How was Hawaii?
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> 6/17/05 Pictures & story
from Notable Women's Dinner at the Governor's Residence.

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:25:23 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:

>How was Hawaii?


Sheez....ya got my hopes up.

boron

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> How was Hawaii?

It was...relaxing and interesting.

We spent a vacation week in Kauai in the Kapaa area. This was our third
trip there so we didn't knock ourselves out sightseeing. It was an
extremely relaxing week. The weather was comfortably warm for the most
part, but quite windy so that we didn't get in as much snorkeling as
we'd hoped. We spent one day at the Tunnels beach on the north shore,
named so because of the lava fingers stretching out from the beach and
forming interesting habitat for many varieties of gorgeous fish.

We toured the "artist colony" town of Hanapepe one day. Most of the art
was unremarkable except for one shop where the owner crafted everything
from small boxes and jewel chests to beautiful furniture out of koi
wood. He was a character and the wood was stunning.

OB food: We ate lots of shrimp and fish (I love mahimahi and Neil
usually orders some kind of tuna, often ahi. I think I also had
opakapaka and opah in various forms. We had few desserts, but the best
was a creme brulee with lilikoi (passionfruit) sauce. Omigod it was one
of the best things I've ever tasted, nowhere near as sweet as it sounds.

I have always been interested in gardening, agriculture and flowers.
What a treat to drive along the roadways and see tropical flowers
everywhere. Every dinner plate was decorated with fresh orchids or
other gorgeous flowers.

The pineapple was incredible as was papaya, sweeter than any cantaloupe.
I don't know what they do to papaya on its way to the mainland, but I've
never had a good one here. They're divine in the islands. Mangoes were
in season; huge trees along the roads were loaded with ripe, red fruit.

I don't really like mai-tais any longer, but lavaflows are yummy.
(Basically a pina colada with pureed banana poured into a tall cocktail
glass over fresh strawberry puree.)

We stopped at the Kauai Cookie Company for choc chip coffee cookies for
the kids which they remembered fondly from our trip with them in 1991,
then the Waimea Brewery for lunch, yummy beer-marinated shrimp and some
nice amber ale. Nice Thai and Szechuan dinners other nights.

Our nicest dinner was a return to Gaylord's Kilohana, an old sugar
plantation mansion that has been well maintained, with beautiful
grounds. They serve dinner elegantly on a covered veranda at the back
of the house, open to a beautiful lawn with lovely tropical landscaping.
The parlor and dining room are usually saved for private parties but
were open for viewing this trip. Last time we ate there they had a
wedding dinner in the parlor. The flowers at Hawaiian weddings are
incredible.

The second week was business, a conference at the Sheraton Waikiki.
It is a beautiful hotel, with a 31st floor restaurant with large window
walls overlooking the entire Waikiki Beach all the way to Diamond Head.
Our room had the same view from a lower floor. We met quite a few old
industry friends at the conference and enjoyed cocktail parties and some
nice dinners with old and new friends every night.

Waikiki was 90% Japanese tourists, many quite young, with limitless
amounts of money to spend. The main street, parallel to the beach, is
lined with high rise hotels on both sides, with shops along the
sidewalk. Every designer--Italian, French, American--you can think of
and some I'd never heard of has a shop there. Loads of gift shops, too,
with t-shirts, macadamia nuts, coffee, and other tzotzkes too numerous
to mention. I have never seen so many white stretch limousines anywhere
else including L.A.

Given the choice, I wouldn't choose Oahu for vacation. Kauai (and Maui)
have a much slower pace, more reasonable cost of living, and friendlier
people. Kauai rolls up the sidewalks at around 8PM. Oahu feels geared
to the young and wealthy who party all night.

I'd go again in a heartbeat.

gloria p

Puester wrote:
>
> Our nicest dinner was a return to Gaylord's Kilohana, an old sugar
> plantation mansion that has been well maintained, with beautiful
> grounds. They serve dinner elegantly on a covered veranda at the back
> of the house, open to a beautiful lawn with lovely tropical landscaping.

I will second this. IMO, Gaylord's is probably one of the best places
to dine in Kauai. I have never had a bad meal there, and have always
been treated extremely well.

-L.

In article >,
wrote:

> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> > How was Hawaii?
>
> It was...relaxing and interesting.
(details snipped)
> I'd go again in a heartbeat.
>
> gloria p

Thanks for the report. I love the word "lilikoi."
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> 6/17/05 Pictures & story
from Notable Women's Dinner at the Governor's Residence.

"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> wrote:
>
> > Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> > > How was Hawaii?
> >
> > It was...relaxing and interesting.
> (details snipped)
> > I'd go again in a heartbeat.
> >
> > gloria p
>
> Thanks for the report. I love the word "lilikoi."

Lilikoi has got to be my favorite fruit. I love the stuff. Yum, lilikoi
dacqueri!

kili

In article >,
Puester > wrote:
>
> Given the choice, I wouldn't choose Oahu for vacation. Kauai (and Maui)
> have a much slower pace, more reasonable cost of living, and friendlier
> people. Kauai rolls up the sidewalks at around 8PM. Oahu feels geared
> to the young and wealthy who party all night.
>
> I'd go again in a heartbeat.

Its not for everyone, but I enjoyed Oahu when I was there on my first
trip to Hawaii a few years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed renting mopeds to
drive to Diamond Head. Honolulu is a good start and end point to a visit
to Hawaii, which is how we did it. I was there with a group of 14 from
the Philadelphia area for a friend's wedding. As I recall, we spent our
first three days at a Sheraton on Waikiki Beach and the last two days
there with a week in between on Maui. One day, a few of us drove to
Hanna and made the circuit around that area of Maui and it was the most
spectacular drive I have ever been on! The natural scenery is absolutely
breath taking.

I didn't want to go to Hawaii at first. The bride and groom talked me
into it, and I sure am glad they did. I tried to talk them into having
their wedding at Disney World, but they just scoffed at that idea. I
definitely want to return to Hawaii some day. My sister and her fiance
are going to Hawaii in August for their honeymoon! I am sure they will
have a fantastic time! Some friends and I may go to Japan this October,
so maybe we'll use Hawaii as a drop off point if we go.

Stan Horwitz wrote:

> Some friends and I may go to Japan this October,
> so maybe we'll use Hawaii as a drop off point if we go.


You'd LOVE Japan, it is a truly fascinating place. In some ways it's quite
"alien", in others it "fits" just like an old shoe (don't ask me to explain
that ;-).

Ya gotta love a place that packages even the tiniest containers of food and
such like an artwork...the "visual overload" of even the most mundane things
of daily life cannot be described....

Fascinating culture, beautiful scenery, and top - flight food. Even if you
don't speak the language, you'll find most Japanese "simpatico"...

--
Best
Greg

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 04:19:48 GMT, Puester >
wrote:

>Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> How was Hawaii?
>
>It was...relaxing and interesting.
>
>We spent a vacation week in Kauai in the Kapaa area. This was our
third
>trip there so we didn't knock ourselves out sightseeing. It was an

snipped gently..........

else including L.A.
>
>Given the choice, I wouldn't choose Oahu for vacation. Kauai (and
Maui)
>have a much slower pace, more reasonable cost of living, and
friendlier
>people. Kauai rolls up the sidewalks at around 8PM. Oahu feels
geared
>to the young and wealthy who party all night.
>
>I'd go again in a heartbeat.
>
>gloria p

Fun to hear your trip went well. I used to go to Kauai a lot but not
lately and half of my SOs family still live on Kauai. He's a graduate
of Kapaa High

Gloria, couple of my fwiw observations:~)

I think the wood you refer to is koa, one of our most prized woods.
Hard to get really nice pieces of ribbony koa. Koi are beautiful
Japanese carp. The papayas you had in Hawaii are probably solo
sunrise, a gmo but ever so much tastier than the bland junk regular
papaya we had growing up. (I fight gmo in almost every instance, but
those papayas...wowser) I bet it was quite dark pink in the middle and
sweet as sugar. If so that is the solo sunrise papaya. I think
lilikoi (aka Passion Fruit) is an island secret. Its flavor is hard
to beat in jellies, pancake syrup, ice cream, cheese cake and I bet
the creme brulee was out of this world. Lilikoi is tart and aromatic
and actually kind of hard to render its juice at all, as the juice
"bag" surrounds each seed. You need a lot of space for a lilikoi vine.

Yes Waikiki is mainly for the young Asian tourists, having their first
glimpse of our culture, but Oahu does offer a lot of real jewels too,
not necessarily in Waikiki , but that beach is undeniably beautiful.
Oahu has yummy restaurants,the Honolulu Symphony, the Academy of Arts,
Bishop Museum, the Pali Lookout and all the beautiful surfing beaches
on the north Shore etc. I was born on Oahu and always want to defend
it and I really believe its mountains are the most beautiful of any
island but ....yes, there are many many people, cars, buses, stretch
limos etc.

If you want sleepy, come to Hawaii island too. We are the least
populated per mile... and the largest island by far. Maybe next trip?
with aloha from Kona, Hawaii
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

Oahu get knocked a lot, too much I think. Sure if you're only gonna go
once in a lifetime and want to see the beauty of the islands Kauai is
the place. Maui and Hawaii too have big plus's but those places seem to
fall into the category "seen 'em once so why go back'. Oahu on the
other hand always has something going on, it has a lot of natural beauty
too. We've been to almost all the islands, and have loved them all but
we always return to Oahu.

Stan Horwitz wrote:

>In article >,
> Puester > wrote:
>
>
>>Given the choice, I wouldn't choose Oahu for vacation. Kauai (and Maui)
>>have a much slower pace, more reasonable cost of living, and friendlier
>>people. Kauai rolls up the sidewalks at around 8PM. Oahu feels geared
>>to the young and wealthy who party all night.
>>
>>I'd go again in a heartbeat.
>>
>>
>snip
>
>

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 15:03:54 -0700, Jim Davis
> wrote:

>Oahu get knocked a lot, too much I think. Sure if you're only gonna
go
>once in a lifetime and want to see the beauty of the islands Kauai is
>the place. Maui and Hawaii too have big plus's but those places seem
to
>fall into the category "seen 'em once so why go back'. Oahu on the
>other hand always has something going on, it has a lot of natural
beauty
>too. We've been to almost all the islands, and have loved them all
but
>we always return to Oahu.
>
>Stan Horwitz wrote:
>


Stan, I agree. I think of oahu as very beautiful with most of the
population because it is our business & political center & our
shipping center etc. Flying into Honolulu is always breath taking
even though I have done it a million times. with aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

smithfarms pure kona wrote:
<snip>

The papayas you had in Hawaii are probably solo
> sunrise, a gmo but ever so much tastier than the bland junk regular
> papaya we had growing up. (I fight gmo in almost every instance, but
> those papayas...wowser)

I'm curious - how have they been modified? I was a plant molecular
bioologist for 15 years, developing genetically engineered food crops.


> If you want sleepy, come to Hawaii island too. We are the least
> populated per mile... and the largest island by far. Maybe next trip?

Best snorkeling I have ever had in my life (so far) was at Orchid at
Mauna Lani on the Big Island - better than Kauai, the Bahamas, Cozumel,
and multiple places in the Carribean. Nothing like looking up and
being face-to-face with a green sea turtle. There were literally
dozens of them there - enough that I was worried about tiger sharks,
which like to dine on them.

-L.

On 25 Jun 2005 22:53:12 -0700, "-L." > wrote:

>
>
>smithfarms pure kona wrote:
><snip>
>
>The papayas you had in Hawaii are probably solo
>> sunrise, a gmo but ever so much tastier than the bland junk regular
>> papaya we had growing up. (I fight gmo in almost every instance,
but
>> those papayas...wowser)
>
>I'm curious - how have they been modified? I was a plant molecular
>bioologist for 15 years, developing genetically engineered food
>crops.

I think, and I am not a scientist, it was modified to avoid the ring
spot virus which occurred on the outside of the papaya skin. Sure hope
I'm correct... The solo sunrise is just so remarkably better than
the old papaya.


>> If you want sleepy, come to Hawaii island too. We are the least
>> populated per mile... and the largest island by far. Maybe next
trip?
>
>Best snorkeling I have ever had in my life (so far) was at Orchid at
>Mauna Lani on the Big Island - better than Kauai, the Bahamas,
Cozumel,
snipped.....
-L.

Kealakekua Bay, which you have to get to by boat, should be on your
list for your next trip. It has been said, "it is like swimming in an
aquarium." Nice for sure!

aloha,
Thunder

smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

smithfarms pure kona wrote:
> Kealakekua Bay, which you have to get to by boat, should be on your
> list for your next trip. It has been said, "it is like swimming in an
> aquarium." Nice for sure!
>
> aloha,
> Thunder
>

Thanks for the tip! We will probably return next year, as it is one of
our favorite destinations. By the way, the only coffee I drink is
Kona. There is no other...

-L.

On 26 Jun 2005 10:18:18 -0700, "-L." > wrote:

>
>
>smithfarms pure kona wrote:
>> Kealakekua Bay, which you have to get to by boat, should be on your
>> list for your next trip. It has been said, "it is like swimming in
an
>> aquarium." Nice for sure!
>>
>> aloha,
>> Thunder
>>
>
>Thanks for the tip! We will probably return next year, as it is one
of
>our favorite destinations. By the way, the only coffee I drink is
>Kona. There is no other...
>
>-L.

Thanks for the Kona coffee plug. That is what we farm and sell
-100% Kona-and we know it is the very best!

With aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff