The day after my birthday was much better than my birthday. Mainly because K was home and off from work. In the morning Sarah and I went to yoga class at Koa. I haven’t been to yoga in yeeearrrrrrs. I once was very consistent which brought me alot of joy. My former teacher in Manhattan put just as much emphasis on the meditation as the physical practice. The last class I took with him, he discussed how important it was to actively meditate on your presence in the world and not take being alive for granted.
To back track a little, my teacher Dharma was very amazing– in his 60s/70s his body looked like a 30 year old. He was the personification of profundity. The first time I took his class he told me to go into my handstand ‘with anger’ and for the first time in my life I flipped up into a handstand with no problem. His energy was just amazing–made you feel like you could do anything.
This is Sri Dharma Mittra:
Back to the day I took my last class with him: he was trying to illustrate his point about meditating on your presence and he said that some people die suddenly and if they haven’t been mindful of their existence they might not know they died–that they continue to walk the earth living their life and not knowing they’re dead. I took him very literally and after class I went up to him and asked earnestly ‘Dharma how do I know I’m not dead?’ He looked at me for a second then answered ‘you have to meditate on it’. As I’ve said I’m afflicted with intense fear of death so after that I never went back. After taking class with him longer than any other teacher I just never went back.
At Koa, there’s not as much focus on the spiritual side. I mean it exists, it’s just not like Dharma. The teacher Kate was very kind, firm, and intuitive about our capabilities. The school itself is intimate and comforting. I am definitely in bad shape. No doubt. I’ll go back but I also want to try other schools like Purple or an Iyengar school in Manoa.
Sarah and I had lunch at Aloha Salads and I picked up a copy of Nothing to be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes at Book Ends. I love talking to Sarah. We’re quite different but when she describes how she feels about things I recognize something familiar–being an only child is probably part of it.
In the evening K and I met the Lums, Wayne, Cora, and their friend Diane at Le Bistro for dinner. I had two glasses of wine and some seared ahi. My tolerance for alcohol has gone down the tubes. While I’m in the moment I feel in charge of all my faculties. But then the next day I remember things I said and I’m kind of befuddled by why I would say various things. Not like I say anything bad or rude just not anything that I can remember thinking to say.
Dinner was great. I loved it. K met Wayne and Cora for the first time and he was charmed by them–particularly by a story of Wayne, his tendency for day dreaming, and a tree. We also learned that Cora, his wife, was a Hong Kong film star. I feel like a doofus for not having known that before. We’re looking forward to watching her films.
Wing Tek had a seating plan for dinner and he put Diane next to me who used to be the director of ACV. She was very very nice. She seems to have a very interesting family story. I look forward to seeing her again and hearing more about her aunties.
This week Wing Tek is hosting a dinner for Kimiko who’s coming to town. It’ll be nice to see her.
Despite this gorgeous picture from my three hour walk on the beach, my birthday stunk. The short story is that in the morning I videotaped a birthday ‘installation’ K left for me in the guest bedroom. When I played back the recording I heard something on the tape that sounded like a message from the non terrestrial world. It was most likely a sound I made myself while holding the camera but regardless I was freaked out all day and still feel a little wary of what I taped.
I was so freaked out that I wouldn’t go upstairs all day and ended up going to the beach in my nightgown (with a cardigan) to walk and take pictures. I was too spooked to go up and get my pants or change into proper beach clothes. But you know nightgowns, dresses, bathing suits…who can tell the difference anymore.
I walked and walked and talked to my friend Curtis on the phone while I took pictures. We talked about loved ones, death, relationships, pretty much everything…it was nice even though I was keeping him on the phone because I was kind of lonely. When K came home he watched my recording a few dozen times and decided that I’d made the noise myself.
In the evening we headed to Sassabune which was, until then, a guaranteed spectacular experience in the form of a meal. The food was delicious as usual but because it was a Saturday night and they were busier than any other time we’ve been there the waitstaff was not friendly or pleasant. Sassabune is what you could call the Sushi Nazi. You have to eat everything the way they tell you. They tell you this everytime you call for a reservation: ‘ is this your first time?’ and ‘ you do understand our rules?’ K and I ended up eating way too much and when it came to our last course I was so stuffed that I could only look at the handroll and feel sick to my stomach. I asked if I could take it home and was met with a very chilly response: ‘um, he doesn’t like that (he meaning the chef)’ and ‘he doesn’t like his food to be taken off the premises’.
All I have to say about that is ‘Sheesh’.
So all in all the day was not that great. But it leaves me feeling that as I begin my 36th year on this planet I have alot of contemplating to do.
Today was my last day being 34. And if I’m going by NY time, where I was born, I’m already 35. I was wary of spending my birthday in Hawaii seeing as most of the people dearest to me don’t live here, but it’s turning out alright– like being on a retreat. At least that’s how I’m trying to think of it.
My first trip back to NY was at the end of November. I went home because my best friend and mentor was dying of pancreatic cancer. I was able to spend the last two weeks of her life with her. It’s not easy to bring up or even think about. I felt that the holidays weren’t going to be festive or celebratory in light of this, and they weren’t. They were bittersweet and in a way it seems right that I spend my birthday far away from the city that I love and the comforts of home.
With that said, K has been sweet to me all day. We spent it eating good food and taking it very easy. Tomorrow he’s taking me to my favorite place for dinner: Sassabune. Can’t ask for much more than that.
I hoped we’d be able to go to the beach today because it had been weeks since we’ve gone swimming. Partly because of life issues but mostly because of the heavy rain. K and I ran errands in the morning and decided to see if the sun would come out in the afternoon.
We had some business at Long’s and while we were looking for envelopes we ended up in the Sanrio aisle. K pointed out a couple of cute characters and asked me if I’d like them as Birthday Friends. I quickly said Yes and now have two terribly cute companions highly appropriate for hugging (see photo above). Outside of Long’s we got a whiff of plate lunch and decided to try and find some. I mentioned the Indian truck by the post office and K said it looked shady ( I think that’s the unHawaiian in us). Then I remembered the little tent in the Kailua Shopping Center but when we got there it wasn’t up. So we settled on some Aloha Salads. I had the Ono Isalnd Ahi Salad and K had the Tiger Shrimp salad. My salad reminded me of the furakake at Nico’s. Not quite as good but very good anyway. We got smoothies at Lanikai Juice and we ate our lunch at one of the outdoor tables in the parking lot.
I had a Kailua Monkey from Lanikai Juice which really hit the spot–basically a banana and peanut butter smoothie. It was a fantastic lunch and I enjoyed sitting outside with K despite the cars coming in and out and sitting next to an SUV. It’s funny the spaces people create for themselves. The outdoor tables at Kailua Shopping Center remind me of my old job. I used to work at a museum and the first time I visited it for my interview I thought, how do people exist here. It seemed like an alley way–not an office. But after going there everyday for two years you carve out a space for yourself and your perspective changes, I suppose in order to maintain your sanity. That’s what the outdoor tables are like: you look at them and you think how do people sit out here and eat when there are exhaust fumes everywhere and people walking by to get to their cars. Anyway, despite this I enjoyed it. It was nice to sit outside in the almost sun and eat a great salad.
After lunch we went to the beach to see if it was warm enough to swim. It wasn’t. We walked along the shore instead. At Kailua beach we normally go to one of two spots, both within a few hundred feet of each other. Today we walked way down the beach in the direction of Kalapawai Market. It was strange to see how much of the beach was washed away from the storms. I’m not sure if that’s normal–but the gnarly roots of gigantic trees were all exposed because of the lost sand bed.
We walked more than a mile down the beach. We got to the point where the beach curves and is lined with mostly private residences some of which had no trespassing signs. It was so quiet, smooth, and calm. I told Ken that it must be like living in a clamshell for those people. I thought we were going to go swimming so I didn’t bring my camera but tomorrow on my birthday I’ll go take a walk and update this with some pictures.
After being here for four months we FINALLY made it to the Kailua Farmer’s Market this evening. It was AWESOME. I was so excited. I was so impatient as K tried to find parking in the majorly packed parking lot. I was almost hyperventilating. K said we must be really pitiful if I’m so excited about going to a Farmer’s Market. He said I was never excited about the Union Square Farmer’s Market and it’s at least four or five times bigger than Kailua’s. And my response was does Union Square have this:
or THESE:
There was so much to buy. We ended up buying some vegan poke, organic veggies, a couple of plate dinners, flowers, coffee, taro mochi, apple bananas, lumpia, and chocolate syrup.
We were on our way to Kauai. It was going to be our first excursion to one of the other islands. We booked our flights, our car, and our room at the Hanalei Surfboard House. We were so excited to visit Hanalei Bay and try one of the uber muddy hikes. We spent one whole day shopping for our trip, picking up clothes we could get grubby in. K got a great pair of hiking shoes from Nordstroms. He even put them on at the mall to start breaking them in.
We had to try different places for my hiking shoes and found a great place suggested by the Nordstrom salesperson: Mauka to Makai. Their inventory was low so I ended up with a decent pair from Sports Authority.
Unfortunately when we got home K was called into work for the next few days so we had to cancel all of our plans. Hopefully we’ll be able to go before the holidays.
Instead of visiting a luxurious vacation island, we went to a couple of movies to unwind. We settled for Journey to the Center of the Earth at the dollar theater. Dollar did you say??? Yes we were shocked. I haven’t been to a dollar movie in at least 10 years. And I’m not even sure it was a dollar I think it might have been two. The crowd at Hollywood Restaurant Row 9 was a pretty rowdy crowd. Lots of locals and lots of kids. I mean I felt like we watched a show before the actual show. I whispered to K during the cartoon previews that we could leave at any point if it ended up not being good.
The movie proved to be perfectly fun. In NY I carefully choose theaters based on the fact that I know it’s a neighborhood crowd and people won’t be chattering through the whole thing. I was a little skeptical at Hollywood. Particularly when an older Hawaiian couple plopped down next to us and started talking right away. But a quarter of the way into the movie I gasped at a heart racing scene and the portly woman next to me immediately whispered ‘what?’. I was immediately won over and didn’t mind that they talked through the whole movie.
This past weekend we got to see Quantum of Solace. Which I loved. In looking for a theater we discovered Winward Mall in Kaneohe which is so different from Ala Moana. The mall reminded me of my Long Island roots. It was fantastic. We had lunch at IHOP and wandered the mall after seeing the movie. The highlight for me was the pet shop–very diverse. I think all pet shops in general are, to varying degrees, not good. But I’m a sucker for baby animals. Here is one of my favorites:
Also, note for the future. There was a Leonards Malasadas truck in the Winward Mall parking lot.
No, not fishy at all! Tamashiro Market that is. I found this place on Yelp when I searched for the best place to find fresh fish. As I’ve written before one of the dishes I’ve learned to make very successfully is Macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi. The other day K and I decided to explore the boundaries beyond Foodland Kailua. We had found the mac nut farm the other day and I’d been eager to check out this market. It was smaller than I had pictured but packed with so many kinds of foods! K and I circled the tight aisles a few times. I kind of felt like Alice in Wonderland, like I was spinning and couldn’t focus in on one thing. Finally K said something that brought me back to the filet counter. We got to two beautiful filets and left with little else.
Driving from Honolulu to Kaneohe took awhile. I likened it to taking the subway from the East Village to the Upper West Side and then back down to the LES in search of fresh ingredients. That would have been a nightmare. Instead we’re in Hawaii driving past awesome mountain ranges, orchid farms, stretches of ocean, and strange beautiful trees dripping with vines and lush green.
I love the mac nut farm. We picked cinnamon macadamia nuts and decided to try a pound of the macadamia kona coffee. The fish ended up so much better. In fact we had enough to reheat for lunch the next day and even THAT tasted better than our Foodland version. Definitley one of my favorite things about here in Hawaii.
Also the kona coffee is so good that whenever I get a whiff of it I CRAVE at minimum a cup.
Oh what an amazing day. K and I wanted to be together because we suspected it would be a day we would want to remember. He had to work so I went to set with him and got to see some beautiful sights in Kaneohe.
On our way to a location one of K’s coworkers told us about the macadamia nut farm close by and that they had free coffee. So before he started working we went to the very cool little farm and picked up a delicious cup of macadamia kona. It’s great place to know about for future pasalubong (greeting gifts).
We’ve been watching CNN for hours now. We made a special election night dinner. As we were running around getting things cooked and the table set I hear K say, ‘is that a SPIDER??’ In fact it was. It was a Big Spider.
We had a mild freak out. K trapped it in a tupperware container and we brought it out to the parking lot and let it go. We later found out that it was a cane spider. A harmless house spider that eats cockroaches and silver fish. But like all the creatures here Hawaii it LOOKED downright sinister.
Tonight is a great night. We had a great meal and basked in the satisfaction of seeing Hawaii’s son Obama become President Elect.
We bought alot of candy. Not alot alot but a decent amount. Not one dang kid rang our bell. But I can’t say as I blame them given this story, we are after all strangers in this neighborhood. Cory and Carrie, our neighbors, rang our bell to show us their pugs dressed as a prince and princess. It was cute but, you know, we were like expecting kids.
I met Sarah for brunch and I got to try a new place: Mokes Bread and Breakfast. It’s a very cute place. I like the food at Boots and Kimo’s better but this place is really nice to sit and talk. I got lost driving there because I forgot my glasses and I didn’t bring the GPS. It was fine I was only ten minutes late.
Finally we made steak salad for dinner from this easy recipe.
I’ve been on break from blogging because my parents arrived about a week ago and today is our first day without them here. It wasn’t easy showing people around Hawaii when I still don’t really know my way around. I think we did alright but it was stressful. It rained 75% of the time they were here so my fallback plan (the beach) was totally down the toilet. We had a couple of days at Kailua and Lanikai Beach which they loved but other than that we improvised moment to moment.
We didn’t end up going to a luau but in my search for the perfect one (apparently Lahaina on Maui) I found an interesting non-luau luau called Feast at Lele. Most notably you’re served courses rather than buffet style and I read one review on Yelp that said the dancers were a bit more engaged and professional. I also found an interesting user generated travel site call Go Planit.
We took them to Chinatown and had lunch at Mabuhay Cafe. I’m not a fan of this place. The atmosphere is comfortable and cozy but the food gave me a stomach ache. The crispy pata was pretty gross. And they don’t serve Lechon. In Chinatown we picked up some glutinous rice flour and my mom and I made ginataan with sago (glutinous rice and tapioca balls with coconut milk). It was delicious.
In Chinatown I wandered into Cindy’s Lei Shop which I found so endearing and interesting. It’s so easy to take something like a lei for granted but the tradition of wearing and sharing them is something I love about Hawaiians. The woman at Cindy’s was very nice to me and showed me different leis even though she knew I wasn’t there to buy one. I particularly loved the dense Christina Leis made of orchid petals. It’s amazing that they range around $20. If we were in NY they would be at least $75.
We introduced them to all the standard treats: shaved ice at Waiolas and malasadas. Strangely the mochi balls at Waiolas were so awful. K didn’t even finish his. They tasted like feet. I’m hoping it was an anomaly because Waiolas is one of my favorite sometimes-treats.
We love Leonard’s malasadas but it’s a production to buy them. There’s always a huge line–a tour bus seems to be unloading everytime we go there. Also the last time we were there we felt so pressured by the lady behind the counter to clarify our order (when we thought we WERE being clear) that we decided to try a less stressful place. It’s like ordering from the malasada-nazi. We picked up some plain malasadas from Agnes Portuguese Bakeshop instead here in Kailua. The place serves breakfast and lunch and seems like a a nice place to meet up or work off of your laptop. I think they have wi-fi. The malasadas were very very yummy but ultimately we prefer the gooey haupia, custard and chocolate fillings from Leonards. So did my parents.
leonard's malasadas--half empty box
My parents are catholic so I had to find a church for them to attend on Sunday. We attended St Anthony of Padua last Sunday and found it quite nice. They asked us if we were visitors and gave us seashell leis. When the mass started we had to stand up and say where we were from.
We only had two days of big touristy style events. One was visiting the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor which was illuminating. We probably should have visited the USS Missouri as well but my mom and I were kind of over it. The most interesting part of the trip for me was the film before the short boat ride to the memorial. The memorial itself is a touching piece of architecture but K had told me that it was a glass bottom structure so that you can see the wreckage of the Arizona. In retrospect it makes sense that it’s not but I was pacing around the memorial trying to find a glass bottom to no avail.
Afterwards we drove into Waikiki to eat the sandwiches that I made us for lunch. We parked ourselves in Kapiolani Park to enjoy a break.
My parents were impressed with Waikiki but my mom has a bad knee so we couldn’t walk around very much. My mom wanted to go home right after the sandwiches but we dragged her around a little bit more — strolling around one of the hotels on the strip. There were little tchotchke shops and a breakfast buffet with a giant aquarium backdrop that we hoped to return to but never did. It looked nice, but that’s probably because I’m a sucker for buffets and aquariums.
On another day we took my parents to the Atlantis submarine adventure at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was pretty cool but definitely the priciest thing we did. Sarah asked me today if it was a real submarine and it in fact was. You take a boat out to the submarine site and part of the excitement is watching the sub come up from the previous trip. Everything is designed to be very smooth for the 40+ passengers. There’s nothing really jarring or raw about the transition from dock, to boat, to sub. The only thing was that we seemed to be sitting on the wrong side of the sub (starboard). Port side got to see everything first and more abundantly. The guide joked about discount seats but I didn’t really think that was funny. The Atlantis Company has basically created an underwater Disney-style ride. The things you see are almost entirely created by the company–man made reefs, a sunken plane, and a sunken ship. All these were purchased and placed by Atlantis. The fish life surrounding all these objects is plentiful but not anymore spectacular than fish life you would see snorkeling even though the submersible goes down over 100 ft. There was a shark but it was teeny tiny (and K wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t plastic). And there was a sea turtle which I’m fairly certain was real. The tour guide said that the Atlantis ‘structures’ had created 3000 times more fish life in the area–that sounds good, but is it? Either way it was an experience and I’m glad we did it.
I loved Hawaiian Village. I think it’s the Long Islander in me. It’s very mall-like but peaceful and pretty. After the ride we had dinner at the Hilton Benihana. It was yummy and fun for all of us but I did get a stomach ache afterwards.
For dessert we headed over to Bubbie’s for ice cream. It was really hard to find Bubbie’s on University Road. We had to park and wander around and eventually ask someone to direct us. We got 2 pints of ice cream and chocolate covered mochi ice creams. Oh it was really delicious. Much better than the packages of Bubbie’s in the grocery store.
There was one rainy day that we were driving around Honolulu. We passed a convention center that advertised a crafts and Hawaiiana fair. I suggested we stop in and I have to say it was such a bust. Parking and admission was like $25 for all of us. I know everyone was being polite because they knew I was excited about it. But frankly it was a bunch of stuff that mostly looked worthless. I’m sure there were plenty of secret treasures to be found but I’m less than a novice at vintage shopping. There was one table that had interesting toys and knick-knacks like a beautiful head model of a Hawaiian-ish woman but it was over $100. My main complaint about it is that they charge people to come in. Maybe that’s standard but it was pretty misleading.
All in all it was a week of hits and misses. K says from my blog it sounds like a week of misses and misses 😀
On the last day we took them to Boots and Kimos for breakfast; took a dip at Lanikai; and then had lunch at Nico’s. All of this was a huge hit with them. I think that it might have been their favorite day. As we drove them to the airport the most gigantic rainbow appeared and followed us all the way to the departure terminal.
I’ve been doing research on activities and luaus lately because my parents are arriving from Long Island for a little visit. I’m very excited. I miss them. I hope they have fun here. So I did some digging around online and found these:
I also found something called Hawaii Food Tours run by Matthew Gray. The Hawaiian Feast Tour sounded so perfect. I was very excited about it but when I called today I spoke to Matthew himself and he said that there was little interest, and sometimes even disappointment in traditional Hawaiian food so they discontinued the tour.
This from MSNBC’s 8 best islands for food:
Oahu, Hawaii When you travel to Oahu, you have arrived at the culinary epicenter of the Pacific-Asian world. In Honolulu you’ll find Asian-based dishes with a bit of Americana (dare we say, SPAM) thrown in, as well as an island twist based on local ingredients. Join Hawaii Food Tours’ Hole-in-the-Wall Tour (www.hawaiifoodtours.com; rates from $99). It’s offered every day but Sunday and is your chance to taste the treats that local chefs seek on their day off. You might try a Hawaiian plate lunch, Chinese dumplings, pastries, Thai noodles, barbecued meat satay, Vietnamese summer rolls, Bento Boxes or crack seed, a snack of dehydrated fruit that was introduced by the first Chinese plantation workers.
Matthew Gray was really really nice and emailed me his recommendations for Hawaiian restaurants that I could take my parents to. Here’s what he wrote:
Helena’s Hawaiian Food
1240 N. School Street
Tuesday-Friday 10am – 7:30pm – Closed Saturday, Sunday & Monday
Local Telephone: 845-8044
A winner of the James Beard Foundation Award in 2000, this classic Hawaiian restaurant is a treasure. The pipikaula-style short ribs are awesome.
Atmosphere & Decor: A very “local” place. Casual & bare-bones.
Ono Hawaiian Foods
726 Kapahulu Avenue
Monday-Saturday 11am – 7:45PM
Local Telephone: 737-2275
Close to Waikiki this famous Hawaiian food restaurant always has a long line of customers waiting to be seated. It’s all good.
Atmosphere & Decor: Casual & bare-bones.
Young’s Fish Market
City Square Shopping Center
1286 Kalani Street #101
Monday-Friday 8am – 5PM Saturday 8am – 4PM; closed Sunday
Atmosphere & Decor: Even more casual & bare-bones then the rest.
Best lau lau (pork and salted butterfish (wrapped in ti leaves and steamed to form a meal in a bundle) in town.
The best luau is the Old Lahaina Luau on Maui. Almost all the luaus are best for the show, dance, and celebration aspect. *Leave your food expectations at the door* is what I always suggest to our guests when it comes to luaus. One note: the Polynesian Cultural Center does not serve alcohol or caffeine; that’s why we suggest Paradise Cove or Germaine’s.
He was more than generous to share his expertise and time. I can only imagine that he runs his tour with as much aloha.
Finally I figured out how to cook this mahi mahi dish and apparently most of the time it comes out well. The only thing is that the seafood at Foodland isn’t really so awesome. So I started looking for where to buy fresh fish and this is what I found from kaina on chowhound:
There is a wholesale fish auction, United Fishing Agency at pier 38. Kind of resembles the fish auction at Tsukiji in Japan but on a much smaller scale. There is a tour of the auction on Saturdays I believe with a talk radio dj named Mike Buck. On the Big Island there’s the Suisun fish auction in Hilo. If you’re wanting to buy some fresh fish I’d suggest going to Tamashiro Market in Kalihi on Oahu.
I had lunch at Aloha Salad with my good friend Seth today. It’s been a nice twist of fate to end on the same island as him given that we met over ten years ago in New York and had lost touch for a few years. He’s become a lawyer in the time that we’ve been out of contact. It’s really good to to see him here.
Over our lunch he was telling me about the US Attorney he worked for when he first got here and how he overhauled the probationary system to be a more rehabilitative process and that it was inspired by a text called Fixing Broken Windows. I found it very interesting.
Three One Nine 