Entries Tagged as 'mel'

Family Dinner in Alewa Heights

March 11th, 2011 · 1 Comment


Never can resist taking a photo of the view of Honolulu from up in the mountains.

Sunday nights are family dinner so we stopped at Safeway for some poke and beer and headed up to Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen’s house in Alewa Heights.

Dallas’s Aunty Wendie is half Chinese and surprised us with a whole Chinese spread of food and things that are symbolic of longevity and good luck, like mochi, good luck money in red envelopes, a pyramid of red bean bao, evergreen and pomelo, which is like a giant grapefruit. Along with an array of Chinese take-out favorites, Aunty Wendie also made beef stew with vegetables. So delicious.


Aunty Wendie, Rachelle


Dallas, Rachelle


Dried fruit, pomelo, lucky money, mochi

Dallas’s Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen finished up their round of golf and came home, so we got to visit with them. Cousin Kala is in her first year of college now. Hard to believe! Cousin Quincy doesn’t live at home any more but came over later. And we got to visit with grandma a bit, although she is getting pretty old and isn’t always “there.” Hopefully she still knows we came for a visit. In any case, it was nice to see everyone.


Quincy, Grandma (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Kala, Dallas (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Quincy, Uncle Mel (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Kala, Dallas, Uncle Bob (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Rachelle, Dallas, Grandma, Kala, Quincy

That night we had to pack everything up in our hotel room because we had an early flight to Kauai in the morning!

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Dinner With Family in Alewa Heights

June 16th, 2009 · 1 Comment

grandma_dallas
Grandma & Dallas, Alewa Heights, Honolulu

For dinner or first night of vacation we called Dallas’ cousin Quincy to see what was up. Dallas’ Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen were traveling and his cousins Quincy and Kala were up at the house taking care of their Grandma (Dallas’ Grandma) and Grandpa (not Dallas’ Grandpa) who live with them. We were thinking maybe we’d bring dinner over since the grandparents are getting too old to go out. Quincy said that Uncle Mel and Aunty Wendie were coming over to barbecue and invited us over for that. We stopped off at the store on the way over and bought some poke for pupus and some beer. Steinlager is another beer that we always drink in Hawaii. (See also Hinano and Primo.) Steinlager is from New Zealand, so you don’t see it everywhere, but we have occasionally seen it at Jewel in Chicago and they have it at Quencher’s. Something new this time, though. They had Steinlager Pure at the supermarket so we had to try it.

For dinner we had some pretty standard stuff: rice, grilled chicken, grilled steak. The standout for me was the fish. Uncle Mel grilled kumu, a smallish-sized fish that Quincy caught, but not just caught with a fishing pole. He went diving in the ocean and speared these fish! The kumu had a very light, delicate flavor. I could see having some more spices or sauce on them and then grilling them to give it a kick.

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Waikiki & Alewa Heights, Oahu

July 21st, 2005 · 5 Comments


Sheraton Moana Surfrider


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Banyan Tree


Rachelle & Banyan Tree


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Makua & Kila statue


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Diamond Head


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


ABC Store


Jack in the Box


Jack in the Box


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


View from Alewa Heights


Dinner in Alewa Heights


Kala


Dallas & Grandma


Rachelle, Caroline, Kathy, Dallas, Grandma


Dallas, Kala, Caroline, Grandma


View from Alewa Heights

One day Dallas and I spent an entire day just hanging around Waikiki.. at the beach, walking around, shopping.

The beach that was across from our hotel was Kuhio Beach, named after Prince Jonah Kuhio, who was prince of the reigning House of Kalakaua when the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893. There were a ton of tourists, for sure, but on the pier there were a lot of local kids hanging out and boarding and jumping off the pier.

For lunch, even though we both prefer In-N-Out Burger as our favorite West Coast burger joint, we had Jack in the Box Sourdough Jacks and it hit the spot. Reminded me a lot of when I lived in San Diego. The first account I worked on when I moved was Jack in the Box. Coming from Wisconsin, I didn’t even know what it was.

Later we walked up and down Kalakaua Ave. and did some shopping. I got some shirts at the Quicksilver store in the International Marketplace and a few other things at Lush.

In the afternoon we walked through the Honolulu Zoo. It’s an alright zoo, not great, but only like $6 (only $4 Kama’aina rate) to get into and worth a stroll around to see the animals and flowers. There was a lot of construction going on at the zoo which might have distracted from the overall ambiance, but probably guarantees that it will be getting better soon!

The thing about Waikiki.. it’s gorgeous and so well manicured and all that but it’s totally created for tourists. And is swarming with tourists. Which sort of drives me a little crazy. There is an ABC souvineer store on EVERY BLOCK. For a relaxing vacation I much prefer Kaua’i. Kaua’i has all of the touristy things that Waikiki and Oahu has, but it’s not so “in your face”. You can hike, you can go on tours, you can rent a bike.. but it’s not there every where you turn. And the beaches and countryside are much more natural, the towns are much smaller, there are way fewer people. Nice and relaxing .. although I think if I had to live there I’d go batty.

For dinner we went to Alewa Heights, where Dallas’ Uncle Bob and Auntie Helen live. Their daughter Kala, Grandma, Uncle Mel and Aunt Wendie were also there. We had local food – lau lau, kalua pig, rice, lomi lomi, poke, purple sweet potatoes, haupia, and lemon cake. It was nice to meet everyone, they’re all really nice, and Grandma said she remembered me from last year.

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