Happy Labor Day everybody.  I hope your weekend is going well.  Today we begin our series on the Okinawa Festival.  Here is a pictures of the Okinawa Prefecture Junior & High School Wind Ensemble Select Band that flew all the way from Okinawa to perform at the festival.  This year was the 28th annual Okinawan Festival whose theme was “Sharing Uchinanchu Aloha” or sharing aloha from Okinawa.

Perhaps one of the most looked forward to item at the Greek Festival is the Pastry Booth filled with homemade pastries including this bento box of Baklava.  Always in high demand lines form at the Pastry Booth from start to finish much like the malasada booth at the Punahou carnival.   Along with Baklava they also serve kourambiedes, melomakarona and much more.  The dough is rolled the old-fashioned way with broomstick rolling pins and honey, nuts, fruits and creams mixed with love.  Secret recipes have been passed down generation to generation giving the Greek festival product a special unique quality.

Entertainment was abound at the Greek Festival .  Here is a photo of the Nisiotes Dancers who performed a variety of Greek fold dancing in colorful regional costumes.  Accompanying them was the Nisioupoula “Little islander” Dance Group.  Also performing at the festival was Fotia a Greek band from California and the renowned guitarist Sotos Kappas.

One of the most famous food items at the Greek Festival 2010 at McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park is the Gyro.  The Greek dish consists of meat, tomatoes, onions and a tzatziki sauce (yogurt based)  served on a pita bread.  The meat (usually a beef lamb combination is cooked on a tall vertical spit and sliced into thin crispy shavings.

We begin our look at the 2010 Greek Festival at McCoy Pavilion which is a part of Ala Moana Beach Park.  If you haven’t been there yet head out there today (Sunday August 29) as the festival runs from noon to 8pm.  Tons of Greek food, dancing, entertainment and of course the very popular pastries. Click here for more information.

On a hot day nothing beats an ice cold shave ice from the world famous Matsumoto’s on the North Shore of Oahu.  This particular one is a Pineapple, Creamsicle, Lihing Mui blend with what I call the “insurance policy” which is the plastic yellow cone protecting your hands from drippings and also insuring that if your shave ice should “calve” like a glacier it will not fall to the ground.   Started in 1951 by Mamoru Matsumoto the M. Matsumoto Grocery Store is a North Shore staple selling over 1,00 of these daily half to tourists from around the world and half to locals like myself who make this a North Shore must stop.  If you go be sure to sign in their online guestbook.

This is my favorite of the pictures I took on the Sagres as it was docked at Aloha Tower.  I stood under the main mast and aimed upwards.  This shows how high this is and what a climb it must be for the sailors that scramble up the ropes and ladders.  The main purpose of the Sagres is the sea training of cadets as a complement of the technical and academic studies of the Portuguese Naval Academy.  Join us tomorrow as we close out the Sagres series with a nighttime shot.

Here is an upward shot of the masts of the Sagres.  I was trying to get most of it in the photograph.  The main mast is over 42 meters above the deck.  The ship itself has 22 sails totally over 2,000 meters and can reach a speed of 17 knot.  Today the Portuguese Nay runs the ship as a training ship and sails it around the world.  The next stop of the Sagres is Japan.  Tomorrow one of my favorite photos of the ship and a little more about it.

We now continue our Sagres series.  Just how do you steer and 89 meter ship that has a mast reaching 45.5 meters into the sky?  This will give you an idea of what the captain has to do to keep the ship moving in the correct direction.  The Sagres was built in 1937 in Hamburg.  It was originally named the “Albert Leo Schlageter.  In 1945 during World War II it was captured in Bremenhaven by American forces and handed over to Brazil.  In 1962 Portugal purchased the ship to use as a training ship and renamed it the Sagres.  Tomorrow you will see just how high the mast is and of course learn more about the Sagres.

I just wanted to wish everybody a happy and safe Fourth of July.  I spent Saturday on a fireworks cruise and got an awesome view of the Aloha Tower fireworks though as you can probably guess boats are not a good place to take pictures from since they move a lot.  Here is one of my Ala Moana Fireworks display pictures from a prior year.  Today tens of thousands will be at Ala Moana to view the fireworks show.  I will be there somewhere trying to get some photos.  Some good advice if you go… go early parking will start filling up by 4 to 5pm.  After the show take your time leaving as there will be plenty of cars on the road.  For best fireworks shooting use your camera night modes and a tripod or a stable surface and try to snap the picture just before the shell explodes.  Happy 4th and good luck.