Mainland vs. Island

Although living on an island in the middle of the Pacific is super exotic, there are many things, simple things, that this place is lacking or just doesn't have because it is an island and I truly miss.Here are a few (not in order of importance):

- Neighborhoods
- Mexican food
- Cafes , even just coffee stands
- Outdoor seating at restaurants (why Hawaii doesn't have outdoor seating is their restaurants is beyond me. Hello???)
- Billboards (there is literally no advertising here)
- White people
- Not even a good, but just a decent pizza parlor
- Pubs or good dive bars (we have none)
- Trains
- Bridges
- Recycling (this one is really annoying)
- Self check-out stands
- Trader Joe's (it's funny to me that the clerks at Trader Joe's are forced to wear Aloha shirts but there isn't even a Trader Joe's in Hawaii. I don't get it).

I guess I can't fault this place too much because we really are in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes I like to look on the map and remind myself how far away from home I really am.


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Koko Head

There are no shortage of places to hike here in Hawaii. When Nic and I first arrived here we spotted this trail on a crater that literally went strait up. We zoomed in and noticed that there were actually people hiking it. The first thing that came out of Nic's mouth was "OH, HELL NO!". I secretly thought to myself that I want to challenge this some day.

Well, I did. Nic has been in Portland taking care of a little business and I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to take on Koko Head. I heard a lot of people do it, and a lot of them do it multiple times per week so I thought what's the big deal. It can't be that hard. Plus, I have been running a lot of stairs so I should be totally conditioned for this. Umm, no. It was brutal. I even witnessed a grown man crying on the trail.



The trail is literally made up of an old railroad track that goes straight up the crater that was used back in the day for something important. Now, it acts as your only lifeline between you and death. There literally is one section of the trail that is just a bridge made out of this track and you have to tip toe your way across in effort not to fall off. You're tired, dizzy and weak and now you have to tightrope walk this bridge? Sounds safe. Not to mention that there is a shooting range below so the entire time you hear gun fire going off. I remember thinking at one point "Please, shoot me. Please shoot me."

Wet n' Wild

Forgive us visitors for we have sinned. On Thursday Nic and I decided to hit the water park that we have been tempted to go to since we moved here. I feared it would be nothing but a bunch of dirty diapers and screaming kids but boy was I wrong. It was AWESOME! So awesome that we got a season pass to it. We wish we would have discovered this sooner so we could have brought our guests here.














Also, we played it smart and tail gated it before we went with some Crown & Coke.














Sorry kid, maybe next year you can ride on the big kid rides and tail gate with us.

Cougar Cruise 2010

So last month my mom and her best friend, Barbie, called me up rather intoxicated threatening that the two of them were going to come to Hawaii to visit. I went along with it over phone thinking that by time their Crown Royal had worn off they would get cold feet. Well guess what...the Crown Royal never wore off and the two of them came to visit us for a week! The four of us had a blast and Nic looked like a pimp with his two cougars and puma.

We tried to keep the agenda simple as they wanted to just learn about our life here. Well...as you know Nic and I have major A.D.D. so keeping anything SIMPLE is foreign to us. Our week ended up being full of fun events, play and laughter. I have learned too that it is always nice to have your mom(s) visit. Somehow the dishes and laundry magically get done and you know you will never go without a meal.



p.s. Uncle Greg, your wife is a horrible bowler.

Honeymooners

Yet again another leap of absence from blogging which usually means more time spent at the office than I like. I have been taking on some design projects outside of my daily grind in the showroom which have been super fun, but I find myself now working at least 6-7 days a week. My tan is suffering severely and my workouts have resulted into a 10 min. jump roping session. In the midst of all of it Mark and Deb (Nic's sister and newly awesome husband) were here visiting us for the past couple weeks. In the few short hours I had to spend with them we had a blast! One of the beauties about people visiting you is that you really get time do know one another, even if it is just over making scrambled eggs together in the morning before work.

Our favorite day together was spend in Kailua which is our favorite town in Oahu. We started off boogie boarding at the beach.







And then we realized we needed a Coor's light while boogie boarding. Just about the time we cracked the can, a large "sneaker wave" attacked us and we lost our beer.



I had to peel off for a 2 o'clock meeting but that didn't keep us from partying later on. We wrapped up the evening back in Kailua at our favorite dive bar "The Palace" where is was fist discovered on Tracy and Trevor's visit. Conveniently they were singing Karaoke that night and so Nic of course did a few numbers. The crowd at the bar loved his singing so much that they continued to buy us another round if Nic would stay and keep singing. I finally got up there and did a number and then after that they made me pay for my drink.

Chef Mavro

There are not many things that can replace my Sunday family dinners I used to have with my parents every week, but last night could have been it's only challenger. I was invited to an exclusive dinner at one of the suites at the new Trump International Hotel in Waikiki. (For those of you who I haven't shared this with I am working on a very cool project here in re-doing one of the suites for Seven Signatures who is the big Japanese developer for this project. More to follow on that.) Only eight guests were invited and I got to be one of them! But wait, the coolest part comes next. This exclusive dinner was prepared in the suite by the famous Chef Mavro. He is an award winning chef from France and Hawaii's most recognized "proprietor." The food was amazing to say the least. Here was our menu for the evening:

Trump Tower “7 Signatures”

Private Chef Dinner

April 11, 2010 at 6:00pm

(8 guests)

Champagne Cocktail

Grape Goat Cheese-Pistachio Balls

Flamiche

Abalone Escabeche

Menu

hamachi poke & caviar

yellowtail fish seasoned with hanapepe salt

topped with california estate malossol caviar, island avocado

country bread toasted with extra virgin olive oil, mustard leaves

kanzuri yuzu-chile sauce

wine suggestion: albarino

meli-melo of Spring vegetableS

green & white asparagus, ma’o farms organic vegetables of the day

sumida watercress, chick pea fritters, eggplant tahini, black garlic

wine suggestion: dry vouvray

keahole lobster & pirie mango salad

curried mango & roasted red bell peppers, taro chips

“poisson cru” sauce

wine suggestion: viognier

100% wagyu beef

sautéed strip loin medallions, oxtail rillettes, potato fondants

onion sprouts & garlic shoots, sumida watercress puree, bordelaise sauce

wine suggestion : chianti

pre-dessert

korean pear in champagne jello

chocolate and banana

chocolate banana crème caramel, chinese almond decadence

almond ice cream

wine suggestion: port, tawny

before each dish was served, chef mavro would explain his inspiration behind it which often included his visits and studies for all over the world. after the dish was introduced, the wine master who hand selected the wines that paired perfectly with each dish introduced the wine we were being served and the reason behind his selection. the chef had about 4 people on staff; 3 in the kitchen with him and one front line host as he called him. this guy made sure that every napkin was in our lap, not a crumb was on the table, and no drinks were ever left empty. it was incredible!

The other guests that joined us for dinner were not small chickens either:

Kundo Koyama: Broadcasting scenario writer. (one of the original writers for Iron Chef)

Yumiko Inukai: Food journalist

MuneakiMaeda: Food photographer

Tae Yonezawa: Deputy chief editor for GEOTHE

Scott Ingwers: GM of Trump Tower

Akiko Tsuji: Concierge of Trump

Yoichiro Nakano (my client and CEO of Seven Signatures)

I knew this night called for a classy attire so I decided to go a s M aril yn for the evenin g...

The Price of Paradise

FUCK! It is expensive here. According to Forbes living in Honolulu costs 55% more than living in the average U.S. city. (probably should have read that before I moved me and my husband here). And let me tell you why:

A carton of eggs is $3.99
Celery is $3.44 per lb.
Gas is $3.55 per gallon
The "$5 Footlong" is really $6
And there is no such thing as The Dollar Tree because there isn't a damn thing here you can buy for $1.00.

But, it is beautiful here.