I’m a picky eater. Organic when I can. Grass Fed over mass-produced feed. Fresh, local produce. Gluten-free as much as possible.
Hooray to Whole Foods for opening their newest store in Hawaii. It’s in Kailua, on the Windward side of Oahu and today I toured the store before its grand opening on Wednesday.
Wow! The store is huge! There’s a section for everything, starting with wine, beer and pizza. They’re having Happy Hours with $2.00 beer. Get a draft and a slice and sit with your friends in the cushy green seats in the “Bar” area.
My favorite is the coffee and juice bar. Twelve different coffees served daily. I swear I heard our tour guide say, “Twelve.” I hope I wasn’t imagining it.
There’s a bakery section with organic bread baked daily. The baker also said my favorite words, “gluten-free.” But it won’t be baked fresh daily. The gluten-free foods will be in the refrigerated or freezer sections.
Next we went to the butcher section. See the pattern here – bartender, baker, butcher. Like an old time village, where you stopped at each proprietor for your food, except here, it’s all in one store.
They talked for a while about a color-coded system of defining the level of meats by how they were raised. The couple behind me and I both honed in on the beef coming from Maui. Not too far, when considering we are the metropolis most-removed from another city in the entire world. As in, we are far from everything here in the Pacific Ocean.
The fish section has a poke bar. Typical Hawaii.
Across the way we went to the bulk section. Not only do they have bulk nuts and seeds, but bulk liquids. I saw metal containers that looked like coffee urns marked with “Macadamia Nut Oil”, “Raw Blue Agave”, and “Amino Acids”.
Finally to the fresh produce. They purchase produce as local as possible, which isn’t difficult here. Hawaii has excellent papaya, mango, pineapple, corn, lettuce and greens. Oh, the list goes on….
Maui Pineapples on Sale
We walked around the outdoor, gated area to listen to music, and sample foods. The tea with sorbet was excellent. I tried both the Lychee and the Ginger Passion Fruit. Once Whole Foods is open for shopping, I’m buying some.
I can’t wait shop here. Thank you Whole Foods for opening up a much larger store and on the other side of the island.
Last Easter, we sat on the beach under a warm Hawaiian sun, while blue skies beckoned us into the turquoise water. This Easter, we had windy, rainy, grey skies.
Poor weather didn’t stop Oahu residents from celebrating at the beach. Saturday morning, I met some friends at the beach for a morning get together. In the wind-blown park adjacent to the beach, I watched a group set up for a party. Tarps were hung from pillar to pillar under the gazebo area, in order to block the wind and potential rain from their cooking area. A truck pulled up loaded with tables and chairs. Someone was having a luau at the beach.
Every holiday weekend, I see large groups come to the beach areas. They set up grills, chairs, tables loaded with food, and line coolers around the group’s area. There they sit all day, talking story with friends and family, eating ono (good) homemade food and watching the kids play in the ocean. If there is no covered area, large canopy tents are erected to house the party and protect the food.
Everyone has a good time and when finished every remnant of the party is cleaned up and taken out of the park/beach area. This happens all over the island.
Yesterday, I watched Ala Moana and Kapiolani parks fill up with families and friends gathering for the holiday.
South Shore sunset on Easter
The rain came crashing onto the island around 4:30, while the wind whipped the palm trees and tents. By 7:00, Mark and I were watching the rain from a restaurant. No luau for us, just a chef-made Easter dinner under a large tent, while watching the storm pass outside.
When it rains here, locals say we are being blessed. We had a blessed Easter Day on Oahu.
• the name being called out for pick up at McDonald’s is, “Kimo”.
• the ukulele scholarship deadline is front page news of the local paper.
• you visit the hospital and are reminded you are on healing grounds.
• you get a ticket for turning down the only two-way street in the neighborhood and find out it’s a ‘bus only’ street.
• on the bus, people stand and offer front seats to the elderly and disabled without being asked.
• a friend sees you from across the street and hangs a shaka in greeting.
• you sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 45 minutes and never hear a horn honk.
• as a Caucasian woman, you get asked everywhere you go, “How did you end up here?”
• you pick up friends and family at the airport so often the ladies at the lei making stands recognize you.
• double Makai points day means you get to the grocery store early.
• ahi tuna is sold out by noon on New Year’s Eve day at the store.
• you wake up in the morning to the sound of birds singing and know it will be a good day. After all, you are in Hawaii.
Last spring I wrote about a crazy weather day here on Oahu. The DJ on the radio called it a “Kabajang Monday”. Well. it’s been a Kabanjang crazy Tuesday today. It started with thunder and lightning last night. Oahu was under a flash flood warning all day. The rain was relentless. The rain would ease up for a few minutes, tricking us into thinking it might let up, only to have the heavy rain return. This happened all day yesterday and all day today.
We never lost power at our place, but many around us did. Flooded roads were found everywhere I went today, including my own driveway! I also had to purchase my first ever set of sandbags.
I am the proud owner of sandbags.
The rain is supposed to continue until Friday. Let’s hope there’s some dry time in there to let the water drain away. The positive of this is there are amazing waterfalls going off in the mountains. The water isn’t falling straight down. No, the water is gushing so fast and furious it sends the water off the mountain horizontally first, before gravity pulls it down. Beautiful. Hawaii always has a surprise from the land. Always.
View off Mauna Kea Street
Welcome to my new website. I’m still working on getting it just right….so bear with me.
Since I’ve last blogged, Chinese New Year celebrations happened all over Honolulu. Mark and I went to Chinatown for the parade and festival. I love the colors of Chinatown when it’s lit up and celebrating. Lion dancers snaked around the streets and alleys. I snapped a photo of a little girl (I mean, like four years old!) dressed in a lion dancer costume. She wagged her lion head and shook her body. She was already a pro!
We waited for dinner at Little Village and I’ve been craving their food ever since. I can’t wait to go back. It’s worth the wait in line.
She had fun prancing like a lion. She's a pro already!
The next weekend, I watched the performers at Ala Moana Shopping Center. First was a tandem lion dancer team that performed in the lion costume above the floor on small discs affixed to poles that perched from four to eight feet above the floor. The duo had to be coordinated and plant each foot at precisely the right spot and the right second. They were amazing.
Next, lion dancers paraded around each wing of the center, stopping at stores to receive the red “lei see” envelopes and bless the shops and their cash registers for the new year. They even rode the escalator at Nordstrom! I stood between the shoe and cosmetics departments, watching the lions bless my two favorite section of Nordstrom’s. I have great video of it and once I figure out how to load video here, I’ll post it.
New Year's dinner
Now, it’s on to Punxsatawney Phil who saw his shadow today. Six more weeks of winter, but I can’t tell from Oahu. It’s always in the 70′s or low 80′s here. Even in winter.
Happy Year of the Dragon!
Tuesday evening I received this text from Hawaii Dept. of Emergency Services:
“Hi Surf Warning Oahu, 10 am Tues. to 6am Thu. North 25′-35′. Take precaution against dangerous waves.”
Wednesday morning we drove to North Shore to watch the waves. We stopped at every beach we could to take in the awe of Mother Nature. I don’t think we saw any 25-30′ waves, but the waves were intense. Lifeguards taped off certain beach areas and stood over the crowds to keep people off the beach. Waimea had the most surfers. Pupukea had a jet ski and a helicopter hovering over a group of surfers out in the distance. We never saw any of them take a wave. The weather was perfect. A slight breeze, sun, mid-70′s. I’d say blue sky, but there was a persistent haze of vog from the Big Island.
When we arrived on Sunset Beach, the wind had picked up. Sand was kicking up along the dry areas. Waves churned with more white wash and spray. I couldn’t help but picture three guy friends from high school. They were surfers and loved the movie Big Wednesday. They couldn’t wait for its box office release. They quoted lines from the movie on a regular basis. They surfed when they could, mostly in Newport, San Onofre and Dana Point, but they also traveled to their secret surf/camp spot in Mexico. They were a lot like the guys in the movie. Thank goodness they are all still alive and didn’t have a Vietnam war, like the movie characters.
Off in the distance I captured the last moment of a whale flipping his tail in the water. I looked out his direction and watched the explosive sprays from his blowhole shoot above the ocean along the horizon line. I may not be out there on a board floating as one with the ocean, but I sure appreciate the beauty and movement from Mother Nature’s ocean world.
Here I was on January 4th standing on the beach where most of the movie was filmed. This was my Big Wednesday. I don’t surf. Never have. But I was mesmerized by watching the waves roll in and crash on the rocks, reefs and beaches. This was the day I realized my life had changed. I live on Oahu now, not California. I left things behind, physical things, but also, a whole lifetime of memories in California. Life isn’t the same. People have passed on, friends moved away and life is all new here. It was time for me to embrace the new. I turned to Mark who said, “We are so lucky. We live here.” I agreed.
Christmas Day we went to church. Greenery and candles lined the pews and walls, along with native antherium, ti leaves and weaved palm fronds. We sat in a pew and faced the high altar, waiting for the service to begin. At 10:30, the bells in the chapel rang joyous tunes. Still facing the front, we waited for the choir to enter in front of us, but we heard another sound. A conch shell called parishioners to enter the church. A conch shell. Only in Hawaii. But wait….
during the Prayers Of The People, the priest from Tennessee, prayed for King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. And the choir sang the Queen’s Prayer – in Hawaiian!
The Queen’s Prayer translated to English:
(Lili’uokalani)
Your loving mercy is as high as heaven and your truth so perfect. I live imprisoned in sorrow; you are my light; your glory, my support. Behold not with malevolence the sins of humankind, but forgive and cleanse.
And so, O Lord, protect us beneath your wings and let peace be our portion now and forever more.
Here are photos from Honolulu City Lights, put on by the City and County of Honolulu at Honolulu Hale. There is so much more than what I’ve posted here, but this gives you an idea of the color and lights that surround City Hall and adorn the interior.
The lobby was filled with rows of Christmas trees, each decorated by a different city/county department, such as Office of Emergency Services which had a “Be Prepared” tree, complete with a can of Spam hung as an ornament.
Mark, our friend “Jake”, and I wandered the lobby and inhaled the smell of fresh pine trees. “It finally feels like Christmas,” we remarked.
I may go back again before the season is over.
I wondered how Hawaiians would decorate for Christmas. Would Santa come in a canoe rather than down the chimney? (Yes, he does. In Waikiki, at least.)
Here are photos of Christmas decorations I’ve taken all around the island. Look closely, you’ll see ukeleles in wreaths and Santa’s workshop isn’t run by elves. The Menehune help Santa with the toys on Oahu.
I was surprised to find the manger scene at the Kahala Mall.
The real Oahu decorations are at Honolulu City Lights. I haven’t made it down there yet, but I will and I’ll share photos when I do.
