Hawaii's Jedi chef brotherhood reunited

Nadine Kam photos
The Alan Wong Jedi brotherhood, with one sister, reunited.

BY NADINE KAM

“Star Wars” imagery is everywhere this season in anticipation of this week’s release of the latest tale in the film saga, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Even so, when I spotted the Jedi T-shirts and life-size Storm Trooper balloon outside the tents at the MW and Friends “Reunited” event that took place Dec. 14 under a tent in the restaurant’s parking lot, I was a little confused about the meaning of the thing.

At least I wasn’t the only one clueless about the insider’s joke. Everyone else was asking the same questions: “What’s with the Jedi T-shirts?” “What’s with the Star Wars theme?”

OK, first things first. As well as being praise-worthy in their own right, chefs Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi and George Mavrothalassitis have been responsible for providing the real world training ground for most of Hawaii’s next generation of top-tier chefs. This particular reunion brought together chefs who formerly worked together at Alan Wong’s Restaurant and the Pineapple Room.

Jedi chef Steven Ariel, now with the W Seattle Hotel, was among the alumni of Alan Wong's family of restaurants who came together for a reunion event Dec. 14 at MW Restaurant.

In addition to MW host/owners Wade Ueoka and Michelle Karr-Ueoka, in house were:

Sonny Acosta: Now at Abunai Food; Washington, D.C.
Steven Ariel: W Seattle Hotel
Brandon Hamada: Home Bar & Grill
Lance Kosaka: Top of Waikiki and Sky Waikiki
Jon Matsubara: Bloomingdale’s Restaurant Kaola
Gary Matsumoto: Hawai’i Convention Center
Jonathan Mizukami: Chef Mavro
Jared Murakawa: MW Restaurant
Neil Nakasone: Home Bar & Grill
Marc Urquidi: Roy’s Restaurant
Sean Walsh: Top of Waikiki
Mark Okumura: Kapiolani Community College
Also there was longtime restaurant manager Charly Yoshida.

Guarding the tent.

As for the “Star Wars” reference, Wade explained all in his program notes, writing:

“I remember long, long ago, in a kitchen not too far away …
The day I was new to the fish station … I had actually just learned to cook a simple fish fillet, and now, all of a sudden, as service was starting, I was responsible for a whole fish? I had no idea what I was in for. Being it was my first encounter with a whole fish (and nervous as hell), I nonchalantly asked,

“How do you know when it’s done?”

“The reply I received in the heat of the rush was, ‘Use your Jedi sense!’

“It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to commit myself to learn the ways of the Jedi. … It has taken many, many years of practice, long hours, and countless cuts, burns and mistakes to learn the ways of the Jedi."

Jedi chefs, from left, Wade Ueoka, Lance Kosaka and Jonathan Mizukami, who has returned home after working kitchens from Alinea, to Per Se, El Bulli and The French Laundry. Planning for the reunion event began about five months ago.

“… Through years of battle, and the opportunity to cook with hundreds of different troops, there have been those with which a group has formed. A group that has shown passion, dedication, determination, and the skills to become a true Jedi master. It had always been a dream of mine to bring all the Jedi back together again.”

As much fun as it may have been for them to see and cook alongside one another once again, it was just as thrilling for guests who enjoyed a lengthy grazing menu.

Charly Yoshida and Olena Heu were among the first employees at Alan Wong’s Restaurant. Heu continued working at the restaurant even after she took on full-time news duties at KHON.

Former front-of-the-house staffers were also there to check in with old friends and simply enjoy themselves. Among them was former KHON morning news anchor Olena Heu, who served as hostess when Wong opened his first eponymous restaurant in April 1995.

She had arrived from Kauai and was working at David Paul’s Lahaina Grill. When that restaurant was put up for sale, she simply decided she wanted to work at Hawaii’s No. 1 restaurant and rang them up.

She put in 10 years while attending school, and it was only after taking on an internship at KHON that she decided TV news was the place for her. Yet, even after landing a full-time job with the station, she continued to work at Alan Wong’s restaurant until she could no longer do so after taking the morning anchor job that required getting up at 2 in the morning.

“The restaurant shift didn’t end until midnight,” she said. “But they still let me come in and work one day a week. Everytime I see Alan I tell him I loved the time I spent working at his restaurant.”

As for the man who saw the promise in all of them, he is in Shanghai, preparing to open his next restaurant.

Michelle Karr-Ueoka shows a tray of her lemon meringue confections.

The Jedi moms, Marge Kosaka, left, mother of Lance, and Alan Wong's mom Terry Yamamoto, who's said to be a very good cook. She said she didn't teach him to cook, but through eating her food, he learned the optimal flavors. She said she's proud of all of her son's protégés, who still refer to her as "mama."

Some of the dishes:

 Jon Matsubara offered up a taste of his new menu at Bloomingdale's Kaola Restaurant, with "Hibiscus Egg," creamy "fu yung" topped with a dollop of ikura and scallions.

Tommy Bahama food for an island lifestyle

Nadine Kam photos
The luxe plantation hale-style interior of Tommy Bahama Restaurant.

BY NADINE KAM

The power of a brand can be measured in how much it can repeat its success over different platforms. If true believers like your clothing, why wouldn’t they like the accessories, the home furnishings, music, airline or hotel associated with your brand, your taste, your style?

Tommy Bahama is one of those powerful lifestyle brands that make it easy for you to envision what various aspects of the business might be like if they existed. Knowing nothing about Tommy Bahama Restaurant you’d probably envision a breezy, tropical, upscale-casual environment and food to match. And, you’d be right.

The boutique opened on Beach Walk Avenue in Waikiki last month, along with a rooftop bar and second-floor restaurant with an interior reminiscent of stately Manoa homes, with indoor-outdoor spaces and living walls of lush greenery that embraces the notion of the ideal life being one that balances modern-day creature comforts and nature.

Ahi tacos in wonton shells with slaw and light wasabi-avocado purée.

The restaurant, of course, is heavy on the creature comfort aspect. As soon as you step into the dining room, your eyes will alight on the enticing dessert tray waiting at the top of the stairs. You’ll see the chocolate and brulée-filled pineapple before you see the hostesses.

Another prominent feature of the dining room is its central bar, graced with a recycled glass countertop, the color of ocean shallows. Reclaimed monkeypod, mango and mahogany trees were used to produce all the outdoor dining tables.

Many clothing brands are able to branch out in compatible categories like accessories and jewelry, but few are able to make the leap to running restaurant, a whole other beast. In a bit of magical thinking, I wished that clothing sales would defray the cost of a meal, but the reality is, more square footage equals more rent so in some instances you will pay a Waikiki premium to cover the 10,000 square feet of restaurant space that more than doubles the retail space.

The menu might be thought of as Hawaii as imagined by a band of outsiders for mainstream diners, with nothing too scary or challenging, unless you fear raw tuna.
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Tommy Bahama is at 298 Beach Walk. Open daily from 11 a.m. Call (808) 923-8785.

A crudo trio of citrus-cured striped marlin, New Zealand king salmon and big-eye tuna drizzled with olive oil and layered with parsley and celery greens and onions, was a recent special at Tommy Bahama Restaurant on the second-floor of the Tommy Bahama store at 298 Beach Walk.

This started as a healthful vegetarian salad of roasted seasonal vegetables with warm farro salad and grilled cauliflower “steak,” but I had to go and add the grilled shrimp. You also have the option of adding chicken. Nice sides if you’re a meat eater and your companion is not, or vice versa.

Penfolds wine dinner unfolds at Azure

Samuel Goldwyn films photo
Dylnn Proctor, featured here in the documentary film “Somm,” is Penfolds Winemaking Ambassador, and offered a history of the company and its winemaking processes during a Penfolds dinner at Azure restaurant.

BY NADINE KAM

Azure restaurant at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel welcomed master sommelier Dlynn Proctor during a Penfolds dinner that took place Nov. 24 at Azure restaurant in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Proctor, named “Best New Sommelier in America” by Wine & Spirits Magazine in 2008, is Penfolds Winemaking Ambassador, Americas, and was featured in the 2012 documentary “Somm,” which followed four men through the labyrinth exams of the Court of Master Sommeliers and the grueling Master Sommelier Exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. Since its inception in 1969, fewer than 200 candidates have been named Masters.

While guests enjoyed a luxurious meal prepared by RHC executive chef Colin Hazama and Azure chef de cuisine Shaymus Alwin, Proctor shared Penfolds unique history as an Australian winemaker that helped to shape the country’s industry. Its attempt to create world-class vintages and achieve luxury status, given regional quirks, occurred over a relatively short span of 172 years when compared to Europe’s centuries of winemaking tradition.

Royal Hawaiian executive chef Colin Hazama, left, and Azure chef de cuisine Shaymus Alwin, teamed up to present the extravagant meal.

One of the most extravagant wines poured over the course of the evening was Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, which Fujioka’s Wine recently offered at $341.99. The Grange wine is a result of the late Max Schubert’s experiments in the 1950s and ’60s to create a wine in the style of Bordeaux, using the shiraz or syrah abundant in Australia, and a small amount of cabernet. The Bin 707 was named after the Boeing 707 aircraft which linked Sydney to California, a sister in wine production.

It was an evening well spent, both delicious and educational. A lot of effort went into the meal and when told I enjoyed the saturated essence of duck captured in the duck prosciutto, chef Alwin shared that he had two more ducks maturing, part of the lengthy process. He shared that he’s not a patient person except when it comes to the kitchen arts.

Dinner started with a beautiful amuse bouche of citrus-cured hamachi with vodka creme fraiche, Meyere lemon and Oscietra caviar.

Apple pear gazpacho was poured over Wailea hearts of palm panna cotta, escargot caviar relish, compressed Ho Farms cucumber, kaffir croutons and morsels of Dungeness crab. I was two-thirds pau when I was distracted and a waiter took away my plate. Bummer. I really wanted to finish this. I loved the lightness, multi-layers and beautiful textures. Paired with Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling.

Guest 'chefs' take over The MODERN

Nadine Kam photos
Fresh Box’s Will Chen was the guest chef during The MODERN Honolulu’s inaugural Chef Takeover event. He presented an ahi-cutting and cooking demo leading up to guests’ takeover of the kitchen.

I headed to The MODERN Honolulu’s inaugural “Chef Takeover” culinary experience under the impression Chef William Chen, of Fresh Box, was taking over the kitchen.

Yes, he was there for an ahi-cutting and cooking demonstration of ahi tostadas, but, surprise!, it was actually the guests who were invited to take over the kitchen via a build-your-own poke bar and grill stations that allowed us to cook our own fish.

Fire and alcohol—that is, signature cocktails made with Ocean Organic Vodka and Deep Island Hawaiian Rum—can be a dangerous combination, but it was a fun evening, and I ended up making two batches of poke because I missed the sesame oil and wasabi on the first go-round.

The event took place Nov. 8, and may be the hotel's first in a series of annual events celebrating local sustainability and agriculture.

Another special guest of the MODERN’s executive chef Keith Pajinag was Brooks Takenaka of the United Fishing Agency, who spoke about the local fishing industry and it’s place in a global marketplace in which we find ourselves competing with others unwilling to abide by American laws regarding sustainable practices. And, in a state in which availability of fish is assumed, he said, 93 percent of our fish is imported.

That is why I never take enjoying fish for granted.

 The poke bar had everything we needed to make up batches of traditional and contemporary poke. There was much more ingredients than shown here.

Aya Nishihara started her poke sauce first with a litle mayo and Sriracha.

Brooks Takenaka’s wife Cynthia made up this more traditional-style batch of poke using ogo, green onion, inamona, rock salt and a touch of wasabi tobiko.

California-style poke with avocado and mayo.

Chef Chen’s seared ahi tostada with pomegranate seeds.

Also on the menu, roasted ahi collars.

Kristy and Matt Chun show their seared ahi dishes to chef Pajinag.

Matt had to deal with others’ mess, to arrive at the resulting relish, below.

Pam Davis sears her fish.

Sesame-crusted fish awaiting its turn on the griddle.
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Restaurant Week Hawaii 2015

Nadine Kam photos
A beautiful antipasto misto platter of nine assorted bites is the start of Arancino Beachwalk’s Restaurant Week 2015 menu. Pictured from front are caprese salad, salmon, bagna cauda and vegetable sticks, duck, frittata, marinated octopus, grilled zucchini and roasted bell peppers, and prosciutto.

BY NADINE KAM

Billed as the “most delicious week of the year,” Restaurant Week Hawaii is back, a weeklong celebration of the cuisine scene in Hawaii, from fine dining to fast-food,

Participating restaurants are featuring special menu items and promotions through Sunday, often offering the opportunity for diners to revisit familiar haunts at a discount and try some of the newbies in search of new favorites.

A portion of the proceeds from Restaurant Week Hawaii will support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head. When completed, Hawaii’s first four-year culinary program will serve students working toward careers in Hawaii’s restaurant and hospitality industry.

Visit www.restaurantweekhawaii.com to see what’s on the menu of your favorite eateries.

Here’s is a look at what’s on the menu at Arancino Beachwalk for $40 per person, with a two-person minimum; and below, at Bread + Butter Honolulu, where chef Masa Gushiken’s tasting menu is $45, with optional $25 wine pairings.

ARANCINO BEACHWALK
At 255 Beach Walk Ave. Call (808) 923-5557.

Diners have a choice of two dishes for the primi course, spaghetti with about two dozen clams, tomato concasse, garlic olive oil and white wine, or below, deconstructed creamy spaghetti alla carbonara, with egg on top stirred in at the table with Parmesan and pancetta in the dish.

Housemade tiramisu for dessert.

Arancino’s sister restaurants are also offering special menus as follows:

Arancino di Mare: Start with a salad of scallop carpaccio with sea asparagus, tobiko, onion and champagne vinaigrette; followed by antipasto of Sicilian arancini. The primi course offers diners a choice of deconstructed spaghetti alla carbonara or spaghetti vongole, followed by dessert of a light chocolate mousse with lilikoi sauce and fig. Costs $42 per person. The restaurant is on the ground level of the Waikiki Beach Marriott, 2552 Kalakaua Ave. Call (808) 931-6273.

Arancino at The Kahala: The menu starts with carpaccio di capesante, featurig Hokkaido scallops, cucumber, local Ululoa Farm micro greens and a housemade yuzu vinaigrette; followed by antipasto of three-mushroom and Parmigiano Reggiano arancini ai funghi with petite shortrib squares. The primi course is a choice of kabocha gnocci or braised oxtail with housemade maltagliati pasta with daikon, carrots and Okinawan sweet potato. Dessert is a roasted almond panna cotta with coconut gelato and coconut granita. The cost is $57 per person, with optional $18 per person wine pairings. At the Kahala Hotel. Call (808) 380-4400.

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BREAD + BUTTER
At 1585 Kapiolani Boulevard, next door to sister restaurant Shokudo. Call (808) 949-3430.

 Bread + Butter's Restaurant Week 2015 menu starts with a black truffle egg custard with dashi. This is paired with Scharfenburger Brut for those who choose the pairing option.

Next up is a Tapas Trio of a beet, peach and blue cheese salad; delicious blue crab and mango tartare; and Kobe beef empanada. Pairing: 2012 Schlumburger Pinot Blanc.

Poached blue prawn on a honey risotto with saffron aioli. Pairing: 2013 Jermann Pinot Grigio.

Diners have a choice of two entrées, uni pasta incorporating Santa Barbara uni in a cream sauce, or below, a double duck combo of seared duck breast and foie gras with dark coffee reduction and charred Kahuku corn with a dash of truffle oil. Pairing: 2013 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais and 2013 Maison L’envoye Two Messengers Pinot Noir, respectively.

 

 

Dessert of chocolate molten lava cake with chocolate and caramel center, vanilla ice cream and berries.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Magnolia Bakery set to open first U.S. cafe in Honolulu

Nadine Kam photos
Magnolia Bakery will bring its renowned cakes, pastries and pies to its Honolulu bakery and cafe operation, set to open Nov. 12 at Ala Moana Center.

BY NADINE KAM

Magnolia Bakery's Chief Baking Officer Bobbie Lloyd was in town a few weeks ago, in the test kitchen at Y. Hata, to make sure recipes she created in New York, would work with Hawaii’s weather and humidity when the renowned bakery opens its first United States bakery and cafe operation at Ala Moana Center Nov. 12.

It’ll be a twofer as there will also be a standalone bakery operation as well, serving to-go clientele so that sit-down customers will be insulated from the crush of patrons lining up for cupcakes, pies and other confections.

“Everything’s turning out perfect,” Lloyd said, as she pulled out pies, brownies and cupcakes from the ovens.

A fan of vintage desserts, Lloyd inherited the baking gene from her mom. “I’m from the midwest suburbs of Chicago. My mom was a baker, and back in the 1950s and ’60s, you wouldn’t dream of showing up at someone’s home without a cake. My mom always had a cake, or cookies, or pie, ready to go.”

Magnolia Bakery's chief baking officer Bobbie Lloyd was in town a few weeks ago testing recipes to make sure they work in Hawaii's climate. She'll be back for the grand opening.


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Lloyd received formal chef’s training at Boston’s Modern Gourmet Cooking School, and her passion for the kitchen arts led her to open her own restaurant, American Accent, in 1980s Boston.

“The concept was, if you saw it on the table, we made it. We made our own ketchup, pastas, breads, spice blends, jams and jellies. It was difficult to make money that way but it was such good idea that I had to do it.”

She went on to work as a private chef for Calvin Klein, then service manager at Union Square Cafe before joining Magnolia Bakery in 2007. It was a good fit. Magnolia Bakery had been founded in 1996 with the idea of serving classic American baked goods, opening in New York’s West Village. The little bakery grew a local following, but won international attention from appearances on “Sex and the City” and other New York-based TV programs and films. Magnolia has since expanded its business worldwide.

Locally, patrons will be able to choose from a variety of cafe menu items, including egg skillets, red velvet pancakes, pulled pork biscuit sandwiches and seasonal salads, as well as Magnolia’s renowned handmade desserts.

'Nolia pies will make their debut in Honolulu. Featured here are pear and vegetarian options.

The cafe brings Lloyd full circle to her chef’s roots, as she insists, “I’m not a pastry chef and never call myself that. I’m more of a home-style baker, but I approach my work like a pastry chef.”

Her title of Chief Baking Officer came from an encounter at London’s Heathrow Airport, when an immigration official looking at her travel papers saw her title of President of Magnolia Bakery, and sniffed, “No one’s the president of a bakery.”

“And I thought, ‘She’s right!’ It’s way too serious, so I knew it was time to change that.”

In creating the menu, Lloyd transformed some of Magnolia’s most loved cakes and cupcakes into other forms. The Hummingbird, a Southern classic that seems to be made for Hawaii because of its combination of tropical pineapple and bananas, with pecans, will be available in pancake form. Its sweet cream cheese icing will become a thick syrup.

The company’s first United States bakery and cafe marks a homecoming for chef Jonas Low, who worked at Magnolia’s Lebanon location.

Lloyd had help getting to know the local palate from Magnolia Hawaii’s local born and raised executive chef Jonas Low, who’s returned home after working at Magnolia’s Lebanon location.

Low attended Leeward Community College before studying pastry at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland and going on to work at Gary Danko in San Francisco. Coming home “just worked out for me,” he said. “I’m like a lot of the generation of local chefs that have traveled out, seen what is out there, got the training, and are bringing it back home.

“My role is making sure that what goes out of our kitchen is consistent with the New York brand.”

Though with a few local twists. Lloyd said she was happy when she heard of Hawaii’s love of pork, which inspired two additions to the menu, a pulled pork skillet of creamy grits, jalapeno and cheddar with the pork on top, and a pulled pork biscuit sandwich.

She’s left wiggle room in the menu for Low to play with local and seasonally available ingredients to keep things interesting. A kale salad might incorporate asparagus and peaches in the summer, then switch to butternut squash in the fall.

She’d long desired to add breakfast and meal service at Magnolia, knowing that “People love breakfast and they like eggs all day.”

If they’re lucky, New York might follow in Honolulu’s footsteps next year.
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Magnolia Bakery and Magnolia Bakery and Cafe will open Nov. 12 at Ala Moana Center. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 1o p.m. daily.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Singapore Diary: Exploring Chinatown

Nadine Kam photos
When in doubt traveling in a foreign city, follow the locals. In Singapore’s Chinatown, a lot of parties were centered around this fish dish. Watch the video to see the fish cooking over fire.

BY NADINE KAM

Day 2 in Singapore saw us heading to Chinatown where we were hoping to find the nation’s famous chilli crab. Possibly because of demand, hawker stalls were out. But, in People’s Park food court, we saw a wondrous sight: people walking by with large pans carrying Chong Qing grilled fish.

It’s a variation of a hot pot dish that originated in Chong Qing, China, part of Sichuan province, which explains its spicy character and use of the tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorn. Here though, the sauce was so balanced I didn’t mind the peppercorns at all.

The fish—in this case grouper—is not really grilled, but deep-fried; layered over bean sprouts, sliced onions and other veggies; doused with the soy-sesame-black bean-ginger-spice sauce; then topped with peanuts and cilantro. It is delicious!

It wasn’t hard to spot locals sitting down for a lunch of Chong Qing grilled fish, one of those dishes you see and know you must try.

The grouper doesn’t look much more attactive when it’s alive. I took this photo at my hotel, the Marina Bay Sands.

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Another Chinatown treasure is bak kwa, which translates as “fragrant jerky.” Singapore’s sweet, tender and juicy pork jerky sells for about SG$25 per pound, or about $18.50 in U.S. dollars, at outlets like Bee Cheng Hiang, where customers can sample different varieties.

Fresh fruit is also sliced, wrapped and sold in healthful single-serve to-go style. While there I also tried bingtanghulu, or candied Hawthorn berries, for the first time. The inch-and-a-half berries are stacked on skewers and not something I would try if I just saw it on the street because I’m more attracted to savory bites than sweets. But, I was with Sean Morris who recognized them and liked them. We certainly don’t have such a thing in Hawaii, so I tried it and liked the crunchy, crackly sweetness. If you happen to go and try them, watch out for the large seeds.

Singapore’s Chinatown is so clean compared to our own. In spite of the number of seafood dishes being offered, there were no fishy odors, no sight of fish guts lying around or puddles of fish water.

In fact, everywhere we went was clean, without a scrap of paper or cigarette butt on the ground. It just goes to show you what can be done if everyone takes pride in their city and makes the effort.

Singapore’s Chinatown is beautiful. The Majestic theater on Eu Tong Sen Street had a long history, initially built as a Cantonese opera house in 1928, converted into a theater by the Shaw Brothers in 1938, taken over by the Japanese during World War II for the screening of propaganda films, then converted back into a Chinese film theater until it closed in 1998. In 2003, it reopened as a three-story shopping complex. It is now closed.

I love the colonial architecture of the Chinatown and that they have the pride to keep the buildings beautifully painted.

An overpass allows you to avoid traffic below, although Singapore is one international destination where drivers tend to be cautious because laws there can be Draconian. That’s what makes it so safe for travelers, unless you bring in drugs. If caught, you will likely be executed.

Fresh fruit beautifully sliced and packaged in single-serve to-go portions.

Singapore’s Chinatown is also known for its bak kwa, or sweet grilled pork jerky, this batch from Bee Chang Hiang. Alas, I tried to bring $40 worth of jerky home and was honest and listed it on my Customs form. And they confiscated it! So mad! Now my friends and family won’t know how sweet and juicy and tender it is unless they travel to Singapore themselves. If I thought it would be taken away, I would have saved myself the trip of going back to Chinatown to pick it up fresh before my flight. Customs should at least reimburse us if they’re going to steal our food! It’s not like it’s poisonous. I already ate it on the street!
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.