Saturday, May 05, 2007

My first trip to Hawaii (Part II)

Random snack #1: BOY chips, adobo flavor.




For our boy, Alex. Who is at home, minding Tar-tar. And likes adobo.









We found the chips at Sueoka's grocery store. I also found a cat.













Random snack #2:


Papaya.

I guess I have never had fresh papaya before. It tastes like potpourri.

Gack.



Random snack #3:



The snackers: mosquitos.

The snack: Wisa.

By the time we got to our house, she had gotten four or five squeeter bites. They sure do like native blood.







Oki Diner!

















Typical Hawaiian eats: loco moco, saimin, mac nut pancakes, spam fried rice, etc.



Yumi and I split the pancake special, which consists of two pancakes, two eggs, and Portugese sausage.

Good, fluffy cakes. Nicely seasoned sausage. Perfectly manageable for two people.













Toru & Mich split the loco moco and saimin (not pictured).













Large. Intimidating. Salty. Good.

































Franco & Wis split the same pancake special. It comes with three different syrups: vanilla, coconut, and strawberry. I think they're a mixture of coconut milk, sugar, and strawberry or vanilla. They have the consistency of yogurt, come in little refrigerated Tupperware containers, and are super sweet. The others liked them, but I was too busy wrapping little pieces of pancake around my Portugese sausage.

Thumbs up! If you're in Lihue and are looking for solid diner snacks, go here.



Puka Dog!



So the reason Yumi & I went halves on breakfast is that we were saving room for our Puka Dog lunch.









What is a Puka Dog, you ask?

Puka means 'hole.' This place bakes their own buns then pokes a hole in them with a dual-duty hole-poker/bun-toaster thing. Then the bun is filled with your choice of sauces and your choice of dog.

How do you order your Puka Dog? So glad you asked...






















































Dinner at Trish's sister's giant rental house!



This is Pam, Trish's sister and Wallace & Gromit's momma.

(Kidding. His name's not really Wallace.)

There was fried chicken, the most amazing roast pork, salad, kalua pig, roast duck, and lots of beautiful fruit.














Oooh.












Aaah.
















While Pam, Mrs. Wong, and the aunties did all the work, the rest of us sat around...
















...took photos of each other...














































...and Gabe played bartender.



















We all know how much Trish likes her booze.












My plate: Kalua pig, fried chicken, rice, and fruit, fruit, fruit (no papaya, though).

If I lived here, I would eat nothing but pineapples & mangoes.
























Jeremy tries to eat in peace...















...with little success.



















Most of the food came from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Don't know the name of the place, but everything was really yummy.




The roast pork was juicy, salty, and had lovely, crispy skin. And the fried chicken was awesome.



















There are an awful lot of free-range chickens on Kauai, so it's no wonder the chicken was so good.

Some years ago, there was a hurricane that destroyed a chicken farm. Ever since then, Kauai has been overrun by chickens.

Of course, I don't think you're really allowed to catch the chickens and eat them. But if I lived here, I'd certainly take advantage of the free chickens. And the eggs.

I'm just sayin'...

Friday, May 04, 2007

My first trip to Hawaii (Part I)

Kauai!



Gorgeous, eh?














Jurassic Park was filmed here.

You can almost see the dinosaurs.




We (Wis, Franco, Roy, Yumi, Michelle, Toru, & I) rented a lovely 4-bedroom house on the southern side of Kauai. It was next to a golf course and was surrounded by chickens...








...and very close to Poipu Beach!











The beaches on Kauai remind me of Okinawa, which is about as high a compliment as I can come up with. Okinawa was my first beach experience. After that came Long Island Sound (cold, gray, awful), then New England (moderately pretty but freezing), San Francisco (pretty, but freezing and shark-infested), San Diego (warm but lots of Tijuana sewage), and Florida (warm but lots of tourists and giant mice).

Kauai's beaches had perfect sand, and the water was BLUE, the way it's supposed to be.


Yumz, Franco, Stew, Wendy, & Gabe bravely decide to try surfing.














The rest of us stay behind to document the carnage.


















This is Sparky, the surfing instructor.















Yumi said he was a good teacher.

But Stew looks confused here.











Franco, however, is a natural.

On land, at least.















So here they go...
















...and here they are, afterwards.

No one died! I call that a success.















We were all impressed.













Onto the snacks...



Koloa Fish Market!

A tiny deli-type place that serves plate lunches.

We all get our food and go back to out house.









I get the ahi with wasabi cream sauce and pork & gravy.

Served, of course, with mac salad and two scoops of rice.





The ahi is fabulous, but the pork's not as salty or as good as Wisa's mom would make.


Look at this giant piece of fat.

Hey, fat is where the flavor is. This is why all the food here tastes so good.

(I didn't eat that piece, though. Ugh.)




































































































Lappert's Ice Cream!















Awesome Kona coffee ice cream...














...and guava sorbet.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Happy Easter!

I am the world's worst blogger.

I have posts from February that I have yet to post.

Sigh.

In the meantime... Happy Easter!










No one decorates eggs like the Buddhists.