A FOODIE DAY

This morning we finally made it to Eggs and Things, the original one near Fort DeRussy, not the Eggspress on Kalakaua Ave.  We got there about 10 a.m., waited about 30 minutes and had our one split order of delicious macadamia nut pancakes, smothered with coconut syrup.  Two normal sized guys came in and sat down next to us and they each ordered bacon and eggs, pancakes and together they ordered the special omelet which had Portuguese sausage, spinach and looked like about 5 eggs.  In the end, they weren't able to finish all that food and took the omelet to go.  The helpings at Eggs and Things are huge. 

Of course we had to go back to the hotel and rest after our giant indulgence, but finally got our butts out to take a little bus trip.  I love the bus.  I love a bus just about anywhere.  It always seems like it opens this vast opportunity to go see something you haven't seen before, observe people in their native habitat, and just kind of reboot your stereotypes.  In Honolulu the bus drivers are really nice, if you ask them about a stop, they remember you wanted to stop there and if you've changed your mind along the way, you have to tell them that you're no longer getting off at this stop when you arrive.  Anyway, we had both finished the books we brought with us, so we wanted to go to the thrift store to get some new ones.  And of course other miscellaneous shopping, like John needed a pair of exercise shorts so he can work out in the hotel gym.  And I wanted to find a light jacket.  We went to the Assistance League thrift shop, which was okay, and got the books, and then we went to the Goodwill, which is a really good one.  For one thing, it's a huge store, and for another it's nice and clean and bright, and as an added attraction, Tuesday was senior day so we got an extra 20 percent off.  I didn't find a jacket, but John found some exercise shorts, and I got a new bathing suit so I can go swimming twice a day.  Can't believe I only brought one with me.  This one is one of those ones that are about $100 at Macy's with the control panels to make you look skinny.  They had several sizes of the same color and design, and I think they were brand new. 

Back on the bus and went to where they have the downtown farmer's market today, only it is apparently a lunchtime market because it was gone by the time we got there.  So we went around Chinatown, which is really pretty interesting.  I bought some interesting candied things of various types (lychee nuts, lychee roots, coconut, melon, sweet potato, and something I don't remember). 
Later on we were walking past a bakery and bought some macadamia nut candy with coconut and macadamia nut with sesame.  I guess we were pretty hungry, having finally walked off the Macadamia nut pancakes, because we thought this was so good, we went back and bought some more for tomorrow.  

I'm adding a few pictures here from Chinatown.  The one with the boxes started out, for me as watching this kid making a giant stack of the boxes.  I turned my back and heard them come crashing down.  John said his friend came by and knocked them all down.    

We had Hawaiian chicken with glass noodles for dinner.  It's a pretty simple dish, and reminds me of the dorm food I loved when I went to University of Hawaii.

This evening I dragged John down to the beach to watch the sunset and we got there at the totally perfect time.  Boat going through the setting sun and everything.


Final shot is evening shot of Waikiki beach.

HANAUMA BAY

I love Hanauma Bay.  I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, just to look at it from above, and then beyond that, you get to swim with fish.  Not just boring fish, you know, the kind you'd like to eat, but flashy fish -- the bling kings of the ocean.  It was frequently overcast today, there were occasional gusts of wind blowing sand into everything, but it was still heaven.  Unfortunately, you couldn't see the fish as well as you sometimes can because the overcast and the roily water made it kind of murky. 

I think the tide was lower than when we usually go to Hanauma Bay, because as I was trying to navigate over coral reefs I have previously floated over, I got beached on the coral.  And it's certainly not because I'm less bouyant than last year, though maybe the fat is hanging down lower.  But we had a wonderful time anyway. 

The bus was really full on the way out, we got the last two available seats.  Coming back, we got on the bus before it went to the end of the line at Makapu point, Sea World, which was a good thing, because when the bus came back to Hanauma Bay, everybody who got on had to stand up all the way back to Honolulu.

We went back to the International Market for dinner tonight, because John couldn't remember the macadamia-crusted opakapaka we had for dinner last week when he was sick with a cold.  Of course, we are flirting with a pattern here -- last Sunday and this Sunday we ate at the same Thai place, last Monday and this Monday we ate at the same place.  Fortunately, I can't remember where we ate last Tuesday, so we may break the pattern tomorrow. 

I'm going to try to video the news if they show the surfing tonight.  Shoot!  I didn't do it when they had it at the front of the news, and unlike most local news shows, they didn't repeat it again.  It is my favorite thing about Hawaii, though, that the sports coverage is often about surfing instead of other boring sports where men chase balls around trying to recapture their prehistoric roots on the savannah.

SUNDAY IN PARADISE

 1.  Laundry:  First order of business.  First thing to happen is that the machine behind me didn't work.  A nice Canadian lady gave me some detergent after I had a temper tantrum (because I only barely had enough change.)

Some things we just  dry on the balcony but we tie them down so the wind doesn't blow them away.

2. Beach  No more than a head shot for me at the beach.  I'm so white the glare blinds other beachgoers. 

3.  Real estate  we went to an open house on AlaWai Blvd.  $385K gets this fabulous 1075 s.f. 2 br. 2 ba. overlooking Ala Wai Canal and golf course.  Condo fee is $624 per month. 

4.  Dinner:  We had different food from last week, but it wasn't as good this time.   





5.  Pina Coladas  Another chance to have a drink with an umbrella in it.  Followed by an evening with the delicious scent of tiger balm.   

THE BEACH, THE THEATER, THE (PRE)PRO BOWL

We had a lazy day today, though it's not going to sound like it.  We got up and ate our bagels from the bagel truck last night.  Not really all that good, but would have been better warm.  The peanut butter one had a Reese's in it and the chocolate one had chocolate chips, all in the center.  It was a good plan, though. 

Following that, John went to the exercise room to work out, and I went to the pool area to use the hot tub and exercise my arm.  The pool area is quite nice.  Yesterday when I went there, I was totally alone.  Today there were four people playing cards or something. 

The funny thing about this pool area is that, although there is a shower for rinsing off before you go in the pool, there are no changing rooms or anything.  But then why would you need that?  You're staying here at the hotel.  Except that on the exit door is a sign that says "No wet suits beyond this door."  So, you are either supposed to strip and walk to the elevator naked, or lie out by the pool til you dry off.  I'm a scofflaw, so I just leave with my wet suit on. 

Then we took a little walk to the beach, sat around and watched the ocean, and then hopped on the bus to go to the Manoa Valley Theater to see God of Carnage.  We've managed not to see this play in New York and Sacramento, so we finally got to see it here.  It was really a good production.  We both really thought the character who played Alvin (Alan?) stole the show. 

We got up there about 40 minutes early, so we walked around the neighborhood and stopped at the crack seed shop.  Crack seed shops are a Hawaiian sort of specialty.  They sell a lot of things that look Chinese, some things that are, in fact seeds, a lot of gummy bears and gummy other stuff.  We bought some dried, sweet olives.  Can't tell you what all is in them, but I got a hint of ginger, and they are covered in very fine sugar.  Oh yes, these olives are pink.

After the play we came back to Waikiki.  Tomorrow is the Pro Bowl and tonight they were having a 5 hour celebration and street fair with live bands, tschachka vendors and food vendors.  I had the coolest sandwich, which was a whole softshell crab, called a crabcake sandwich.  It was wonderful.  The crab meat was sweet and creamy and because they were deep fried it was crispy and crunchy.  The fries, while thicker than I usually like were also wonderful.

 I'm guessing they use some different type of potatoes.  The sandwich had no dressing, but they offered a tomato based sauce with basil which I put on the French fries, (and would have put a lot more on if I'd tasted it before I walked away from the stand) and a garlic aioli sauce on the sandwich.

 We hung around for awhile, eventually saw a cheerleader, saw a band doing a sound check for about 2 hours and decided to come on back to the hotel. 

And after all that, we stopped on the way home and got an ice cream cone at Hu-La-La.  This time John had Cappucino chip and I had a Maui mudd pie. 


Haven't decided what we'll do tomorrow.  We met a guy at the bus stop today who told us if we take the Manoa Valley #6 bus all the way to the end of the line, we can take about a 45 minute walk up to a hidden waterfall.  That sounds like fun (right now, while I'm sitting around in the hotel room).  We'll see.  We could also just go to the beach. 

FISH AND MORE FISH, plus UKELELES

This morning I woke up and my pain from my shoulder is a great deal less.  It's somehow different from even before my second collision.  Between more naprosyn, additional tiger balm, and the acupuncture, the whole thing just feels different -- more flexible or something.  I'm delighted.  Still don't want to be doing any jerky motions. 

So, this morning, we decided to take a walk on the beach, and go see some fish.  We decided to go to the aquarium which is down past the zoo.  On the way, we watched a group that must have been called altecockers mit ukeleles.  A bunch of people gather and sing and play ukeleles.  They are obviously an organized group, because they all have playbooks. 

We watched for a couple of minutes, and also tried to figure out how they are doing the beach renewal, but couldn't really grasp it.  They seem to be building a wall and covering it with sand. 

Gorgeous chick with lips 

From there, we went to the aquarium.  They have wonderful fish and coral.  I'm adding a whole bunch of pictures of fish from the aquarium, so I won't have to buy a cheap underwater camera and try to take pictures of them later. 

. 








We spent more time than we planned, and ended up going from there to the Food truck rally.  This time we actually found it.  I think they had about 20 trucks, plus a few other vendors who just had booths.  We had more fish, in the shape of a lomi salmon taco, sliders that included fish, veggies, and beef, all with interesting accompaniments.

click to read menu

 We wanted to try some other stuff, but were too full.  But not too full for dessert.  For dessert we had a trifle that had chocolate pudding, coconut, and some sort of custard-type thing that I've had here before, but can't identify.  It's about the texture of a banana, rather than like custard.  Tastes of coconut.  Then there's a new treat here (one of the ones on the list of icy treats we have to try, called Onopops.  These are something like the ones the Mexicans sell from the pushcarts at home, but with a lot of island flavors.  I had one called Ginga-tantic, which had ginger, something a little salty, and lime.  It was spicy hot and really good.  John had Mexican chocolate, which was pretty boring.  On our way out, we bought some bagel balls -- one with chocolate filling, and one with peanut butter, to have for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

That means we are putting off our visit to Eggs and Things.  Here are some pictures from the food truck rally.  We went pretty early, so it wasn't too busy when we were there, but apparently it gets a lot of traffic.   I'm adding a few pictures from the event.  Check the motto on the blue truck.  I think this is possibly the Hawaii state motto. 

I'm going to try to upload a very short video again, and see what happens.  Wow, I can't believe it.  This only took about two minutes.   These are the ukelele players.

ON PINS AND NEEDLES

Today John's cold is better, and my arm is worse.  I literally can't stand it.  It's almost back to the day after my fall.  So I called an acupuncturist.  In a town with at least 100,000 Chinese, I found a Haole acupuncturist who was trained in California.  She was well recommended on Yelp, though, and I figured it couldn't possibly do any harm. 

So I made an appointment. It took two buses to get up there, though I think this place was probably about 2 miles from here as the crow flies -- unfortunately there were no crows willing to drag my heavy butt up there. 

We got there a bit too early, so we took a little walk and found a Goodwill store, where we bought some appropriate glassware for evenings on the terrace.  Then back to the acupuncture place. 

She took a history, then had me lie on the tableand put tiger balm on my arm.  That stuff heated it up, and also cleared out my sinuses.  After that had worked for awhile,  she started inserting the needles.  And since she has a full schedule booked for the next week, she upped the ante by also using a tens unit on my shoulder.
 I had quite a few needles in my arm, two in my neck, almost under my hair, and a couple in the other arm, and both legs and feet.  After that, she left me alone to relax and listen to native american flute music.  It didn't seem very long, and I think the tens unit stopped working fairly fast, and when it was done, I didn't really feel much better.  As I write this, it's about five hours later, and I have much more range of movement and less pain. 

She then sent us down to the drugstore to buy more tiger balm for tonight and while we were there, we stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant and had bahn.  The place looked like someplace that was designed in the 60s but it looked pretty fresh and clean, not like it had been here since the 60s.  After that, we took the bus back to Kahala Mall, where we were going to catch the bus to Waikiki, but decided to go check out the mall first.  Not really a very interesting mall, but then, I don't think malls are all that interesting anyway.

 We went back to the bus stop and caught the 14 bus home, knowing that it didn't really come all the way to Waikiki, but it goes through a really interesting neighborhood, and lets us off on the far side of Kapiolani park.  This was a longer walk back to our hotel, maybe a mile, but I doubt it, but it had the fortuitous opportunity to sit on the beach on a kind of dark day with the sun slanting over the waves, and a guy playing the guitar softly.  Made the whole day worthwhile. 

We also discovered a new to us yogurt place, where the stuff we get at home for 39 cents an ounce is only 49 cents an ounce, which isn't all that bad for Hawaii.  Also managed to get three more game pieces from Seattle's Best.  It would be nice to get a free trip back here. 

And again, I remember why I don't want cable TV.  John just sat here and watched the entire Republican debate on CNN.  GAG!!!

The last picture here is just a gratuitous piece of street art.  

I'm hoping tomorrow we'll actually get to do some vacation stuff.  I'm tired of being either patient or nursemaid.  We've been here six days and only gone swimming once.  And haven't been to Hanauma Bay yet. 

SEARCH FOR A LUNCH TRUCK

Today we thought we'd go near downtown in search of two lunch trucks, one that sells Korean tacos, and one that has more Hawaiian type food, as I recall.  We had checked the location on Twitter, which I am apparently incompetent at, and the upshot of it was that we couldn't find them. 

While we were walking around the area, though, we came upon this place called INdesign center, or maybe it was the Hawaiian Design Center.  Whatever it was called, it was fabulous, and much of the stuff was fabulously expensive.  Some of it was altogether ridiculous, like the horse lamp, which gave the impression of a party that had really gotten out of hand.  For your amusement, some pictures.  The chair with the red top was $18,000.  (No, there are not too many zeros in that number.)  A chair that cost more than my car, maybe than my car and a harp.  I thought that since it was such a cool design, I might order one for Mike & Heather because the design was so cool, and it would really be a nice addition to their house.  And the leather upholstery will hold up well to baby barf.   My favorite was the recliner.  I actually liked that.  It was a mere $7000.  I forgot to check the price of the horse lamp.


Since we never found the food truck, we walked over to the Ala Moana mall so I could look for a pair of sandals (no luck) and have lunch.  We had some more fish tacos, which were different but as good as the Maui tacos.  Then as we were walking around, I made a mistake.  I was looking down at a band that was getting ready to play, as was another woman, who was walking around a pillar, and we ran into each other.  This hurt my damn arm so bad I almost fainted.  I suspect it wasn't the collision, we were both pretty soft, but I probably jerked my arm or something.  I'm sure the people standing around and watching my histrionics thought I was working on a lawsuit, but my god, it hurt.  I had stopped taking naprosyn, trying to see if I was over it or just having pain controlled.  Now I know.    Here I am with an icepack on my shoulder. 

One more picture, mostly for Tim and Lynda.  Is this a cute bird, or what? 




I'm going to start uploading a video of my favorite group that plays at the International marketplace.  We went over there last night to get chicken soup for John's cold, and they were playing.  I think they may play there about once a week.  Be interesting to see how long it takes to upload this 20-second video here.  At home, with my super-fast ATT DSL, it takes about an hour. So far, I'm working on my third attempt to upload.  The first two either went so long the computer turned off, or they were never working anyway.  Hard to tell with blogspot.  I give up.  Been trying for four hours and it's obviously not going to happen.