Saturday, March 20, 2010
Hmmm, I think I failed to write about the S. Kona Green market last Sunday! What did I do last Sunday?? Oh yes, the package! That was incredibly fun.
Posted at 11:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Anyway, I wrote down "Araucana chickens," but that's it! Araucana chickens are the green egg chickens.
Posted at 8:47:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Today was fun. :-) Kenichi for dinner. Soon I won't be able to get anymore good uni or octy or miso black cod!! I had a spider roll again and it's a thumbs up addition to my Kenichi repertoire. The shiso makes the roll.
I've been waaaay less tired out and shoulder-hurty this visit, probably because I've been neglecting ALB and never posting! I've cut way back on the hours I usually spend killing myself at the computer when I'm here to write great ALB entries, and instead have just written e-mailed notes on my Palm as I go along and saved them in draft mode. It has yet to be determined how much quality I am losing by doing this. A drafty note that's filled in later is probably highly inferior to a real stream-of-consciousness note like this one, but we shall see just how inferior. My last published post was about March 3rd, so I don't even want to think about how behind I am.
2010 Do Next Time List:
Posted at 5:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
(things we haven't tried yet are in italics)
- Get a Hulk Jeep (I forgot to post, I ended up really liking the Hulk, even though it is harder to park. The back seat doors are invaluable!)
- use little backpack almost exclusively
- use Palma to write blog posts when away from computer (didn't use my blog notebook at all this year!)
- KAPA 99.1, LAVA 104.7, KONI 105.3
- Manta restaurant at Mauna Kea?
- Pipe Dreams
- Feet at Pahoehoe Beach Park
- O's-to-go!
- Try orange mango lassi at Lotus
- Keauhou Farmer's Market
- South Kona Green Market
- Wednesday Market (if it's still alive)
- Ho'okena dive - do not go Wednesday or weekends, head to north, has facilities & shower
- Miloli'i dive - do one! (didn't get to this year)
- Pebble Beach 2 tank dive (really do it!)
- Pine Tree Portal dive
- Pine Tree Pool dive
- Roller Rink dive
- Black Rock dive? With North Shore dive Co.
- Puako dive
- Ke'ei dive
- Ke'ei restaurant (get ahi, not spearfish)
- Mi's
- Roadhouse
- Nasturtium
- Patz Pies
- Lotus
- Original Thai
- Cafe Pesto
- Merriman's (haven't gone in a few years)
- Saketumi (go early to avoid loudness)
- Kenichi
- Aloha Angel
- Pahu I'a
- Taco Del Mar
- Imari (didn't go this year)
- Coffee & Epicurea for Larry's Famous and banana bread
- Kona Mountain, Kona Coffee and Tea, Surfin Hilary, Kailua Candy Company (with honu!), Kope
- Ghost Beach Dude-ing on composite picnic table atop concrete slab
- Outdoorsing
- Work on Netbook in Lanai Office
- Mother's gars
- Mauna Lani Foodland gars
- Kohala dive shop for silly t-shirts and dive products
- Herb long hot walk (didn't get to do this year)
- Ke-awa-iki long hot walk
- Aloha Massage Academy (get appt. early in trip)
- Overnight trip to Stitch, Oahu, or Molikai
- Lots of lulos! (including bananalulos)
- Dragonfruit (Dean!), calamansi, soursop, tamarind
- Happy chicken eggs
- T. Rangpur & spritzer fruit things from Island Naturals
- Shochu with rangpur
- Slurpy oranges (tangelos)
- Shave ice from Alii Garden Market (Fishaholic is long in tooth)
- Hilo Road trip? <--Dean's idea! (left over from last year)
- Burrrrrrrita--wet, w/cheeps OR Adrianna's Mexi-Food
- Night dive + Black Water dive? (note: Jack's has Black Water as a one-tanker)
- Jump the green can w/Josh
- Lava Java if in the mood for giant burger + great milkshake
- use HotSnapZ
- rinse gear outside in storage tub (Dean rinses, Laura hangs)
- throw gear in storage tub in back of Jeep (only masks, camera & light in snorkel bag)
- use wood for tank anti-wigglers
- Take UW photos with Spotlight Guy's assistance
- Put jars in sun to warm up (Laura fills jars!)
- Keep container of Rooster in car
- Wear Ocean Mindeds on plane and whenever applicable!
- go to market early to snag all the lulos and dragonfruit (if necessary)
- scour bargain rack at Honolua Surf Co.!
- Go to Fish Farmers' Market & see if it's grown!
- Try abalone (Lulo Guy recommends!)... Maybe at Fish Farmers Market? [added 3/27]
We're at Ghost Beach (there's no one here, as usual, since it's the Ghost Beach) playing a new variation on our "Long In The Tooth" game from last year! You have to name 3 things that are either long in the tooth, short in the tooth (still too new and unproven), strong in the tooth (going strong), or MEAN in the tooth (it's not actually long in the tooth [or it is, but the other guy won't admit it], but one of us is meanly calling it that to tease the other guy), with no repeats (i.e., only one item of each tooth type). Then the other guy has to identify which is which.
Posted at 4:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
There's also a chant that goes along with it (chanted by the guy whose turn it is to identify the teeth, when the tooth-lister is ready to present his list of items): "Long in the tooth! Strong in the tooth! Show all your teeth!"
I think my fav faceoff so far was Keauhou Farmers Market, Wednesday Market, and South Kona Fruit Stand.
Next we're going to work on updating our Do Next Time list!
SPLASH!! I like the sideways view of waves! You don't usually get to see the side view. Too roly-waterfally-splashy to dive at Roller Rink (as expected... the surf report said 6-8 feet!) but it's fun watching the waves perched on the lava near where we enter.
Posted at 1:24:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Here's my new ring. ;-) It broke about two seconds later, when I attempted to pull it back off. But later at 'loli, I figured out that these uni shells with the really flat bottoms are from helmet urchins! Cool.]
Good Thumper chat at Big! Now where? Coffee???
[Edit: Kailua Candy Company! Dark Roast + dark chocolate honu = such an incredible combo! Also snagged a whole bunch of Island Essence, but found out from the store lady that there's no longer an Island Essence rep on the Big Island, so they're not being stocked here anymore. Eeeek! No wonder I've been having so much trouble finding it.
Before that, we stopped at Wanna Dive's new dive shop and I finally got to meet Steve, whose blog I've been following for years.]
Posted at 10:17:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow, the early bird really does get the lulo! We bought ALL ten. Bruce said some of them were actually from Colehour since his own lulo supply is so diminished because of the drought. I also got a lilikoi popsicle from Bruce, and when Dean tried it he wanted one too. Then he made me hold his while he picked out papayas (he was all excited because they were "Big!") from Colehour, and it dripped all over my hand!!! Grrrrr. I should have just eaten it. Now I'm not sure which flavor wins the Best Popsicle Ever contest, Tahitian lime or lilikoi! Wait, lulo popsicles are the BEST flav ever, but there are none to be had, so those two are runners-up. Aaaaaaaagh, I am SO crazy about lilikoi and its tart yumminess. I also got a lilikoi bar from the original superior lilikoi bar source (choc chip-orange-etc. cookie stand), plus we got two cookies and I ate half of one.
But before we did that (i.e., right after our beeline to the Lulo Guy was complete), Dean went on a mission to get dragonfruit from Ahi Guy while I headed to the Happy Honu stand to make sure I could snag a supply of faceoff winner lilikoi jam to bring home. I told the lady how much I love her jam, and she was really really pleased. (I told her I did a contest, and my reasons for the results, but not who it was against.)
Dean procured a whole bunch of orange dragonfruit and a few yellow ones (there weren't many good looking yellow ones this time). After I met back up with him, I observed that Ahi Guy had purple lilikoi, which I've never seen before in Hawaii, so I had to get a few of those (plus yellow ones, for a contest). Ken Love was shopping and tried to sick me with this round purple thing, saying something like, "She likes weird fruit, she'll want it." But I was all, "A star apple?? I don't want that!" and put it back. Hahah, I'm such a weird fruit expert now. ;-) Star-apples are cool looking, but I've had them before and eating one would not be high on my list. I also proved my fruit prowess by asking Colehour how his bananas, which he said were Chinese apple bananas, are different than regular apple bananas, and if they were a hybrid between Chinese bananas and apple bananas. He didn't know the answer to the hybrid part, but thought it was a good question (and affirmed that Chinese bananas are indeed another variety of banana). Of course I had to buy some to try, since it's a different variety. They are a little larger than apple bananas, and he said the taste was a little different (I forget how... I'll have to try them and find out!). I got some apple bananas from the Tart Lady since I need a supply of those for Bananalulo smoothies, of course. Can't take a chance with a weird breed of banana when it comes to bananalulos! It's so weird, I hardly ever eat bananas at home, but I eat lots here. They are so much better.
We also got our summer rolls and lilikoi juice from Lotus Guy, of course, and told him about trying his "gelato" at the restaurant after seeing it at Island Naturals and how impressed we were by the packaging. He said all four branches of Island Naturals were carrying it and it's really popular. We ate our Lotus stuff on our favorite bench (no Makali'i again, and not even an empty space where they usually go... was two weeks ago their last market??), but the only bad thing was that it's not shady so early in the morning! [I love this photo because it illustrates the classic contrasting leg positions we each use while sitting on the bench. Dean thinks my position is really painful, but I think it's super-comfortable!] Also, the really bad thing about going to the market so early is that Cye didn't start performing until 9:00, so I only got to hear a few songs. :-( I went back over to put a tip in his basket and sort of waved, since we were leaving, and he asked (over the microphone, pausing what he'd started to sing) if today was our last day. I held up 1 finger to say we have one more market, but he thought I meant we have one more day. I guess he'll be surprised when he sees us again next week! I wish I had a CD of all the songs Cye sings at the market!!! I do really like his CD, even though it's kind of different than the market tunes. I had one of the songs stuck in my head this morning!
Oh, just to prove how amazingly dedicated I was to getting to the market nice and early: not only did I get up at seven and got ready 100% efficiently, but, also, when I quickly checked my mail on my Palma, I got a notice saying Antonina had written a new blog post with the URL "http://fitnasti.blogspot.com/2010/03/care-packages-cell-phones.html"! I wanted to read it SO badly, but I exerted willpower and held off until after we got back from the market. Then I read it immediately. It was SO worth the wait!
Dean, walking downstairs and seeing me sitting in the armchair, ready to go: "WOW!!! You look like you're comin' to the Farmers' Market!"
Posted at 7:51:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I jumped out of bed at the crack of 7, so I can get the worm at the Keauhou Farmers' Market!
Posted at 7:09:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I just realized the frogfish from Thursday weren't frogfish!! They were LEAF SCORPIONFISH!!! I wondered, because they were really flat (frogfish are stocky) and had a cool leafy fin on top. Their frogfish-like "hands" and pretend-you-aren't-there behavior threw me off. Good thing I looked through my fish book to make sure! The book says "looking into their eyes is like peering into another universe--try it!" SO true.
Posted at 1:11:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I leaped off the couch all excited and ran upstairs to tell Dean (who was getting ready for bed) when I discovered this! :-)
Friday, March 19, 2010
P.S. Yummmmmmmmm!!!! I just ate the three lilikoi Dean bought me at last Saturday's market. I had to scritch them through a sieve first, then drink the juice. But, so GOOD. I am so in love with lilikoi!!!
Posted at 10:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I finally did the lilikoi jam face-off, since I realized that tomorrow will be our last chance to buy more jam of the winning variety (we have two more Saturday markets, but one's on the day we leave, so anything we buy that day is strictly eat-now). The contest consisted of me spreading a thin layer of Kanalani Ohana lilikoi jam on one half of a Regalo's Tasty Bread slice, and a thin layer of Happy Honu Farm lilikoi jam on the other. I have been eating the Kanalani Ohana (Colehour) jam this whole time and only now opened the Happy Honu jar. Kanalani Ohana is really good, but Happy Honu is the winner for me! You can really taste the ohia lehua honey in the Kanalani Ohana jam, whereas Happy Honu is a very strong, pure, tart lilikoi taste. Kanalani Ohana is thicker, but it's not like Kanalani Ohana has a watery texture. It's a fine density. So, sorry, Kanalani Ohana--I can see why lots of people would pick it as their lilikoi jam of choice, and I've certainly been enjoying it these past couple weeks (thin layer of lilikoi jam under a thick spread of cottage cheese, on top of an English muffin = yummmmmmm), but the jam I'll buy more of to bring home for a pure lilikoi re-experience is the Happy Honu. That's the same kind I had in the refrigerator back in CT.
Posted at 10:22:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Fantastic day! Got to meet up w/Sara in front of Subway on the way back from my massage at the Ali'i Drive student massage place (yay! SO great to see her, and meet her new husband!) (new massage place was highly inferior to Aloha student massage in Kainaliu, though), lunch @ Nasturtium Cafe (again!), fun dive @ Pebble Beach ( ♥ ), wasn't cold (!!) because we tried out our new HotSnapz (thanks to Josh for the rec!), saw ANOTHER frogfish and 2 octys, & had a couple slices of Patz Pie for dinner (...even got to talk to Pat!) Also, giggled a lot at Dean. :)
Posted at 8:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dive slate notes:
Pebble Beach / overcast
My hat got woooshed right off!
HotSnapZ are hot!
Octy! [Dean didn't see it... he thought I was just pointing out an eel, so we kept swimming out! :( ]
poor viz
my spine is burning off!
see if you can move it down
hurts on my backbone
that wrasse again!!!
I want HotSnapZ arm warmers
can't feel it
gilded trigger
Frogfish!! I can see his lure!
bigger [than first baby frogfish]
wavy under water - fun!
I'd be super brr today without the SnapZ
octy #2! shy :)
riding the waves in, waiting
washing in foam
pebbles
L = 400
D = 200
[It was pretty wavy at Pebbly, but I liked going in and out through the waves! Fuuuuuuuuun. With scuba gear on, you don't need to be afraid of the waves.]
PAT was at Patz!!! He didn't leave for Patz poker night yet!
Posted at 6:48:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Mmmmmm, Patz pie with Weinbros from the Patz convenience store with Patz ice in a Patz cup is the best Weinbros ever!!!
Pat: Are you newlyweds? You seem like newlyweds.
Dean: We've been married almost 15 years.
Pat: What, did you steal her right out of high school?
Wow!!!!!! We were craving a Weinbros to go with our Patz, so I suggested stopping at the convenience store (Captain Cook Mini-Mart) we saw Pat running out to (expecting to settle on an inferior brand of root beer, of course), and they HAD Weinbros!!!
Posted at 6:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Fresh berry lilikoi tart = yummmmmm!
Posted at 1:48:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Nasturtium pt. 2!
Posted at 1:17:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Schluuuuuuuump.
Posted at 8:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We tried the "gelato" (made from coconut and soy milk) at Lotus, and they are really good! Dean got coconut and I got chocolate. We each liked our own. When we were buying mintwaters at Island Naturals this morning, we noticed Lotus has containers you can buy there in the frozen foods section! They are really professional looking. Way to go, Howie.
For dinner? Lote vote! We are such Lotus addicts.
Posted at 5:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
!!!! Dean snuck back in and bought three more pairs of Kona Mountain socks! Cute x 1,000!
Posted at 5:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Aaaaaaaaaagh, wind.
Posted at 5:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Hee hee hee! One of Dean's Croc socks fell in a puka puddle and got all wet, so we stopped at Kona Mountain & got Kona Mountain socks!!!
Posted at 5:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow, that dive was tough on my back, but we saw TWO baby frogfish!!!! They are so weird & cool! The eye on the second one (at the base of the Pool, which I spotted only because I happened to be doing my safety stop right next to it) looked exactly like a sequin.
Posted at 5:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit: Note! I realized a couple days later that they were actually not frogfish, so refer to that post for more!]
[Dive slate notes, typed up a month later:]
Pine Tree Pool / mostly sun
[written by Dean:] pool is only this area [LOL... yeah.]
wow! hot pink coral! only one tiny patch
[in cave:] weird coral! looks like internal body part - tripe!
bright yellow, orange, violet, salmon pink in cave
big Triton's trumpet near portal - oh no!
[Doesn't it look mean? I was nice to it even though I wanted to bang on its shell with glockenspiel mallets and give it a giant headache. It better not have eaten by baby crown-of-thorns friend!!!]
I didn't know if it was a fish, so I grabbed it and it wiggled [this probably wasn't a very good thing to do... heh.]
bright purple! looked like algae or something! [it was way more hidden than this when I noticed it (somehow) hiding in a crack in the coral... such such such a cool fish!!! see my follow-up post for the identity]
scrawled filefish
L = 400
D = 200
[Here are a couple pictures from before the dive:] 1) Dean checking out conditions at Pine Tree Pool. I love this picture! This may be my favorite photo from the whole trip. 2) The edge of Pine Tree Pool, where we enter/exit. This rope is SO great for getting back out! When you're getting all washed away and bashed against the lava rocks, you just hang on tight and HAUL yourself up! The bright pink color is easy to spot underwater, too. Thanks, whoever secured it there!
L: Can I get some stamps, anyway? The Abstract Expressionists?
Posted at 2:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Post Office Lady: I'm laughing because I've been trying to push those all day and no one wants them.
LOL. They're awesome. I bought four sheets! No HotSnapZ box yet, though. :-(
I had a vog headache this morning, but a Kona Mountain cured it. :-)
It's supposed to be super-surfy on Saturday (6-8 foot swells). Every time we drive by the surf place on Ali'i Drive, Dean asks when we're going to take surf lessons. Yeah, right. Choking, drowning & crying is not my idea of a fun time.
Wow, it looks so much clearer driving north! Blue sky! Pine Trees, today. We're listening to my new Cye CD. It's good! Different than his Farmers' Market style, but good.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
[Edit: Dive notes from Three-Step! Did not type up this post on the actual day, as I was too overwhelmed by gravity.]
Posted at 10:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
4-Step / mostly cloudy
thick coral
water feels thick
suspended in a gel... flick a fin to move
floating
so cute! I love how it moves!
[It = tiny flounder! I was able to get up super close to it, and it would just swim a few inches at a time, waving all its frilly edges to move. TOTALLY cute and amazing looking! It was about three inches long, with two little bulgy eyes on top, and perfectly camouflaged. I have NO idea how Dean spotted it.]
you go above & film me swimming over aloha
[I should have acted a little more animated at the end, but it's pretty much what I had in mind! Dean thought I swam awfully fast, but I didn't want the video to be boring. Normal scuba is very slooooow.]
show aloha to the dolphin [we didn't see dolphins... I think there was a sign about not bugging them if you did?]
I feel really compressed!
105' feels cool like a squeezing hug
every coral head has a "cow" fish family! [ = Domino Damselfish, because of the one that was having a cow when we were planning our underwater egg hunt! :-)]
[Oh, and the hui parking lot has a new "Ground Rules" sign!! It's much more professional looking than the old sign, but also much less hilarious. So inferior!]
Where did all this extra gravity come from???
Posted at 10:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Gettin' a Larry's at the special rainy-roof spot! It's raining just a little, and there's rooster with a horrible croaky-vog crow ert er er err-ing over and over. :-)
Posted at 3:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Before Nasturtium - fought the Tree Trimming Expect Delays choke.
Posted at 2:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Nasturtium Cafe! We finally stopped here! Wow, it's NICE. Lilikoi edamame amuse bouche - wow! Sweet & tart & tingly. Dean got two soups & I'm getting a Moroccan chicken wrap & a shared ahi nicoise. I love the orange and green decor and the huge banyan tree painted on the wall.
Posted at 2:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday Market! Cye is here & it looks like he has CDs! Found out the skinny on Coconut Pete [why he's no longer at the Keauhou market] from Colehour! Jack & Jill song! ♥ Only 11 vendors. Hukilau!
Posted at 10:38:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm sitting in the shade under the tent and listening. It's HOT today! Even talked to Cye between songs, and bought a CD. :-)
[Edit: Found out about the new Wednesday Market at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort from Ken Love on FB last week, but I couldn't go until today because I had my Aloha massage last Wednesday. It's a sister to the Keauhou market. Dean works Wednesday mornings, so I had to go all by myself! Afterwards, I went on a mission to the fabric store at King Kamehameha Mall (Dean noticed it and told me how to get there!) to look for quilt fabric for Dean's mom, but I couldn't find what she wanted. It's a great store, though, and I might go back to pick out some stuff for myself! While I was driving there, Sara called on my cell phone and left a voicemail (I didn't hear, since I was listening to my new Cye CD), and I left her a return voicemail in the parking lot. She called back when I was at the fabric store and I went out in the courtyard and had a big Sara chat!! :-)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Posted at 6:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow, a huge gang is coming, setting up a party at the next picnic table over!!! More keep arriving, in 2s & 3s. So far there are about 10 people, and they brought TWO grills (small green propane canister and full-sized white one), countless coolers of food & beer, and a big acoustic guitar in a case. I predict we will be driven out soon!
Surf's really UP today, and we're hanging out at Pahoehoe Beach Park! Never been here before! It's right off Ali'i Drive, but it's grassy and nice, with picnic tables and a big shady tree that we're sitting under, right along the breakwall. There's hardly anyone here. I found a Jack of Hearts (the Bob card) on the ground where we're sitting. It has Hawaiian stuff on the back.
Posted at 6:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
My favorite part is the few seconds when the wave curls over and this wonderful, pure, oceany shade of cool pale blue appears, chasing along directly behind the frothy white. I don't have the words to describe it. I watch every wave for those few moments when that blue might appear.
[Edit: I tried so hard to take a photo of that blue, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible to capture. This was the closest I could come. (Not very close at all.) It's a little better, but still far from the real thing, as a video:]
Posted at 12:57:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Fishaholic shave ice truck is long in the tooth! (But Ali'i Gardens s.i.s. is short in the tooth!)
Surf is UP today!
Hahaha! I did a search (on Facebook, because I wanted to become a Fan of it!!!) for Regalo Tasty Bread, and the very first hit was for an Anti-Linear Brain entry! There were only two other hits. :( I LOVE Regalo Tasty Bread!!! I made an improvised Boat Sandwich (some sliced turkey + strings of string cheese laid out in strips) and it was SO good. Biting into it, I was catapulted back to the sandwiches my mom used to pack for me in my brown-bag lunches in elementary school, except those were actually bologna and if they had cheese (can't remember), it wasn't mozzarella. Somehow, it still tasted the same, though! Tasty Bread has the perfect texture (very dense and moist), really yummy edges (mmmm, so rare in a sliced bread!), and super-small pieces so you can make lots and lots of Tasty Bread sandwiches of all different varieties! I also made one with almond butter, slices of apple bananas, and a drizzle of my special Hawaiian honey. I ate it as an open-faced sandwich, and the slimy top layer kept the nut butter layer from sticking to the roof of my mouth. Soooooo good! Later maybe I'll try some Tasty Bread cinnamon toast! It's a good thing we don't have Regalo Tasty Bread at home (it comes from Honolulu), or I'd want to eat it ALL the time. I don't usually buy bread, so it's a huge treat.
Posted at 12:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Oh, and now I massively want to try rollinia.
Posted at 12:25:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Shochu + Rangpur = Best. Thing. Ever. OMG I am so relaxxed.
Posted at 10:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Tourist parked in the aisle at KTA, talking on his cell phone and blocking the mailing envelope section. "I'm at KTX... or something. It's kinda like Walgreens." Um, dude... it's called KTA, and it's "kinda like" (i.e., is) a grocery store. Not a drugstore.
Posted at 9:57:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Shochu + Rangpur is good.
Yum... The taste goes well with the lemon! We'll have to get a bottle of the good kind & try with rangpur, lemon, lime, calamansi...
Posted at 7:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Shochu... But we forgot our Rangpur! First impression is that it tastes kind of like gin... Then second taste is unfiltered sake! I like it a lot better with the muddled lemon! It's good with the lemon!
Posted at 7:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Proprietor at Ma's Kava Stop when we told her we're from CT: "What do they have in Connecticut?"
Posted at 5:09:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Me: "I don't know..." (thinking: how can I answer such a broad question about such a diverse state??)
Her: "Cows?"
Me, shrugging: "Yeah, we have cows."
Ma's Kava Stop was actually not scary once we got inside. The counter lady was really nice, and even offered to take a picture of us. Haha. The bar was tiny and cute, with just a few stools, and tropical decor. There were fancier combos available (like kava + pineapple/coconut, etc.), but we each got the classic two ladles of kava served in a coconut half. The coconut bowls were all smoothed out and nice, and each one had a slightly different shape/size. They had little stands (made from a cross-sectioned bamboo stalk, I think) for holders, since they had rounded bottoms. The kava tasted okay--kind of earthy--and made our throats/tongues slightly numb, but not that much. It was a lot of kava to drink, but not that hard. While we sipped it, the kava lady told us about where they got the kava: from family back in Tahiti, who have kava trees and harvest the roots and make the powder. Kava does grow in Hawaii, but in order to have enough for a kava bar, getting it from their Tahitian family is a lot more reliable. They seemed to have lots of loyal customers, but although it was a cool experience we don't really get it. It didn't have any effect on either of us! Maybe we're both already so relaxed and non-depressed, it was useless. Hm.
We're on our way to the Kava Stop! (!!!?) Dean wants to go there and insisted we venture out on a kava mission. I am shocked, since it's exactly the sort of weird place he'd refuse to go into, and wait in the car if I actually convinced him to even stop.
Posted at 3:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean: "Kava is going to be debunked."
[Edit: I took the photo of this sign yesterday on the way back from the South Kona Green Market. It leaped out at me on the way up, after reading Antonina's post about Kava on her blog!]
I just ran into Ken Love in front of Oshima Store, sitting in his car! :-) He said something like, "Great pictures, Laura!" as I was walking by, and we chatted for a minute about blood oranges and tamarind.
Posted at 12:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean has a late meeting today, so I'm snailing around in Kainaliu. Now I'm sitting outside enjoying a Kona coffee and a malasada from Standard Bakery, watching the Mamalohoa Highway traffic go by. The Surfin' Hilary coffee lady says they finally got rain up here! I asked her how to spell the name of the town, to confirm I was spelling it correctly in my post, and she also wrote down how it's pronounced! :-)
I'm going to pick up some Roadhouse! to bring back to Dean for lunch. [Edit: Got a Boat Sandwich for me, and quiche-of-the-day and soup-of-the-day for Dean. There was a car accident or something up the highway, so when I left the Oshima parking lot, the traffic going towards Captain Cook was backed up for EVER! A nice person stuck in the backed up side motioned me to go in front of her car into the lane going back towards Kona, and that it was clear to pull out (I couldn't see through to the other lane). She flashed me a shaka when I got through and waved to thank her. :-) ]
I forgot to mention: finally got to make a bananalulo!!! I made a double batch (2 lulos, 2 apple bananas, one container of Meadow Gold plain yogurt, and a little Ohia Lehua honey) and we split it. SO GOOD!!!!!
Posted at 12:31:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saketumi
Posted at 6:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
edamame
cuke & octo/tako salad (nowhere near as good as Kenichi's)
slap me silly salad roll
strawberry fields forever roll
caterpillar roll
pearl sake
too loud but it was all good! Go back, earlier.
Dean: It was a little loud, but it may have been the best rolls I've ever had.
I agree!
Taking a day off from diving, hanging around the condo & putting together a care package to mail tomorrow to a certain figure competitor niece of mine. :) (Go, Antonina!) Follow her great blog fitNasti if you're curious!
Posted at 3:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
