Sunday: Adventures?

So guess where I haven't been in like four years?

Yeah.  This isn't as cool as the Academy of Arts, as it's more about "Hawaiian history" than "all the arts. All of them."

They did have this delightful tiny turtle, sitting on a tiny hand mirror.  The phone camera kind of donked it up, but this thing was super crazy detailed.  "Turtle Toy."  Yeah, no, explanation card.  You don't give that to a kid to play with, even if they are royalty.  Probably especially if they're royalty.  That thing says "beautifully carved choking hazard" in like seven languages.

 Then, I discovered that you can't turn left onto the Likelike.  Oops.  Important other note for my future self: when you get to the Kaneohe end of the Likelike, you don't want the exit you think you do.  Due to reasons (I suspect massive head trauma), the exit on the right doesn't head east like you'd think, as it crosses (at grade. Again, head trauma) back over the Likelike and takes you to that one intersection you've memorized as it's the one to get from the wrong road to Windward mall, and therefore the right road.

Anyway, if you clicked through to the map, you can see what the final destination was.  Cafe Sistina, which I tried last year.  Part of the reason I didn't abort the excessively long trip was that it was a bit early for dinner, and I didn't want to get there before the kitchen was ready.  In any case, I still ended up being the first person there.

I think this visit clinched this place as "looks nice, but it just seems like the food isn't up to the right level."  By the end of my meal, I think I narrowed a significant issue to a lack of salt.  That's the only thing I can think of to explain why all of the dishes I've had here have a muted, drab flavor.  If there isn't enough salt, the flavor doesn't pop out as much, and you get this.  I understand "you can salt things yourself," but no, that's not the way to cook things.

 "Bruschetta Pomodoro 6.50 Grilled bread rubbed with garlic, topped with chopped tomato, basil, extra virgin olive oil"

I wanted something light to start with.  The olives were way too strong for the rest of the dish.  Not bad, so maybe I don't hate olives as much as I think I do.  The cheese was a very sticky crumbly one.  Almost like a feta, but with a taste like a goat-ier mozzarella?  Any guesses?

"Meat Lasagna 14.75 Sistina's special layers of pasta, roasted lean Meat, tomato sauce and cheese, ( no cream )"

This was the reason I wanted something light.  I had intended to do lasagna.  So.  Um.  Yeah.  Identify the problem here.  Did you say odd Parmesan distribution?  Sure, I could be picky about that, but no.  It's the burnt top pasta sheet on the right, and the dark-colored right side.  I know I don't run a restaurant, but isn't this the kind of thing that you cut off and not serve?

This makes me think that there isn't really anyone checking dishes before they leave the kitchen.  That would also help explain the lack of salt.  No one's checking sauces and things to be sure they're correct, and also not checking that things that really shouldn't be burnt aren't burnt.  The rest of the lasagna wasn't too bad, although again, a bit drab in flavor.  And this is my example of salt needing to be fixed in the kitchen.  How do you fix the salting on a dozen layer thing?

I was also down on the vegetable blob there.  Zucchini/onion/bell peppers stewed until mushy and served on the side.  I poked at it, but didn't really try it.  Miscellaneous mushed veggies isn't really my favorite, and I know I don't like zucchini.

They do have good art, even if I can't get it to be in focus.  I'm positive this looked better on my phone screen.

Dessert:

Panna cotta with strawberry/balsamic sauce.

I was hoping for chocolate cake, but they were out.  This was pretty good, not at all a "milky jello."  One slight issue was that the strawberry sauce was a bit too sweet, which pretty much cancelled out the vinegar bite.  This, less sweet, with a tiny dish of very coarsely ground black pepper?  That would have been even better.

So, I'm down an Italian place again.  Verbano, maybe?  The King street one closed, but there's one in Kaimuki (apparently right next to the Mexican place?) and another in Aiea (that was better than the King one anyway, if I remember correctly).

•  After reading this interview, I want to beat Glenn Harlan Reynolds with books.  
• Higher education prices are rising because government funding for those schools has been slashed to almost zero, forcing the costs onto students, who are then taking loans out from the government to pay for things.  Yes, that pushes the debt burden from "the country as a whole, with a perfect credit rating" to "fucking college kids, with shitty credit."  If you can't see why this is more expensive, you're a moron.  
• Homeschooling and online courses.  Go fuck yourself, Jimmy McDoesn'tNeedTwoIncomesAndHasWonderfulResources.  Go get a shorter name, too.
• School choice.  Because if a school is failing, we should just close it down and move everyone elsewhere?  When did everyplace magically have the resources to fund multiple redundant schools?  If you don't increase funding (which would probably solve the problem anyway), you just force more kids into an overloaded "good school," probably detrimentally.  Oh, what's that?  You'd make sure to keep the good school good by not overcrowding it?  So now you're just keeping kids in the bad school?  If you have an explanation for how this works that doesn't involve doubling funding or pulling shit from your ass, I'd like to hear it.
• "You have the quasi-monopoly with mostly unionized teachers in K-12 and the tenured professoriate in higher ed." Then explain adjunct faculty, you absolute shitbag.  Go ahead.  I want to hear you fucking explain that.
• I didn't see Lilo and Stitch until I moved to Hawaii.  I would totally watch this sequel.
• Well, now I want nachos.
• This was unexpectedly depressing once I realized that who Eustace was.