The Love of My Life

This is Rolando (aka "Kahlua Pig"). Here, on our last day of our wonderful vacation here in Hawaii (Nei), Meg and I had a chance to reminisce about our recent adventures in Paradise. We remembered how we first flew over the Pacific, how the sun sets playfully over the horizon, our round-the-island trip that had stop-overs in majestic Waimea, and how we ate the delicious local food.

The mountains, the beaches, the cooling valleys, the humbling surf...Meg seems saddened to leave. She wonders how I can keep my good spirits, knowing we're leaving behind a true wonder of nature that we mortals are lucky to have.

What she doesn't know is that, for me, all this beauty can be had when I simply look at her: my beautiful wife of 9 years. The warmth of the ocean is in her smile, the mystery of these mountains in her eyes, the promise of paradise is always nearby when I hear her call my name, when I hold her close in my arms.

The skies here are somewhat overcast, and I hear there will be showers. I head to the beach regardless.

My wife is my sunshine when she smiles.

18 is the Magic Number

We came to Hawaii-ne for Number 18. Discovered by my mother in law in 1992 and subsequently eaten every single day by said mil for 6 MONTHS. It's that good, people. Seriously. It contains - BBQ beef thinly sliced and marinated in something succulent, beef egg rolls fried but not too heavy, cold rice vermicelli noodles, the ubiquitous julienned carrots, daikon radish, shredded lettuces, whole stalks of cilantro and mint leaves, fried shallots. To the left is the sauce bowl with some type of light oil and rice wine vinegar and ? It's a mystery. You have to wait for 18. They make it fresh when you order. It is worth the wait. Sit back, have an iced vietnamese coffee and some chilled shrimp summer rolls to dip in peanut sauce. The 18 will come. And when it comes, pause and smile as Mrs. NYC does above. Then, as Kahlua Pig demonstrates, pour your sauce into the bowl, mix like crazy with chopsticks and eat. Let the spring rolls sink to the bottom. They will soak up all of the savory sauce so that your last bite is even better than the first. How many dishes have you had that can claim they get better as you eat them? That is the magic of number 18.

On a side note, the original owners of Saigon Grill sold to new management somewhere around 2005. When we came to the restaurant on this trip and flipped open the menu we were perplexed to see that No. 18 was no some kind of Pho. What the #%#? Our waiter quickly reassured us that new management had not done in the 18. All the dishes had been reassigned new numbers. 18 was now 81. Does that make it Great? Or Taerg?

Got $700,000?

The lovely neighborhood of Hawaii Kai may be our future home.....we just fell in love with this little collection of condos surrounding a marina. In the lowest picture you see the approach to the neighborhood off of the highway. It is only a short 5 minute drive from Sandy beach. The condos are tucked off the main road and very quiet. You can dock your boat outside your front door and still you are only 10-20 minutes away from the center of downtown. The location is tremendous. Beach front property! In Paradise! Contributions happily accepted to the Garcia family retirement fund.

This visit brought to you by The Luz

Last night we went to Auntie Luz's beautiful house off the Pali highway way up in the mountains in the Nu'uana valley. Up here it is at least 10 degrees cooler than down by the beach in Waikiki. Cool breezes blow constantly and it is very lush and rainforesty as you can see in the photo we took of me on the street outside her house. The next photo is of the outside of her home. We brought her a Coach bag to thank her for letting us stay in the Banyan. I hope she really liked it - last time we visited we also gave her a Coach and she loved it. Filipinas love their brand name luxury accessories, so it was a safe bet. We had a big dinner and the last photo is of the majority of the family members present (there were actually more people but they couldn't fit in the frame.) This photo is of all the people who live in the house plus KP. The two men in the center in blue and red are Glenn and George, Auntie Luz's sons. Auntie Luz is on the right. The sons are holding their children and to the far left are their wives, Julie and Isa? sp?

Boogie Boarding and Body Surfing

These are pictures of the boogie and body surfers who are catching some morning waves at Sandy Beach, Mrs. NYC's favorite. The athleticism of these guys is really impressive. Can you tell that the face of those waves is at least 5 feet? The force of the water landing on top of you when you get to the bottom of the wave must be incredible. The surfers wear flippers so that they can kick into position quickly. To body surf they point one arm straight down the wave and go head first with their feet in the air. We saw more than one go head over heels in the white water as a wave pulled back from the shore. Kahlua Pig and I bought a boogie board with hopes of riding some baby waves at Waikiki beach, but the waves there are so mild that nothing happened. We will leave it behind in the condo for the next vacationers to enjoy. I want to take a surfing lesson tomorrow before we leave, but KP says play it by ear in case we are tired. No use sitting on a 10.5 hour flight if you are injured.

Ba Le Sandwich

Once again, the images should be viewed from the bottom scrolling up to the top - for dinner on our way home from the North shore yesterday we decided to pick up two tasty Ba Le sandwiches. This Vietnamese chain is all over Honolulu and has screamingly fresh meat, cheese and veggies in all of their sandwiches. We got two of the "specials" -- pork meat steamed, pork pate, head cheese, fresh cilantro, marinated carrots and daikon radish julienned all a top a freshly toasted and baked that morning baguette. You can see photos of the sandwich at the top of the post. Just the thing to eat when you're hungry, but not too hungry and a hearty sandwich fits the bill. We like to drink iced vietnamese coffee with condensed milk - Kahlua Pig is holding up his caffeinated goodness in the first pic. If you don't fancy staying up late from a caffeine buzz you can order an iced Lilikoi passion fruit juice or passion fruit guava juice - much tastier than a revolting Diet Coke. If you have a hankering for dessert then you can have a cup of tapioca pearls with taro pudding or coconut pudding, perhaps lychee or azuki bean? can you spot the rainbow jello cups in the case? very old school and i'm sure would be pleasing to any accompanying Piglets. So much food, so little time....

The North Shore

These photos (which should be viewed from the bottom to the top) are our day today on the North shore - home of big wave surfers, Shrimp trucks and all things rustic and relaxing. The first photo of red earth is taken outside the fields of the Dole Plantation. The next photo is the breathtaking view when you first glimpse the ocean on the windward side. We went into a little hamlet to the famous Matsumoto shave ice store. Shave ice is very fine and fluffy and served either with flavored syrup in a paper cup or with the addition of ice cream and azuki beans on the bottom. Kahlua Pig opted for coconut, lihingmoey and lime on top of ice cream and azuki beans. Mrs. NYC got green apple, strawberry and bubblegum. Thus refreshed we continued on highway 83 (which runs right by the water) to the gorgeous Waimae Bay. You can see the pic from the highway that takes in the whole bay. The parking lot is tiny so we had a little walk down the narrow highway to the beach. This is the beach where all the famous surfers come in December to catch the biggest waves on Oahu. In September it is like a very friendly bathtub. KP is shown resting from the exertion of a dip while in the background people frolic. After two hours of bathing and admiring tourists jumping off the big rocks in the distance, we had worked up an appetite. We proceeded down the highway to the famous Shrimp Trucks. There used to be only one original truck, Giovanni's - but now competitors have sprung up like toadstools. We went to a new truck and you can see Mrs. NYC posing holding her ticket for two plates of butter garlic shrimp with a side of local corn on the cob. I had to wear that silly blue shirt over my bathing suit as I have unusually shaped sunburn on my chest from a washed off sunscreen situation at Waikiki beach. Disregard the lumpy shirt. Focus on the gleeful smile and the delicious buttery shrimp with CHUNKS of fresh garlic. Outstanding. The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering down the highway for home. KP took some amazing photos out of the passenger side window. He may have an alternate career here. The last photo is his work - the mystical Valley of the Temples wreathed in clouds and sudden strong showers where the air is so humid you can taste the jungle leaves. All in all a very satisfactory touristy day. More to come........