Warm up wallets for sashimi

This is the time of year when competitive pricing for ahi goes out the window. Prices — especially for the high-grade sashimi block traditionally favored for New Year’s Eve parties — start to head up. A couple of checks for poke-style ahi show it somewhere in the teens in dollars per pound, while sashimi prices are already pushing into the high 20s.

It could be worse. The stormy seas of a few weeks back resulted in a shortage, according to some reports, and we all know what that does to prices.

Firecrackers by the numbers

The deadline to purchase firecracker permits this year was Dec. 20, and the Honolulu Fire Department’s permit sales figures are pending. However, the figure for retail licenses issued is holding steady. Both last year and this year 59 licenses were issued.

Last Christmas, a total of 17,676 firecracker permits were sold — a drop from 20,951 issued in 2017, but more than 17,151 issued in 2016. The sale of firecrackers on Oahu begins today and ends at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. They may be ignited from 9 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2020, according to city ordinance.