Tag Archives: healthy eating

Poke Run! Azama Fish Market, Waipahu, Oahu

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A Honolulu DAzama Storeentist on a Poke Run !!!

As a dentist, I stress preventative care and maintenance.  Good oral care is important to your overall health, and healthy teeth make beautiful smiles.  But also important; teeth play a mighty significant role in achieving maximum gastronomical enjoyment!  The textures and flavors of azama caseHawaii’s regional cuisine are best enjoyed with problem free teeth.  “Through the lips, past the gums… look out stomach here it comes!”  Notice that no mention is even made of the teeth; when our teeth are healthy, we don’t even notice them…. we just concentrate on the enjoyment of eating.  That is the way it should be. Honolulu Dentist

CuttlefishGrowing up in Hawaii, one of my favorite snacks was dried cuttlefish.  Chewy and delicious.  You could find it at the ‘crack seed’ store in jars, or in little plastic packages at Longs.  I just fell in love again.  Azama Fish Market in Waipahu offers this by the pound.  It is FRESH, and MOIST and CHEWY and SOFT all at the same time, indescribable.  Oh and did I say tasty?  My mouth waters just to think of it.   This delectable treat is best eaten with healthy teeth!  Affordable Honolulu Dentist

One of Hawaii’s favorite and very well-known food is poke (pronounce “poh-kay”).  You lg pokecannot attend a gathering of local folk without a few bowls of this appetizer offered.  Poke means “cut piece” or “small piece” in Hawaiian, and is usually small pieces of raw fish or seafood mixed with various seasoning.   My favorites are the spicy ahi, and tako poke.  The tako poke, made from octopus is tender, yet chewy and mildly spicy with a crunch of fresh cucumbers.  The spicy ahi, creamy and flavorful, a perfect accompaniment to rice or a cold beer.   It will make you moan aloud it is so good. 

When I am heading to a party, or just get a craving, I make a “poke run” to Azama Fish staticmapMarket in Waipahu.  One of Oahu’s hidden treasures, Azama’s is simple and unassuming, but packs incredible flavor in its poke.  Try the spicy ahi poke and the tako poke.  The prices are reasonable, the product is fresh, and the people are friendly. 

   Faye Azama Azama Fish Market is owned by Kitoshi Azama.  Originally from Okinawa, Kitoshi opened his first fish market at Oahu Market, Chinatown.  He also is the owner of K. Azama Fish Wholesale  in Palolo    1403A 10th Avenue.  Honolulu, Hawaii  96816.  where he offers Chinese Fish cake, Dry Aku, and LauLau.  OH.. and he also carries my new love.. dry cuttlefish at this Palolo location.  This family run business relies on word of mouth and the quality of its’ product to keep its customers coming back again and again.  It’s a strategy that works.  Faye, who is part of our dental team at the office at 1580 Makaloa #940, Honolulu, Hawaii  96814 introduced us to the market.   This Honolulu dentist is hooked.  You will be too.  Keep those teeth healthy, you will need them for a POKE RUN!!   Call us at 941-2911 for an appointment today.   HoConolulu Dentist Ala Moana

Dr TJ2Dr. Terrance Cleveland practices General Dentistry in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Besides Dentistry, Dr. Cleveland loves to share stories of the special people and places that make Hawaii so amazing.  If you have a story that needs to be told please contact us at tclevelanddds@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter,  and on Facebook www.facebook.com/terranceclevelanddds

 

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Dental Gastronomy: Strenghtening your tooth enamel with Collards

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I love being a dentist in Honolulu.  I enjoyed living on the mainland while I was in college, and then again as I pursued my Doctorate in Dentistry, but I sure missed local style foods.  Lucky for me, healthy eating is important for good oral health!  Have you been to the new gastropub in Moilili?  Gastronomy is the art or science of food eating… so why not dental gastronomy?  Eating food that is good for your oral health!

Weak tooth enamel leaves your teeth vulnerable to tooth problems like cavities, chipping and sensitivity as the enamel thins and breaks.  Ok, not so good, but not like anyone wants to think about tooth enamel all the time.  I do like to think about food though!  One of the strategies to stop the weakening of the enamel is to watch what we eat.  Sugary, starchy and acidic foods feed the Streptococcus mutans and lacto bacillus bacteria that cause tooth decay.  Even my beloved diet coke can be highly acidic. Yikes.

Lucky for me, I am one of those people who lives to eat.. as opposed to those who just eat to live!  I am happy to eat those yummy foods that just happen to strengthen my tooth enamel at the same time.  Vitamin K is known to strengthen tooth enamel when paired with Vitamin D.  Since vitamin D is easy to come by in sunny Hawaii, (and also included in my skim milk),  I am looking for vitamin K.  Abundant in collards, which by the way has more calcium than milk, and is grown locally in Hawaii.   I have been making a Hawaii style version of Brazilian collard greens Mineira.  Super fast.. and tasty.  It is nothing like the collards cooked to extinction that my dad remembers growing up in North Carolina. affordable honolulu dentist

Mineira Oahu

1 bunch collards, stems removed. (about 1 pound)
3 slices Spam (or bacon) thinly sliced into sticks
¼ round onion, minced
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 c extra firm tofu, quarter inch dice
Lemon juice, dash of shoyu and dash of pepper to taste.

  1. Directions:
    Wash collards and remove stems, Stack the leaves one on another, and roll from stem ends to tips into a cigar shape.  Cut cross wise into 1/8 inch strips, much as you would to chiffonade herbs)
  2. In a non-stick skillet over medium high heat, cook spam, onion, garlic until onion is translucent, and spam has browned.  Stir in tofu and sauté briefly.  Add collards to pan and cook, stirring until just wilted and bright green (this will take 3 minutes or so) Honolulu Dentist helathy eating

 I could eat this all myself, but it makes a great side vegetable dish for 4.

As a Honolulu Dentist, I have an interest in anything that impacts oral health.  This dish is tasty, and great for your health!!  Now that is a strategy I can sink my teeth into!!