robert handa: hello and welcome to "asian pacific america." i'm robert handa, your host for our show here on nbc bay area and cozi tv. today, we highlight one of the biggest events of the year in the bay area, the northern california cherry blossom festival. it is a huge community cultural celebration spanning two weekends in san francisco's japantown. and to talk about the cultural connection the cherry blossom festival cultivates between united states and japan, the consul general of japan is here to join us. and one of our favorite culinary connections, the hawaii food and wine festival, put on by the ka'anapali beach resort association and the westin maui resort and spa. we'll talk about the food, fun, and how you might be able

to attend thanks to the cherry blossom festival and nbc bay area. all on our show today. well, my family has been going to the northern california cherry blossom festival since i was a kid and i bring my own kids now. it is truly one of the biggest cultural events anywhere. joining me now is the festival co-chair, our old friend greg viloria, who has been the chair of the marketing committee since 2013, and he also works for a bay area market research firm and is a self-described part-time media maker. welcome to the show. greg viloria: thanks for having me. robert: part-time, right? greg: part-time. robert: okay, well give us an idea, first of all, sort of an overview in terms of, you know what, we know the history a little bit, but give us an overview in terms of what's happening this year. greg: well, this is our 52nd year, and you know, we're always trying to sustain the festival and trying to bring new things, so we're making emphasis with a lot of kids' activities this year. and so that's why we partnered with you guys to try to bring a lot more kids' activities and kind of centralize a lot of that in that area, so really happy to do that with a scavenger hunt

and a couple other small things for the kids to kinda do. so, you know, and also we have the pop--j-pop area, which is down near hotel--i mean, the kabuki theater, and that's gonna be a whole block long of just j-pop from the first weekend and part of the second. robert: yeah, we're talking anime and all the other things too, right? greg: absolutely, yeah, it's really--it's become a really fan favorite at our festival and it kinda celebrates the new culture in japan. robert: yeah, you've always been able to do it, but is it kind of always sort of a tough juggling act, traditional versus contemporary and that kind of thing. greg: yeah, i mean, you know, we're brought up by a lot of traditional people, you know, in the festival, and kiyomi and i, who's my co-chair, is--you know, we're kinda maybe the younger audience coming back, you know? and yeah-- robert: young at heart. greg: yeah, young at heart. it's a challenge for us to kinda balance, you know? but we do have a lot of traditional activities, taiko, japanese dance, you know, japanese poetry,

a lot of things, and so-- robert: yeah, i remember i was doing something over at the anime thing and i was talking to some people. i remember that they were talking about the fact that they would be disappointed though if it didn't have that feel, that cultural, traditional feel. you know what i mean? if it was all new stuff and just all geared towards youth, even the youth would be kinda disappointed in that. greg: absolutely, and what we try to do is we encourage the chair at the cultural pop area to actually bring in traditional dance so they know--those people know where some of it roots from. robert: yeah, exactly. greg: absolutely. robert: how 'bout for you? you know, what's kinda the challenge that you kinda put on yourself when you come to this? greg: well, you know, i think this is my first year as a co-chair, and so i think i decided to take the rein and help out the lot with this year's festival. and i'm very happy to do so, but it's all a steep learning curve. robert: yeah, exactly. greg: you know, i'm doing a lot more ceremonial events, try to be the face of the festival, and try to help out there.

robert: and there's always that sort of california and japan connection, right, that you kind of cultivate there. greg: yeah, yeah, i think what happens is that, you know, it's a melting pot of everything that we've seen here on the west coast as far as japanese culture, and by bringing people from japan to celebrate with us, to just taking the local people who have been here for awhile, 50-60 years, and learning from what they have. robert: yeah, so in terms of the challenge, was there anything that was kind of, like, more difficult to pull off this year than usual? greg: well, you know, we're a volunteer festival, and so always finding volunteers and sustaining those volunteers through years of involvement. you know, it isn't--that's our challenge really is bringing new people on board and keeping them for at least a few years. but it's challenging 'cause we have to design our groups such that we allow for people to come in and out.

robert: yeah, yeah, how 'bout the tokyo olympics? is that a big part of this this year? greg: yeah, yeah, we have an area that kind of celebrates the tokyo olympics, and so there's gonna be a lot of kids' events around that or kids' activities around that. and so i think we wanna encourage people not only to do those activities, but also think about going to tokyo and see the olympics, 'cause that's very important. robert: i've been coming for so long and i always look forward to it. looking forward to seeing you over there. greg: thank you so much. robert: you do a great job. greg: all right. robert: all right. well, the northern california cherry blossom festival takes place the weekend of the april 13 and 14, and then the following weekend, april 20 and 21, with the big parade sunday, april 21, starting at 1 p.m., all centered around san francisco's japantown. we'll see you there. well, the cherry blossom festival means a lot to the united states, california, and japan. to talk about that is the consul general of japan in san francisco. he's next, so stay with us.

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robert: well, as we've been saying, the northern california cherry blossom festival means a lot in the relationship between america and japan, and so we are proud to have on our show today the consul general of japan in san francisco, tomochika uyama, who began his career with the ministry of foreign affairs in japan, then had numerous overseas assignments and began his post in san francisco last year. welcome to the show. i see you at a lot of events so it's good to have you here. give us an overview for people who don't know, like, what the consulate does or what the role is? tomochika uyama: well, basically we have a lot of japanese people, japanese companies, so our role is mainly to protect them, encourage them to do their business and their work. but also, what we do is to promote more connections in japan and california, and the kind of local regional diplomacy, access to the people, japanese-americans,

asian-americans, many others living here. so, try to promote a lot of human-to-human connections. that's the role. robert: it's nice to be in the consulate in san francisco to do that, huh? tomochika: yeah, very nice. very active place. i'm very--been able to enjoy. robert: yeah, what about the relationship or your connection with the cherry blossom festival? how important is that and do--are they aware of how much goes on here in japan about this festival? tomochika: yes and no. but this is quite a long history, more than 50 years of history, and san francisco has actually a longer history, more than 150 years. so, a lot of people knows there are a lot of events happening, including this cherry blossom festival. and there are a lot of people coming from japan sometimes, and particular here in the united states, japanese people, japanese-american people, people who love japan, who interested in japanese culture get together.

so, i think it's a really important event for us. robert: yeah, yeah, in fact, growing up here, you know what i mean, you almost take it for granted how much the japanese and japanese-american influence is here because it's not really that strong in other places, except for maybe los angeles and some other places, huh? tomochika: true, and very lucky that there's a long tradition and the office is trying to encourage to attract more people. and it's not just for japanese people or japanese-americans, it's all the people in the united states that like this culture and the--i think i hope we also would like to contribute to the richness of american diversity culture. robert: yeah, and i think that's true. i mean, there's a lot of other communities that get involved in japantown and some of the activities that go on here. what about the tokyo olympics? how is that going? what is the kind of connection here and is there a lot of, like, promotion and things to do here for that?

tomochika: yes, first of all, i think it's very important for people to get to know the culture by visiting that place. so, i think many americans who like japan, most probably like those people who already visited japan, and they met with the people, and they ate japanese food, and they traveled there, and the--well, it's really important for us to encourage more people to visit japan. and the tokyo olympics is a really fascinating opportunity because even those people who never been to japan but may think about visiting japan for the first time because they're interested in certain participating, watching some games, and then try to look around. so, i think it's a great opportunity to connect california and japan in more depth. and so, we at the consulate have a booth in the cherry blossom

festival, and when people are interested, please come to our booth and we provide you with certain information on what's going on. robert: yes, i mean, it is. and also in japan too, when we went to visit there, the places that were set up for the olympics before still remain tourist attractions for people that go there when they go visit japan. thank you very much. we'll see you at the cherry blossom festival, all right? and i'll see you at the senior breakfast as well probably, right? tomochika: thank you very much for your contributions. robert: and now, it is time to talk food. and not just any kind of food, the top of the line featured at the hawaii food and wine festival. that and a cooking demonstration is on its way, so don't miss it.

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the ka'anapali beach resort association, and jennifer evetushick, the executive chef of the westin maui resort spa, who commands a huge culinary operation of over 75 cooks and stewards. welcome to the show. jennifer evetushick: thank you. robert: you'll only have one helper later, by the way. jennifer: as long as it's you, i'm in good hands. robert: okay, good. you know, we've talked about the festival before, but tell us a little bit about the hawaii one. shelley kekuna: well, the hawaii food and wine festival is in its ninth year. can you believe that? they've given over $2 million to charity. the focus of course is to take care of the culinary community, agriculture, sustainability. it's really great for the young kids coming up learning how to cook, and they get an opportunity to work with over 120 different internationally-renowned chefs. so, it's a great event. lots of fun things happening on three different islands. on the big island, on oahu, and also on maui. robert: that's right, and the connection to the cherry blossom festival? shelley: well, that's because we love nbc bay area

and we love giving a trip away, and it's also--you know, it's a great cross-cultural component. we have so many japanese in the hawaiian islands and we do a lot of their flavors. and you know, their flavors definitely encourage our chefs to learn about different types of cultures through food. so, it's--you know, it's a great partnership. we really appreciate it. robert: and you know, honestly, food is a huge part of when you're talking about cultural aspects. jennifer: we all gotta eat. shelley: yeah, we can really identify. you know, it's the one thing we all have in common, right? so, it's that wonderful philosophy of finding what we have in common, not what we have in difference, yeah. robert: chef jen, it would seem like an easy thing though, you know what i mean, to do? you know, it's food, it's all that sort of thing. is it, though, a challenge to kind of make it new, make it, you know, something that, you know, is an experience for people? jennifer: well, it always is. but you know what's cool about hawaii, that i feel like

all the trends from japan and asia come to us first, right, before they hit the mainland. so, we had all of this mochi, and ube, and tapioca, and all those other things. so, i had all these fun things to play with and they're turning out to be some great dishes. robert: yeah, it's actually like the culture of food kind of starts there really, huh? jennifer: oh, absolutely. robert: how 'bout for you? what do you, you know, try to do to kinda make it all hip, and you know, everything like that? jennifer: right, well, you know, i watch a lot of programs like "chef's table" and things like that that are always inspiring, because it's a good little underdog story, right? they come up, they do something fabulous, and they're selling tortillas on the streets of philadelphia, and she's on "chef's table," you know? so they're stories like that that get me really pumped up and passionate about what i do. and just really fresh ingredients. you know, like, you work with farmers. you can dig in the dirt in hawaii at any time of year. you're not too cold, you know? and there's just an eternal growing season, so if that doesn't get you pumped, i don't know what can. robert: and how 'bout on a personal level? i mean, you have such an enviable position, i'm sure.

i mean, so many chefs would love to do what you do. is it quite a bit of work, though, i mean, to have to kinda coordinate such a big staff? jennifer: it is, but you know what, my staff is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going at times. you know, even being over here for a couple days, i've gotten videos, and text messages, and pictures of them and what they do every day. and it's amazing that we get paid a salary to do what we do sometimes 'cause we have so much fun and it's just a blast, so. robert: and it's important that it be big, right? shelley: absolutely, go big or go home. robert: yeah, right, exactly, you know. because, i mean, it's an attraction in and of itself there. shelley: yes, and it's become, you know, just a premier destination event and has been voted within the top ten culinary festivals in the united states. so, we're quite happy about that, that we get to host. you know, we get to be a co-sponsor. we get to host. robert: how difficult is it to host this kind of event though? i know that part and maybe you feel like that's kinda taken care.

what are some of the other things that you have to kinda make sure that you stay on top of? shelley: well actually, the hawaii food and wine festival is run by a separate entity, and we're able to co-partner with them by giving them accommodations, and they work very closely with the hotels where they host the events at. so, it's really--it's a collaboration, yeah. robert: do you get a lot of people there that are, like, experimenting with food, or are they going there sort of expecting or wanting to try specific things? jennifer: you know, everybody always wants fish, right? that's just--there's no bargaining aspect when it comes to that. we've got a lot of people i think now just generationally that are excited about food and wanna try different things, but they, you know, they take a lot of things home with them. they try some of the techniques. they'll ask you how you did something at the table when you go visit them, you know? so it's definitely--it's a mix of both, good mix of both. robert: yeah, it's all good, right? shelley: it's all good. robert: all right, okay, well, if you're lucky enough to go there on your own or maybe you might win a trip there

through nbc bay area, the hawaii food and wine festival runs from october 5 to the 27th, and it features more than 150 international renowned master chefs, culinary personalities, winemakers, and again, even mixologists. the festival has raised more than $2 million to community organizations, as you've heard, that support sustainability, culinary programs, and agriculture. well, coming up, a food demonstration with chef jen right here in the studio. gotta come back for that.

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or go through the uterus. want hormone free? ask for paragard by name. we are again here with chef jen, the executive chef at the westin maui resort and spa, here to give us a food demonstration. what are we making? jennifer: we--right, because you're my sous chef this evening, right? so, i have a purple sweet potato. it's an ube. this is one of the crops that actually was introduced from japan to us, and we actually are able to propagate it on maui

and moloka'i, so we can get this local produce in for us. it's fabulous. we're gonna make an ube tart with it today. robert: okay. jennifer: so, i already made a little pre-prepared shell. it's just a regular short dough crust. the most important thing about this is to dock it in the bottom. you can see the little holes? you like those robert? they're well done? robert: they're very aesthetic. jennifer: that makes sure that your pie crust doesn't bubble up on the bottom for you, right? robert: oh, functional too. jennifer: right, we want the most filling that we can possibly have in there, right? so now that that's done, we have to add the filling to it, right? so, we are gonna use our butter. all that delicious goodness, right? robert: here comes the actual cooking. jennifer: indeed, we're gonna add the sugar. and then we're just kinda gonna cream that together so that it makes a little bit of a paste for us, right? robert: so far, even i could do this. jennifer: mmm-hmm, that's--i'm making it a little bit easy for you, right? then we're gonna add the ube. i already steamed this off. the potato steams really well. it's about an hour in a steamer, or you can do it in a pressure cooker, anything like that. so, you're gonna mash that up. you're gonna add your eggs too.

robert: it's got a very interesting texture to it, huh? jennifer: it's going to, yes. you know, you can do whatever. whatever, you know, flips your skirt up for this one. you can use a blender. you can use a robot coupe or food processor. it's gonna be a lot of work with just the spatula, but i like a little elbow grease in with my ube tart, you know what i mean? robert: yes, my skirt would flip for that. jennifer: yep, so i'm just gonna keep mixing, keep mixing, right? and then through the beautiful magic of the nbc bay area television, right, can you take that for me? robert: yes. jennifer: i've actually prepared a beautiful mixture here, and you can see it's really nice. it's a nice paste. the potato's rather starchy, right? but it's absolutely delicious. so from there, you're just gonna spoon this right into your tart. you're gonna preheat your oven to about like 325, 350. the slower and lower the better for this, right? robert: okay, a slow cooking. jennifer: a slow heat, yes, 'cause you kinda want this to souffle a little bit, right, for you. a little bit more. fill it up.

now, you can notice that it got a little bit gray in color, right? it almost looks--it takes on a taro property when you mix it with different things, okay? so, it's absolutely delicious once it's finished. and then what i like to do is i like to finish it with a coconut cream. would you be my lovely assistant and pass me that? robert: all right, here we go. jennifer: so, i just have a plain cream here that is regular whipped cream, sugar, and coconut. toasted coconut inside, pureed with a little bit of coconut flavor. in the islands, we use haupia, which is kind of like a coconut jell-o. i don't think i'm doing it justice by calling it that, however it is awesome. robert: is that traditional or is that something that you've kinda come up with. jennifer: oh no, no, haupia is a traditional luau kind of dessert, yes. this is kind of different, the way i'm doing this. robert: yeah, i thought it might be like a little touch you're adding. jennifer: but you need--i think you need a little bit of this cream just to make sure that you have a moist element to this tart, right? because the potato tends to be very starchy, and then you have this element to it and it makes magic in your mouth. robert: very nice.

jennifer: so you just finish, and then you wanna garnish it with a little bit of toasted coconut, right? robert: that always kind of gives it that aesthetic look too, you know what i mean? jennifer: it does, it's white, and pure, and beautiful, right? and can i put a big mahalo out for you for wearing the purple and promoting the ube today. robert: absolutely. jennifer: that was wonderfully done. robert: it's unintentional, but intentional. jennifer: wonderfully done. robert: thank you very much. jennifer: absolutely. robert: okay so, is this, like, something that is pretty easy to make or did you make it seem simple? jennifer: no, it is super easy to make. that's kind of why i chose it. i feel like a lot of people do a lot of fish and things like that in the islands, and i want them to know that we do fun, fresh things as well. and ube is kind of very faddy right now, f-a-d-d-y, in the sense that everybody's making mochi with it, and ube cookies, and ube ice cream, and i really wanted to bring that to the forefront for this festival because i know that all of the clientele will really appreciate it. robert: very good. okay so, i've learned a new dessert and i've learned a new term, faddy. jennifer: yes. robert: okay, i sound very good. thank you very much, chef jen. jennifer: absolutely, my pleasure.

robert: that was great. all right, well, you can find out more about both the hawaii food and wine festival and the cherry blossom festival on nbcbayarea.com. and we're also on social media, twitter and facebook. and you can follow me on twitter, @rhandanbc. and that's it for our show. we wanna thank all of our guests. chef jen, thank you again for being here. and we wanna tell you that we'll be here next week and we'll also be at the northern california cherry blossom festival in san francisco. and so, thanks for watching. we'll see you next week, and aloha. now, do we get to eat this? jennifer: yeah, nail it. ♪ ♪ ♪

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