For my
And this crazy Hello Kitty dress.
Post-arrival, I had a nice picnic lunch in front of this iconic site (Iolani Palace). Thanks Mari. So glad to be home!
At the end of Day 1, Daniel and I hit up Liliha Bakery for the legendary Coco puffs (bottom two) and I got to try their newer Green Tea coco puffs (upper two).
Got lunch at Gina's with Daniel and Brent where I ordered this Meat Jun & Korean Fried Chicken mini plate. Since meat jun can be hard to find on the mainland, I gotta get my fix back home.
No better way to work off a massive plate lunch than by heading to Makapu'u and kayaking out to Kaohikaipu Island (R).
Steak and cheese meat pie from Fiji Market in Kahuku. Never thought I'd be able to get a NZ style meat pie in Hawaii, but here I am.
After lunch, Daniel, Traci, Erik & I headed to Waimea Beach to scope out the massive waves. The lifeguards restricted water access to only experienced swimmers & surfers so most of the beach-goers sat on the sand and watched the action.
Hello old friend at Waimea. I'm sorry I didn't bring my rock climbing shoes, but I'm glad we got to spend a bit of time together. Hope to see you again soon!
Nothing like a post-beach shave ice from Waiola's. Lychee & lilikoi flavors for me.
Short rib dinner at Alan Wong's with Darren, Priscilla, Elise and Amber. So ono.
Breakfast the next day at Agnes' Portuguese Bake shop in Kailua. What else but a malasada?
After brekkie, Darren, Priscilla and I hiked on up to the Lanikai Pill Boxes. Pretty spectacular view from up there down to one of the best areas of the island. Clear skies, beautiful blue water and the Mokes there on the right.
The next day, Daniel and I hit up Sherwoods Beach to do some running drills in the sand with a football and a frisbee. We fed our tired legs by trying the Mexican restaurant in Waimanalo on the drive back. This flauta was pretty good by Hawaii standards (we just don't have quite as good Mexican food as I'm used to in Cali).
Dinner at Side Street Inn with the Troop 130 gang. We (Me, Daniel, Clif, Darren, Brandon and Matt) had a mini-reunion with our Scoutmaster, Mr. Izuka. Always nice to talk story with these guys and reminisce about the good old days of camping, ex lax and latrines.
Daniel, Clifton and I all don't live on Oahu anymore, and since we all made it back home for Xmas, we decided it would be fitting for us to get an Arizona Ice Tea and hang out at the Moana Surfrider Lanai to people watch like we used to do on many a Friday night. It never gets old.
With Daniel's trip home quickly coming to an end, we headed back on out to Makapu'u for some more kayaking. Can you spot Daniel & Clifton?
How about now?
We had three kayaks that we used to kayak down past Makai pier, but when we settled down to catch some waves, we only used the Scrambler (L) and Cobra (R) and therefore had to share (the Wave Ski bumped into a rock on the way back from the pier).
After all that kayaking, we earned ourselves a pretty good lunch: bentos from Fatboy's and an assortment of poke from Foodland. Simple, but delicious.
On Xmas eve, Daniel headed back to Cali. On the way to the airport, we stopped so he could pick up some food from Yama's for the plane ride back. We split this lau lau as a pre-flight snack.
Xmas dinner with Mum, Dad and Deryck. Spiral ham (not cooked on a 5 hr flight between HNL and SFO unfortunately), roast chicken, broccoli, haricot vert and roasted potatoes/kumara (aka sweet potatoes). And Martinelli's to be festive.
I found myself in a bamboo forest in Nu'uanu on Boxing Day (Dec 26) and that can mean only one thing: Kadomatsu season.
I'm glad Clif and others can keep this important tradition (of Chinese people handcrafting Japanese New Year's things) that Daniel got us doing so many years ago. We keep doing better every year!
After an afternoon of intense kadomatsu making, I sure felt like having a delicious dinner. Grant had heard about Sushi Sasabune (they only do omakase or "chef's choice") being the best sushi joint on the island. So we decided to take our unsophisticated palates there and give it a go. I did my best to respect the sanctity of the dining experience by limiting my photos, but I had to catch a picture of this plate of nigiri: scallop on the left and NZ King Salmon on the right. I'm confident in saying I've never had better sushi in my life.
The house specialty: negi-toro aka chopped bluefin tuna with green onions. The host liked to call this "tuna butter". Pretty unbelievable meal as a whole (and a check to match).
On the other end of the spectrum (and on a different night), we have this very affordable meal from Curry House. Phil has to have a plate at least once during his trip home so Traci and I joined him for dinner. My Chicken katsu and spinach curry really hit the spot.
Phil also continued a tradition of hiking up Koko Head Crater (which we've done together the last few years) for an awesome view of our side of the island.
Nick, Me and Phil at the top. I think I took longer to hike up this time around than recent years. I may need to set another resolution to improve my time in 2014.
And after enjoying the spectacular view, we had to walk back down the knee-busting incline.
After the hike, Mum and I went to meet up with Deryck & Dad at Punahou where Deryck (and his old, taped-up cleats) played in the annual Punahou Alumni Soccer game. On the way down the hill to Alexander Field, something in Uncle Tony's Volvo (which we borrowed over the holidays) gave out and we lost power. Bye bye transmission.
Being home for New Year's meant I had the privilege of heading up to Grant's place to welcome 2014 in style. As always, the celebration included sushi and ozoni (Japanese soup with mochi traditionally consumed for good luck on New Year's).
And then we blew up an obscene amount of firecrackers. Happy New Year!!!
On yet another beautiful Hawaiian day, we headed out to Kailua Beach to enjoy some sun (before the rain on the other side of the island came). Phil lounged around while I alternatively kayaked and then tried swimming to the island offshore (which I've done successfully before...but not this time). Darren and Priscilla joined for a bit too, but the rain followed soon after they arrived.
We had our family, holiday dinner this year at The Plaza Club Honolulu. From the 2-option set menu, I chose this tasty "Bouillabaisse" (containing fish, tako and mussels).
Not to let a perfectly good afternoon go to waste, Phil and I hiked the Manoa Falls Trail (during which I miraculously avoided mosquito bites). They maintained the trail a lot better than they used to and the conditions remained relatively good despite the recent rain.
Post-hike Boston's North End Pizza. Since Antonio's in Kahala shut down, Phil doesn't have many places to go for an authentic, East Coast style slice. But Boston's does a pretty good job.
We had a shindig at home and ended up with leftover Bubbie's Ice Cream Pie (chocolate & raspberry). That meant I got to have a lovely dessert at home every night for several nights (even after Deryck went back to HK).
On my second to last day home, I returned to the top of Koko Head Crater to catch the sunrise with Mari. Can't help but feel homesick looking at this pic. P.S. Good morning Molokai (L).
And later that very same day, I ended up on the opposite (Western most) point of the island with Darren & Priscilla. I had never hiked out to Kaena Point before, but I'm glad I did. Can you spot the (endangered) Hawaiian Monk Seals? They look a lot like rocks, except (when there in person) you can see them breathing.
Post-hike Açaí bowl from Lanikai Juice (in Haleiwa). Yummy.
I woke up on my last day and found out my flight back to SFO got canceled. After a hectic morning of calls to customer service, I finally got rebooked from HNL->KOA->SFO later that night. Then Mum, Dad & I went out for lunch!
I arrived in Kona and after sitting around the gate for a couple hours waiting for my SFO flight (till almost 1:00 am actually), I learned that the plane had engine problems and the flight would be canceled (they had to order the spare part from Oahu). Oh brother.
In addition to putting me up in the Hapuna Prince Hotel, I got a small meal subsidy ($7/meal). Let's make the most of this bonus day in paradise by starting out the day right (with papaya and malasadas).
And the beach!
Since I didn't actually take a vacation day, I had to work. With that said, I can't complain about my temporary office since I got a much better view than what I'm used to in my cube.
Sunset dinner at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and my "Catch of the Day" trio (Mahi, Ahi and Ono). Unsurprisingly, the $7/meal subsidy didn't cover much of this.
I arrived at the airport and the mechanics still had not fixed the plane. So us passengers sat anxiously in the Gate area (literally loosely connected huts if you haven't actually been to Kona Airport) while the clock kept ticking. After an additional delay, we finally got on board the plane and headed off to SFO. This flight marked only the second instance I've ever been upgraded to First Class (though I honestly just didn't have the energy to fully enjoy it).
There we go. An exciting (and longer than expected) vacation back to the 808 state. I'm grateful I got to spend that time with friends and family in this lovely place we call home. A hui hou!
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