Rain’s back … but then again, it’s Manoa!  I love it because there’s such a cool, clean freshness in the air afterward and the valley is lush & green … sure beats heat and humidity any day!  Hope you all are having a wonderful morning and looking forward to a great weekend.  I plan to spend the weekend gigging with the boys and just chilling … a welcome respite after a very stressful week.  I did get a couple of very nice surprises last night at our Shochu Kai group’s tasting at the Japengo restaurant in the Hyatt Waikiki – first, the shochu which Alex brought back from Japan ended up sweeping top honors by placing 1st in all categories … and second, I was given the Fall edition of Japan Airline’s ‘EHEU in-flight magazine … and guess who’s on the cover?  Yup, it was us! (nice hair, AK!)   I’d like to humbly thank JAL, Lighthouse, and good friend and writer, Yoshie, for featuring us in their publication!

So anyway, getting back to Alex’s shochu, it was a given to him by Marie Ito, a great fan of ALX and ManoaDNA.  Mahalo for such a wonderful present, Marie!  I was told that it was a rare bottle of Mori Izo Gold which the experts in our group said was like the “Chateau Petrus” of the shochu industry!  No wonder it won … and it was gone before I could get a second taste!  Mahalo to organizer Leon Yoshida, Hyatt GM Jerry Westenhaver, and the great staff at Japengo for a wonderful evening of food, shochu, and fellowship!

We’re back at Lulu’s tonight and the Kani Ka Pila Grille tomorrow.  It’ll be great to be back and I’m really looking forward to it …

Aloha, “D”