Da Kine Star-Bulletin staff and wire services

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Afternoon tea supports literacy

Take tea while supporting literacy at "Words About Me," 4 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Waioli Tea Room.

The benefit for at-risk children will include afternoon tea, student performances and a silent auction, hosted by the Learning for a Lifetime Foundation, which administers Kids Talk Story in more than 35 Hawaii schools.

The program helps students write stories, which are bound into hardcover books.

Tickets are $45. Send checks made out to Learning for a Lifetime Foundation, P.O. Box 240627, Honolulu 96824. Call 277-2503 or e-mail info@kidstalkstory.com.

Comedy theater opens with improv

The Laughtrack Theater and Training Center celebrates its grand opening Friday with performances from local improvisational groups and Chicago's Jason Chin, among others, at 8 and 10 p.m.

Chin also will offer a workshop at noon Saturday at the theater, 1123 Bethel St.

Founder Shannon Winpenny, who co-owns Laughtrack with Kim Potter, trained at Second City and iO (improv Olympics), and has conducted workshops in Honolulu.

Admission is $10; $8 students. Call 255-5927 or e-mail kwinpenny@hawaii.rr.com.

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Kalihi event offers Filipino specialties

Have a taste of what the heart of the city has to offer at this weekend's Taste of Kalihi, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday on Colburn Street between Waiakamilo Road and McNeill Street, next to Dillingham Plaza.

The street party will include specialties from Kalihi restaurants, highlighting Filipino dishes such as a pinakbet, pork gisantes, adobos and lumpias. There will also be a Kalihi Backyard BBQ Cook-off.

Capping the all-day entertainment will be the "Central Pacific Bank Electric Slide Challenge," which drew 800 sliders last year. Organizers are hoping for 2,000 this time around.

Call 306-3460 or visit www.atasteofkalihi.org. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Kalihi-Palama Health Center.

'Grand Finale' ends Food & Wine fest

Food and fashion come together Sept. 13 for "Paradise Grand Finale," the closing event of the Hawaii Food & Wine Paradise festival.

The dinner, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the private estate, Lanikuhonua at Ko Olina Resort, will include a fashion show by Anne Namba.

The dining begins with a champagne and martini reception featuring chef Ed Kenney of Town, followed by dishes by local chefs Chai Chaowasaree, Amy Ferguson, Kevin Hanney and Philippe Padovani, joined by visiting chefs Tim Love of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth, Texas; Peter Pahk of Silverado Resort in Napa Valley, Calif.; and Thad Lyman of Napa Valley Grille.

Each dish will be paired with a wine, and both chefs and winemakers will discuss their creations between courses. A fireworks show will conclude the evening.

Cost is $500, partly to benefit the Kapolei Rotary Club's scholarship programs. For reservations, visit www.hawaiifoodandwineparadise.com.

Traveling exhibit opens at Kapolei

The Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit "Key Ingredients: America by Food" opened at the Kapolei Public Library yesterday for a seven-week run.

The exhibit uses artifacts, photos and illustrations to trace the diversity and development of the nation's appetite, and the changes in the American kitchen from wood stove to microwave.

Supplementary local displays include an overview of Hawaii's food culture, created by Kapiolani Community College, and "The Oroku Restaurant Project," a history of Hawaii's Okinawan-owned restaurants, among them KC Drive Inn, Columbia Inn and Wisteria.

The library will host a series of talks at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and 10:30 a.m. Saturdays for the run of the exhibit, through Oct. 13:

Saturday: Kapolei High School culinary arts students

Tuesday: Terry Phillips of Aloun Farms

Sept. 13: Honolulu Advertiser columnist Lee Cataluna

Sept. 16: Environmental educator Hunter Heaivilin

Sept. 20: Storyteller Nyla Fujii-Babb

Sept. 23: Food writer Joan Namkoong

Sept. 27: Pete Behasa and Espy Garcia of Hawaii's Plantation Village

Sept. 30: Honolulu Advertiser food editor Wanda Adams

Oct. 7: Ma'o Organic Farms staff and students

Oct. 11: Honolulu Star-Bulletin features editor Betty Shimabukuro

"Key Ingredients" is in the middle of its Hawaii tour, having just closed at Kapiolani Community College. It opens at the Lyman House in Hilo on Oct. 31.

Kapolei Public Library is at 1020 Manawai St. Call 693-7050.