YOSO-NOSEY: 10 Questions with Reid from ONOKINEGRINDZ Part 1

Before I started doing this “blogging thing”, I had been reading several Food Blogs, but the one that really caught my attention was 'Ono Kine Grindz. Being an Ex-Pat Kama’aina, so many of the places the Reid reviewed were old favorites, or newer places that I would need to try on my next trip “home”. I thought the photography was outstanding, and admired the fact that Reid took the time to answer all the comments visitors posted on his site. Before I started, I sent Reid an Email asking a few questions, and to my amazement he was gracious enough to answer them! After getting my Blog started I had a few more questions, both technical, and philosophical, that I wanted to ask Reid. I started thinking that perhaps Reid would be kind enough to share some of his thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, in a 10 questions format. And “being Reid” he generously accepted. Because of the length I’ll be doing this in a 2 part format (mostly to make you come back again – more hits….hehehe). Here’s part 1:

1 – Reid I’ve gone back and read almost all of your posts – all the way back to April 11, 2004 BTW! What made you start blogging, and how did you decide on the design and name of OnoKineGrindz?

I'm not sure if you read my blog's birthday post, but here's the link.
My main motivation for blogging was to bring a piece of Hawaii and the diverse nature of our state to everyone world wide. I found that there was a lack of food blogs focusing on Hawaii and figured that it could just add to what was already out there.

I picked the name 'Ono Kine Grindz because I thought it sounded catchy and because I knew that displaced locals might look up the words 'ono or grindz using a search engine such as Google. I thought it would also make people who didn't know about the name curious enough to send me an e-mail to find out what it meant (that's happened quite a few times already).

2 – One of the things that I find really outstanding on your site is the photography. Your photos are always bright and clear, especially the indoor shots. I know you say its just “point and click”, but based on the fact that a lot of my indoor shots don’t come out well, and those that do come out are often a bit hazy, I’m sure it’s more than just that. So how do you set-up your shots?

Actually Kirk, the camera that I use most often to take the photos that you see on the blog is a Sony Cybershot U40. It's a really small camera that can easily fit in your shirt pocket, so really there are no manual controls on it at all! The best advice I can give you on taking pictures is this -- make sure there is a lot of light. Natural sunlight is the best, so try to sit near windows if possible. If the lighting in the restaurant is dim, I'll normally try to push the plate as close to the light source as possible. I will almost never use the flash as it gives the food an unnatural glow (examples, see the desserts with the whipped cream on the bottom of the Taste of Honolulu post). You may also want to do some photo editing using Photoshop, etc. I'll normally try to do that (when I'm not too tired) to improve the color saturation.

3 – While on this subject, what do Your eating companions think about this avocation, and have you ever gotten a strange or funny reaction when attempting to take photo’s in a restaurant?

There are usually only two people that I go out to dinner with, and they both know about this blog. They are very supportive and they will always offer me their plate of food for picture taking. Because of the number of Japanese tourists that we have here, I haven't gotten any stares when taking pictures of food in restaurants...not yet at least. BTW...the Japanese take pictures of everything.

4 – I’ve noticed that over the last year the amount of persons reading and commenting on Your Blog has increased. Has this in any way changed the Blog content or had any impact on your life in general?

The traffic sure has increased. In the early days, I think I may have had 10 or so regular readers and very few comments were left on the blog. It hasn't really changed the content too much, except when people ask (like the newspaper links). For me, it's such a rush when people send me comments or emails.  I'm like wow! People have been very kind and supportive, they've offered advice or suggestions, just stuff like that. The e-mails are a little more personal and I have gotten to meet some of the other food bloggers personally which was definitely nice.

5 – I’ve been doing this blogging thing for just over a month and am noticing that it can become quite an obsession if you let it. Have you noticed this, and if so how do you deal with it?

Yes, it's very easy to become obsessed because it's addicting. My only advice is to take things slow and when things start getting too hectic, take a break. For me, I decided on a schedule and tried to stick to it. For a while, I was posting six days a week, and have recently cut it down to five days.  You won't believe the difference that the one day can make.

Part 2 coming soon.....

Comments

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

You are just too kind. Thank you! =)

[Jo]

Kind or Nosey? I thought the title said nosey ::runs up to check it out::

[Reid]

Jo,

LOL! Yeah that to, but I don't mind cuz he's a braddah!

[Jo]

::laughing:: I just HAD to say something. Couldn't let a opening like that go by! ::wink::

[Kirk]

Reid - More like "maha'oi" not "niele"? Thanks for being so generous with your time.
Jo - try and figure out what this means :)

[Jo]

maha'oi - 1.stick your nose where it doesn't belong.
2. disrespectful or arrogant
3. Bold, nervy, in an overly aggresive impudent way. An offensive trait to Hawaiians.

niele - (nee el ay) - 1. to keep asking questions, inquisitive, to quiz

2. Niele is one of those hawaiian words you hear used in pidgin, or peppered into English. If you hear it used on everyday conversation, it normally means nosy.

Does that about cover it?

[Kirk]

Jo - Yep, right on the "nose(y)"....

[Kirk]

You know - I could have called it Yoso-Niele, but no one would know .....

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

Well if you did call it Yoso-Niele, I'm sure more people would try to find out about what it meant. I mean how hard is it to find things out? Hmmm maybe I'm just too optimistic? ;P But I like the blogs name just as it is, so now that i have blabbered on about nothing...HAVE A GREAT DAY! ;P

Milgwimper

[Kirk]

Milly - Well let me think about it...I may change it! Thanks...