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We’re fast approaching our Summer break which means heading back to NY for a little while. It’s exciting. Summer is my least favorite season in Manhattan but as K would say ‘it’ll do pig’. I’m looking forward to being able to go anywhere without having to worry about driving or getting a ride. Translation I’m most looking forward to seeing all my favorite friends at all our favorite places. High on my list is a nice long session with Mary at Marlow: good wine, pate, chocolate cake with sea salt. I just gulped when I wrote that.
K’s friend and coworker Eric wrapped up his job here the other day and they planned a very festive going away dinner for him at Uncle Bo’s in Waikiki. Lots of people turned out because this Eric dude is a very likable fellow. My friend Seth lives nearby in Chinatown so I gave him a call and asked if he wanted to meet us for a drink.
Seth and I are old friends from NY. We used to eat and drink a whole lot when we first met 11 years ago. It was liberating and very nostalgic to spontaneously get together just to drink and talk. Because of my mobility issues I’ve been here in Oahu for 8 months and have only seen him 3 times.
Uncle Bo’s is quite nice. K and I unfortunately didn’t eat any of the food because we thought it was only drinks. On the way, we stopped for McDonald’s drive thru.
Uncle Bo’s set down a bunch of complimentary dishes in front of us that looked very tasty but at the time made me feel a little sick because of my hastily devoured Big Mac. I hope we get a chance to go back. The spicy tuna looked good.
My favorite thing at Uncle Bo’s was the espresso infused vodka. Deeeeelicious. It didn’t even taste like vodka–very smooth and fragrant. Seth was explaining to me why it was special but I wasn’t registering what he was telling me.
K and I brought our new flip cameras with us. After midnight, most of the people at the dinner had either gone home or headed to a party at Aloha Tower. K, Eric, Seth, and I were the only ones left polishing off drinks and talking. K and I had brought our new flip cameras and we filmed silly little drunk bits of conversation.
I realized watching the footage later that when I’m drunk I can be a little bit of a bully. I insisted Eric give me a profound thought to wrap up his time here in Hawaii. Poor Eric. When pressed he came up with: don’t eat the yellow snow.
Last night we went over to K’s friend’s house for dinner. They had a bunch of people over to their place in Lanikai. It was our first time to see the inside of a Lanikai house. K and I were marveling at how behind a modest facade such a spacious oasis could exist. It was a beautiful space. While we ate our chicken a little distance away from everyone, I told K that I would find it hard living in such a big place. That when I pictured home, it was an apartment not a house. K was like, ‘you think it’s because we’re New Yorkers?’ I pondered that. Is it more natural to want lots of room or to be contained by a smaller place? It seems funny to prefer less space but I do.
For dessert they made mini ice cream sandwiches: m&m dark chocolate cookies with mint ice cream. They have a mini dog named Nunu. While we were watching tv, Nunu climbed on top of me and gave me and K tiny dog kisses which totally brought back memories of life with a dog. Dogs make life better.
K was out of the house at 5:50AM this morning– another early call. When we first moved here I would often wake up around this time to answer emails from NY and chat online with friends–even when K wasn’t working early. I believed that I could continue managing projects there from here. The time difference is so extreme that I would aim to wake up at 5AM just to respond to people before lunch time. I’ve come to like the feeling of being up while it’s still dark outside; the sounds of everything waking up around me, particularly the birds chirping around the same time every morning, the sky getting lighter and lighter. Across the way, our neighbor leaves at the same time everyday, 6:30 their wood gate slams. It’s a comforting sound.
When I was little, there was a time that my parents would leave me with a babysitter on Long Island and commute into the city for work. My parents were fastidiously punctual. We would leave the house in the wee hours so that they could make it to work before 7AM. I never slept after they left me. I would lay awake in whatever guest bedroom I was kept in, trying to think of comforting things, listening for any sound that would indicate that my caretakers for that day were waking up: a bathroom door, slippered footsteps, muted conversation, someone beginning to work in the kitchen.
Even though I still wake up with K every time he has an early morning, I don’t try to keep up my life in NY. It’s been 8 months. At some point it occurred to me that we live here now. Which is funny because in few weeks we’re headed back to NY for the summer.
The wicked ear infection that I had when I came back from NY in December started to resurface a couple of days ago. Last time I let it get so bad that all I could do was lay on the couch and try not to move my head. This time I was more aware of early warning signs.
My friend Carla back home told me over the holidays that if I encountered another medical emergency I could call her sister who is a doctor out here. Before the pain got bad I emailed Carla and within a couple of hours she and her sister had called me. After talking to Cathie about what I was feeling and what happened over Christmas, she thought it would be good for me to start antibiotics right away. She called it into Long’s nearby and I went to pick it up. I came home and slept for the rest of the day. I’m so grateful to the both them. K was working again and I was home without a car.
Long’s is a little under 2 miles away. It’s about the same distance I walk to the Bikram studio. Not a big deal at all. But by the time I got to Long’s, I was swooning. I thought I’d have to call a taxi to get back home. The coolness of the drugstore made me feel better and I survived the walk back home. I just kept thinking about this flower that I wanted to take a picture of.
K’s friends are having us over for dinner this week. They live close by so I thought it would be nice if we went outside of Kailua/Lanikai to find something to bring with us. I’ve been wanting to visit Made in Hawaii in Pearl City ever since I read about their Mochi Strawberries. I knew they sold something special called Lilikoi cream cheese which I thought would be easy to keep until we go over for dinner in a couple of days.
The shop is teeny tiny–just a little front space of an outlet/factory. The woman who greeted us was very helpful and gave us samples of their jams, fruit butters, and cream cheeses. I learned that Lilikoi is yellow passion fruit. Delicious! I was disappointed that they only had Mochi Strawberries from Wednesday to Saturday which she recommended ordering in advance. But we’ll go back another day for that. Everything in the store is made in Hawaii and they produce their own jams and preserves under the label Island Preserve. We ended up choosing Strawberry Guava Cream Cheese, Pineapple Blueberry Jam, and Lime Butter. This place joins the list of great places for gifts to bring home.
This afternoon I walked out to get the mail and see if UPS had come by. As I walked by the pond in the front yard I was surprised by the sound of frantic splashing and the sight of something huge in the water. It looked like a big meaty disembodied hand slapping the surface of the water. When I looked more carefully I realized it was two fat frogs with round bloated bellies, their arms wrapped around each other in a bear hug. I watched for a few seconds as they turned around and around in the water as if they were fighting over some girl-frog’s honor. I turned and ran back to the house to get my camera so I could capture it to share. It seems passionate frogs are camera shy and not amenable to exposé videomaking.
Girl Scouts were selling cookies outside of Foodland. I asked them which ones were their favorites and one cutie told me Samoas. So we got them and I can’t even bear to look at the nutritional information.
