2011 Rice Fest is TODAY (Schedule of Events from 10am-6pm)

Well, my baby has finally arrived. It took 1 whole year (again), but I pushed and I pushed and am ready to deliver it to you today. Hope you can make it down to Rice Fest at Ala Moana’s Magic Island today between 10am-6pm.

Check out the below for an hour by hour breakdown of the day’s festivities including celebrity & chef cooking demonstrations, “Riceipe” cooking competitions, live entertainment by Jody Kamisato, Bruce Shimabukuro and a Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii, a SPAM® Musubi Eating Contest, and a Guinness World Record™ attempt to create the Largest SPAM® Musubi in the world!

2nd Annual Hawaii Rice Festival
Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park
TODAY from @ 10am-6pm

10am – Rice Fest (at Ala Moana’s Magic Island) starts, hosted by 102.7 Da Bomb’s Bruddah Bryan

102.7 Da Bomb’s Bruddah Bryan

10:15am-10:45am – Ukulele performances by Jody Kamisato & Uke’s Rising Stars

Jody Kamisato & Uke’s Rising Stars

11am-11:20am – 1st Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Chef Kent Thompson and Hawaii News Now’s Minna Sugimoto)

Chef Kent Thompson and Hawaii News Now’s Minna Sugimoto

11:30am-12:30pm – “Riceipe” Cooking Competition – Amateur Division (including Leticia Buhr, Cathy Nobriga Kim, Loreen Matsushima, Mao Moeng, and Joan Murata).

“Riceipe” Competition Amateurs: Leticia Buhr, Cathy Nobriga Kim, Loreen Matsushima, Mao Moeng, and Joan Murata

12:30pm-1:30pm – “Riceipe” Cooking Competition – Professional Division (including returning champ Hideaki “Santa” Miyoshi from Tokkuri Tei, Executive Chef Wayne Hirabayashi from the Kahala Hotel & Resort, Executive Chef Hector Morales from the Turtle Bay Resort, and retired chef Kent Thompson).

“Riceipe” Competition Professionals: Chef Hideaki “Santa” Miyoshi (Tokkuri Tei), Executive Chef Wayne Hirabayashi (Kahala Hotel & Resort), Executive Chef Hector Morales (Turtle Bay Resort), Chef Kent Thompson (retired)

“Riceipe” Cooking Competition – Judges (11:30pm-1:30pm) – Food experts John Heckathorn from Honolulu Magazine, Nadine Kam from the Honolulu Star Advertiser and Melissa Chang and Mari Taketa from Nonstop Honolulu.

Judges John Heckathorn, Nadine Kam, Melissa Chang Mari Taketa

2pm-2:20pm – 2nd Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Chef Mavro’s George Mavrothalassitis and The Cat Dish’s Catherine Toth)

Chef/Proprietor George Mavrothalassitis (Chef Mavro) & Catherine Toth (Cat Dish)

2:30pm-3pm – Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii

Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii

3pm-3:30pm – Ukulele performance by Bruce Shimabukuro

Bruce Shimabukuro

4pm-4:20pm – 3rd Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Maui’s Sea House Restaurant’s Executive Chef Craig Erickson and KHON2’s Justin Cruz)

Executive Chef Craig Erickson (Maui’s Sea House Restaurant) & Justin Cruz (KHON2)

4:30pm-5pm – Guinness World Record™ for Largest SPAM® Musubi – Official Weigh-In

5pm-5:30pm – 2nd Annual SPAM® Musubi Eating Contest

5:30pm-6pm – Contest winner announcements

6pm – Rice Fest concludes

All Day (10am-6pm)
* Rice Donation Center – Donate your brown rice to Lanakila Meals on Wheels and white rice to Hawaii Foodbank
* Guinness World Record™ attempt to create the Largest SPAM® Musubi
* Live Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt – Compete in this Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt for a chance to win great prizes!
* Rice Education Booth – Learn all about Rice from the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Professor of Nutrition Dr. Maria Stewart, and
* The Keiki Zone – coloring contest hosted by members of the 2011 Narcissus Festival Court from 10am-2pm, bouncies, balloons and fun from Douglas Odani, Crystal Face Painting & Tattoos by Lei Crystal Tattoos, and games from JMJ Gaming.

2011 Narcissus Festival Court

And let’s not forget about all of the participating vendors & booths:

• Bruce Shimabukuro / The Ukebox
• Douglas Odani – Balloon Twister
• Dr. Maria Stewart – University of Hawaii at Manoa Professor of Nutrition
• Grandma G’s Kitchen
• Hawaii Book of Rice / Watermark Publishing
• Hawaii Foodbank
• Hawaiian Style Chili Co.
• Island Fruits
• JMJ Gaming
• Kat’s Sushi
• The Keiki Zone
• Lanakila Meals on Wheels
• Lei Crystal Tattoos
• Oceanic Time Warner Cable
• Ono Local Foods
• Ono Pops
• Project Grad
• Raised on Rice
• Sam’s Kitchen
• Shiga’licious
• SNOW |F|A|C|T|O|R|Y|
• Taste & See Delights

Hope you can make it down to experience another long year of my blood, sweat and tears for this event… See y’all there! 🙂

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Spam Jam Thank You Ma’am!

This past Saturday, April 25th, 2009, Hormel Foods Corporation and the SJ Foundation held their 7th annual Waikiki Spam Jam festival in the streets of Waiks. Part of Kalakaua Avenue was closed off for the event (apologies to the uninformed drivers at the time! 😛 ), which ran from 4PM-10PM.

Hawaii Foodbank Donation Center at the Waikiki Spam Jam 2009

There were an estimated 20,000-25,000 in attendance last year, and this year seemed no different. The street was jam-packed with thousands of tourists and locals alike, enjoying Spam-inspired dishes from the following vendors:

• Aloha Table at Waikiki – SPAM® Cabbage and Garlic Spaghettine, Loco Moco with SPAM®
• Cheeseburger Beachwalk – BBQ SPAM® Babies with Pineapple
• Chibo Okonomiyaki – Okonamiyaki and Yaki Soba w/ SPAM® & Vegetables
• Coconut Willy’s – SPAM® w/noodles
• Doraku Sushi – Spam Musubi
• Duke’s Canoe Club / Hula Grill – SPAM® Fried Rice
• Gordon Biersch – Guava Mango BBQ SPAM® Sliders, Shichimi Spiced SPAM® Wrap, SPAM® Noodles and Crispy Spam Gau Gee
• Jimmy Buffett’s – SPAM® Nachos
• K’s Restaurant – SPAM® Katsu, SPAM® Gau Gee
• Murphy’s Bar & Grill – Corned Beef Hash with SPAM®
• PF Chang’s – SPAM® Lettuce Wraps
• The Shack Waikiki – Spam Burgers and Spam Fries

Spam Musubi from the Doraku Sushi booth

Two stages were set up (one for KCCN FM 100 and one for Hawaiian KINE), which featured local, Hawaiian acts like Ilona (Irvine), Kawaianuhealehua, Herb Ohta., Jr., Pilioha, Kuhai Halau O Kahalepuna Pa Olapa Kahiko, Typical Youth, Kaukahi, Beach 5, John Cruz, and Kapena.

Almost seven million cans of SPAM® products are eaten every year in Hawaii. That’s more SPAM® per person in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States! So it only seems fitting that the festival be here. Oceanic Time Warner Cable was one of the proud sponsors of this event, that also helped benefit the Hawaii Foodbank by way of canned good donations.

See below for more scenes from the event!

Scenes from the Waikiki Spam Jam 2009

Scenes from the Waikiki Spam Jam 2009

Scenes from the Waikiki Spam Jam 2009

Scenes from the Waikiki Spam Jam 2009

For more information on the Spam Jam, visit spamjamhawaii.com.