Off for a quick trip to Hawaii!!

January 22, 2009

Hello and Happy New Year!

We had not planned to blog during our 12 night trip to Hawaii with Mom, but old habits die hard, and we received several requests to tell people what we’ve been up to and to take some photos … so, here comes an abridged version of our trip to date, along with an assortment of photos. As the days go on, we will be updating daily…if only to prevent us from forgetting some of the most amazing meals we’ve ever had!

Arrived in Honolulu via United Airlines and LAX around 12:30 p.m. Uneventful flight; very smooth; didn’t even have a movie that I wanted to watch! Picked up the luggage and rental car and made our way into town via Nimitz Highway (forget the freeway…) to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Lovely room on the 25th floor in the Rainbow Tower; incredible views down the beach to Diamond Head. We had stayed in the Rainbow Tower the first time we came to Honolulu with Mom, and she really wanted to stay there again … so, we did! While our first task was to unpack and get settled in, our second (and more urgent) need was for food! Headed down to the Hau Tree bar by the Super Pool for our first Hawaiian meal – Mom had a foot long hot dog (it was HUGE!) with chili (which she ended up wearing…thank goodness for washing machines!); I had a foot long hot dog (hold the chili!) and R had chicken fingers. Everything came with Maui potato chips, and did I mention the two glasses of wine each? Bill came to over $90 … I’m not kidding, boy, was that a surprise! (And the wine came in PLASTIC glasses!)
Spent the rest of the afternoon browsing around the Village – it is truly a little town on its’ own! Six huge towers of accommodation, probably close to a dozen different restaurants – topped only by the number of jewelry shops sprinkled here and there. (Including the newest tower, Kalia, which also accommodated the Mandara Spa.) Lots to see, that’s for sure!

We were so full from our late lunch at the pool, that we decided to head to the deli instead of a big dinner. Mom and I both got sandwiches (hers Reuben; mine an incredibly wonderful rare roast beef on a French roll) R had a Greek salad. Sandwiches actually were so big that we both brought half home and stored in the fridge in the room – and ate on Friday morning for breakfast!

Up fairly early (suffered quite a bit from jet lag!) and down for a walk on the beach. Weather very balmy; amazing sunrise! The one thing on the agenda with a time-frame was Pearl Harbor and the battleship Missouri. We arrived there just a few minutes after their opening time of 7:30 a.m. – brief delay while we had to go back to the car with our purses – absolutely NOTHING allowed in to the USS Arizona Memorial … seriously silly. Got our tickets for the video and spent the intervening half-hour in the museum. They will actually start the re-building of the visitor center and museum later this month. First saw the half-hour video of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Very well done; incredibly moving; brought tears to my eyes. Then we boarded the Naval launch over to the Arizona Memorial; another misty moment. Not too crowded, as we were so early; the advantage (sometimes) of jet lag! Once back at the visitor center we headed across the parking lot to the Bowfin submarine, (which we’ve toured before) where we got tickets for the battleship Missouri. This has been something that we’ve really been wanting to see – ever since it was moved to Pearl Harbor a few years ago. The Missouri is the battleship on which the Japanese surrender in WWII was signed in Tokyo bay. The weather, which had been pretty good up until now, finally closed in with rain, but somehow that was a fitting way to see the Missouri. We had been on the aircraft carrier Midway in San Diego, which is incredibly well signed and laid out … the Missouri really isn’t done nearly as well, but it was still a poignant visit. Back to the Bowfin visitor center just around noon, and we headed back into Honolulu.

As it happened to be around lunch time, we detoured around Punchbowl Hill to the National Cemetery of the Pacific, and then from there to the Honolulu Contemporary Art Museum. (Knew the café there was pretty good from prior visits!) The Museum is in a renovated home high on a hillside overlooking the city; incredible location; amazing house. Mom had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch. R and I had their excellent tomato and garlic soup for starters, then split their beef quesadilla and middle-eastern plate with hummus, pita bread, olives, cucumbers, feta cheese and tomato. Excellent! Got to see my very favorite piece of modern art – Dropped Bra; and no, I’m not kidding! First met Dropped Bra when it was on loan to Art Center’s sculpture garden – and then it went away…and years later, when we turned a corner in Honolulu at the museum, voila! One of the few pieces of contemporary art that I actually know by name!! (Will definitely include a picture, but if the details aren’t good, just think HUGE pink, painted, steel and you’ll have some idea…) Toured the house and the Hockney special exhibit; some lovely pieces have been added since our last visit! From there, back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. (Yes, these blogs are ALL about food!)

Dinner Friday night was at the Kobe Steak House on the corner of Kalia and Ala Moana next to the hotel. Teppan style; excellent food! Mom and R had the shrimp; I had the fillet; we also had their garlic fried rice! Whew, that was good! Waddled out of the restaurant and back to the hotel for bed. A wonderful interlude of fireworks right in front of our hotel – we watched from the 25th floor! A spectacular display! What a wonderful way to end the day!

Saturday morning we indulged in the hotel’s buffet breakfast; very good! Headed out for the Bishop Museum in town. Our first visit there, and it was really impressive (even though they are undergoing some renovation.) A lovely Pacific collection; lots of old photographs and memorabilia of Hawaiian royalty. They also have a planetarium and science center which we will return to one day. Back to the hotel for Japanese noodles for lunch then a walk down the beach as far as the Royal Hawaiian. Turns out the Royal Hawaiian (the PINK hotel!) has been closed for the past 7 months for a total renovation – but they were gearing back up to host a big Presidential inaugural ball on Tuesday night! The hotel itself is running with about 20 rooms at the moment, and won’t be fully back on line until mid-March of this year. But the beach-side bar was doing a brisk business, so we stopped there for wine and a G&T before walking back through the hotel and on to the street to window-shop all the way back to the hotel. We had dinner reservations that night at Keo’s, Mom’s first ever Thai restaurant from years ago. They’d moved since our last visit, and were within easy walking distance of the hotel – so we walked! Amazing meal! We had an incredible waiter and a terrific spot overlooking the street –great for people-watching! We had spring rolls and both chicken and beef satay with peanut sauce for starters. Dinner was Evil Jungle Prince with chicken and some GREAT Thai short-ribs with rice. Had NO room left for dessert! We did get a great tip from our waiter about another restaurant in town – JJ’s French Bakery … which you will hear more off in a day or two!

Sunday was an incredibly lazy (and STRESSFUL!) day – FOOTBALL playoffs! We stocked up on munchies at the ABC store (the local version of 7/11) and sat down to watch…have to admit that I did run away from the TV with a book and paced around downstairs until R called me to say that AZ was going to win! (The wonders of cell phones…) Then I dashed quickly over to the nearest sports bar to see the end! Just wonderful – and now BOTH of my teams are going to play each other! Hmmm…Mom and I had spa appointments at the Mandara Spa (really lovely facility) for Sunday night – Mom got her hair done and we both got pedicures. But because I didn’t get finished until 9:15 p.m. we decided to get take-out pizza – (Round Table Pizza in the Village) – which was great – especially after all those munchies! Perfect ending to a great kind of day!

Monday was the day we’d set aside to circumnavigate the island. Started out fairly early, through Waikiki and Kahala and then out into the countryside. Absolutely beautiful day. We moseyed along at a fairly slow pace; not too much traffic on the roads. Stopped to take pictures and enjoy the lovely beaches. Pulled up just around opening time to Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. Jon and Lisa Walters in Sierra Madre recommended Giovanni’s to us; thought we’d try it! When I say “shrimp truck” that’s exactly what it was! But we all got plates of their garlic shrimp with rice – and WOW! Amazing! So thanks, Jon and Lisa! Not sure (check out the photos) if we’d have stopped there without their recommendation, but will definitely do so again in the future! (Have I mentioned how much I love garlic?!) Wonderful waves on the North Shore; balmy breezes – definitely a paradise kind of day!

Got back around 4, which gave us time for naps before our reservation at JJ’s French Bakery. This was away from Waikiki in a residential neighborhood. They don’t have a liquor license, but there was a good wine shop across the street, so R grabbed an excellent bottle of French white wine. JJ is Laotian and learned pastries in New York City. You walk past the desserts first into the small restaurant. I had set menu A and R had set menu B. (The difference was the appetizer…and R won!) Mom had fish (don’t remember what kind.) R and I started with small cups of asparagus soup. Excellent! My appetizer was a lemon grass curry chicken roll; R had the lobster bake – YUMMY! Lobster on a crouton with avocado sauce. R had a grilled Cornish game hen, and I had a sea scallop napoleon with egg plant and zucchini. Everything GREAT! For dessert – and we had such a difficult time making a decision that we brought a box of pastries home with us! R had a pear brioche and I had a strawberry shortcake…no calories there!
Again, waddled back to the hotel…had no idea there was so much good food in Hawaii!

Tuesday was first and foremost Presidential Inauguration Day. Fortunately for us, noon Washington DC time was 7 a.m. Hawaii time, so we were able to both watch the ceremonies and then head out for WASH day, as we were all running out of clothes to wear! (Plus remember Mom and her chili dog?!) Found the closest Laundromat to the hotel; just a long block from the hotel, and pulled in around 8. Nice place; good machines, although one load in a normal-size machine took 14 quarters!! Yes, folks, that’s $3.50 per LOAD to wash, and 25 cents per five minutes to dry! So…Brought things back to the hotel and decided to walk back down the beach and see what was available for lunch. Ran into a sports bar that had both the inaugural parade AND the Australian Open on at the same time! I had a chef salad; R had a BLT and Mom went with corned beef hash … (certainly not my choice, but then I didn’t have to eat it!) Wandered through shops (including LUSH!) and finally back to the hotel. Spent some time getting organized and re-packed for our flight to the Big Island on Wednesday morning. Dinner was at Roy’s in Waikiki. Again, a great meal! This time we each had a different salad for starters (mine was with goat cheese!) and then ordered off the appetizer menu – spring rolls, short ribs, crab cakes and potstickers – each one better than the last! Back to the hotel to finish the meal with pastries we’d gotten the night before at JJ’s. A wonderful ending to a great day!

Well, on that meal, I’m closing for the night. Will post tomorrow, and try to catch everyone up with our visit to the Big Island!!

Thanks for following along!
Much love,
M