Among the Bonsai plants was this miniature set of plants on a mat that caught my attention.   Bonsai items like this are primarily created for the grower and the viewer.  Somehow I think this one particular one would look good at my desk at work however I’m afraid something like that would be too fragile.

Here is one of the cultural displays at the 2010 Okinawan Festival.  The instrument you see is a popular one at Okinawan celebrations.  It is the Sanshin (three strings) which is a fret-less 3-stringed instrument with a long slender neck attached to a rounded square, hallow sound box usually covered with snakeskin.  The Sanshin is plucked rather than strummed using a plectrum worn on the index finger.  The three strings rang from thick (lowest pitch) to thin (highest pitch) and are called the”uujiru” (man-string), “nakajiru” (middle string) and “miijiru” (female-string).  In Hawaii Okinawan immigrants played the Sanshin at get-togethers in the plantation camps.

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.

We end our Pacific Aviation Museum’s Biggest Little Airshow series with the Bell UH-1 Iroquois.  The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) was an all-purpose military helicopter used for air assault, cargo transport, zero-medical evacuation, search and rescue, electronic warfare and ground attack.  It goes it nickname “Huey” from it original Army designation HU-1.   The Pacific Aviation Museum is located on Ford Island and open to the public.  There is an admission fee.  For more details you can visit their website here.

One of the new arrivals at the Pacific Aviation Museum is the  Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot.  Clocking at at over 35 feet long and 12 feet tall this jet flies at 668 mph.  The Soviet Union developed the MiG-15 following World War II.  During the Korean War the MiG-15 operated extensively against United Nations forces.  In 1952 the Soviets produced MiG-15 (NATO code name “Fagot”) to a number of communist nations including North Korea.  On September 21, 1953 a defecting North Korean pilot flew and advanced version of the MiG-15 to Kimpo Air base in South Korea which provided NATO forces with much intelligence data.

We continue our tour of Hangar 19 at the Pacific Aviation Museum  with the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger.  This plane is 68 feet long and 21 feet tall and flies at 810 mph.  Its primary purpose is to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft and was the world’s first supersonic, all weather, jet interceptor.  The F-102 made its initial flight in 1956 and at its peak Convair built 1,000 of these.