A TRIP TO THE ASIAN MUSEUM IN SAN FRANCISCO

One of my new little jobs as a member of Creative Arts League was to host a trip to San Francisco to go to the Asian Museum.
CALS sponsors five trips a year and it is one of our money raising efforts. Generally speaking members of the tour committee and board members are the on-bus hosts of the tours.
I had only been on one previous tour and was ill prepared to be a host, but fortunately Pam who can do anything had set up and everything so perfectly that I was just a warm body.

My cohost was Dianne, and the day before the trip we met at her house with help from Lillie and Pam, and assembled 50 snack bags for all the participants.

We had to arrive at Arden fair on the morning of the tour at 8:30 AM to be ready for the bus departure at 9:30 AM. Our duties were to check people in, hand out the goody bags, collect waivers from people who hadn't turned them in, and be sure that people who need specifically reserved seats got those seats.
Once on the bus it was smooth sailing. Our bus driver was wonderful and when we arrived in San Francisco we were met by an employee of the Asian Museum.
We had a wonderful chicken salad lunch and were free to roam the entire museum including be terra-cotta Warriors.
That was fantastic. They had two horses and about 10 of the Warriors. This is the exhibit's last stop before it returns to China. The picture at the beginning of the blog is a digital version of what the warriors might have looked like. Apparently they were all glazed, but the glaze has worn off from years of being buried. The following pictures are what they actually look like now.

That was fantastic. They had two horses and about 10 of the Warriors. This is the exhibit's last stop before it returns to China.
This was a good experience for me as a first time host. This was the easiest thing I could have done because people only had to get on the bus at the beginning, off the bus at the destination, and return.
I made myself a new Asian motif necklace for the event, and with my hat that I got for Christmas, I think I looked pretty spiffy.

PORTUGUESE BEAN SOUP

One of the best things I had in Hawaii was the Portuguese bean soup we had when we went to the Punahou festival. I found this recipe on line and I think I'll try to make it Saturday and see if it's as good as we had in Hawaii. Need to find someplace in Sac town to find Portuguese sausage.

Plus, this recipe looks like we could have it several times with just one cooking. My kind of recipe.

PUNAHOU PORTUGUESE BEAN SOUP

1 -2 lb ham hocks or 1 -2 lb ham bone
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 large potatoes, cubed
3 large carrots, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 lb linguica sausage, cubed
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 medium head of cabbage, cubed
Directions:

1
Boil ham hocks or ham bone in 2 quarts of water until tender (save stock). Cut meat from the bones.
2
Bring ham stock to a boil and add the cut meat and all the remaining ingredients except the cabbage.
3
Simmer for 1 - 2 hours, stirring frequently.
4
If too thick, add a little water.
5
Add the cabbage, cook another hour until tender.
6
Add more salt and pepper if needed.

ALOHA, THE SAD ONE

Aloha means love, hello, and goodbye. So today's aloha is the sad one. I never like to leave Hawaii. I think it's paradise.
My final routine is always the same - go to the beach, but don't swim because I've already packed everything -- sit there and feel sorry for myself because I have to go home. Walk along the beach and try to imprint everything in my mind so I won't forget a thing, which, the older I get the more difficult that becomes.
This time I returned all the treasures I had picked up off beaches and left them to their natural habitat. It was a little rainy this morning, nothing serious, but enough to create a big giant rainbow, a promise that means I will return to Hawaii. (I made that up for myself. I get ridiculous about leaving here.).
Our trip to the airport was ridiculous. Even though we walked up two stops early, the bus was still crowded and it was hard to find anyplace to put our suitcases. And then, when we were just leaving Waikiki around Fort DeRussy, they stopped the bus and made us all get on another bus. Fortunately bus number 2 had more of the kind of seats you can push your luggage under, but it was still crowded AND there was a wheelchair on board as well, which eliminates 5 seats.
Believe it or not, Honolulu airport doesn't have free wi-fi. WTF? On the other hand, I love Hawaiian Air. The employees are friendly, the food is good, and they give you free wine with dinner.
We watched a movie about the kamehameha schools song fest, which was really interesting and which I now want to find out when they stream it on Hawaii Public TV. Every student has to participate or they don't graduate. Student directors are selected for each grade level, for boys, for girls, and co-ed performances. It's a competition. The music can be old or new, but it is in the Hawaiian language, which all students learn. There was also an article in the in-flight magazine about the songfest. I think you have to actually have native Hawaiian blood to go to the school. It is as prestigious as Punahou school, but Punahou was originally started for kids of missionaries.
But wait, our flight gets better. The inflight movie was Chasing Mavericks, which is the best surfing movie I've ever seen. Almost made coming home worthwhile.

RESPECT THE UKULELE

We went to the 5th annual Honolulu ukulele picnic. What a hoot. I have never heard ukuleles played like that.

This is a really fun event. Apparently the ukulele is extremely popular in Japan. So there were as many Japanese visitors as there were non Asians. They had two MCs, one in English and one in Japanese.
There were some players who did strumming and sang with it. But there were others who did virtuoso stuff. Of course they have them amped so you got a lot of volume out of ukuleles that you would not ordinarily get.
Some of them had guitars with them and or drums and or bass, but basically the ukulele was the star. There was the typical boring kids' band of ukuleles and there was a highly touted Japanese ukulele band which didn't really deliver.
But there was a guy from Thailand who knocked your socks off. I have a new respect for the uke.
It was kind of off and on rainy, so at times the sound guys had to hold umbrellas up over the equipment. And sometimes the audience had their umbrellas up.
This was in Kaka'ako waterfront park about a mile or two from Waikiki. It's another beautiful park.

A PLAY AND A NEW FRIEND

We went to see a funny play leading Ladies, at a theater called Diamond Head theater, which is obviously an old movie theater.
The place was packed and there were a huge number of donors --two pages in tiny print of people who supported this theater.
Play was about a couple of Shakespearean actors who try to pretend they are the long-lost nephews of a woman with $3 million. Once they get there they discover that the nephews named Max and Steve were really nieces. Complications ensue. Not unlike Some Like it Hot
The only bad thing about the evening was that the bus never showed up to go home. Finally at 11:15 at which time we had been waiting close to an hour, a taxi came by and we shared it with another couple who was also waiting for the bus.

I spent about three hours at the beach with my new friend May Lee from Toronto--or is it Montreal? I don't know where anything is in Canada. She's the one I met at the fabric store yesterday.
This is just a nice light in a late afternoon photo.

And of course fireworks.

HANAUMA BAY AGAIN TODAY

I just love Hanauma Bay, and today seemed like a perfect day to go there. We got up really early, about 7:30, because Richard was going to call us from California at 8 o'clock. He is working on the upstairs windows while we are gone.
That meant that we could get on the early bus to Hanauma Bay which is at 8:50 AM. This is much better, it turns out, than going later because this bus isn't crowded. It was relatively overcast at Hanauma Bay, but the water was okay. John decided that because of his cold, he didn't want to go swimming today, and somehow this morning after I took his snorkeling stuff out, I forgot to put my fins back in the beach bag. However, buoyant as I am, it didn't really make much difference. I think I may not bother to bring fins in the future. They take up half a suitcase. I also discovered today that I can float in 6 inches of water. I went to the trouble to see how far ashore I could float. Pretty much till I got high centered on my belly. Of course, since this is a whale sanctuary, I drew quite a bit of attention with this move, as there don't seem to be any other whales washing up on shore.

I went to the fabric shop today to look for some tropical Christmas type fabric for a tablecloth and ended up meeting a woman who was buying silk. When I asked what she was buying it for she said she was a harpist. We ended up having a good conversation, I bought some beautiful silk, we walked home together, and agreed to meet tomorrow for lunch.
John, not surprisingly, thinks this is a bad idea, but it's not like he has anything better on his agenda.

LOAFING AROUND

One of my favorite things about Hawaii is just the overall laziness that I get to indulge in when we are here. We had an extremely busy day today -- we did laundry before we went to the beach, had lunch, sat around and had bubble mochas (which John has finally started to like, because here they make them as frozen smoothies). I like them not frozen myself. We were able to swim today, even though the jellyfish sign was still there, but there weren't many even yesterday, which was supposed to be the big day. And it didn't rain.

I'm putting up a couple of pictures I captured off the news. At home I hate to watch the news because we have to do it about 12 times a day, well maybe only 6, but whatever, it's about 6 too many for me. And I'm even less interested in the weather. However, there is one weatherman here, who though he doesn't look like it, must be a surfer, because he always has surfing news on the weather report, surf levels, and often good pictures of surfers . This picture is a kite surfer having a whale encounter.
John is still pretty tired from his cold, which he used as an excuse to come back to the hotel and watch basketball, and I went out to check out Nohua galleries at the Ward Warehouse. They used to have a nice store in the Moana Surfrider hotel, but I guess business has been bad and they closed it down. And speaking of downturn in business, the only other store that had nice blown glass seems to have closed as well. I guess tourists only want schlock. By the way, I notice that they never use the word tourists. We are visitors.

MAKAPU'U LIGHTHOUSE

We took a hike today to the Makapu'u lighthouse. It was built in 1908 and sits halfway up the hill. The light is called a hyperradiant lens, which was powered by a kerosene lamp,with a mantle on it. It's always amazing how much light these oil lamps and mirrors and lenses put out. The black and white picture shows how big it was. The lens and lantern were lifted up from a boat up the side of the cliff using a block and tackle. The sign said that workers had to deal with crashing waves, protruding rocks, and high winds to accomplish their task. I can attest to the high winds.

As you can probably see, "hike" is a bit of an overstatement. It's an uphill walk on a macadam surface. John was a trooper. I can tell how bad he feels, because he usually leaves me in the dust when we walk up a hill, and I wasn't even breathing hard and he was mostly behind me. Usually he gets behind me so he can push me up the hill. I did not force him to do this.

If you have a lucky day you might see whales here. We didn't have a lucky day whale wise.

The valley we look down at was a thriving business in yams and sweet potatoes which were sold to the whaling ships from about 1820 until 1922 when Alan Davis bought it and named it Wawamulu ranch and raised cattle. He built a main house for his family and six other houses for the workers. The whole thing was inundated by a tsunami in 1942 and the family moved away and never came back. If you look you can see how a tsunami would have been really funneled into this valley because there is a fairly narrow inlet and high walls on either side of the entry.

We didn't know it, but there was a tsunami warning this morning (turned out it wasn't really coming here). Obviously the people we saw going down to the beach didn't know it either. A few days ago there was a flood warning, which I got on my cell phone. Didn't get the tsunami one, though.

It was a really windy walk. There are beautiful views from up there, and the terrain is very arid and desert-like. The lovely ocean view with the mountains disappearing into the background is looking toward Makapu'u beach, near Sea Life Park. We were lucky on the way out, because the bus stopped and let us off right at the road to the park. We had assumed we'd have to walk from Sea Life Park bus stop a mile away. We did have to walk back to the bus stop when we finished our hike, though. It wasn't hot, but it was a little scary walking on the highway.

BUS STORIES

We went to see the play Boeing Boeing at the manoa valley playhouse. As we were waiting at the transfer point we discovered that the other people waiting there were also going to the same play. They were very nice, and not from Canada. At least half the non-Asian tourists here are from Canada. Supposedly, Californians are the biggest group, but we never meet any. I guess the Canucks and Midwesterners are friendlier.
By the time the bus got up to the university, a bunch of other people got on. At some point one of the women said, "is anyone here going to Manoa playhouse?" About 10 people on the bus were going there. And they were all worried that we would be late. Except me, since I realized half the audience was on the bus. And we were 20 minutes early when we did arrive. The play was fun, a revival from the 60's about a man in Paris with three mistresses who were all airline stewardesses. The woman who played the maid ran away with the show. She reminded me of my friend Joanne.
We've had a couple of pretty windy days, and some jellyfish days, which means no swimming. I think after the jellyfish leave its going to be rainy, but rainy is a kind of relative thing here. It rains part of the day and then clears up.
We were going to go to Eggs and Things for breakfast, but there was a big line so we went up the street to a place that sells crepes rolled up like ice cream cones. But they are delicious. They aren't the macadamia nut pancakes at Eggs and Things, though.
I just got my braces a couple of days before we left, and it's really a lot of work. I have the Invisaligns, so I have to take them out in order to eat, and at the very least, I have to rinse my mouth out afterwards before I can put them back in. Brushing is preferred. And of course, in my world, a vacation is carte Blanche to eat constantly. So I've included a few pictures of places I've brushed my teeth.

KUNG HAY FAT CHOY

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Today is Chinese new year. So of course we went to Chinatown to watch the parade and go to the enormous street fair.
Its at least 6 blocks long. Chinatown in Honolulu is very different from Chinatown New York. In New York it's just a place to buy knockoff designer garbage.
In Honolulu it's very Chinese, it's a place to buy fresh vegetables, baked goods, and Chinese stuff that isn't all crap.
I can't really tell you much more but I'm uploading a bunch of pictures. This was really fun and NO FIRECRACKERS. Yay!

A WALK ON THE BEACH AND A CARNIVAL

I like to walk on a beach in an area called around Diamond Head. It is kind of a beach more for beachcombing than swimming.

div> There are various lava flows and tide pools and big rocks on the beach. I had gone down to the beach from a different access point than my usual, and it required that I walk around quite a bit of sea wall that was only about a foot from where the water washed up. I was thinking about not getting my shoes any wetter than they were, and just as I rounded a corner I suddenly realized that the rock was about 2 feet in front of me was a seal. I immediately gave it a wide berth, because I know how fast they can move if they are annoyed.

Usually when one comes ashore here, which is common, someone comes down and puts a sign out to keep people away from it. This was pretty far away from where any of the signs were located to put out. I found them about a half mile on down the beach. I didn't bring one back though.
We went to Punahou festival last year, but this year it was so much more fun. This year I remembered to bring earplugs (this place is like an inescapable rock concert with speakers EVERYWHERE).


We bought enough script so we had enough money to spend on the Portuguese bean soup, malasadas, ice cream bars, and Hawaiian plate dinner. Malasadas are basically the best donuts you ever ate. The plate dinner had pork with spinach and wrapped in a ti leaf ( I think), pineapple, poi, ceviche, rice and coconut custard pudding. They had a duo playing regular and slack key guitar who were pretty good. Punahou school is President. Obama's alma mater which has only increased its already enormous prestige.

/div>