Ringing in the year 2023

Start off the New Year luxuriously at the award-winning ESPACIO The Jewel of Waikiki and its signature fine-dining restaurant, Mugen. Its New Year’s Eve sunset champagne and caviar experience ($250 per person) boasts a romantic elegance observing Waikiki Beach while relishing with champagne and caviar from ESPACIO’s rooftop infinity pool deck. Guests will receive two glasses of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and a half-ounce of caviar per person while enjoying Waikiki’s iconic fireworks show over the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, the New Year’s Eve Mugen + ESPACIO tasting experience ($800 per person) presents a renowned nine-course tasting menu and wine pairing curated by the French-Japanese restaurant’s chef, Jason Yamaguchi, and is followed by a Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label reception.

Visit espaciowaikiki.com for more information and reservations.

Share a meal with santa

Make your holidays even brighter by having breakfast with Santa at Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Bali Oceanfront restaurant from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Dec. 22-24. Treat the ohana to a special holiday breakfast buffet including yogurt parfaits, pastries, bagel bites, deviled eggs and more. The buffet will also feature a hot selection of hot food items such as upcountry kalua hash, poached egg and lilikoi hollandaise, baked blueberry French toast, local-style fried rice, smoked bacon and link sausage.

Families can take a photo with Santa, and there will be balloon and glitter tattoo artists, as well as a fun craft for keiki to make. Kids can also enjoy a fun Santa pancake.

Pricing is $75 per adult and $45 for kids 12 years and under. For reservations, visit hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/holidays.

A soirée to start the new year

Kick off the New Year with an extravagant six-course prix fixe menu at The Boardroom Kailua (44 Kainehe St.) 5:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Dec. 31.

The menu starts off with soup, salad and appetizers that include prosciutto-wrapped watermelon and cantaloupe, and house-smoked salmon served on rustic bread crostini. Patrons will have a choice between Mahiki Ranch roasted veal prime rib or local seared sesame-crusted ahi tuna for their entrée. For dessert, guests can either select the Manoa Chocolate brownie a la mode with vanilla ice cream or Maui Gold pineapple upside-down bread pudding served with Laie vanilla bean crème anglaise.

Following dinner, patrons can attend the New Year’s Soiree in The Boardroom’s new garden.

The six-course prix fixe dinner and garden soiree experience is $85 per person. Visit theboardroomkailua.com for more information and to make reservations.

A cookbook made with love

Kelimia Mednick’s Hawaiian-Made Goodies: 75 Simple Sweet ‘N’ Savory Island-Inspired Recipes features assorted, easy-to-make sweet and savory, healthy and yummy treats from Hawaii and around the world. Nearly every page also boasts vibrant food snapshots by local photographer Stephanie Hall.

“My cookbook is a labor of love by myself and family and friends who contributed their recipes, taste-testing and skills to make it a simple cookbook that everyone (ages) 9-99 may enjoy,” says the local author.

Mednick’s cookbook can be found on Amazon and in several Oahu stores including BookEnds Kailua, Boutiki, da Shop: books + curiosities, Magnolia, Na Mea, Red Pineapple, Silver Moon Emporium, SoHa and Sugarcane Shop.

Mednick is currently doing popups at each of the stores over the holidays with free cookie samples and book signings.

For more information, check out kelimiabooks.com.