By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Susan Todani, left, and Marilyn Chong shake the popcorn boxes to see if there are any surprises at the bottom.

Jewelry designer Nikolai Tsang has been jetting around the world to share her work at international jewelry shows, and was back in town briefly for Sunday’s blessing and opening of her new Jade by Nikolai showroom in the Kukui Plaza at 1255 Nuuanu Ave.

Finishing touches were relayed from the road, so she was just as surprised as friends and family to see the finished space, with silver-white wall paper that gleamed as brightly as any of her white gold jewelry.

Guests were invited for a peek and for a popcorn tasting, with many a jeweled surprise hidden at the bottom of the boxes, from jade charms and rings to pearls.

There were about a dozen popcorn flavors to choose from, and Nikolai admitted to staying up late at night tasting and throwing out combos that didn’t work. All were based on some of her favorite foods, so with pizza popcorn topped with pepperoni and a “Dreamtime” ode to chocolate-covered bananas, with banana chips, dark chocolate shavings and bits of shredded coconut. It seems that Nikolai could have easily found a place in the food biz if the jewelry biz hadn’t worked out!

Her shop is open by appointment only, but you won’t find her there this week. She’s off for New York, to take part in the JA International Jewelry summer show.

Nikolai at the front of the showroom.

A wall of corded bracelets and necklaces greet visitors to Jade by Nikolai.

Pam Schroer, husband Richard, a co-producer and assistant director on “Lost,” discovered Nikolai three or four years ago and have been following her ever since. Pam says Richard has just as many pieces as she does, and that she left a few of those she normally wears at home.

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Nikolai’s Tokyo Fun Girl popcorn included arare and wasabi-coated peas.

Tanya Mau spotted Nikolai’s jade-and-white gold link bracelet and necklace four or five years ago and had to have them.

Tara Chang shows one of Nikolai’s newest creations, a headband accented with a jade butterfly.

Nikolai’s jade mah jongg tile bracelet.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Emeril Lagasse addresses diners during The Essence of Emeril dinner June 12, during The Kahala Food & Wine Classic.

The foodies were out at The Kahala Hotel & Resort, where chef Emeril Lagasse was in the house Friday and Saturday for a series of demonstrations and food showcases. I was there for a Friday night dinner that included the kiawe-smoked salmon, below, served atop a Kahuku corn pancake and topped with Osetra caviar. My favorite dish of the evening was a crabmeat-stuffed moi roulade served with Kauai shrimp and a charred tomato butter sauce.

Kiawe-smoked salmon. At left is the centerpiece of roses and feathers arranged to look like a pineapple.

All this was detailed in our food editor Joleen Oshiro’s story here so I feel no need to elaborate more about food, but I did note that many of the women planned ahead so tended to wear cute and roomy sack or trapeze dresses that leave plenty of room for hiding the aftermath of a dinner like this, especially given the chef’s penchant for hearty ingredients. Two of the entrees were boudin sausage-stuffed whole quail and macadamia nut-crusted veal with white cheddar grits and andouille sausage ragout!

I thought about it when getting dressed in a pencil skirt and femme blouse that morning to meet a family of European artists. For a minute I considered changing into a dinner-friendly dress, but then decided just to eat less. I always think those bubbles, sacks and swing dresses, in being so forgiving, allow people to expand into them the way work expands to fill whatever time you have. (Given a day you’ll take all day; given two weeks, the same task will take two weeks.) Trying to stick to slim shapes can be so difficult and uncomfortable, but the alternative feels like giving in to the doesn’t-have-to-be-inevitable middle-age spread.

While there Jo McGarry also pointed out the Hermès SilkyCity tote on Lisa Higashigushi’s shoulder, that pays homage to Hermès’ scarf tradition. Her friend Allison Lohfeld, left, also has the same bag but wasn’t carrying it that evening. You can see more of the design details on the Hermès site here.

After dinner, men and women gathered around Michael Herklots, left, for a cigar tasting.

Special guests at the dinner were Fred Schrader, proprietor of Schrader Cellars, Napa Valley, and Schrader Cellars winemaker Thomas Brown, proprietor of Rivers-Marie, plus Michael Herklots, general manager of Davidoff of Geneva, New York. He laughed when I said I couldn’t remember if I smoked cigars before. I think I did when the craze began here about 14 years ago, but there are, unfortunately, many parts of my life I’ve forgotten. A while ago I was talking to a friend about not remembering if I ever saw the Foo Fighters in concert, and he said, “Yeah you did, you saw it with me!”

This car was parked up front when I arrived and when I left. Is that a Corvette?

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Models in Mamo Howell designs were featured during the Hawai’i Food & Wine Paradise Hana Hou brunch at Halekulani. Fighting Eel also presented a fashion show during one of the foodie events at Ko Olina.

I try not to let my other food life cross over to this blog, but it couldn’t be helped when D. Keola Lloyd, chairman of the Hawai’i Food & Wine Paradise decided to add a fashion element to the annual foodie showcase.

The luxury destination event took place May 21 to 24, and was sponsored by American Express Publishing, which puts out such familiar magazine titles as Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Departures and Executive Travel.

For such a group, the menu had to be superb and Halekulani Vikram Garg did a great job on the five-course brunch that started with:

Lomi lomi salmon with Hau’ula tomato, sea asparagus, Maui onion and kukui nut.

Seared abalone with Waialua asparagus, shaved hearts of palm and calamansi chili vinaigrette.

Onaga and Kahalu’u pork with raw papaya relish and chimichurri sauce.

Loco Moco featuring grass-fed veal loin, braised short rib, egg, Hamakua mushrooms and rice. My vegetarian tablemates had lovely veggie risotto with Hamakua mushrooms for this course.

And North Shore chocolate sorbet in coconut foam with candy sculpture.

As one of the newest chefs to our islands, Garg brings to a clarity to his dishes that I haven’t seen in a long time locally. It demonstrates (on his part) and allows for full appreciation (on diners’ part) of local ingredients. I think that’s gotten lost over the past decade as newer chefs hoping to emulate the HRC originals have tended to throw every ingredient available to them into dishes, resulting more often than not in muddled messes.

I would like to erase the past decade in food and press restart. In a way, that’s already happening because of the economy. New startups seem to be coming from a smaller, humbler place with more focus on good food than themes or empire building. That’s a good place to start.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photo
Marietta Siangco scoops moisturizing cream containing macadamia and kukui nut oils into individual use containers for guests to use in creating their custom spa product.

It’s not every day a person can go behind the scenes to see the process of products being made, so I was excited about the Oils of Aloha open house that took place May 15 and 16, where guests watched macadamia nuts go through the expeller press to eventually arrive at the cooking oil produced by the company, or mixed with kukui nut oil to create the company’s patented SOLaleur formula.

Studies of SOLaleur, supported by the Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service, U.S.D.A., have proven that the formula increases healing of dry, cracked skin, UV-exposed skin, as well as radiation burns caused by chemo-related damage.

With all those benefits, it’s no wonder guests were happy about having the opportunity to create their custom moisturizer by adding essential oil to one of Oils of Aloha’s skin creams, as well as create an exfoliator using macadamia powders.

Oils of aloha photo
Ready for summer: Oils of Aloha’s Kukui Essential AfterSun cream, lotion and oil, individually priced at about $11 to $13 at Longs and ABC stores.

It turns out to be a green process, as the company also uses husks to create the right consistency to go into the presses. The large coconut shell-like pieces that come off the press as the oil is being removed, are the pressed remnants of husks and nuts. These don’t go to waste, but are used as charcoal, as well as pig feed, putting 20 percent more protein into their diets, as well as fiber.

It was hard for some to understand the notion that they could also wash their face with an aromatic kukui-mac nut oil cleanser. In this country, we go through adolescence thinking oily skin is not only unsightly but the source of all acne (it’s mostly hormones), so when we get to the age our skin actually needs oil’s moisture-retention properties, the avoidance mentality continues to kick in.

I’d already been using Shu Uemura cleansing oil (Marilyn Monroe used it, too) when I heard about the Oils of Aloha product, so I encouraged some leery souls to give it a try. It’s not only light, but it smells yummy too!

Owners Dana and Barbara Gray were gracious hosts, also serving a lovely lunch spread that included turkey deep-fried in macadamia nut oil, salmon smoked with macadamia chips, salads dressed in the flavored oils, pastries baked with mac-nut oil, and even a strawberry smoothie that included the oil. Every bite was delicious.

I’d already known Barbara as a food stylist for many years. We met when I was a manager for a commercial photographer. When she was styling food, it looked great, but none of it was edible in the end because it was sitting for hours or stabilized with non-food ingredients. Then there were the imposters, like mashed potatoes stirred with food coloring to represent ice cream. It was always fun to watch her work her studio magic, but on this day, I was glad she switched over to food we could actually eat.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
The owners, from left, Ed Robles, Daniel Dae Kam, Pablo Buckingham and DK Kodama.

The Counter celebrated its grand opening with a party Saturday night that included the red-carpet (that was actually blue) arrivals of “Lost” castmates of Daniel Dae Kim, a co-owner in the endeavor with DK Kodama, Ed Robles and Pablo Buckingham, all there to make sure guests had their fill of mini Counter burgers plus sushi and more grinds from DK’s other restaurant, Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar.

Currently the most buzzed-about restaurant in town, The Counter has been open a month and is already the top-performing franchise in the country. Popularity still has its drawbacks as I keep hearing about hourlong waits, but, like I said in my review, the solution is to go at off-peak hours, like 3 p.m., making it one of those rare places where people are willing to make accomodations rather than be accommodated. When does that ever happen?

From left, Beth Shady, Jorge Garcia, Hannah Cornett and pro surfer turned actress Keala Kennelly.

The space is rather small for a party of the magnitude of Saturday’s event, so people flowed in and out for air. It was probably just as much fun outside with the paparazzi as inside, because the celebs were in a good mood and willing to do just about anything for the cameras, whether stuff their faces or ham it up with mock interviews.

Oh, and the burgers were truly yummy!

I left before Josh Holloway got there, but you can see photos of him at photographer Jeannemarie Viggiano’s Web site blog. She’s in many of the photos, and yours truly is in one of them. (more…)

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Prada area manager Joe Incao with stylist Crystal Pancipanci, left, and makeup artist Jessica Hoffman.

Prada Corp. celebrated the grand opening of its Miu Miu store last night with a well-attended party of some of Honolulu’s most stylish, as well as a handful of celebs, including “Lost’s” Michael Emerson, dressed in crisp white linen, homegrown actress/singer Tia Carrere and “American Idol” season five finalist Katharine McPhee, who’s also working on her acting skills.

Of course dozens came dressed in Prada or Miu Miu, but the person drawing circles of interrogators all night was Ronald Cheung, dressed in a black Commes de Garcons kilt worn over Louis Vuitton neon leggings, with white shirt and very cool cinched buckled top that had an edgy bondage-meets-straitjacket vibe.

Tia Carrere and Katharine McPhee, both dressed in Miu Miu and in town filming “You May Not Kiss the Bride,” produced by Hawaii Film Partners and also starring Mena Suvari. It’s said to about an American pet photographer who gets caught up with Croatian gangsters while on honeymoon with one of the mobster’s daughters.

It was a great party and the floor was so packed that if you saw someone you knew, you had to grab them right away, before they got swallowed up by the crowd, never to be seen again.

From left, party-goers Denise Nakano, Chanel Wong, Candace Konievic, Rod Iasuda and Lesli-Ann Yano.

(more…)

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
The Harajuku Girls handed out scent cards yesterday at Sephora Ala Moana Center, each representing the scents and characters from the Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Collection. They’re at the Pearlridge Sephora today, to 6 p.m.

The Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Collection arrived at Sephora Ala Moana Center yesterday with five scents: Love, Lil’Angel, G, Music and Baby available in .33 ounce ($25), 1 ounce ($45) and solid perfume ($60) sizes. Those who bought all five would receive a cute metal charm bracelet with the faces of the five characters.

I already had the G and floral Baby scents thanks to a friend who saw them in New York and sent them to me. Yay! Now I’m just wondering where to get my hands on those cute T-shirts and tank tops they’re wearing!

Earlier that day, Sephora was introducing some of its Christmas collection of holiday palettes and products, and to go with the product demonstrations, Lynette Jee was enlisted to share some of her teas, macaroons and other confections from her Pacific Place Tea Garden Cafe.

Adding a twist to the idea of the culinary tasting, Jee created some teas inspired by the chocolate, vanilla and fruity flavors that fill today’s cosmetics. The cosmetics aren’t really edible, but their bouquet did blend beautifully with Jee’s warm and spicy holiday chais, vanilla Hojicha roasted green tea and fruity tisanes. It was a very pleasant experience.

At Sephora, Lynette Jee shows the Korres Cherry lipgloss that inspired Pacific Place Tea Garden’s Very Cherry Tisane. The flavor was very cherry indeed, but the dry tea had a strong li hing scent.

In town for the event was Pamela Fischer of DeVries Public Relations, and after all the cosmetics talk was pau, I had to ask her how she kept her layered necklaces from tangling. She guessed it was a matter of varying chain weights, but she also stacked them side by side, rather than vertically.

She mentioned she had picked up one Alliway necklace she was wearing on her trip and was happy about her “discovery” of the Hawaii designer. Today would have been her lucky day if she wasn’t en route home. Alli is having her first store anniversary celebration to 8 p.m. at Ward Warehouse with prizes, refreshments and discounts on clothing, jewelry and accessories, including 30 percent off Alliway jewelry. See you there!

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Calli Wagner modeled Escada’s metallic brocade blouse and matching skirt worn with thigh-high black boots.

Escada celebrated its boutique’s new look with a grand re-opening celebration Wednesday, also honoring Violet S. Loo, president of the board of directors for The Contemporary Museum.

Party-goers were treated to informal modeling of Escada’s fall collection of dresses and coats worn with thigh-high boots, while enjoying pupu from Jackie Takeshita’s The Bistro Catering. Boutique manager Mariese Montano-Smith wanted to make sure no one when home hungry, so there were some generous sandwiches that required nibbling while hiding in a back corner of the boutique before rejoining the rest of society.

Greeting guests at the door were Connor Coffin, left, and Sean Herndon, right, pictured with New York-based special events manager Kathryn Knox, and Hawaii boutique manager Mariese Montano-Smith.

Christa Wittmier is surrounded by contenders in the recent “Hawaii’s Most Beautiful Man” contest, from left Ricky Stinar, Sergey Victorovich and Napua Canda. All fashion parties could use more guys from outside the fashion realm. It was funny when Ricky started stripping off his tie and unbuttoning his collar midway through the proceedings. Most women I know like men to dress well, stopping short of caring more about clothes or being more fastidious than we are.

Karen Vance models a skirt and scallop-hem blouse embellished with hundreds of gold bugle beads, tiny sequins and fine, intricate passementerie. The skirt alone is $3,990.

Among the stylish guests were Kim Smith, Margaret Jen Akinaka and Erika Kauffman.

By Nadine Kam

Photos by Nadine Kam
Makana Esthetics Director of Education Malia Sanchez, left, with former classmate, the Star-Bulletin’s Rose Bernardo.

With the growing interest in the spa industry and physical well-being, Malia Sanchez and Christine Hall saw a need for advanced esthetician training for those aspiring to work in high-end resort spas or medi spas, and created the Makana Esthetics Wellness Academy, an accredited Esthetics Certified training program that celebrated its grand opening May 29.

Melissa Samiano was one of the beneficiaries of her sister Melanie’s hand and arm massages.

Those who attended were able to walk through the treatment rooms, enjoy hand massages, sample the lines of Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care and June Jacobs Spa Collection carried by the school, as well as enjoy food, including shrimp scampi and spicy ahi on tortilla chips, catered by Pearl Kai’s newest restaurant Off the Wall.

The school’s Core Esthetics Course consists of an intensive 15-week curriculum designed to help students pass the Hawaii State Licensing examination. Summer courses open for registration start up July 14 and Aug. 25. Call 591-6090 or visit www.MakanaAcademy.com for more information.

Model Karen Vance showed up with her fringy dog-shaped purse from Anteprima Plastiq.

Where there are students, there’s a need for guinea pigs, and what that means for you is the availability of facials running $35 to $45, with add-ons such as a single microdermabrasion treatment for $25, or single glycolic treatment for $25.

They’re at 1168 Waimanu St., across from the Ko’olani condominium. Park on the street.

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Among restaurateurs in attendance were Ed Kenney (Town, Downtown), Donato Loperfido (Pasta & Basta, Elua), Philippe Padovani (Elua) and Henry Adaniya (Hank’s Haute Dogs). The room was so packed it was hard to back up far enough to get a photo, and the only reason this one was possible is because these party guys were among the last to leave.

After dropping in on the Makana Esthetics Wellness Academy, it was off to Waikiki for Nobu Waikiki’s one-year anniversary. I couldn’t believe a year has flown by, but so it has.

In a small room in the back of the restaurant, the fashionable — including a bunch of magazine eds., party girls and a contingent from Louis Vuitton — mixed with the foodies. It was near impossible to back up for a photograph, and among the restaurateurs able to take a break from their own kitchens to congratulate Nobu were Henry Adaniya, Kevin Aoki (Doraku Sushi), Ed Kenney, Donato Loperfido, George Mavrothalassitis (Chef Mavro), Philippe Padovani, and Ana and Tushar Dubey of Hokulani Bake Shop.

Wine and lychee martinis flowed, and waiters made the rounds with trays of lamb chops, Nobu’s famous black cod, temaki rolls, seabass and jalapeno-topped hamachi, one of my favorite dishes.

The party didn’t end after it was over, as many just took their celebration to the sushi counter or to the bar.

Congratulations, Nobu!

By Nadine Kam

If you’re pondering what sweet surprise you’ll come up for Valentine’s Day, consider Frances Pons’ miniature dessert confections. Her company, Sugar Rush by Frances, celebrated its fourth anniversary in December and now offers sugar lovers a choice of 42 dessert items priced at $2.25 to $2.50 per piece.

She recently began offering a stylish 16-piece gift box of assorted miniature desserts priced at $38 to $40 per box, depending on the selection. Some of her latest introductions are:

>> Goldfinger: Pumpkin cheesecake lollipops dipped in a blend of milk and bittersweet chocolate and coated with chopped pecans.

>> Chocolate Gone Bananas: Layers of chocolate fudge cake and banana nut cake filled with chocolate mousse and glazed with ganache.

>> Keoni Appleseed: A blend of sweet and sour green apple mousse.

>> Minkeys: Sassy chocolate fudge cupcakes.

With good help hard to find, it’s been hard for her to keep up with demand, so better rush to the phone to get your order in. Call 949-4943 or visit www.sugarrushhi.com.

This video shows Pons talking about some of her other best sellers: