On Sunday, we got to sleep in a bit, the pressure was off, and we finally got to just kick back with our friends over drinks and Play-Doh. Once again, here’s the thread on Tiki Central where you can see pictures, and here’s my rundown:

Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe
It wasn’t on the official schedule, but a few of us had time to kill between waking up and Forbidden Island, so we met up for breakfast and mimosas at Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe in Emeryville. The food was delicious, the mimosas were much appreciated, and the patio was deluxe, and the conversation was silly. Compared to the rest of the punk-flavored clientele, with their chain necklaces and mohawks, our bright aloha attire made us look not unlike a troop of clowns. Pictured is Hubert, our Swiss ski instructor monkey friend, getting hopped up on sake screwdrivers. Here are my pictures from Rudy’s.
Forbidden Island Play-Doh Throwdown
Moving the Crawl from early spring to summer made a huge difference; it’s a lot easier to play with Play-Doh when your hands aren’t freezing. Another big plus this year was moving it to the patio at Forbidden Island. I think the turnout was about three times what it’s been in the past for Sunday. Inky Louise was the clear queen of the Play-Doh, but everyone had at least one masterpiece. Here is my link to more pictures, and here are a few selections:

Inky Louise created this fab chicken dinner blue plate special, complete with mashed potatoes & gravy (I mixed up the brown Play-Doh for her!), carrots, and some very wee, time consuming peas. Mr. Wong made a blue ribbon, so pleased he was with her efforts.

Mr. Wong made this lovely plate of green eggs & ham.

Time for a volcano bowl break! Here are Mai Tai and Hanford sharing a Mystery Bowl, and below is a volcano bowl made by Coco Loco.


Mr. Wong, Phil & Buster made this keen undersea garden — I especially love the pearl oyster.

Coco Loco made this fab basket of Crab Rangoon, served with french fries & a spring roll — all tasty food items you can get at Forbidden Island.

I made this Twinkie, which has to be turned upside down to really be appreciated.

Korn-Tiki lives again! At left is the original Korn-Tiki, created by Hanford Lemoore a year or so ago at Bahooka in Rosemead, at right is the Korn-Tiki resurrection. Inky Louise made the corn, and Hanford carved him up.

Hanford wrapped some Play-Doh around the front of a Forbidden Island mug to get this relief impression of it, and then stuck it in a see-through cup to hold the shape.

Inky made this delish sushi trio, I made the pickled ginger.

Inky also made this lovely bowl of miso, with toothpick chopsticks.

Tiki Vixen made this sushi roll, with tobiko by her, Inky & me.


Hanford made these tasty-looking kabobs that Inky is pictured giving a try, and an eerily-accurate Play-Doh tortilla chip.


Thayer made this Play-Doh representation of the oft-ordered Forbidden Island drink, the Fugu for Two, served in a Munktiki Fugu bowl.
So, there you go — that was our crawl weekend. If you were there, thanks for coming and making it all so much fun, and if you weren’t there, I hope you’ve had fun hearing all about it, and maybe you’ll come join us next year.
- Photos from the 2006 Tiki Central Tiki Crawl [Tiki Central]
- Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe [Humuhumu’s Life in Photos]
- Play-Doh Throwdown at Forbidden Island [Humuhumu’s Life in Photos]