I learned an interesting thing at the airport. You can buy a lei and it will last 2-3 days without refrigeration.
Category: Hawaii
Leave the porch light on for me.
Kauai Not and the Big Picture
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.
Fishy!
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.
Hiking Part Duh: thanks but no thanks
I haven’t missed home as much as I did on election night. We tried to find a copy of the NY Times but Foodland only had the Star Bulletin. And while the Times is going for $100 on ebay, the Honolulu Star Bulletin is going for about $5.05. The thing that made me most homesick was this video:
We went hiking to celebrate the day. Until yesterday the book OAHU REVEALED has been a handy guide for us, never steering us wrong. There are entries in the book that encourage visitors to disregard ‘no trespassing’ signs or wiggle through gate openings in an effort to experience secret beaches or hidden trailheads. I’ve pointedly avoided those attractions when looking for things to do. But yesterday we decided to try a hike with an obstructed trailhead to Waihe’e Falls. I liked it because it said it was moderately easy and that the pay off was a ‘refreshing shower under the cascading waters’
There was an ominous feeling emanating from the quiet person-less street leading to the trail. Modest houses all with high fences–most with a ‘Beware of Dog’ sign (on one garage a ‘BAD DOG’ sign). We parked down the street and had to walk past three unleashed dogs loose on their front yards. Of the three dogs one was a rottweiller and the other was a pitbull.
I love dogs. I mean I really love dogs and will go up to most and say hello. But everything in this neighborhood felt geared towards making strangers feel on guard. The rottie and pitbull stopped playing long enough to coolly check us out from afar. I kept reminding myself to take deep breaths and relax. I tried to remember what Ceaser Millan said you should do if confronted by an aggressive dog…I couldn’t remember. As we entered the trail and escaped the clean cut Stepford-on-steroids neighborhood, we noticed big piles of dog poop on the trial. My mind started racing, picturing a giant frothing rottie step out from the the thick woods onto the trail in front of us. There was a mile and a half more to go.
The trail for the first mile or so is almost downright ugly. Lots of gravel and strange abandoned concrete structures. The book says that on this trail is one of the only dike tunnels in Hawaii. K said it was like being in New Otherton (referencing the town that the Others lived in on Lost). I have to agree. I found the odd relics on the trail menacing. I told Ken that I kept expecting to be shot by a resident who would later claim he thought we were bears. That’s what a handful of KEEP OUT, NO TRESPASSING signs will do to you.
There were definitely some pretty things. Like coffee plants and wild orchids along the way. But I mostly remember my own fear and the place smelling kind of bad. I tried to occupy my mind with happy thoughts as we ascended: Barack Obama is our president and the big bowl of ginataan at home in the fridge.
We didn’t make it to the end. I got really winded. And it felt like it was going on forever with no sense of the supposed pay-off at the end. At one point we stopped to put mosquito repellent on and as I put my hand to my leg I killed 2 mosquitoes with my palm that were already perched on my shin. Blech.
A couple of Mac nuts
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.
Our First Halloween in Kailua
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.
Parents in Blue Hawaii
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.
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.
Love you Mom and Dad.
Ono
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.
da aina
K and I just got back from watching one of the last screening of HIFF 08: Noho Hewa. I was deeply moved by this film and feel that any American that has the opportunity to see this should. I first heard about the Hawaiian ‘sovereignty’ ‘movement’ from my friend over dinner when I first arrived. He was explaining to me the politics of the island because I had said that I didn’t understand why Asian American issues had no traction here. I was surprised to hear that such an issue exists. I was apt to believe Hawaii was just a happy place with lots of tan relaxed happy people. The loose strands of politics and culture that I’ve picked up since arriving make more sense after seeing the film. For example the stalled plans for a badly needed public transportation solution: rail or no rail ? The incongruous heavy military presence in stunningly lush sacred land. Or the perception that Hawaiians don’t like change.
I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this film. I feel rather complicit living in an area that is dominantly haole and that we’re paying rent that most local people wouldn’t be able to afford. I feel this film has given me the tools to live here more respectfully. It does what most very good films do: they leave you feeling like a better person for having seen it. Visit the website: nohohewa.com.
We also saw Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story yesterday. I think everyone should see this film too! It was so illuminating. The similarities between this 2008 election and the Bush/Dukakis race in 1988 are astounding. It’s amazing how easily and quickly we forget our mistakes. See the movie: boogiemanfilm.com
Afterwards we went into Chinatown in search of sang chau sauce which K uses in almost every cantonese dish he makes. We were under the impression that it would be very hard to find but there it was in the first grocery we walked into:
For lunch we decided to pay a visit to Pho One, one of our favorite regular places to eat in Ala Moana. Good pho and an added bonus they serve soybean milk drinks. Yuuuuum. Reminds me of home.
Unfortunately at the mall afterwards in the parking lot we scratched our car on a a concrete beam. It’s really bad. It sounded awful. Like the car was being crunched. blech.
recommended : timmerman paint and body shop
Three One Nine 