2012 Picture report from Hawaii number 2 and 3 · Wednesday January 11, 2012 by colin newell
A typical day in Kona Hawaii almost always involves a cup of great coffee to start your day – a swim at one of many great sandy beaches – often with shore break capable of breaking your neck – so show respect…
And the people! The people of the Island of Hawaii love their life and they love their guests.
What better gig than to live and work here – Like Dr. Shawn Steiman (photo below to the right of yours truly — the visitor…)
Shawn is doing some work with the local coffee community and we are catching up over coffee at Kona de Pele Coffee on Alii Drive, Kona. Arguably some of the best coffee to be drinking – brewed right – Hario pour over – measured and brewed to precision.
Next photo: Typical sunset off of our lanai off of Alii Drive in Kona Hawaii – this is what we look at, day after day – if you have never seen a sunset like this, you owe yourself the pleasure of the visit.
2012 Picture report from Hawaii number 1 · Sunday January 8, 2012 by colin newell
Sitting by the pool today noticed a glint in the ocean… which was around 15 feet away.
I know – begs the question: Why build a small heated pool a few feet away from a gargantuan sized salty heated pool. Who am I to argue.
While we sunned by the pool we could hear the shouts of folks in their shuttered condos watching Sunday football – I know… that does not make sense either.
Hawaii – truly a land of mystery.
The real mystery awaits you below – it caught our eye. An iridescent glow above and below the water – like purple laser beams that flashed brighter as waves of water passed over the outcropping – I am assuming a fluorescent algae bloom – honestly, I have never seen anything like it. For once, a photo does no justice.
Will try and do a photo a day to encapsulate my experience.
Below our balcony – again, inches from the Pacific Ocean. This fellow flirted with the ocean life for an hour and came up empty handed… or did he?
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Toshiba Netbook NB555D quick look · Monday December 19, 2011 by colin newell
Having acquiesced to pressure from my chief significant other (she) having grown tired of watching me hover over my Asus Eee PC 4G (and its 7” screen) like a microbiologist examining a specimen…
I finally departed mid-2007 and came into the modern times with a Toshiba Netbook model NB555D. In good time too – we have been hauling the little Asus around the World (well, back and forth to Hawaii to be exact) for many years now – running its native Fischer-Price style of Linux (Xandros if I am not mistaken…) and a handful of Live USB sticks with iterations of Ubuntu just to be safe.
I had just become fully comfortable manipulating the OS on this little sub-notebook sized unit (just installed “Leeenux” – a light duty version of Ubuntu even less bloated than Easy Peasy… The Asus Eee runs great, still does – and it will travel more – just not on the next Hawaii trip – coming up in a few weeks.
The search for a slightly better netbook was not a long one – managed to zero in on the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D fairly quickly. Simplified by the fact that I did not want another Asus (at least right away), did not want a Sony, and did not want anything running Android on a device that would be locked to that OS.
What I found kind of interesting and slightly annoying was the complete lack of any credible peer reviews of the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D – nothing. One 1 paragraph review and a you tube link. The rest were ads and zero content lazy shills with links to vendors – more of the net seems to be like that sadly.
Anyway – what of the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D? With a 10.1” LED back-lit screen and a decent size keyboard (for my large hands…) and an energy scrimping Ghz AMD processor – (superior video processing to its Intel brethren in another similar model number) – and an attractive blue shell (and an interesting finish…) I guess I was prepared to be happy from the moment of purchase.
That would not come immediately.
The Toshiba Netbook model NB555D ships with Windows 7 “starter” – but let’s call it what it is – Windows “stripped down” is more like it – but that is OK all things considered. And here is one reason why:
Windows 7 is a memory guzzler. The Toshiba Netbook model NB555D ships with 1Gb of DDR3 1066Mhz RAM – which is what the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D needs to be happy – leaving little left over for apps.
Out of the box, the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D is a slug until it gets through a series of software updates and software self optimization (A windows 7 feature – it actually “learns” some of your preferences and practices as you use it more…)
One of the first things I did was axe the “Norton Starter” that comes with it – I use AVG Free for virus protection but Microsoft Essentials (Free anti-virus) would have been a good choice too.
Next I loaded “CRAP Cleaner” – a great tool from Piriform.com (also free) and got into the start-up manager and pulled a bunch of useless utilities and “launch speeders” that accelerated the appearance of the “Login screen” from a miserable minute and a half to a respectable 50 seconds.
In a head to head with the 2007 Asus Eee 4G PC, the faster machine (the Toshiba Netbook model NB555D) actually lagged the Asus oldie in every instance.
Using Crap Cleaner really got things zipping – still slower than the much older Asus however. More on its performance after I upgrade to 2G of RAM (in a few days)… with more user comments and software tweak suggestions!
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Victoria Food Culture at the top - ULLA Restaurant · Saturday November 26, 2011 by colin newell
When a great restaurant opens, there is one big mistake that a diner can make – and that is…
Not getting there early – that is, when the place first opens… Well, it can be problematic.
Because as time passes, the legend (and reputation) of the restaurant develops and with that, your expectations – particularly on your first visit.
And so you know, this is not quite like taking your first trip to San Francisco or the Napa or Sonoma Valley and picking out some established places – which are probably guaranteed to be good based on “travel expectations”. Which is another phenomenon entirely… Not like that at all.
So. ULLA. It has been open over a year (maybe 1.5 years…) and the reviews have been stunning. Apparently it has achieved a coveted Top-10 Enroute rating from Air Canada… OK. Checked the link. Yes it has. Impressive.
We booked a week or so in advance because this place tends to be busy – because of its reputation. And we landed on a very, very blustery Wet Coast Victoria evening while thousands of folks were without power, Ferry boats were docked and flights grounded. Consequently, there were a few cancellations at ULLA. No problem.
The room has a comfortable and warm feeling to it – we received a very friendly greeting at the door with an offer to take our coats – We were dining with another couple who had never been there – they were seated and giddy with excitement.
Menu’s and wine list immediately in hand we were given plenty of time to mull over the adult beverage selection and ask any preemptive questions about the menu or the ULLA concept.
Within a few minutes we had glasses of wine in hand and were quickly zeroing in on appetizers and mains.
Andrea had the 63 degree soft poached Egg on a brioche, with chanterelles, cipollini onions, black garlic jus, and parmesan. Well presented but kind of a single note item – like it was missing something extra on the plate to offer contrast.
Please note that Andrea’s palette is way more advanced than mine – in short, she is a super-taster and can pull flavors off of the plate and scents out of the air that a bloodhound would miss. It is an amazing talent to see at work.
Our couple friends (much to my chagrin) ordered two of the same appetizers; Escargot… 6 on the plate with lots of drizzle flourishes.
Note: These were not just ordinary snails – they were basil fed snails.
Yup. Not kidding.
Our friends thought they were yummy, that there was not a lot of snail on the plate and that it was more art than substance. Not a nit pick folks, just an observations.
My appetizer: Edremit, gemlik, castelvetrano and picholine.
Any ideas folks?
Olives. For whatever reason, I ordered a bowl of olives to nibble on. I love olives and these were all very tasty, different and appetizing.
Mains: Here was one of those times where I felt like smacking my friends on the head.
Andrea, Steve and Sharon had the pork tenderloin…
Still meadow farm pork loin, braised cabbage, Potato roesti (hash brown), celery root, bacon, cheddar, apple, gastrique (Gastrique is caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar, used as a flavoring for sauces…)
The pork was perfectly prepared and presented on the three plates – a veritable art gallery of small items to taste and enjoy.
I had the halibut cheeks on a bed of beluga lentils and roast sugared almonds, tents of steamed spinach and grilled baby cauliflower caps. The cheeks were slightly overdone and watery but everything else was dreamy and perfect. I could have eaten a plate of the lentils and almonds. The baby cauliflower was sublime.
ULLA is artistry pushed to the limit. Service is polished, at the ready and entirely unobtrusive. When we had questions, there were instant answers.
It’s entirely possible that someone with unrealistic expectations would be disappointed here. For me, any minor flubs in the kitchen are made up in superlative service and understanding of the product.
For me, any overall criticism would be: ULLA is a very serious restaurant. It is not a fun restaurant. There is a ton of passion and prowess here – but it is not a place where you raise glass after glass of wine hooting and hollering with joy. The food is art and ULLA is a food art gallery. And you know what they say about Art Galleries – they are repositories of brilliant works where you hold your voice down in quiet humility while you appreciate the artistic efforts of… well… artists.
If you love food, art and art galleries, you will love ULLA. But don’t be too noisy about it. Out of 10 points per, I would rate the food at 8.5 – Service 9.5 – Presentation 9.5
Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident, food and coffee lover – and occasional writer for EAT Magazine…
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