliminates them from the produced list as you start clicking and changing options. Not a lot of waiting around.

The other nice thing is that the site allows you to create an ID so you can login in at a later time and you don’t have to right down MLS numbers and start your search all over again. Just save the house you like and compare to new ones later.

It also has plenty of pictures, lots of descriptions and everything else you need to make your house choices easy to do. The site has a learning center that although stinks right now, might be a great place to teach you the ins and outs of home purchasing too. I would suggest the site for sure if you’re looking for an easy place to find your piece of paradise. Oh yeah, and it’s on all islands which is also great!

Driving down every morning to work, we notice a homeless woman surrounded by many cages.  What are in these cages you ask?  There were cats and chickens locked up in cages.  What is she doing with these animals and why are they caged up?

Granted, I assume that these cats are stray since Ilalo St. is right by Kakaako beach park.  Ilalo St. is actually located parallel to Ala Moana Blvd. and is right in front of the new UH John Burns Medical Center.  But I doubt these cats want to be caged up.  I doubt she is properly taking care of these animals, and I’m not sure if she’s even feeding them enough.  But I bet she is keeping them for company.  But to have CAGES worth of cats and chickens?  That can’t be good for the animals.

And where did she get the chickens?  What use are they anyways when they live in the same cage as the cats?  I don’t mean to try and have someone take away all the animals because they might serve as company for her, but at the same time, she most likely isn’t taking proper care of them.  Some cages have 3 cats in them, but are only meant for one.  The cages aren’t really proper cages either…from a glipse, some cages look like the cages used to catch cats.  This isn’t a proper home for cats…or chickens for that matter.

Hopefully someone finds a home for these cats and chickens.  I just find it bewildering that she can just set up her cages and shopping cart right on the sidewalk on Ilalo St. even with police around that area.  Then again, the police wouldn’t do anything anyways.

I am THOROUGHLY pissed off at this nightclub at the Ala Moana Center.  In fact, I am thinking about pursuing something against them because of how unreasonable and ridiculously discriminatory they are.

Here’s the scene.  We decided to have our friend’s birthday party at Pearl’s, and since we’ve all been there once before, we decided that it would be a fairly nice place to celebrate his birthday.  So we all know that all clubs have a dress code, and this place is no exception.  We all dressed like we had before, in nice collared pressed shirts (some long sleeve), and we all had jeans except for one who wore slacks.  We also all wore black leather dress shoes.  All the girls looked good as well (especially my girlfriend…just had to throw that out there). 

So there are two lines to get in this club.  One is the VIP/guestlist line, and the other, the regular line which usually takes longer.  The guestlist line had guys wearing grungy clothes and sneakers, which kind of threw me off since it was kind of an upscale club.  But they got in.  I also heard of stories from my brother who’s friend got turned down on three separate occasions for not wearing the proper attire.  Since we’ve all been there before, we figured there’d be no problem.  Plus, there were about 15 of us ready to pay the cover and order lots of drinks for our birthday boy…which will definitely make them a lot of money.

So as we were in line, a girl walks out of the club with a guestlist pad in her hand.  She takes one look at two of my friends ahead of the line and tells them, you don’t have fashionable jeans and that they had to leave the line.  I was literally appalled.  “So what is considered fashionable jeans?” my friend asks, to which she replied “those just aren’t fashionable, they need to be brand named”.  So he asks her politely to show him what is fashionable, and she pointed to a man wearing some ripped up jeans.  And he was like “are you kidding?  You let all those people in without ripped jeans”.  So she points at another guy wearing jeans that LOOK just like my friends, but a little baggier.  And he tells her that he’s seen those jeans at Costco.  Then she starts to look frustrated and tells him to just leave.  The attendant in the front letting people in asks how many of us, to which my friend points to the 15 of us behind him.  Then she looks at me and says “his jeans are too baggy”.  Right then, the attendant told us to all leave and that we were holding up the line.  My friend started to argue a little saying that it was unfair and that they were letting in people they wanted to and just found reasons to not let us in.  The attendent then did the unthinkable.  He turned to another bouncer and told him “f*ck him, he’s just a little skinny asian guy” then told us to all leave again because there were people waiting to get in.

We got out of line extremely frustrated, and noticed that these three caucasian guys walked in with the EXACT same type of clothes we had.  Then three asian guys behind them got kicked out for not wearing “fashionable jeans”.  REALLY?!  Keep in mind, both the attendant/bouncer and the girl were both caucasians.  The only asians I seen go in were those who were in the VIP/guestlist line.  Some local guys were turned down too because their clothes weren’t appropriate.  But at the same time you let in people with white sneakers?  Do you see what I’m seeing?

Apparently they are trying to keep some sort of image at Pearl’s, and only letting in people who they think are good enough to upkeep the club’s image.  We don’t cause trouble.  We’ve never been kicked out of a club nor have we been rejected at a club (besides this time).  We aren’t ugly people.  We were going to give them business…and lots of it.  Apparently, rich looking caucasian people are favored to enter that club.  They can wear torn up jeans, jeans from Costco, and even sneakers…when all of that probably goes against the dress code.  And here I am in a nice collared shirt, CK jeans (not baggy), and nice Ecco leather dress shoes, and I can’t even get in because my jeans were “baggy”.  And to have the bouncer bring up a discriminatory comment about my friend being a “little skinny asian guy”, it was just going too far.

As we were leaving to go to somewhere else, I overheard two people who were dressed pretty nice tell a cop waiting outside that they couldn’t get in because of their clothes.  The cop only replied “well, they have this really strict dress code”.  My ass.  It’s not about the clothes.  It’s their excuse to let them choose who they want.

So don’t give them your business.  Don’t stand in line waiting to get rejected.  Let them lose money so that they close down.  Why would I, or anyone else, go to such a racist and discrimnatory club again?  I’m sure we’re not the only ones that this has happened too…

According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, about $15,000 in fake money is circulating in Hawaii.  The counterfeit money actually came from the Crips and Bloods, a well known gang in Los Angeles, and has leaked some of its fake money onto the islands.  There has been at least $4 million worth of counterfeit money in the Los Angeles area.

The bills have turned up in Waikiki and Pearlridge, and has even passed onto other neighbor islands.  The Secret Service has also noticed that people have been using the counterfeit money to purchase items and then to return the items later to receive real money.  This way, they are getting rid of their fake money in return for real money.

It was also reported that the fake $100 bills have been made with high quality paper that is close to the real paper used to make official $100 bills.  The printing is also very close, if not exactly the same.  The bills are also sprayed with chemicals so pens that stores use to check for fake bills will not be detected.  As you can see, the operation looks to be pretty large.

Below are ways to spot a counterfeit bill (source: Honolulu Star Bulletin):

» Look for security threads. Genuine currency has red and blue fibers in the paper, not just printed on the bill.

» Check the watermark by holding the bill up to the light. Real $100 bills will have a watermark with the face of Ben Franklin that can be seen from both sides of the bill.

» Look for distinctive and sharp printing in the portrait, border and treasury seal.

Call the police if you suspect a fake bill.  Just beware especially if you use large bills like that.  Fortunately, I don’t use $100 bills, and usually don’t have enough money to aquire them, so I’m safe.  =)  But to you others, watch out!

It’s back!  The Hawaii State Farm Fair is kicking off today and running through the weekend, and then continuing the following weekend.

For those who haven’t been there, it’s a great way to spend time with your family and friends.  Located in Kapolei, the farm fair is basically a carnival with animals that you can touch and look at…kind of like the zoo, but more up close.  There are also a lot of entertainment, including Hawaiian bands, dog shows, and pony shows.  Below is the entertainment schedule (provided by www.ekfernandez.com):

Featured Entertainment

Entertainment Schedule for Dining/Entertainment Tent

Admission is $3 before 6pm, and $5 after 6pm.  All those under 40″ are admitted for free.  More information can be reached at EK Fernandez’s website located here.  Have fun!

During our lunch break yesterday, my girlfriend and I decided to head down to Shirokiya at the Ala Moana Center for lunch.  To our surprise, they had a company from Kobe Japan to sell their popular mochi cream.

So what is mochi cream exactly?  It’s very similar to mochi ice-cream, but instead of ice-cream filling, the mochi is filled with flavored filling and a cream center.  The mochi cream is still refrigerated and comes in many flavors.  There were 16 flavors which included mango, green tea, blueberry, and even sakura.   There were also 6 additional flavors, which were a variety of truffles.

We ended up trying pretty much all fruit flavors, with one exception.  We tried blueberry, mango, passion orange, apple, peach, and green tea.  We especially liked the passion orange and mango, and I also liked the green tea (she’s not into green tea anything).  The filling tasted like a very cold red bean consistency.  The cream did give the mochi a bit of a sweet kick to it.  We decided to eat a few, and save some for the next day, so we put it in the refrigerator.  Personally, I liked the mochi cream when it is a bit thawed and not frozen.  The flavors came out stronger and did not have that powdery consistency.

A set of 6 mochi creams cost us $8.95.  If you want the truffle combo set, it will cost you $10.95.  Head down for this delicious Japanese treat!  They are only running this special from July 10-22.  After that, who knows when they will return.  Enjoy!

(Picture Source: www.shirokiya.com)

With the latest craze that is Transformers the Movie, it seems like everyone is going Transformer crazy.  The toys are especially getting much attention and selling like hot cakes.  So where do you get the toys here in Oahu?  There are several places, such as Walmart, Kaybee Toys, Toys-n-Joys and Toys-R-Us.

But really, how much do they really cost?  It seems that all the stores have jacked up their prices on these much wanted toy machines.  Walmart has been selling all their Transformers products at leat $3 more and up to at least $10 more, but apparently it doesn’t matter because you can’t find any popular Transformers anywhere there, such as Optimus Prime or Megatron.  My coworker went to Kaybee to pick up Ratchet, who supposed to cost only $19.99, but was $27.  And today, he went back and picked up Ironhide for another $27.

I didn’t realize that stores like Walmart or Kaybee could increase the prices for toys that are already set in price.  Hasbro.com sells them at cost.  So does etoys.com, where we bought what we could before they sold out.  The problem I have is that these toys are not vintage yet.  They just came out.  So why are they jacking up the prices?  I just find this very odd.

So this is what I’m saying.  If they want to make us pay more, don’t buy from them.  Go to sites like etoys.com, where they have a special of free shipping as long as you spend $40 or more.  This way, you save from the jacked up pricing along with tax.  I did, and they should arrive this week.  =)