Sandy Beach

This photo is from our first day at Sandy Beach, a local favorite spot to surf, just outside of Waikiki and awayfrom the tourists. Last night at dinner with the martial artists from the seminar one of the participants said "I heard it was really pounding at Sandy's." He was correct. Magnify the photo by clicking on it and you can clearly see a full grown enormous Hawaiian dude walking upright into the wave and beside him a surfer wiping out turned almost vertical in the wave. The face of the waves was easily 15 feet. I am not exaggerating. Measure the size of the wave with the size of that upright man. The beach actually shook while we sat on it.

Hawaii, Land of Food

BEHOLD the glory that is Korean Plate Lunch! And be healed.....

Korean Plate Lunch is a sacred island tradition. Kahlua Pig would eat it every day if Mrs.NYC let him. Much like The King fell pray to the sexy allure of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches so the mighty Kahlua Pig's proverbial eyes and left ventricle are at war over the delights of Meat Jun Plate Lunch - egg batter dipped slices of beef fried to perfection, mayonnaisy macaronni salad (the more mayo the better), seaweed salad, kimchee, bean sprouts, pickled cucumber, corn, etc.. All for $8.99. KP's favorite chain on the island is Yummy's BBQ. The photos above are a finished plate of Meat Jun, two photos of the sides you get (4 sides allowed plus two enormous scoops of white rice - I'm guessing almost 4 cups of it) and finally the menu board.

TESTIFY to the power of Malasadas!

The top two pictures are of delicious piping hot Malasadas, a Portuguese doghnut hole covered in crunchy white sugar. Leonard's, the chain that makes them, opens at 5:30am every day. This is when the Malasadas are screamingly fresh having just arisen from their morning oil bath and coating. Kahlua Pig and Mrs. NYC were there at 6:30am. They had to wait in line. IN LINE! At 6:30AM, people! That's how good these are. And quite a bargain at 79 cents a piece. You can have them plain or filled with cream for an additional 20 cents. This month's special cream flavour is Guava. They also feature coconut cream which KP tried and didn't like so much, mango cream, lichee cream and more exotic tropical fruit flavors. Leonards also has a pig in a blanket portuguese sausage wrapped in more dough called a pau pup. KP ate his while standing in line waiting to pay. At 6:30am. Note in the top picture the two cups of coffee. They are not your plain old boring French Roast, my friends. They are cups of Kona coffee, Hawaii's local bean and second only to Blue Mountain coffee is Jamaica for flat out rich flavour.

Now do you want to come along with us in 09????

Kayak School 101

While Mr. & Mrs. NYC are riding the waves in Hawaii, Mrs. RFD also had a watery adventure. Early Sunday morning, I checked in at the Annapolis Sailing School for a full day course in kayaking.
Right off the bat, we learned how to do a wet exit - that's when the kayak rolls over and the paddler manages to undo the spray skirt and exit the upside down canoe. It looks totally terrifying, but actually was a lot of fun to do !
Fortified with that comforting knowledge, we learned all kinds of paddling strokes and toured around the Chesapeake Bay and enjoyed the beautiful day. Sitting low in the water gives you a completely different point of view and the kayak itself makes you feel at one with the water.
After a delicious lunch, we learned how to get back into a kayak after being dumped out and how to save other kayakers. It was surprisingly difficult to maneuver with a PFD ( that's a personal flotation device or life preserver ) strapped tightly to your chest and a spray skirt attached to your middle and shoes and pants on. But we all managed to master rescuing, which again was very confidence inspiring and comforting.
The rest of the afternoon we spent paddling around the harbor, a creek and the bay, We met large and small boats and let me tell you, even a fairly middle-sized boat looks like the Titanic from the viewpoint of the kayaker ! There are the most amazing boats in Annapolis, it's not called the Sailboat Capital of the World for nothing.
At the end of the trip, the wind kicked up and we even had some surf to maneuver and ride into the beach, which was tremendous fun. I am now a confirmed kayker - I want to do this again !!

Waikiki Beach

Yesterday we enjoyed the tranquil blue waters of Waikiki beach and some super fun people watching. I would add lots of photos of the tourists but couldn't bring myself to blatantly take their pictures. Imagine lots of Japanese teenagers in heels, designer bathing suits and bling squealing like kindergartners as they jump the waves with their little floaty rafts. Adorable. Combined with baked tan locals who run the surfing schools that line the beach. Everyone was smiling, everyone was having a good old time just watching each other play. To the left there's a little girl with a rashguard and bathing suit kneeling on the front of a surf board while an older teacher smiles and steers her into her first wave. Will she get up? To the right a chubby pale guy from the "mainland" dives under at the last minute to avoid a breaking wave. It was good fun but we had to go in after two hours because Mrs. NYC has no melanin. Kahlua Pig is well on his way to a savage tan.

A restful day in paradise

A little dip in the tranquil blue waters of the Pacific are just the thing to wash away the jet lag of a 10.5 hour flight..... A silly little sign isn't going to deter us, right? Mrs. NYC chose to go in up to her ankles. Kahlua Pig decided to just take a quick dip. And ended up with sand in places where the sun don't shine....all day. Good times. Aloha for now

They made it !

Ms. NYC and the Commander have landed. Where ? I'll let her tell....

Inspiration

I don't know why, but sometimes certain things really inspire me.  Like this insanely expensive set of twig crayons I saw in Chasing Fireflies, a children's catalog that recently showed up at our doorstep.  For some reason my inner child is dying to draw with them!