Hiking with Hawaiian Christmas trees

Jarrod and I recently hiked the Aiea Loop trail. While it wasn't my favorite hike on Oahu, it was very enjoyable and the view of H-3 (a highway that spans the Ko'olau mountain range and connects the east and west sides of the island) was stunning. There weren't a ton of flowers to look at on this hike, but we did see plenty of what we generally refer to as "those weird Hawaiian pine trees." They're actually called Norfolk pines (after their native land of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean) and there's actually a farm on Oahu that sells them as Christmas trees!

Electric Beach

Jarrod and I went snorkeling at a new spot on Monday called Electric Beach. It's on the west side of Oahu and named such because it's right across the street from a power plant. The power plant was two huge pipes that spit hot air or water (not sure which) out into the ocean and the fishies love it. Getting out to the open ocean was a bit rough as we had to basically get clobbered in the face by huge, very salty waves first. And then it was about a quarter-mile swim out to the pipes. There weren't as many neat fish as Hanauma Bay, but we did see a few new ones. Spinner dolphins and sea turtles frequent this area, but unfortunately we didn't see either. We did encounter a school of neat little squid, though, which was a first for us. Next up for snorkeling: Shark's Cove on the North Shore and Chinaman's Hat on the east side.

Thai iced tea

One thing I absolutely adore about Hawaii life is the jaw-dropping abundance of Thai restaurants. Pretty much they're like Starbucks -- one on every corner. And this is fantastic for Jarrod and me because we both love Thai. Our favorite dish (yes, both of us -- we're boring) is pad Thai, but lately we've been trying to branch out more into Thai curries (which are intriguingly similar but different from the typical Indian curries). Anyway, Jarrod and I have sampled the fare at many Thai restaurants in our year and a half here, but none have been as good as our favorite, Champa Thai. We almost always order the same thing there -- the spring roll appetizer, pad Thai with chicken (medium spice level) and Thai iced teas to drink.

What's a thai iced tea? That, friends, is what this blog post is about. For months, Jarrod and I would stare curiously when waiters would deliver a tall orange drink to our neighbor tables. Finally, we realized this was the menu offering called a Thai iced tea and decided to sample one for ourselves. We fell in love and have not eaten at Champa (or any other Thai restaurant) since without ordering the Thai iced tea (which means a lot coming from me; I hate paying $3 for a beverage at a restaurant so I'm forever ordering water). At first sip, I thought the Thai iced tea tasted like a mixture of iced tea and coffee creamer. Turns out the sweetness actually comes from sweetened condensed milk. The cool, refreshing and slightly milky drink is a perfect foil for the spicy Thai food.

On a different note, I recently started a second blog about books and such. Check it out!

Geckos galore!

The picture above is of a mutant two-tailed gecko in our storage closet. There are a LOT geckos in Hawaii and many look just like that one, although the typical (non-mutant) gecko only owns one tail. They come in a variety of colors and sizes and make a strange clicking/knocking noise to communicate, especially at night. These friendly (if rather skittish) creatures supposedly eat bugs, so we always try to put them back outside (away from the stalking eyes of the cat!) if they make their way into the house. Unfortunately, they are also very attracted the bug zapper we put up out back in hopes of curtailing our mosquito problem. Instead of zapped mosquitoes, our zapper still holds the remnants of three zapped geckos. When I say that geckos are very prolific here, it's not an exaggeration. For example, after the tsunami hit last month, there was a news report on the effectiveness of the siren warning system. Most of the sirens went off without a problem, but a handful remained silent because they had been "shorted out by geckos"!

We finally see a "dog that runs in rough water"

One of my goals in life is to see various wildlife in its natural habitat in person, (things like bears, toucans and puffins), and in Hawaii specifically I wanted to see sea turtles, whales and monk seals. I've been lucky enough to have several sea turtle encounters in Hawaii, and we took an amazing whale-watching cruise in February, but I had never seen a monk seal until last weekend. We hiked Ka'ena Point on Saturday and were thrilled to see two of the creatures. I think there's some rule about how close you're allowed to get to them, but being blissfully without crowds of onlookers we were able to get about 10 feet away without the seals even twitching a whisker in our direction. They're one of Hawaii's two native mammals (the other being the hoary bat) and, sadly, they're endangered. Jarrod and I felt it was a great treat to observe these two seals. In Hawaiian, the monk seals are known as 'ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua or "dog that runs in rough water." I'm glad we're not the only ones who think the seals resemble our boxer, Conan! The other seal we saw was basking in the sun with its head under the water. Here's a look at the scenery... the hike takes you to the northwestern tip of Oahu and can be accessed on both the west and north sides. We took the west (Waianae) side and it was spectacular. At the end of the trail is a bird sanctuary of sorts with tons of albatross nests. We saw several adult birds and two babies.

Kona Brewing Company

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to become a beer drinker. It seems like every place we go has different and unique regional beers and I want to be able to partake in the beer-sampling fun with Jarrod! Hawaii boasts a couple brewing companies, the most famous of which is Kona Brewing Company. The brewery and main pub are located in Kona on the Big Island, but there's also a KBC restaurant on Oahu featuring delicious food and the whole variety of brews. Longboard Lager is the most popular choice; it can be found in some stores on the Mainland and was featured in a recent episode of "Hawaii 5-0." While the various beers are still growing on me, I absolutely love the beautiful Hawaiian-themed artwork on all the bottles and packages of KBC's "liquid aloha."

"Murder on Moloka'i"

A friend and fellow fiction fan from work loaned me "Murder on Moloka'i," the first in the "Surfing Detective" series by local author Chip Hughes. The book features Kai Cooke, a PI whose other passion in life is surfing. The book is a murder-mystery about an environmental activist who dies while on Moloka'i's mule tour to the leper colony at Kalaupapa. Her mule trips and falls, pitching her off a cliff, and her (estranged) sister doesn't think it was an accident.

The writing and plot were decent, not the best or most original murder-mystery I've ever read but still an enjoyable book. I really liked the Hawaiian element, though. I watch "Hawaii 5-0" (not quite the best show on TV right now) occasionally for the same reason -- it's neat to read about and see places we've been or want to go. This book includes scenes on several Hawaiian islands. Incidentally, my friend gave me the book at the exact time I had been researching a quick getaway to Moloka'i. The island sounds like the antithesis to bustling, over-populated Oahu. It's uncrowded, has pristine and unspoiled beaches, and doesn't even have a stoplight. The scenery appears to be stunning, and I have no doubt that the atmosphere would be relaxing. Other than lounging on the beach, we'd like to take the mule ride to Kalaupapa and visit the leper colony there. "Murder on Moloka'i" includes some history on Saint Damien and the colony, which I'll be glad to know going into the tour. Conditions at Kalaupapa were horrible for the exiled lepers, until Saint Damien began caring for patients there in 1873 and made it his mission to drastically improve their quality of life. After years of dedication to the quarantined patients, he succumbed to the disease himself and died in 1889.

Aside from giving readers a history lesson, Hughes does a great job depicting Hawaiian culture and the atmosphere of the islands. I enjoyed his usage of Pidgen and Hawaiian words, although readers unfamiliar with the language might need to look up a few terms. Hughes does italicize most Hawaiian words, and they can often be figured out in context. Here are some common Hawaiian words used in the novel:
-akamai: smart
-moke: big, local Polynesian guy (as in physically huge)
-ono: delicious, as in food (i.e. ono grinds); hot/sexy, as in physical attractiveness (ono wahine)
-wahine: woman
-kane: man
-mahu: homosexual
-haole: white/Caucasian person
-pali: cliffs
-paniolo: Hawaiian cowboy
-ohana: family
-aina: land
-mahalo: thank you

I'm planning to soon read the next two books in the series, "Wipeout" and "Kula." The latter book deals with a surfing dog, and since dogs are a topic close to my heart I'm looking forward to this book in particular. I'd definitely recommend reading Chip Hughes' series for a taste of the islands!

The Anatomy of a Mochi Ice Cream

Since we arrived in Hawaii nearly a year and a half ago, we'd often seen mochi ice cream for sale but had never tried it. I was once tempted to order one at Bubbie's, our favorite ice cream place, but since Bubbie's is really far away and an extra-special treat I just had to go with my usual haupia chip ice cream. (Haupia is Hawaiian coconut pudding, and Bubbie's homemade ice cream is absolutely amazing.) My only other experience with mochi was so-so, as blogged here, so I was reluctant to spend much to sample mochi ice cream. However, I recently noticed that the commissary carries a brand of mochi ice cream and last week my curiosity finally overcame my frugality and I forked over $3.50 for a box of six.

As soon as the first bites were in our mouths, our tongues were saying, "How could you go 18 months without treating us to this amazing melding of flavors?" and meanwhile our waistlines were saying, "Uh-oh..."

Each mochi ice cream is about the size of a small clementine. The mochi itself -- made of smashed, sweetened rice -- is a bit sticky, so each ball is dusted in flour. The mochi is sweet, chewy and has a mellow but unique flavor. And inside that is a ball of vanilla ice cream. (Or whatever flavor you choose.)

Mochi ice cream, as my husband so succinctly put it, is addicting! The box of six I bought on Thursday has long since been demolished, and our taste buds are already craving more!

Swimming with the fishies

Jarrod and I recently went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay and had a fantastic time. We had fun taking pictures with our underwater camera and got some really great shots this time. Unfortunately, the camera battery died just before a sea turtle went swimming past us! As we were swimming with our turtle friend, we happened upon a huge blue and yellow eel with his mouth open and teeth pointed at us; it would've been an awesome picture. I guess I learned my lesson about making sure the camera battery is fully charged before all excursions! Nevertheless, we still managed to take over 200 pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites:

A humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Hawaii's state fish:

A pencil urchin, my all-time favorite picture with the underwater camera (taken by Jarrod, of course):

Bright pink coral:

Dogs like the beach too!

One thing I love about Hickam AFB is the dog beach. It's unofficially dog friendly and on any given day one can find several friendly canines chasing each other on the sand bar if the tide is low, or swimming and frolicking in the ocean if the water is up. Since it's right near the harbor inlet, it's not uncommon to see ships or submarines heading by on their way to Pearl Harbor, which also adds to the excitement. Last weekend we took Conan to the beach for the first time in several months (we had been holding off to make sure his chronic ear infections weren't caused by water) and were delighted to see the joy in his eyes as he ran full out, chasing and being chased by his new furry friends. He even got to play with another boxer! I sometimes wonder if Conan can recognize that another dog is the same breed as he is; he seemed to gravitate toward the other boxer, but perhaps that's just because they share the same style of play.

I often feel guilty that our yard isn't bigger (backyard space -- and space in general -- is at a premium in Hawaii) so Conan can run around to his heart's content. That's one reason I like taking him to the dog beach. He gets to run off the leash and experience the freedom to go where he wants and socialize with the dogs he wants. I love to watch Conan run wide open, full speed ahead, with his long tongue hanging out, his ears flopping every which way, and his face caught in an expression of bliss.

The Lt. Dan Band

Last Friday night, Jarrod and I went to a fantastic USO concert at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base: Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. The music was great and it was really cool to be so close to a movie star! You'll recognize Gary Sinise from "CSI: New York," "Apollo 13" and of course "Forrest Gump." Standing just feet from him, I reminisced back to elementary school when "Apollo 13" came out and I thought Gary Sinise was so good-looking that I clipped his picture out of a magazine!


Gary Sinise has been called the Bob Hope of the 21st century for all the work he does with the USO. He travels around the country and the world -- including the war zone -- performing for the troops and their families. I was struck by two things: how happy Gary Sinise and his bandmates seemed up on stage and how sincerely patriotic they seemed. The last song the group performed was "God Bless the USA" and it was done with such heart that it left me attempting to hide the fact that my eyes had gotten slightly watery. I guess such songs will always mean more when you've got a military connection; I was surrounded by Marines and people from other service branches, my dad was in the Air Force for 20 years and still works there as a civilian, and my husband is in the Air Force and extremely likely to be deployed to the Middle East sometime in the next 12 months. The passionately delivered lines, "And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today," seemed particularly applicable.

A Whale of a Tale

A couple weekends ago, Jarrod and I did one of the most fun activities of our time on Oahu so far: a whale-watching cruise to see the humpback whales that inhabit Hawaiian waters from December to March. We got up bright and early to do the Early Bird cruise on the Star of Honolulu. The weather was fantastic and I guess the humpbacks agreed because they were out in full force. We saw three different pods, one of which was only 100 yards from the boat (which I believe is the closest a boat can legally get to a whale).

We were so lucky to see the whales breach several times, as well as do a bit of a mating ritual involving splashing their flippers and tails on top of the water. The naturalist on board told us breaches are usually seen a couple times a week, but it's rare to see so many breaches in a row. The naturalist also explained to us how absolutely massive humpbacks are. They weigh about 1 ton for every foot in length; the average humpback is 45 feet long so that means it weighs 45 tons!

Diamond Head and Waikiki from the whale-watching boat. This is about the farthest we got from shore; really not that far at all.

A "plume" coming from a whale's blowhole.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. I wish I had shot the photo just a split second later, when the tail was straight up in the air.

Jarrod and I had an absolutely fantastic time on the two-hour whale-watching excursion and would definitely recommend it, although I think we were especially lucky to see so much activity. So we've now seen sea turtles and whales; next up are dolphins and monk seals!

I posted two videos from the day on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcw08axm2BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MqM5kgoU9E

Pro Bowl 2011

Jarrod and I were bummed when the 2010 Pro Bowl was in Miami and were excited that it was returning to Hawaii this year. But when the time to buy tickets came, we wavered. Did we really want to pay $130 for so-so seats? No, not really. But then at the very last minute (the Friday before the game) Jarrod decided to check Craigslist for tickets. We found several decent seats and decided to go with fourth-row seats on the 20-yard-line of the AFC side. We negotiated a price of $100 per ticket, which ended up being a fantastic deal. The game wasn't exactly a stunner, but sitting just feet away from the players was amazing! I was too busy taking pictures and staring at the alternately hulking/way-shorter-than-I-thought/super-famous/sooo good-looking guys on the sidelines that I didn't even pay much attention to the actual game.

Aside from the players, we also got to see the tail-end of the Goo Goo Dolls pregame performance, Kris Allen from "American Idol" singing the national anthem, Dog the Bounty Hunter sitting on the sidelines and Daniel Dae Kim of "Lost" and "Hawaii 5-0" fame walking just feet away from us. These are a few of my favorite pictures from the game:

Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers quarterback.

Brandon Lloyd (Denver Broncos), Reggie Wayne (Indianapolis Colts), Peyton Manning (Colts), and Philip Rivers.

Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys.

Year of the Rabbit

On Saturday, Jarrod and I went to Chinatown in Honolulu for the annual Chinese New Year celebration. The event included vendors and food booths as well as a parade. The parade was by far the best part; the dragon and lion dancers were so neat!


This is the Year of the Rabbit and I loved the rabbit-themed signs the kids were carrying. Jarrod and I were born in the Year of the Ox, 1985. According to Wikipedia (the foremost source on everything, of course) that makes us more prone to be: dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, a born leader, patient, hard-working, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious; can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid and demanding. Do you think that sounds like us? Besides Ox and Rabbit, the other Chinese zodiacs are Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.

Me with a lion dancer.Jarrod and the 150-foot long dragon. This was the grand finale of the parade.