Aku Eats Oahu : a closer look : Seasonal Affairs - 7th Annual Korean Festival at Kapiolani Park

Seasonal Affairs - 7th Annual Korean Festival at Kapiolani Park

Hey All!

7/14/08 - Aaah, Saturday at Kapiolani Park - how lovely! Think about this for a moment: where would we be without this Central Park of the island? Ever been there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? If it's not the soccer leagues, rugby tournaments, or volleyball and softball games carving out their own sections of the park, it's the Micronesian church congregations, weekend barbeques, hordes of joggers circling the 3-mile perimeter, or that big, burly guy who just wants the shade of a tree to catch some zzzee's.

And then there's the tennis courts, archery range, weekend Artfests, tai-chi classes, the Royal Hawaiian Band playing free concerts on Sundays, and yes, the Honolulu Zoo, which is actually within park grounds. You never know what you'll see down at "The Park." You may even catch a glimpse of Brazilian martial artists practicing self-defense and boogie'ing down at the same time, or maybe those sophisticated grunger's and intallectual-types using a frisbee as a soccer ball. Or is it a football?

Whatever your interest, the loss of this 500-acre monster of grass would be catastrophic, indeed. I'm just thankful that in this day of outrageous land prices, the State hasn't chopped off a corner or two of the park, leaving it wide open and vast as it's always been, at least in my lifetime. The huge amount of people using it on any given day is pretty amazing, if you ask me, and a treasure to always be cherished.

If you want something a little more peaceful, weekday mornings and early afternoon's are a great time for quiet lunches or romantic strolls past giant monkeypod, banyan, ficus, and palm trees, some dating back over 100 years! The big, burly guy doesn't much care if it's weekend or weekday, though - he'll sleep through anything!

The park has a deep history, beginning with a group of businessmen who convinced King David Kalakaua to preserve is as a natural oasis and public recreation area. Years later, in 1877, the King officially established and named the "Queen Kapiolani Park" after his consort (wife). It does take a lot of work keeping the park clean and orderly, so if you want to get involved and help support the park in any way, or just want to find out more about it, try contacting the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society at www.kapiolanipark.org.

Happenings at the Queen Kapiolani Park which perhaps benefit most from the wide-open spaces are festivals and one-time events. It seems an activity or two is going on just about every weekend, from arts and crafts fairs to giant Marathon and Pro Bowl festivities. The 12th of July, '08, would see one of the biggest ethnic festivals in town, the 7th Annual Korean Festival. I love every ethnic fair that comes along and always try to get out to experience them - the food is always ono!

Wifey and I wouldn't dream of missing the festival but didn't arrive until just before noon. As you can imagine, parking was brutal! By that time the action was already in full swing, with events at the large bandstand area raging since 10am and continuing non-stop all the way into the evening.

There were singers and dancers in both traditional Korean and modern styles, awards presentations, dignitary speakers from Korea, martial arts presentations, song contests, Korean drummers, and even a kim-chee-eating contest! It culminated with a concert in the evening with pop star Kim Se Hwan.

Of course, I was working in the evening, as usual, and instead saw a few awards presentations and a Korean Court Dancer in full-on traditional dress - pretty cool stuff.

Just want to take this opportunity to kick myself for not inventing the inflated bouncer a bunch of years back. It was right there in my mind! In the end, it was another great opportunity I missed just by a hair, again, along with Post-It's, paper clips, dynabee, and hula hoops. Why can't I ever think of anything great?

Food, at least in the world according to Aku, is the most appealing part of any ethnic festivity, but there are many other tents with items and attractions ranging from apparel, groceries, and health supplements to cell phones, Real Estate, and picture-taking in a hanbok, the traditional Korean attire. It was a virtual flea-market of goods and activities! We did a brisk round or so through these areas, but something else distracted us every step of the way.

As you can imagine, the smell of kal-bi and Korean BBQ permeated the place, and we, along with everyone else, could not resist ourselves. There were piles upon piles of grilled meats being served, all cooked by a surprisingly small number of chefs manning a few grills here and there. I guess they did manage to keep up, though, somehow. These guys must have slept well that night! Hey, are you really Korean?

The reason there were so few is that, despite the long row of food tents lined up, there were actually only about three or four tents offering whole lunch plates - many of them instead featured mochi, sweet treats, ice cream, mandoo, and some other non-Korean foods like funnel cakes and tako-yaki!

The one Korean restaurant I saw represented was Migawon, formerly called Mikawon, but the line was so long and sun so hot that we passed right on by. The other two I saw with whole lunch plates were both churches, one from the Korean side of Hope Chapel and the other from Logos Korean Church, where we decided to get our plates from. Actually, they had the shortest line of the three, and we were both week-knee'd from the smells waffling through the air! We're suckers for underdog's, anyway.

After grabbing our plates, wifey and I walked on over to a large tree nearby and had at it. No need for a blanket or beach chairs - the soft, green grass is all you need!

I ordered a bbq chicken, which was pretty hard and dry, but the flavor was good, nonetheless.

The kalbi wifey had was much better. Very good, even. And these are not restaurants making money, but volunteers and quite possibly backyard barbequer's cooking for thousands of people! I know if either the chicken or kalbi was eaten right off the grill, they'd be super-delicious not only in taste but in texture, as well. The difficulty for anyone to mass-produce such volume outside of a professional kitchen must be a logistical nightmare for even restaurants to handle, much less a group of volunteers!

I must say, though, that the rice was very good at this particular tent run by the Logos Korean Church. It was shiny, fluffy, and full of body - definitely not a cheap-variety strain.

The lone side-dish we shared was a kimchee pancake, or pajeon, which is quite literally what you think it is. It is a very popular Korean dish that comes with a flour/egg batter stained red from the spicy kim chee juices.

Pajeon doesn't always come exclusively with kim chee, but can also feature any variety of veggies, meats, and seafoods, as well. The seafood pajeon my favorite, and often recommended at most Korean restaurants I visit.

I was really bummed about not being able to see the kim chee-eating contest. Why these people put themselves through such misery I'll never know, and I'd take great pleasure in sharing with their pain - from a distance. The input is sadistic enough in itself - can you imagine the output?

.....Moving right along, we scanned the long line of food tents and wondered what to do with our left-over scripts. Mandoo is a classic Korean dish we skipped over earlier, so we decided to get some for take-out. I knew mom would appreciate them. She also wanted me to bring home a hunky Korean Soap Star, but sorry, mom - no can do.

Mandoo is very similiar to Japanese gyoza, and made from round won-ton wrappers stuffed with ground pork, bean sprouts, chives, and/or various other ingredients and pan or deep-fried. We went with the pan-fried and looked for other creative ways to get rid of the rest of our scripts.

Desperately seeking something new, yet still distinctly Korean, we settled on a combination fried chicken (spiced Korean-style), deep-fried mandoo, and kim chee rice plate. Everything on this plate was delicious, especially the crispy, spicy chicken pieces. Though lukewarm in temperature by the time we sampled them at home, they still had a nice crunch and would have made the perfect pupu dish at any bar in town!

As usual, it was a fabulous day at the Park. I wish we had more time to stay and enjoy all the programs going on at the Bandstand, but no worries. Catch 'em next time.

Like the many people donating and sponsoring their time and money to keep the Queen Kapiolani Park safe and beautiful, it also takes a huge effort to run a successful festival. Let's all give it up for Korean pride! Any person, group of friends, or small or large organizations can help them in this year-round effort to plan and carry out the festival. Just go to www.koreanfestivalhawaii.com.

Hope you all had and continue to have a great day! Do the same tomorrow, and I'll catch you all lay-duh'z!

Easy,

Aku

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