Heading Home

Mahalo . . . until next year.

Packing Up . . . E-I, E-I, O

Wednesday, November 16th:

Yes, we're still grazing . . .

there are leftover Maui chips . . .

Leftover Haupia ice cream . . .

All the other leftovers . . .

I just finished off the Honeynut Cherrios!

"Someone" was busy doing something else. For hours and hours and hours . . . okay, it was nearly all day.

The other three of us spent time reading and relaxing during our last day.

Then we decided to pack the suitcases . . .

and the condo box with all our precious items . . .

We headed over to the Five Palms for our last dinner and opted for drinks and puu puus instead.

My last thoughts: If there’s one piece of advice I can give a person traveling to the Hawaiian Islands it’s to MAKE A RESERVATION if you plan to eat out! Unless, of course, you’re comfortable with sitting down at a table at 8:30 pm. The restaurants have been packed.

Here’s a special drink for Rosemary. I think you might have had two.

Aloha.

All Sorts of Island Treats

Tuesday, November 15th

We were all awake and ready to go at 8am, heading to Spice’s for breakfast. Coffee, omelets, and pancakes were the favorites.

Everyone at our table was a member of the clean plate club.

As we were leaving, Dirtboy said, “Did you see that French toast? I bed that would taste good with coconut syrup.”

Dirtboy doesn’t quite believe me when I tell him every breakfast place in Hawaii has it on their table: from the Grand Wailea dining room to The 5 Palms terrace, from Denny’s to McDonald’s.

The power of the coconut syrup got Dirtboy through his hours of work related conference calls.

Now if he could only finish the extra bag of Maui Style, Maui Onion flavored chips he bought at the store. It’s not the lunch sized, snack bag, it’s the large 14 ½ oz sized bag.

After the first set of conference calls we headed down to La Perouse Bay at the southern end of Maui. Named after French explorer Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de La Perouse, who led an expedition to the Pacific in 1786, rounding Cape Horn and checking out Chile and Easter Island before arriving at The Sandwich Islands (the Hawaiian Islands).

La Perouse stopped at Maui only long enough to survey and map the bay then headed north to Alaska and Japan before returning to the South Pacific in 1787. He was expected home in France by June 1789 but neither he nor his men were seen again.

Completing the trek around the area Hubby drove us into Kihei-town for a shave ice… Mrs. Dirtboy’s newly discovered favorite. This time she was brave enough to try it with adzuke, Japanese sweet red beans.

I had trouble deciding which flavors I should choose: coconut, banana, POG? Or should I try something different like: blue vanilla, melona, or shark’s blood! I went with POG and melona.

Mrs. Dirtboy was afraid this might be her last shave ice. I told her that there were many places she could find them in Honolulu. The closer to the beach the better chance she had to score one. The Dirt-Couple are heading over to Oahu for a few more days before heading home.

The afternoon conference calls kept Dirtboy busy. The rest of us napped and read until it was time for dinner.

We returned to Ko at the Kea Lani Resort. They’re renovating their old site and are due to reopen February 2012. I can’t wait to see their new digs.

The rice cake with crushed edameme arrived soon after we were shown to a table.

We ordered off their Sunset Menu: Oishi Sushi for me and “Lumpia” Filipino Spring Rolls for the other three.

I poked out all the sashimi (raw fish) and piled it on the sushi with the heaviest drizzle of aioli sauce and dropped it onto his plate along with my wasabi dish.

Entrée: Hubby and I ordered Pancit Noodles and Ko Fried Rice.

Dirtboy and the Mrs ordered “Paniolo” steak and the Macadamia nut crusted Makai Catch.

Dessert: I had the Plantation Pineapple Cake, the Boys ordered Wailua Estate Chocolate Baked Custard and Mrs. Dirtboy was adventurous with her German Chocolate Cake selection, which had little cake and some sort of coconut filling topped with chocolate covered Macadamia nuts.

Believe it or not . . .

WE'RE NOT READY TO GO HOME YET!

Last Things To Do Before We Leave

Monday, November 14th:

I can't believe we only have three more days. We're thinking about cleaning out our fridge and gathering our belongings.

It's not that bad. Our fridge really looks more like the pic on the left.

We've been very good about buying only the items we need.

I'm making a real effort to read as many books as I can. This is the only time where I can spend hours at a time reading. It feels wonderful!

Hubby and Mrs. Dirtboy spend some time reading too. And Dirtboy? Well, he has fun doing other things to keep himself occupied.

“Someone” has a bit more work to do, and “Mrs. Someone” isn’t all that pleased about it . . . again.

We have reservations at Spago tonight located at the Four Seasons Resort . Spago was my favorite restaurant last year. I can't wait to see how it measures up this year.

This is pretty much where we sat. Our table overlooked the water and the beautiful Four Season's grounds as well.

We heard the conch blown in the background at sunset, and the torchlighter ran about setting fire to the torches.

Our waiter, Mattew, told us he hailed from the San Francisco area and had relocated to Maui a month ago. I hope he's having a good time on the islands. The service was wonderful. Actually . . . the Four Season's, Spago and DUO, had the best service during this year's trip.

Before ordering there was a taste of Thai Coconut soup presented in a demitasse set before each of us.

I remembered the soup samples they handed out between courses last year. The tomato soup was on this year's menu. Was I willing to pay $22 for a bowl of tomato soup? I'm pretty sure I could make a meal of it with the homemade breads they pass out: caramelized Maui onion focaccia, sourdough, sourdough with rosemary, Kalamata wheat (with olive), and garlic flat bread.

Hubby was compelled to order the Aviation drink.

He also asked for the Spiced Ahi Tuna "Poke" in Sesame-Miso cones. I think I saw a tear roll out of his eye when he bit into one. Yes, it was that good.

Spago did not participate in this year's Wailea Restaurant Week but they did offer a Three Course Prix Fixe sunset menu for $49. After looking over both, we decided on the regular menu.

He ordered the pan seared Ahi.

Mrs. Dirtboy had caramelized Pork Chops with Maui onion and papaya accompanied by baby bok choy and a Maui sweet potato puree.

Dirtboy and I both ordered the Thai Seafood & Pineapple Coconut Red Curry. It came in a little covered bowl, served with brown and Jasmine rice and a trio of chutneys: spicy, coconut, and sweet.

This was so, so, so, so, so good.

We declined the dessert . . . we have Hubby's Birthday cake from a few days before and my Haupia ice cream to finish. When Mattew brought the bill, he also brought this goodie.

There was no room for Haupia ice cream and cake after I ate my snickerdoodle and sweet blackberry.

Mrs. Dirtboy and I are reconsidering the bowl of soup. Dare we go back for dinner once again before we leave?

Just so you know, the dinner off the regular menu was a bit more expensive than the three course meal from the Prix Fixe menu. So I guess the Prix Fixe is a better deal for the diner.

Road to Hana

November 13, 2011


It's time for the annual trip . . . because it's there.

The reason for the trip is not the road or Hana itself. It's the journey . . . seeing the waterfalls along the way

The road is not long but it snakes around

a bamboo forest occupies much of the interior . . . there could be one wild panda party!

There are many one lane, very old bridges built in the early 1900s.

The waterfalls can be spectacular!

At the end of the trip, not when you reach Hana, but when you return home you can say . . .

Our adventurers collapsed on the couch and lost themselves in the NFL football game.

Dinner was at the newly opened Monkeypod Kitchen- they are located in the Wailea Gateway Center, at the corner of Pi;ilani Hwy and Wailea Ike Drive. Their address: 10 Gateway Place, Unit B-201, Kihei, Maui HI

Our waiter reminded us of . . .

He took our drink orders: a lava flow and a Mai Tai. The Mai Tai had what they called Liliko'i (passion fruit) foam, it looked like the scum off the ocean.

You just stir it in and it's hardly noticeable.

Three of us had Mahi Mahi fish and chips. Instead of tartar sauce they had malt ale sauce. Yum.

Yes, Dirtboy had to have seconds.

Hubby had the Mahi Mahi fish tacos.

We sampled their pies for dessert. They make: Banana cream, Coconut cream, Chocolate cream, and Kula Strawberry cream (shown here.)

You'd better like a little pie with your cream cause there's a lot of it, not the Redi-Whip kind either.