Hawaii Nesties
-- Stuff I Like
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
lisakeiko with the smuggler mother
Ha! I read your post to Kriss about your mom smuggling leaves in. I wonder if this is a Japanese thing because my mom does the same!
She used to bring back aloe vera cuttings from my aunt's because "hers are better" and even bought back a yogurt starter, hidden in a moisturizer container... She hasn't done it much post-9/11 but it used to drive us crazy!!
-- Stuff I Like
Re: lisakeiko with the smuggler mother
OMG, my mom's sister is even worse than my mom. They'll go to gardens and look for seeds to take home with them. Yes, even when my aunt is visiting from Japan and needs to hide them in her suitcase, smuggle it illegally past customs, and plant it in a totally different climate than what it came from.
Maybe it IS a Japanese thing!!
Oh man, Lisa P, THAT would be scary - being caught with raw meat in Australia?! I was paranoid taking rice crackers there! (Well, not really but since the ingredients aren't written in English I thought they might not like that). Yes, I was surprised at how strict Australia is, but it's understandable, I guess?
Lisakeiko, while it may not be illegal, my mom used to buy muffins and scones at the mall (do you have mmmmuffins in HI?) because my aunt loves them and they just don't make muffins like that in Japan, apparently.
My mom is also a seed freak. She has planted these seeds from Japan here and they just aren't growing. Not even a little bit. She's been trying for months, my sister and I tell her it's time to move on but everyday, she waters them with hope.
The funny thing is that he nearly got away with it! The customs officer absentmindedly asked him the standard, "Do you have any food items?" question as he was already waving them on, and my stepmom cheerfully piped up with, "Oh, just sausage meat!" Yeah, he put the brakes on them pretty fast lol. But from what they told me, he wasn't mean or anything - he just gently informed them that you can't transport that kind of thing into Australia, gave them a brochure on what you can and can't bring into the country, and confiscated the meat (along with their little cooler, which unfortunately was considered contaminated). They were allowed to bring me some Grape Nuts though.
(I know it's lame, but I loooooove Grape Nuts and it's not sold here!)
This convo is funny! What is with our crazy families smuggling stuff
My FIL has the beautiful hibiscus growing in there very sunny south facing second family room in the downstairs part of there home. He mentioned that he in fact brought it back from HI, the year we got married. MH is puzzled because of course, you can't bring plants back, but maybe the seedling was so small that they missed it. You should see how big it has gotten. It is gorgeous!
Interesting! My sister bought my mom a hibiscus plant here in Vancouver and it lasted about a week once she gave it to my mom! Should've smuggled one in from HI
My aunt tried bringing a whole box of instant ramen (Umakatchan!) with her once but they took it ALL away at the airport. This was probably right around the time mad cow disease was going around so any meat products, even powdered, was a no-no. She was sooo mad that they took all that ramen, lol.
A friend of mine who also did the JET program managed to bring in a whole suitcase full of SPAM, frozen kalua pig, and portuguese sausage when she was in Gifu. I know that SPAM is okay and the kalua pork is cooked so I was really surprised that the portuguese sausage made it through! And the image of her lugging around that whole suitcase of full of nothing but MEAT onto the train to go back home, hahah, that made me laugh soo hard!
Is mmmufins a muffin shop? I googled it and came up with a muffin chain that started in Canada. If that's the one, we don't have it here. Come to think of it, I don't think we have any sort of specialty muffin shop. We used to have Dunkin Donuts for donuts here but even that's gone now.
I was watching a show on Food Network the other day and they were featuring donut shops. I was thinking that Hawaii needs their own special donut shop! The only place we can get donuts and muffins are at regular bakeries or the grocery stores.
Totally off subject, but the other day I came across a blog entry about Hokka Hokka Tei bentos and now I want one. Bad.
Kriss, that's pretty awesome that he got the hibiscus to grow some beautifully! But be careful, we don't want to give Chika's mom any ideas, lol!
I remember going through the list of banned items when we were doing your invites! Used bedding was the one that sticks out in my mind, lol!
Too bad your dad lost his sausage.
Ugh, I always feel so bad watching people get stuff confiscated... I think I'm afraid it's going to be me someday... or my mom!
Whoa, I can't believe your friend lugged around all that meat!!
Yeah, mmmmmuffins is a muffin shop. I haven't been there in ages but they have all kinds, which in Japan (as of 1995-ish) they apparently didn't.
Hokka hokka tei! I haven't ever eaten there but my friend used to live upstairs from one and their song would drive her crazy! I do love bentos though.
I definitely think HI needs their own donut shop, too! They would have the best flavours ever, like haupia, taro, pineapple, yum! I think we have a maple glazed donut, that's about it...