Aloha Festivals Floral Parade 2009 - Pt 1

If you participated in this year's 2009 Aloha Festivals Floral Parade through Waikiki or if you missed this spectacular iconic cultural display on Saturday it was captured by Pacific Network.tv and will be made available via this blog, longer excerpts on PacificNetwork.tv, and on DVD provided by the Aloha Festivals organization.

If you've seen past parades you know that this magnificent display of floral mastery is spectacular. And you'll recall it was broadcast each year during half time at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  It was a live postcard from Hawaii to the world that convinced thousands of undecided travelers to come to Waikiki.  Well, like everything else in the last decade, what used to be,  has changed.   The networks no longer broadcast this event but PacificNetwork.tv  has taken on the honor and will stream the 2009 event to the world. Stay with us.

According to festival organizers (volunteers),  merchants and corporate belts have tightened even more and one of the country's few remaining floral parades featuring Hawaiian style riders on horseback is struggling to stay alive.  Please support ALOHA FESTIVALS 2010.

Nearly every kid who grew up in Honolulu has attached some childhood memory to this parade.  While watching the beautiful women in their silk pa'u, maile, and ilima go prancing by on horses with manes braided and bridles decked with entwined fir, ti leaves, and baby roses I could not imagine Waikiki without this Aloha Festivals event.  To think they nearly cancelled this year's parade because they did not have enough community support, shame on us, we should all make contributions to next year's parade. Aloha Festivals  808. 391-8714  or alohafestivals.com

We came on board very late in planning just a few days before the parade! so we jumped in and began documentation of one of Hawaii's oldest celebrations representing hundreds of hours of work by volunteers whose credits remain anonymous. We began filming on the traditional Friday night before the parade as an all-volunteer crew started to construct and dress floats, then back at 5am on Saturday morning of the event when the horses were gathered and adorned with beautiful hand woven floral wreaths, and the pa'u riders were costumed and mounted and the massive floats made their way to the mouth of Waikiki, 5 hours later, to begin their glorious ride down the boulevard to Waikiki.

This event was originally created in 1946 to mimic the Makahiki celebration (Hawaiian New Year)  honoring the Hawaiian god Lono.  Today Aloha Festivals celebrates the Makahiki season with events on six islands. So stay tuned for more video of the 2009 Aloha Festivals Floral Parade in Waikiki.  Mahalo to the Hawaiian Civic Clubs whose participation is the backbone of this parade and to the Mayor and the City & County of Honolulu, to Toni Lee (parade organizer extraordinaire), Blaine Kia, Murray Towill, Communications Pacific and Nichole Laberge, Rick Egged, P.Tomonari, Waikiki Business Plaza (for your bird's eye view), and the many big rig trucking companies and their drivers, and to the individuals and families who worked so hard to make this parade a beautiful experience.  Everyone please kokua to support the festival's fine efforts to keep Aloha in Waikiki for 2010!

The responsibility of shaping and sustaining Hawaii tourism doesn't fall exclusively on executives in the travel industry.  If we all volunteered a few hours to help next year with this parade through Waikiki (you'll love it, you'll see. There'll be plenty of hot cocoa!) this is what Aloha is all about and if this is what we're promising our visitors we ought to generate more of it ourselves.  Particularly in Waikiki.

This clip features the talented Melveen Leed, this year's Pa'u Queen, her riders; State Senator Brickwood Galuteria and radio personality Kimo Kahoano (who collaborate on a great radio program, “Nā ‘Ōiwi ‘Ōlino" - People Seeking Wisdom, on KKNE AM940).

This is one of many vignettes we'll be broadcasting over the next few weeks.  For the entire video vignette please visit http://ARTS.pacificnetwork.tv/HotPicks/ and http://arts.pacificnetwork.tv/LifeIsGood/

For more video visit http://sports.pacificnetwork.tv/hawaiitailgating

Hawaii Tailgating-  Game Day!

Our Pacific Network all -girl crew meets Bobby Fukuda a 45 year veteran from the original Aloha Stadium (back then it was in Moilili)... captures Amy Hanaialii performing for tailgaters at one of three major tailgating parties and we check out all the food that's been prepared for fans who book a seat under a tent in the early sultry desert evening ( ok so it's 100 degrees who's counting)  to chow down on 3000 hot dogs, 2500 hamburgers, 1200 pounds of pulled pork, 1200 pounds of kalbi ribs, 70 cases of chicken wings and more.  Local folks know how to grind. It's a fact that their favorite pastime is Hawaii Tailgating whether it be in a parking lot back home or on Las Vegas alsphalt at a UH Warriors game.  There is nothing that can compare to the loyalty of Hawaii expats living away from home. I know.  I was a home girl who lived away for over 20 years.

Check out more video, you're bound to see one of your classmates, oldtimers who left to retire in Las Vegas, students who flew up to the game, or catch yourself on camera.  We'll edit more clips, stay tuned, but you have to try this classic Hawaii Tailgating recipe discovery the girls made on the road.

HOW TO MAKE OX TAIL SOUP GUARANTEED

INGREDIENTS:
1 pkg. Noh foods Chinese Roast Duck Seasoning (key ingredient)
2-3 pounds of oxtails
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, soak in hot water 10 minutes
1 piece gow pee (Chinese dried tangerine peel), soak in hot water 10 minutes
1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns (wrap in cheese cloth so you can take out)
2 inch fresh ginger peeled and sliced into rounds
2 whole star anise                                                                                                                                   1/4 cup peanuts                                                                                                                                    Salt & Pepper to taste (Dad easy on the salt)                                                                               1 lb. mustard cabbage, cut in 1-2 inch lengths

Garnishes:
Thinly sliced green onions
Chopped chinese parsley (cilantro and lots of this)
Chopped serrano chilis ( up to you)

Dipping Sauce:
Grated fresh ginger
Soy Sauce

In a stock pot, first you braise the oxtails with light oil and a little whiskey or sweet sherry.  Yes, this is my Aunty Lorna's secret.  Then you add water and parboil for 30 minutes in 1/2 pkg of Noh foods Chinese Roast Duck Seasoning. This part is the Noh family secret and it is fabulous.

Rinse the oxtails and the pot and add more clean water to the pot. Bring the water back to boil and add oxtails back in along with the Szechuan peppers (wrapped in cheesecloth so they are not floating all over the soup), shiitake mushrooms, gow pee, star anise, and ginger. Salt & pepper.

Bring to a boil and simmer until the oxtails are falling off the bone tender, about 2-3 hours. Replenish the soup with additional broth or water if it starts getting too low. Skim as much fat as you can from the surface as the soup cooks. Just before serving, add the mustard cabbage and cook just until it wilts and changes color.

Serve with the garnish to be sprinkled on top and rice (use saimin noodles instead if you like your Ox Tail Soup this way ala Waialae Country Club style). You can leave out the peanuts if you want but they add flavor.

Send us your winning recipes! and stay tuned for more Hawaii Tailgating - Teriyaki to Tiramisu.  For more video visit http://sports.pacificnetwork.tv/hawaiitailgating

and for more www.espn1420am.com

www.hawaiiathletics.com

Hawaii Tailgating - Game 3 - Viva Hawaii Day 2

For more video visit http://sports.pacificnetwork.tv/hawaiitailgating

Ok, you knew there was a local connection to Hawaii in Las Vegas, but hold on to your slipppas because you're not going to believe ... or maybe it's just me but "this is like our downtown kalihi"? a comment heard as we interrupt a very nice man about to chow down on a big bowl of won ton min and we take an over the shoulder view of what looks like typical local grinds at the California Hotel, a haven for local visitors to Las Vegas, off the strip and "where you find the real action" and if you're from Hawaii you're bound to run in to someone you know or are related to... so of course immediately our camera crew runs into John Veneri (who predicts "spankings all the way 'round" by UH!) , some of the UH Athletic Dept. guys, Don Weir (Exec Director of Na Koa Football Club), so many ex pats, and hey, was that my Uncle Lloyd?

Our Pacific Network all -girl crew will be cruising with their cameras and ready for the big game.  So all you Las Vegas UH Warriors Fans come on down with your best tailgating recipes. Flag us down and stay tuned!

For more video visit http://sports.pacificnetwork.tv/hawaiitailgating

Our Ocean Planet - As Seen by Ross Isaacs

Did you know that 75 percent of our planet is covered by ocean?   Did you know that these immense bodies of water that interconnect between the continents rest on gigantic mountain ranges even larger than the Himalayas? And that there are valleys as spectacular as the Grand Canyon below us in this deep blue abyss, home to millions of thriving species we have not yet even discovered? Earth is the only planet in our solar system with liquid water on its surface.  When waters are contaminated this threatens the survival of ocean creatures who are dependent on their environment. And we are affected by what happens to them.

The images shown here are taken in the Pacific Ocean by Emmy-nominated director and cameraman Ross Isaacs, who has over 30 years of experience as an underwater photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker. He lives in Port Douglas in North Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef.  Ross specializes in documenting natural history and he has pioneered use of closed circuit rebreathers for this genre of filmmaking shooting high definition underwater marine organisms, from small to the immense, from the tiny creatures that inhabit and sustain our coral reefs to dolphins, sharks and whales. To see more video from the world's oceans visit http://arts.pacificnetwork.tv/OceanPlanet. Footage courtesy of Ocean Planet Images and YNR Marketing. Thanks to executive producer and aerial cinematographer, Stan Esecson; and Linda Yadao, YNR's north shore girl and Pacific Network contributor.

Be kind to our oceans.  They're the only ones we've got.

http://arts.pacificnetwork.tv/OceanPlanet/

and

http://science.pacificnetwork.tv/

Labor of Love - Paul Marino

Got the ribs marinating? Beach towels in the back of the truck? It’s Labor Day and like millions of other Americans you’re taking a well deserved day off. But do you have any idea how this holiday came about?  It began as a way to recognize and remember that hard won right to unionize. So we honor all the courageous men and women who struggled for worker’s rights from the late nineteenth century to pre-statehood Hawaii. During these difficult economic times we are thankful for work that fulfills our spirit. Truly.   The adage, “work smarter not harder” is for the birds. If we advocate that kind of attitude we can be guaranteed our next generation of workers will be looking to other countries as the innovators and world leaders. So here I defer to the most appropriate person to quote on Labor Day and that would be local boy, Punahou graduate, and our current U.S. President, Barack Obama:

“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”

So work hard, play hard, think big, act responsibly and remember there are others coming up behind us and if we can imagine a perfect world we will can create that world around us because... Life is Good.  Enjoy the day from all of us at Pacific Network.tv!  Stay tuned for more video of Paul Marino (mahalo to co-producers Susanne Kurisu and Alan Wolensky) on "Da Kine Job", a new webisode series coming soon to http://news.pacificnetwork.tv/LifeIsGood/

ps: If you've got a job you think viewers will find interesting let us know at submissions@pacificnetwork.tv