Last Post . . . 2008

On Sunday, I'm up at 4:30 am, ready to get started. I got some lanai time this morning and I think I wrote three pages. I can't help but dwell on the items in my fridge and how I'll use them in the next 24 hours.

The hubby goes our for his run and when he gets back he cleans up the Komoda Bakery box, the last of the donuts are gone. There's still a piece of Haupia cake left but there won't be for long and we're not throwing it out. I think there's one last serving of . . . I'm not throwing that away . . .


We're just packing and trying to empty out the kitchen. Friends of our friends upstairs want to send out for a pizza but then our upstairs-friends hauled out bag after bowl after dish of food. There was more than enough for everyone to eat.

What I want to know is . . . what happened to our pool buffet?

There wasn't a lot going on this last day of Maui.

Monday morning the hubby and I are up . . . at 4:30 am, as usual, and we're hanging around drinking coffee and reading the paper . . . and updating the Blog . . . in our few remaining hours. We're leaving at 9am.

I have an extra entry below and want to remind all the Blog readers that this Blog will disappear at the end of the week.


Until next year . . . Aloha!


. . . an extra post . . .

I wanted to Blog about something we had near the beginning of the vacation. When the cousins were here, we all took a trip to the Hula Grill at Whaler's Village. One of the items I ordered was:

ISLAND TROPICAL FRUIT TASTER $9.00
All Hawaii grown (You can’t get this on the mainland.)

These slices of fruit were served on a platter, very nicely displayed:

apple banana . . . it's a tiny banana that isn't very sweet. Still tastes good.


strawberry papaya . . . very, very tasty. This is a fruit I'll only eat in Hawaii.


watermelon . . . anywhere, anytime . . . yum.


dragon fruit . . . they just look cool. All that bright pink outside.


You eat the inside, the part with the black seeds. The one we had, the white inside, didn't have much flavor, nor was it sweet. Being oh-so-adventurous cousin A and I bought one from Star Market. It was pink!


It had a bit more taste but not very strong at all. You just eat it cause it looks cool.

rambutan . . . they look like lychee, taste a bit like lychee but not quite so purfume-y.
star fruit . . . they look waxy but have a nice flavor.


strawberry . . . it scared me to try one so far away from Salinas Valley.



pineapple . . . are you kidding? This is the only place I'll eat one.

Ordering the fruit platter gave us a chance to try some of these unusual fruits we'd seen. If we had bought it in the store, we wouldn't have known what parts were edible. With the dish we also got a bit of background about each - where it came from and how it is used. We can even buy it and prepare it for ourselves now.

Getting Back to Vacation

I'm ready to go 5:30 am . . . um . . . but it's dark. Apparently, the condo, the complex, a big chunk of the shore has no power. It's not usually a problem but I need to read. I've got my trusty light wedge to illuminate my galley pages but no coffee.


That makes me sad. I pour myself some POG, head for the lanai and get to work.

It takes a couple of hours before the sun comes out. The power returns around 8am and I'm a happy camper cause now I have coffee! At 10:30 am I'm finished and have written a note, by hand, sorry Chelsea, thank goodness I have email so my message will be deciphered. It would never happen if I had to use a pen and paper.

I rubber band the manuscript with my note and the hubby drives me to the local FedEx, which it not so local, it turns out. We have to drive almost all the way to the airport. But hey . . . whatever it takes!

On our way back we stopped by the Maui Mall for lunch at the Thailand Cuisine . . . we should have gone back to Maui Thai. They were having a local dance performance and we watched the keikis hula.


Back to the condo and we tried to settle back into vacation . . . we watched an episode of:


The sad, sad thing is we haven't made it through one side of one disc yet. What kind of vacation is this if we can't even veg in front of our campy tv shows?

At 5 pm we headed upstairs for the sunset. The puu-puus were overflowing. It's desperation time now . . . everyone is trying to get rid of all their food. Thankfully, I had kept this in mind since the beginning and we're in pretty good shape we don't have much left in our fridge.

Tomorrow will be a day of sorting and packing up. ... so much work ... I think I could really use a vacation.

Nose to the Grindstone

Okay. So my book is here and I'm working my way through it. That's what I did the whole day, plus a couple of calls to New York to the publisher for some advice. They straightened me out and I'm back to work.

The hubby and T from upstairs drove to Makawao for more goodies. They came home with fresh cream puffs and stick donuts . . . oh, my dog!


They were so unbelievably good. Amazing. Awesome.

The hubby then took a long, long, long nap. When he woke he asked me why did I need to ask for a credit report? Huh?

We both dove into the manuscript for hours. I think I've gone through it twice, maybe three times . . . I dunno . . . I'm getting a bit punchy.

The hubby to me out to Roy's for dinner. At least I got to go outside today!

Then we returned home . . . and watched a wonderful episode of:



That's about all the fun I can handle in one day.

This was in focus when I took it . . . I think it's my eyes . . .

Hanging Out

Thursday was another sitting around day. The hubby went for his morning run and I spent the day working on the Christmas stocking. Mostly I was waiting, on the edge of my lanai seat, for FedEx to arrive. My daughter forwarded the galleys of my latest book.

The arrived at 4pm and I got started right away. I made it to chapter three by the time I headed upstairs for dinner. I thought we were starting the leftover buffet only to be surprised by a delicious tri-tip and a wonderful recreation of the Maui-Wowie salad from Nick's Fishmarket Resturant. I could have made a meal of the salad itself.


After dinner . . . I'm back to work. I will update when I can and I'll return to normal Blog activity when I have finished.

Aloha

Another Day in Paradise

First . . . an apology in advance to Cristina. Thanks for tuning in but now that our guests have left, this Blog is going to get a lot less interesting. Sorry.

Wednesday was our first day without our cousins. We missed their company so very much and we laughed a lot less.

The hubby and I realized that we had to get back to the vacation part of our trip, the resting and doing nothing part. That is, after all, why we came here, to decompress. Family matters keep cropping up. But we shall do our best.

The morning/afternoon, which all sort of blurred together, we spent lounging around reading, and me, writing. The hubby went for his morning run, tackled the local crossword puzzle, and may have slipped in a nap that went unnoticed by me.

And again we had to zip over to Star Market as we had run out of vacation cereal, Grape Nuts. The hubby studied the cereal aisle and decided upon . . .

Then the hubby announced that we need to make a Komoda Bakery run Friday for more . . .

Why? I guess we don't want to run out. According to him . . . it's a bad thing.

I returned to my embroidery . . . remember that Christmas stocking I mentioned during the first couple days here? Yes, I'm still working on it.

The hubby wanted to watch one of our DVDs. He brought out our Season Three Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.


We popped it into the DVD player only to have it stall. This player, for those of you who did not read the Maui Mini Blog last year, was the replacement for the one that did not work because it stalled. I didn't realize that one has to replace these things every year.
The hubby legged it up to the front desk to report our problem. The staff at the condo complex wiki-wiki brought a new machine within an hour and we were watching the Werewolf episode. I have to admit, it wasn't their best effort.

The afternoon grew darker and darker with large rain clouds, which we now know are generated right at the top of Haleakala, gathered at the base of the volcano--where we are. And finally it rained.

I brought my embroidery and notebook onto the lanai and sat. Setting down my hoop, I picked up my pen. The afternoon had a cool, early morning-like feeling which is when I normally do most of my writing.

The rain wasn't hard and it came straight down. I was never in danger of getting wet. The downpour didn't last long but the air had cooled off.

At 5pm we headed upstairs with warm Edamame



. . . and our beverages to watch the sunset.

We were surprised that the clouds had cleared enough to have one. After sunset we returned home, downstairs, for dinner.

Our number one problem right now is to dispose of the food we've accumulated. I know it's just the start of week two and we have a whole five days before us but the food items that reside in the cupboard and fridge must be consumed before we leave or thrown out which saddens me.



I expect there will be, during the last two or three days, the buffet meal where we and our friends upstairs hold an all-you-can-eat buffet. This year we've been toying with the idea of taking it up to the pool area and inviting all the guests at our complex.


I think I did pretty well this year, not buying too much, that is. However, I did buy 18 eggs on our first day, thinking we could have eggs anytime! I must defend myself by stating that they were on sale and less than purchasing a dozen.

It remains that we still had all 18 eggs until last night. I made oyako donburi with our leftover chicken, various Hawaiian condiments and used three of our eggs.

I hadn't realized how small the eggs were . . . hmm . . . maybe I should have used five? I don't think we'll have a problem finishing them off.

I pulled out the last of cousin A's pineapple and finished off the two remaining pieces. I nearly burned my tongue again . . . it was very tender . . . making it three times during this trip. No, I don't think I will ever learn.

The hubby and I finished the night with South Park, the Elementary School Musical episode. Since neither one of us has seen High School Musical it didn't make a whole lot of sense. I guess our daughter can fill us in when we get home.

. . . thus ends another day in paradise.

Sad Day, Happy Day

Tuesday was the last day for our cousins A and J. That made today sad. They didn't leave until that evening so we had one full day to share with them.

Cousin J and the hubby took one last snorkel at Ulua Beach. When they returned, we didn't get a report on what they saw but how they had exited the beach--across the washed up lava rock and broken coral. They were both limping when they walked in and cousin J went straight for an ice bag for his swelling foot. No, this did not look good at all.

Cousin A and I left soon after the boys returned. We drove to the Shops of Wailea to pick up a few last minute items. We then drove to Hilo Hattie's for a last look-around.


We dashed into the Border's Express where I found my friend Melissa McClone's new December release Rescued by the Magic of Christmas! I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find it on the island.


We swung by Star Market to pick up some ready-made sushi for lunch.


We planned to make a sandwich for cousin J with last night's leftover chicken--but to our surprise he had two pieces! We feasted on our sushi and nibbled on our latest Komoda Bakery donuts for dessert.


Cousin J cleaned up the last piece of the apple pie . . . he ate it right out of the pie tin!

The three boys, hubby, cousin J, and friend T from upstairs decided they needed to share a last Mai Tai at the Five Palms. They were shod and out the door within two minute, hurt feet and all.

When the women friends from upstairs had returned from their grocery shopping, I called the hubby to let them know it was time to come home.

After walking down the hill, across the street, and the entire return trek, we all grew concerned over cousin J's foot. I, who have tended many wounds in the course of doctoring horses and raising two children, offered to take a closer look at his foot.

I removed the dressing, Band-aid, with a pair of small scissors and had him lay his feet side by side so I could compare them. The right pinky toe was the most discolored and by applying pressure to each joint of each toe I determined that he did not have any broken bones.

There was a cut from the previous day. he really was determined to cause that foot, that toe, harm. He continued to apply ice and there was discussion, among us, regarding the benefits of taking aspirin for the swelling. I took a picture of the bottom of his foot, his pinky toe, which I do not feel it is fit to post.

Take my word for it, it's nasty looking.

After setting eyes on the photo, cousin J exclaimed, "It really hurts now!"

I insisted that they try Haupia cake before they left. I insisted!


It's just about as good as Roselani's Haupia ice cream.

It occurred to us, some hours later, when we headed upstairs for sunset puu puus that friend T's other half friend S was a nurse! I happily referred cousin J to seek her opinion. She examined his foot and agreed with my diagnosis, suggesting he bring baggies to fill with ice while he was on the plane home. I would have thought by that time icing would do no good but what do I know? She went to medical school not me.

We watched the sun set then it was time to take our cousins to the airport--which was really, really sad. The half hour dive zipped by and we reminisced about their first days here, and how it felt as if it had been just a few days ago. We really wished, wanted them to stay for the full two weeks. But maybe next time!

We had such fun, such a good time with them and hated to see it end. Aloha, cousins A and J!

On our way home, the hubby and I stopped off at Star Market for milk and POG--we were out of POG--the horror! We returned home to drop off the beverages before continuing to the Kea Lani to meet up with our upstairs friends at Nick's Fishmarket Restaurant.

Friend T was kind enough to treat us for my hubby's B-day. And his birthday made today a happy day!

Where Clouds Are Made

How am I feeling? Am I okay? A few people have asked. Well . . . I think I need to be awake before I can decide. My head is still stuffy and my ears still plugged . . . but still I think I feel better than the previous days.

This Monday morning we headed up to Haleakala. We drove up the highway and hung a right at the Makawao split. We continued toward Pukalani, past Kula up to the Haleakala National Park.

It's not that the top is that far away but there were a lot of switchbacks, the road snakes its way back and forth across the volcano's side. The drive was very slow and much too long if anyone is prone to car sickness. We watched the landscape change. The trees disappeared, then the shrubs. Soon it looked like the moon . . . or more precisely Mars . . . red and desolate.



It was cold at the top. The wind whipped the droplets of moisture around and they soon formed strands of clouds right there before us.

I found a Hawaiian Silversword, not blooming, that only grows on the outer slopes of the volcano. It flowers once at the end of its life cycle, 15-50 years.


We drove down the side of the volcano and to Makawao. We visited the art stores and the fabulous Hot Island Glass. Had lunch at Casanova. I spotted a previous unknown park-ish area with this below:


We swung by Star Market to pick up chicken to throw on the grill and a salad. We had to shop there because they're the only ones where I can find:


We spent a quiet evening at home "horizontal" and went to bed before 9pm. Yeah, I know, we are such party animals.

Down for the Count

Sunday - I've finally given in . . . okay, I'm sick. I've been trying to ignore my stuffed head, dripping nose, and hacking cough but I admit it . . . I'm sick. Not bad sick but I'd-better-lay-low-and-get-some-serious-rest-sick-or-else-I'll-miss-the-rest-of-the-vacation sick. So I did.

I'm glad that did not stop the others of my party from enjoying themselves. They took a short drive down to Ulua Beach to snorkel. It was the first time for cousins A and J. They practiced in the pool first before giving it a shot in the ocean. Not too many fish, is what I heard. The hubby said they needed to go earlier. Our friends upstairs, who had gone the previous day, said they went in the afternoon and they saw plenty of fish.

Upon their return, the hubby and two cousins looked as tired as I felt. They all showered and crashed, recovering from their morning. They found something to eat for lunch, I'm not sure what since I was out-of-it, and tuned into a football game. There was several "horizontal" people, that's what cousin J called it, much afternoon napping going on.

Friend T, from upstairs, brought down a dang-difficult crossword puzzle that got passed around the room. The hubby seemed to be the only one brave enough to fill in the boxes, using pen.

The friends upstairs, and those of us who were well enough, went to Buzz's Wharf for dinner. That might have been more fun than staying at home and having Haupia ice cream. Which reminds me . . . WE NEED MORE ICE CREAM!


. . . and Sudafed and tissues.

a Luau postscript . . .

There was one thing I forgot to mention . . . through out the evening there was a three piece band that accompanied the dancers and provided music for the guests. They played off to one side, and I'm sure, might have gone by unnoticed because of their unobtrusive musical backdrop.

I found there were times ::cough-cirquedusoleil-cough:: where I watched them instead of the dancers. Another interesting, or not, tidbit . . . see this guy below? I believe he might have had the entire Hawaiian Island chain tattooed down the left side of his body. I think that large smudge below his armpit is Kauai, and it's difficult to see, the northern tip of the Big Island might be poking up from the waistband of his loincloth.

Luau!

Saturday morning started slow, which was good. We had a big plan for tonight . . . Honua'ula at the Wailea Marriott Resort.

Before we were faced with that experience we had to get through the day. Safeway for staples . . . milk, bread, luncheon meat, chips, and beer. And we had to get home for the University of Iowa football game. I don't even know where to find a link for that . . . except I suppose I could send readers to the University of Iowa. But now that I've linked to the Hawkeyes I have to give equal time to the Cyclones at Iowa State University.

Hilo Hattie distracted us long before we got to Safeway. They were giving away keys to a treasure chest that held a surprise for every winner! I think the chances were 100% that you'd win! Then they'd ring the bell when the lock popped off--the bell was clanking about every 10 seconds. So you see there's approximately 6 suckers born a minute, not one.

We fixed sushi, premade from Safeway, and Brats for lunch. While the football game was going on I was able to get some of the tasks from home I'd planned to do finished. Yeah! I even got a little reading done.

At four we drove to the Wailea Marriott, it was just on the other side of the Shops of Wailea. There were huge round tables draped in white on the great level green next to the beach where the stage sat. A professional photographer was taking pictures, using the ocean/sunset as his backdrop.

The luau was a buffet with sauteed Mahi Mahi, Kalua Pig, Teriyaki steak and chicken. For side dishes they had delicious purple colored Hawaiian sweet potato, island cold slaw, garlic rice, stir fry vegetables. Brok'da mout, yeah?

The dessert table was loaded with Haupia, coconut cake, banana cream cake, chocolate cream cake, pineapple upside down cake, and a selection of fruit.

Everyone snapped their own sunset picture once they noticed the sun's decent over the horizon.

Then the luau began. The narrator came out and welcomed one and all. He'd explain the meanings of the dances we were about to see. We saw the voyagers that came from Tahaiti, traveling north to find a new home.

We saw the navigators using the stars to guide them.

I'm not quite sure where Cirque de Soleil comes into the story . . . leotards usually aren't Hawaiian attire.

Then there was a love story dance where the goddess Lilinoe rains upon the island. The woman/cloud was beautiful to watch.

The little menehune, magical people, played by/in/with the fire . . . they were portrayed as imps.

Then there was the Fire Master . . . portrayed by Iffy the three time Fire Knife World Champion whose performance was unbelievable.

Then it was time to bid everyone Aloha!