This isn't a sexy subject, but I need to share this with you! I went to a media briefing yesterday with the US Census Bureau, as they prepare for the big count next year. As you may know, this is a government-run program that counts the population in the United States every 10 years.

The count helps the Federal government determine what portion of the population lives in each state, and from there can appropriate a proportional amount of Federal funds (now at $400 billion) as needed. So if Hawaii is listed as having fewer people than we really have, we end up getting less of that $400 billion while another, more proactive state, gets more. Who wouldn't want more Federal funds??

Well, guess what: Hawaii was the third worst state in responding to the Census in 2000. The average response is 67 percent; I don't know what percent of our population responded, but I'm guessing much lower than that.

I'm sure there are a lot of non-English speaking people here who have no idea what this is all about. If you know such people or know anyone who works with this community, please let them know how important this is.

From there, I'm betting a lot of people in general think that the data is used by the government to invade their privacy. All the Census data is required by law to be kept private. No one's going to call you for jury duty. No one is going to deport you. No one is going to send you junk mail.

Next spring, the US Census Bureau will be snail-mailing you a form, which takes about 10 minutes to fill out and send back (no postage needed!). If you don't send your form in, the Census will then have to make a home visit.

So fill it in and send it back! And get us more Federal funds! Don't let Hawaii be pathetic again...make sure you and your friends get counted.

I'm not sure if people know about this, but Twitter has been buzzing for the last few weeks about the fact that the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" is coming to Hawaii. Restaurants who were on the Food Network's "short list" were prepping to get the call, hoping that host Guy Fieri would visit them.

Well, he made his rounds: Highway Inn, The Poke Stop, Murphy's (huh?), Rainbow Drive In, Germaine's Luau (huh?) and Hank's Haute Dogs. I was lucky to get the call from Carol Kellett, who wanted us to be a part of the production at Hank's. We got to see Henry Adaniya get interviewed, above.

Carol & I didn't get on camera, but we were jazzed just to be able to get up close to watch the production! We also enjoyed our Chicago and rabbit dogs outside.

I couldn't help getting Henry to let me grab a picture with Guy, either! I then posted this on Facebook, which drew a lot of reaction. I like the show, but had no idea so many others did, too!

We don't know when this episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives is supposed to air, but we're glad the show decided to visit Hawaii. Word on the street says that they got so much footage, it may be broken into two episodes. Hopefully it will get more people here to Hawaii!

If you're big into the nightlife scene, you already know that he V Lounge has an addicting menu of 12-inch, kiawe wood-fired authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas. I didn't know it. Why? Because they were previously only available in the bar from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. nightly!

Wassap wit dat!

Well, now the coveted pizza is available from 5 p.m. every night except Sundays so that people like me can enjoy it, too. I went to a pizza tasting last night so that I could see what the younger half of the population was eating!

Alejando "Aker" Briceno, the man with the mojo behind the pizza, was born in South America, graduated from culinary school in Spain and lived in Italy for a bit before moving to the United States. He worked as a pastry chef with Nobu and helped open the San Diego and Mexico restaurants before leaving the Waikiki location for the V Lounge.

I couldn't get a good shot of the traditional wood-burning stone oven, but trust me, it's the real deal. I didn't know anything about the pizza crust when I bit into it, but I could tell immediately it was different. There's a delicious chewiness to it (not tough), and a unique taste due to the kiawe wood flavor infusing into the dough as it bakes. I was told that it's not just the oven, but the special "double o" high-protein flour that Briceno uses as well.

The way to measure pizza quality across the board is to order the margherita style ($12) so you can taste the purity of the dough, tomato sauce, hand-pulled mozzarella and basil. Briceno's margherita pizza is pretty darn pure, all right.

I fell in love with the Prima pizza ($14), which features Pancetta di San Daniele, locally grown sweet onions, Hamakua Ali'i oyster mushrooms, thyme, parsley, homemade hand-pulled mozzarella, and...get this: they crack an egg over the top and drizzle it with truffle oil. The contrast of fresh and tangy flavors combined with the mellow and rich ingredients marry perfectly in your mouth. It's midnight and I want another piece, now that I'm fantasizing about it again.

Kaimana Pine, shown here, works with Ma'o Organic Farms in Waianae and explained that the V Lounge tries to use local products whenever possible. They do have other items on the menu and can create party plates for special events, which is where they can really showcase Ma'o Farms' produce. In fact, I had one of the most awesome salads last night, courtesy of Ma'o Farms, but I couldn't get a good shot to share with you!

Anyway, I hope you get a chance to try the pizza at the V Lounge, now that it's available at a decent hour. Please note that they're only making a finite number of pizzas per night, so if they run out of pizza by six, that's it--when it's gone, it's gone.

V Lounge
1344 Kona St.
Honolulu, HI 96814
808-955-2640

www.vloungehawaii.com

Many people read my blog to see all the foods that I eat around Honolulu, but I am often eating a lot of processed, fatty foods. After two whole weeks of fast foods, I knew it was time to reset my palate.

I recently had lunch at Hale Macrobiotic Cuisine, right in my neighborhood. If you are like me, you may have been curious about this place but had preconceived notions about healthy food: that it’s bland, not very filling, and consumed by progressive tree-huggers.

In one lunch, my misconceptions were corrected.

About a year ago, Hale owner Motoko Kubota got turned on to macrobiotic cooking and went to Japan to study the science behind the art. She came back to Hawaii, transformed the former Kai space on Makaloa Street, and started sharing her new passion with the world.

Macrobiotic cooking involves grains as a staple food supplemented with vegetables and beans, while avoiding the use of processed or refined products. Since Kubota uses items eaten in season, she buys local foods whenever possible.

We tried the Macrobiotic Lunch Plate ($12.95), which is a sampling of five macrobiotic vegetables and tempeh with miso soup and organic brown rice. It was amazingly tasty, and hard to believe no refined products were used in making it. We got the full range of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes in this very vibrant plate.

We also ordered the mahimahi with a teriyaki miso sauce ($10.50) special, which had all the taste of a plate lunch, but none of the added salts or sugars that you would normally find.

Both of us also had a bowl of the cremini mushroom soup ($3), which—despite having no cream or butter—was more rich and savory than any we’d ever had. It was quite amazing to experience such extreme taste sensations in a “healthy” menu; more than that, we walked out completely stuffed, with enough leftovers for dinner.

Dessert: Tofu tiramisu and Amasake berry tart. Not quite like regular desserts, but not bad!

You don’t have to be detoxing to eat at Hale: It’s open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. For reservations, call 944-1555 or visit www.halemacro.com.

Just a quick brag blog as I zip through my series of 17-hour days!!! I don't want to blog too much on this as I think "Living With Style" blogger Cathy Lee will be blogging about the whole event.

Me & Spike Mendelsohn

I attended an event last night at Macy's Ala Moana where RSVP Style's Cathy Lee teamed up with Top Chef contender Spike Mendelsohn to demonstrate both creative tablescapes and creative dishes for the upcoming holiday season. It was a sold out event with a lot of die-hard Top Chef fans (and RSVP Style fans!) in attendance.

Some of the pupus from Macy's. And yes, I took these photos myself! Not bad, eh?

Anyway, If you missed the event, I hope you make the next one if Macy's has it again! Cathy did a great job inspiring us to do beautiful things with unusual products, and Spike's food was light, with a...well, spike. I would totally eat it again. And as you can see, they had a great time showing us how to have fun in the kitchen.

Quick note for you Top Chef fans: I know Spike was one of the most despised contestants across all seasons (kind of like the Omarossa of the show), but I was bowled over at how incredibly nice he was. Henry Adaniya of Hank's Haute Dogs says you can usually smell arrogance on people off camera, but Spike wasn't reeking of any negativity.

Have a good weekend!