So, the day I headed back home happened to be a very special day indeed (Happy B-day Cat!). It also happened to be the day that Apple Inc. released the iPhone out into the wild. Being a former employee and longtime Apple fan, I had to go see it for myself. No surprise that I had to go to the first store I had ever been to (and the first store I worked at): Ala Moana.
So, there we are. Me on the right, the magical iPhone on the left. They did a terrific job on it and I can't wait to see what's in store for the bigger and better update that will no doubt be coming some time in the future.
The next day, I took part in a bit of a mini island tour (around the east side at least) w/Melissa. One of the stops along the way was the Pali Lookout. Here's the view of Kaneohe & the surrounding areas from said lookout.
Melissa wanted to take some photos with her SLR camera and so that was the idea behind our trip. Here she is at the Pali Lookout.
And here I am at the Lookout as well. As always, it was plenty windy up there and I tried leaning into the wind a bit to see if it would hold me up (not over the edge). It sorta worked a bit but I didn't get much of a lean.
The two of us and the sign in front of the lookout. This was on our way back to the car which Melissa had, mistakenly, parked in the bus parking area. Much to our chagrin, a police officer gave us a stern warning that it wasn't allowed. We certainly will remember not to do that again officer!
After a round the island tour, we headed down to the Flavors of Honolulu event that showcased a number of tasty dishes available at local restaurants.
Air New Zealand was a sponsor and in celebration of NZ, they flew up a ton of fresh NZ green lipped mussels and had their head chef prepare them 3 different ways. Here's my favourite dish of the whole show: a spicy, garlic-y mussel dish.
Melissa chose the mussels prepared in white wine & kawa kawa. Quite tasty, but not as good as mine (in my opinion).
Melissa and her crab and ulu ravioli, bacon and herb-crusted scallop & grilled shrimp with lemon gastrique. Very tasty food indeed.
Here I am eating a bit off my dish (shown in closer view in the next pic down). And yes, that's my Sunny Dunedin shirt (thanks Nat!).
The aforementioned dish. It's an arare encrusted salmon filet w/some delicious sauce and some mushroom rice.
And for dessert, here we have a tropical cobbler (had some pineapple & mango inside) ala mode (with mac nut ice cream).
And also a creme brulee with mixed berries. This was good, but definitely not as good as anything I had in Paris. Just thought I should make that clear...
Since I had already done part of the round the island tour, I figured why not do the rest. And so, Josh, his visiting friend Henry & I drove round the rest of the northern end. One of the many stops along the way: Laie Point. And yes, I think I do take pictures of this place every time I go even though it looks the same each time.
Passing through Kahuku meant an obligatory stop off at Giovanni's for their legendary shrimp scampi...
We rounded the North Shore and would've stopped for shave ice at Matsumoto's except the line was ridiculous. So, after heading home to change, Josh's family invited us all out (including Grant) to dinner @ Haleiwa Joe's (the Kaneohe one rather than the one in Haleiwa...which we passed by when we drove through).
Henry, Josh, Myself & Grant at Haleiwa Joe's. They had a beautiful garden & pond in the area behind & beneath where we are standing in the pic. Very nice area, ambience & food.
What's a trip to a nice, fancy restaurant without me taking pictures of the food? I had an awesome grilled ahi fillet. You can see a bit of Josh's prime rib on the top left and some of Henry's baby back ribs. Grant's chicken (which tasted very much like huli-huli style) is not pictured but was pretty good too.
For dessert, we all split this ginormous mac nut ice cream with fresh fruit topped with burnt caramel. Decadent.
Next day began with breakfast at Jack's (the restaurant in Aina Haina rather than "the Box" one). Here's my portuguese sausage omelette & hashbrowns. This was just before taking my brother to Honolulu Ford for his first day at work (yes, the kid finally got a job...even though it's a pretty lax one).
Continuing the plethora of food photos (don't worry, there are other non-food photos coming up), here's dinner from that night: a combination plate from Yummy's Korean BBQ. Nothing like meat jun, bbq chicken, bean sprouts, long rice, choy sum & the oh-so-yummy garlic/mayo potatoes. I may make this a requirement for every trip home (since none of us seem to be able to find meat jun on the mainland). And yes, I did finish everything on that plate (except for a bit of rice).
Okay, one more food picture and then we're on to the other stuff. Promise. Anyways, so the 4th of July rolled around and I had lunch at Blu Water Grill out in Hawaii Kai with my family. Here's a delicious furikake encrusted salmon w/buerre blanc sauce, stir fried veges & rice. Great restaurant if you've never tried it and are ever looking for a place to eat out on the eastside.
So we finally have our first non-food pic in quite some time. After lunch, I headed on down to Josh's Uncle's place at the Yacht Towers across from Ala Moana to enjoy the fireworks display (I came here last year too for those of you who can/can't remember). As you can see, there's a beautiful view of Magic Island & Ala Moana Beach Park where the festivities would take place later on during the cover of night. To kill time, we ate Curry House for dinner, walked around Ala Moana Beach Park & played lots of Wii! I must also note that this and the following group of photos are courtesy of Melissa who was kind enough to play photographer for the evening.
An island sunset. Ah home.
I'm not gonna say much about the next 5 photos because I think they generally speak for themselves. They represent only a small portion of the many different types of fireworks that were on display that night. Overall, a brilliant job.
Closed streets, plenty of pedestrians and a packed Ala Moana. Just like last year.
So Grant did a little, live dance performance for those of us lucky enough to be there. For those who weren't as fortunate, here's a little taste of the goods.
A trip home is not complete without a trip to the beach. So here we are at Lanikai Beach. Thanks to Ryan (Kawika) for the invite out and the Jambas. You're the man.
Josh, Myself, Grant & Kevin chilling at the beach. Just another day in the 808.
Why did I only go home for a week? I had to come back to LA to see the dude in this picture. Glad you could make it down from Nor Cal Daniel. I hope you enjoyed a little bit of the So Cal lifestyle & weather. Pictured: Josh, Traci, Dan & Myself after a crazy Mario Party 8 Wii game where Josh just pipped Daniel at the post.
So that's pretty much it. I'd just like to leave you guys with this picture of me & a car I saw at the Pasadena Classic Car show a month or so back. Gotta shout out to the homeland!
All in all, another successful trip back to the islands I'd say. It never gets old and it's always fun & memorable in new and exciting ways each time. I hope those of you will consider a trip out sometime if you haven't been (ever or in a while) and I will definitely make an effort to be there to enjoy the fun with you. Hope everyone's summer (or winter for you guys in the Southern Hemisphere) is going well and that's all for now I suppose. Take care and go the All Blacks!!!!
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