Our Picks for the Weekend
Star-Bulletin staff
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GALA
Auction will raise funds for to fight child abuse
On Friday, the Pau Hana Celebrity Auction for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse will be filling both floors of the Plaza Club with entertainment, lots of pupus, and live and silent auctions from 5 to 9 p.m. Jimmy Borges, Kristian Lei, Mihana Souza, the Ebb Tides and other favorites will perform.
More than 100 auction items will be up for bid, including original artwork and hotel, golf, wine and dining packages. Kirk Matthews, Linda Coble and City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle will conduct the live auctions throughout the evening.
Tickets are $100, with proceeds going to the Hawaii Family Support Institute, which promotes training to partners in child abuse prevention and treatment in order to improve services for families at risk.
For tickets and information, contact Nicole Brodie at 585-5993 or e-mail celebrityauction@gmail.com.
LAST CHANCE
Desserts get their day at cerebral palsy event
How's your sweet tooth? Primed and ready for the holidays?
The United Cerebral Palsy Association fundraiser, Dessert Fantasy, serves as an appropriate appetizer for the coming season of sweet eating.
Pay your $25 and for two hours, from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Pacific Beach Hotel, you can have your way with a wide variety of chocolates, cakes, pies, cookies, fruity tarts and more. Sure, Halloween just passed and you're loaded with candy, but that's bagged stuff. At Dessert Fantasy you get fresh-baked.
Buy eight tickets for $200 and get two extra tickets free. Children under 5 are free. Proceeds support programs for those with disabilities. Call 532-6744 or visit www.ucpahi.org.
PET
Hawaii Animal Sanctuary sponsors yard sale
Help Hawaii Animal Sanctuary's formerly abandoned and abused animals by going to its fundraiser and one-day sale Saturday. All of the proceeds will help buy food, medicine and supplies, and help defray veterinarian bills. The sanctuary promises an excellent choice of household items, knickknacks, clothes, accessories, vinyl records, CDs and books.
Cash donations, as well as cat, dog and rabbit food, laundry detergent, trash bags, dish soap and bleach, will be appreciated.
The sanctuary is located at 647 Hahaione St. in Hawaii Kai. Call 395-0023.
CULTURAL
All dressed up and ready to go -- to Okinawa
How would you like to be dressed head to toe in a traditional dancing kimono? You'll have your chance Sunday at the Okinawan Family Kimono Dressing event at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Distinguished teacher Toshiko Chinen will provide participants the opportunity to be dressed and photographed in the classic performing art attire of Okinawa -- made from fabric dyed in the bingata style -- and will include special hair and makeup.
Chinen will share her knowledge and collection of traditional clothing from the Ryukyu Kingdom (what Okinawa was called before it became part of Japan).
The event will be held between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Moiliili center. Cost is $80 (not including photos) and $64 for JCCH members. For more information or to register, call 945-7633 or e-mail info@jcch.com.
FOOD
Tio's Garage & Taco Station
404 Ward Ave. / 596-8359
It was quick work, but in two months, seemingly overnight, Ed Wary's Dixie Grill on Ward Avenue shop morphed into Tio's Garage & Taco Station.
This doesn't leave Dixie lovers high and dry. They can continue to find solace in the remaining Aiea location, while food lovers in general now have the opportunity to sample New Mex cuisine new to the islands.
Seeing a name like Tio's, I'd assumed it would be home to Mexican cuisine, but those who have traveled through New Mexico will recognize the hanging chile ristras and specialties straight from the Land of Enchantment, where Wary learned the art of cooking with chilies with Florance Jaramillo and her staff in the kitchen at Rancho de Chimayo Restaurante. It proved to be time well spent.
It's not easy for restaurateurs to introduce new concepts, but fortunately, there are enough dishes on the menu recognizable to slow learners who will insist on calling Tio's a Mexican restaurant. These include user-friendly burritos ($9.25 to $9.75), taquitos ($8.25) and plates of two soft tacos ($8.50) filled with shredded beef or chicken.
I loved that beans served with entrees are still recognizable as beans, instead of being the gooey refried puddle typically served elsewhere.
New Mex is represented by such dishes as carne adovado, pork marinated in a spicy red chili sauce then baked until it's fall-apart tender; and a mellow green chili stew that's all mild green chilies simmered with large chunks of braised pork, potatoes, carrots and "posole," or hominy.
A handful of lunch-only selections include a grilled half-avocado filled with shrimp salad ($9) and chorizo and beef burgers ($8.50), both of which I still need to try.
Also available are margaritas made with such uniquely Southwestern imports as sweet agave nectar and prickly pear cactus.
Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 4 to 10 p.m. Sundays. Costs about $24 to $30 for two without drinks.
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