Celebrating 10 Years at The Royal Hawaiian 7.17 – 7.19

Makai was already on Kauai for three weeks when Dallas and I flew to Honolulu. Before we went to get him we were going to spend two nights at The Royal Hawaiian on our own to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We always wanted to invite friends and family to Hawaii to celebrate 10 years, but because of Covid, that didn’t happen. Since we were going to stay in Waikiki, we did not rent a car. Not that we could. Cars were SO expensive, IF available at all! So, for the first time ever, we took an Uber from the Honolulu airport to Waikiki.

We checked into The Royal Hawaiian and were greeted with kukui nut leis. It was nice, but I recall getting a fresh flower lei the last time we stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. Also, I wondered about the banana bread in the room. I was sure they wouldn’t have it because of covid, and I was right! Instead we got a slip to get something “special” at the bakery. When I turned it in, it was a bag of banana muffins.

We had to get up at 3 am for our flight. Then 4 hours to Phoenix and 5 (?) hours to HNL. Then an Uber, then the check in…. all while wearing a mask. We were so exhausted and hungry! We walked around Waikiki for SO long looking for somewhere to sit down and eat. I was so tired I told Dallas I couldn’t walk around any more. Everywhere had wait times of 30 – 60 minutes. Maui Brewing had a 2 hour wait! Now that Hawaii is more open to tourism, it is crazy. We travelled using our vaccine card to avoid the mandatory quarantine.

We finally found a place to be seated and have a drink and some pupus at Doraku on the 2nd floor of the Royal Hawaiian shopping center. I don’t recommend this place, really. It was expensive and the poke had gochujang on it. Also it was our first experience with covid tracing. We had to scan a QR code and enter our contact info into a web form. This was pretty standard at most Honolulu restaurants. Once we were seated and rested a minute we could try to figure out what to do. We called Sansei, one of our favorite Waikiki restaurants, but there was no answer. We then called Side Street Inn because it’s off the beaten tourist path in Waikiki. They said come in NOW or don’t come for 2 days!

Side Street Inn was a great choice. There was no wait and it was all locals. Dallas knew what to order because he’s seen Side Street Inn on TV and has been there before. This was a place Bourdain really liked. We ordered the special of the day – lumpia. It was soo good. We also got the kimchee fried rice, which was huge. A MOUNTAIN of rice. Then we got the fried pork chop. And for dessert we got the chocolate peanut butter crunch. The lychee martini was $8 at Side Street Inn compared to $13 at Doraku.

After dinner we took an Uber back to the hotel and went to bed. By then we’d been up for something like 20 hours!

We woke up early at like 4 or 5am because of the time difference. We went to eat breakfast at Surf Lanai in our hotel really early to beat any rush! The food was good, but expensive. A small place of 3 slices of papaya was $13! We decided to get the continental breakfast, which was all you can eat for $25 AND included papaya! I had 5 slices of papaya, plus other fruit, quiche, and pastries. Dallas had POG + vodka.

After breakfast we were walking around and went to Lawson’s to get a few things for the beach. Lawson’s is a popular convenience store in Japan! Dallas went back to the room and I stopped by ABC store too.

On the way back to the hotel I swung by to see the Princess. Princess Bernice Pauahi, great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, penned her last will and testament at this spot, establishing the Kamehameha Schools, dedicated to educating children of Hawaiian descent.

At 9am we went to our reserved beach chairs. We had to pay $60 to reserve chairs from 9-6. We had to reserve weeks in advance and actually were really lucky to get these chairs! I was checking every morning to try to get chairs or a cabana!

I stopped by the Royal Hawaiian bakery for some free treats, which were 3 banana muffins, instead of the banana bread they used to leave in the rooms. Also, I had to go to the Waikiki Apple store because I forgot my watch charger at home.

When we’d first settled into our seats, I gave the guy who set up our umbrella $20 for tip, thinking he’d be serving us all day. We never saw him again! At 11am we could go to the Mai Tai bar and get our own drinks and walk back to our chairs. Not the luxe experience I was thinking of when I paid for those chairs! Dallas had a beer. I asked for a lava flow but they made me a SUPER STRONG pina colada. The water had such a turquoise hue and a great view of Diamond Head!

Cute Java Sparrow outside the Royal Hawaiian entrance.

For lunch we went to the Royal Hawaiian food court to get something fast and cheap. I ordered a loco moco burger with fries and a Big Wave beer from Mahaloha Burger only to find out Dallas didn’t want anything from any restaurant in the food court! So I ate while he stewed.

We went to Yard House to check on the wait time. This Gabby Pahinui statue is right outside. The wait time was about a half hour so Dallas waited outside and I walked around the little shops in the area. Dallas got ahi nachos and wings. I already ate so I just got a mini creme brulee cheesecake.

Afterwards Dallas went back to our room to rest (he had been up so early). I went back to the beach. I had to get our full value from our reserved chairs!

We got really lucky with reservations that day. I happened to be on the Open Table app when all the listings for Eating House 1849 opened up. I booked a time immediately. I cancelled our reservation for Wolfgang Steakhouse, who, by the way is NOT Wolfgang Puck, much to the confusion of many tourists we heard talking about it. So lucky. The Eating House on Kauai was fully booked til late August! Dallas’s parents had tried to go with Caroline and Jose.

This is a selfie we took before dinner. Dallas was reluctant, but I made him!

Eating House is in the International Marketplace, which is SO fancy now. I felt bad for all of the families who were walking in asking to eat and getting turned away immediately. We learned that lesson right away upon landing on Oahu. We actually later in in the trip started booking meals and planning days around it.

We had pork and crab “pillows” and a seafood platter (4 oysters, 4 giant tiger shrimp, 3 ahi sashimi, 3 salmon sashimi and 3 kampachi sashimi). We each ordered “Fish your way” and both got Kona kampachi. Dallas got his grilled with pancit. I got mine sauteed with truffled garlic caper beurre blanc (butter sauce). The wait staff was so great. Even the busser went out of his way. They’d asked earlier if we wanted the molten lava cake and I was a for sure YES!

I started off dinner with a lychee martini, but then finally did get my lava flow.

We were so stuffed. I wanted to walk around Waikiki a little bit, but it was so busy. Like think… Las Vegas at night busy. Dallas said he’s never seen it SO crowded. There were street performers out and people everywhere. We ended up just going back to the peace and quiet of the hotel.

The next morning I got up at 6am and got coffee at the Royal Hawaiian bakery along with some croissants and the muffins from the day before for breakfast. We packed and took a cab to the airport ($40). Our flight to Kauai was at 9:30 am.


An anniversary note and a love note to The Royal Hawaiian…

Makai has been with his grandparents on Kauai for 3 weeks already. We’re here to pick him up and bring him home, but before we do that we took 2 nights at The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

We were lucky enough to stay at this hotel one other time in 2009, during the recession and on a friends and family discount. This time we used points. I love when we can figure out a way to stay at The RH.
Both of our stays have been in the historic tower, which is the original building from the 1920s. The rooms are not huge and luxurious, but I do not mind. I love being surrounded by the history. Every nook and cranny has photographs, art and memorabilia from the last nearly 100 years.
I also love that because they were the second hotel in Waikiki (Moana is just a little older), the have a larger footprint and are removed from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki and Kal?kaua Ave. The grounds are beautiful and relaxing and I love to sit in a rocking chair on the expansive lanai and read or write or just… sit.
We’re on our way right now to the airport for an inter island flight to Kauai to get our boy. So long to The Pink Palace. A hui hou! Happy 10th anniversary, Dallas Crowell.

Coronavirus Quarantine Week 8: May 3 – 9

Dallas got Makai a tough 300 piece puzzle.

We thought it would take several days or a week. He finished it in less than 24 hours.

We’re continuing to spend a lot of time outside on our new patio set. Love it. Our next investment needs to be a deck umbrella.

I really cannot understand these anti-mask people.

Makai liked all these “yellow flowers.” !!

I really like this tulip!!! I’d never seen a tulip with this coloring before! Makai and I have been taking so many walks and really getting to know our neighborhood in a way that we hadn’t over the last couple years. We’re starting to learn every house and every plant!

I don’t know why I got this ad sent to me, but this is for sure a “salad” I could get behind. There are so many ads for restaurants closed, doing curbside, doing delivery, whatever their policies are..

Pizza Hut is stressing taking breaks and offering Mental Health Recharge days. I definitely took advantage!

Makai is learning his kindergarten lessons easily. He’s ahead on some things. He could probably skip the whole rest of the year and still be ok. Yet, I’d been SO incredibly stressed out EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t know why seeing this in writing really helped my brain a lot.

In the middle of everything, we refinanced. It was strange, but really easy. The closing officer came to our door (mask and gloves) and handed us the papers to sign. She then went and sat in her car and if we had any questions, we texted. Then when we were done, she came back to the door and took the papers, went back to her car to review them.

When the 100 pc puzzle came, it was done at super speed. I have a couple 500 pc puzzles on order.

Taco Tuesday + Cinco de Mayo. Makai was BEYOND excited to have a homemade taco bar at home.

Cross stitching some Christmas ornaments.

Dallas made pork chops with mushroom gravy and rice.

Homework: What’s your favorite letter?

Sometimes it feels like freedom just to get in your car and drive for 5 minutes with the radio on and the windows down. Our car was dead in the garage for several weeks and maybe I didn’t realize that it was taking a psychological toll too. Junebug Cafe opened just before quarantine. I saw recently that they’re selling growlers of my favorite cold brew, Dark Matter’s Chocolate City, so I went and picked one up. I hope they survive this strange time. My craving for iced coffee has increased as we’ve had warmer days. It’s only 55 outside today but I managed to get sunburned while taking a call on the deck.

Breakfast.
  Math class.

Important work going on here.

For the musicians..

I started talking about gardening on Friday and accidentally made Dallas give me my gift early because it was a gardening tool and tote set!

My Mother’s Day gift is 6 gardening tools, gloves, and a squirt bottle that all fit into this utility tote. So cool! I used it all day yesterday.

I shopped at Farmers Market Garden Center. They all wore masks and required customers to. It was easy to stay away from people in the lot. To get inside and browse and pay you needed to stand in a socially distanced line. They had a security guard to enforce it. He told me he used to work at nightclubs downtown and was just happy to have a job.

Makeshift workbench.
Raking the dead grass out in the back yard.
So much dead grass. Dallas went over it 3 times.
Planted marigolds and spikes on the front steps.
Weed whacking.
  The raised bed was overgrown with mint from last year. I ripped a ton of it out and delivered it to Jessica, Kristin, and Rachel. We also had thyme come back from last year, but not a ton. I also planted cucumbers, basil, rosemary and chives in the raised bed.
Makai wanted strawberries so I planted them here along with one extra marigold plant.
Makai acting like he’s watering something so he can play in the water!
    I got this print for my office. Who run the world (girls!)
Makai said he needed to air his butt out while he was doing the puzzle.
  I got dressed up for a special event. I put on makeup for the first time since March. I used my special Malie Hawaiian shampoo, conditioner and body wash.
I even set the table nicely.
It was Sara’s 40th birthday!
Sara, Jessica, Stacy and I all ordered dinner from Elske. Stacy went and picked it up and dropped it off at my house. Jess delivered Sara’s to her.
We ate dinner “together” and talked and drank wine. The dinner was delicious!
    When it was time for desert, we had Sara light her candles, blow them out, and make a wish!
Even though we couldn’t be together, it was fun!

This was the gift I sent to Sara for her birthday!

Coast Grille at the Hapuna Beach Prince

We checked into the Hapuna Beach Prince in the early evening and after we were settled we decided to get dinner. We were kind of tired from travel and just wanted to eat at the resort. I looked into our dining options and saw that there were two restaurants open – Ocean Terrace and Coast Grille. Both menus looked good, atmosphere seemed good, both required “resort attire.” I made the executive decision to go to Coast Grille, which was a bit more pricey than Ocean Terrace. I was just in the mood to have a really nice, quiet dinner together since it was the first time we were on our own since the wedding. Heck, the first time in 12 days, probably. And since we were going to be spending upcoming days with friends, it was our only night to have a nice quiet dinner. Plus, we had our fists full of wedding money!

We were not really sure what “resort attire” was. Dallas wore a nice aloha shirt, shorts and leather slippers. I wore a nice shirt and a skirt. When we got there, we seemed a little under dressed, a feeling I never felt before in Hawaii! We didn’t really care, though, and neither did the restaurant. I just think it is funny that Dallas basically wore what he wore to our wedding and he was under dressed. Ha.

The hostess said she’d have to check on a seat for us and I was afraid that it was going to be a long wait, but within 10 minutes we were seated. We were on a terrace, which I think overlooks the ocean, but honestly, it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. I liked that we were at the end of the terrace near a server stand and in an area that was not very trafficked by anyone except our server, so it was nice and quiet.

Our waitress introduced herself. She was a cute older lady that you just wanted to call Aunty! She was very helpful and curteous and I liked that she didn’t stick around and get in our way. We really just wanted to eat a quiet meal in peace. The lighting of the restaurant was really dark out there, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to sit there and listen to the ocean!

I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Dallas had a Kona Brewing Big Wave. Dallas might have had 2 beers, I only had one glass of wine. I think that the vacation was starting to take it’s toll! We had been drinking every day for about 12 days at that point, so we had to lay off!

First off, we were served bread in a bread basket. I had to remind myself not to fill up on bread becuase there was a really good olive loaf in there that I could have wolfed down. It was so salty and yummy with the slightly sweet butter. But, I was really psyched for good seafood, so I laid off!

For pupus, Dallas and I split the Seasonal Oysters in the half shell. I can’t remember where they were from, but they were not local (Sidenote: Do Hawaiian oysters even exist?). Maybe it was the ocean breeze or 12 days of drinking, but even though these oysters were not local, they were the best I ever had, I swear! We also split the Ahi Poke Tempura Roll, which was like maki with poke in the middle, then the whole roll was battered and fried. Good too. Not as good as the oysters.

Dallas and I each got a salad, the same salad, the Kamuela Spinach Salad. Kamuela is a town about 12 miles up the road, so if this spinach was from there, it could not have been more local. The salad also had red onion, goat cheese made on the Big Island, house-made bacon, and a warm mustard vinaigrette. This salad was soooo good. The tanginess of the cheese, saltiness of the bacon, creaminess of the cheese, crispness of the spinach. So good.

For an entree Dallas had the Pan Roasted Kurobuta Pork Chops. I don’t have much info on how this was prepared because it was a special that night, but Dallas seemed to really like it. The Prince is owned by a Japanese company and they have a lot of Japanese guests. The table next to us got a completely different menu than we did, all in Japanese. Anyway, we’re thinking the Kurobuta was served because it is a Japanese name for a certain quality of pork.

I had the Coast Grille Seafood Trio, which was three Hawaiian fish – Mahi, Ahi, and Ono – cooked however the chef wanted with a side of coconut rice. This was really delicious and exactly what I was in the mood for. The fish pieces were on the small side, but there were three of them, so in the end it was just the right size.


Bad lighting, brand new rings

We had a look at the dessert menu, but nothing stood out. Plus, we were rather full, so we decided to skip it. All-in-all it was a great, quiet, romantic dinner.

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

I had this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Crunchy Baked Pork Chops printed out and in our kitchen for a long time. We had the pork chops in the freezer, we had all the ingredients, we just never made them. I actually bought parsley twice for this recipe. Then one Sunday I decided to do it. Well, by “I,” I mean “Dallas.”

Jess came over and she and I were playing Wii. Dallas was nice enough to cut up limes and keep serving us Corona Light while we played. Not only that, but he made the crunchy baked pork chops while we sipped our beer and played video games. There was some grumbling from the kitchen because the recipe is kind of long and drawn out.. you brine the pork chops and make your own breadcrumbs. Even though we had a canister of breadcrumbs in the cupboard I insisted that Dallas stick with the recipe no matter what.

In the end Dallas said that no matter how the pork chops turned out, he didn’t think they were worth the time and effort. Jess and I, torn away from the Wii, begged to differ. They might have been the most moist and flavorful pork chops I’ve ever had! And the crunch on the outside was just perfect.

So, please make this recipe. Just know that going into it you need to be patient and expect a lot of steps!
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Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
This recipe was developed using natural pork, but enhanced pork (injected with a salt solution) will work as well. If using enhanced pork, eliminate the brining in step 1. The bread crumb mixture can be prepared through step 2 up to 3 days in advance. The breaded chops can be frozen for up to 1 week. They don’t need to be thawed before baking; simply increase the cooking time in step 5 to 35 to 40 minutes.

Table salt
4 boneless center-cut pork chops, 6 to 8 ounces each, 3/4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large egg whites
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Lemon wedges

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Dissolve 1/4 cup salt in 1 quart water in medium container or gallon-sized zipper-lock bag. Submerge chops, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes. Rinse chops under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Meanwhile, pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground, about eight 1-second pulses (you should have about 3 1/2 cups crumbs). Transfer crumbs to rimmed baking sheet and add shallot, garlic, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss until crumbs are evenly coated with oil. Bake until deep golden brown and dry, about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. (Do not turn off oven.) Cool to room temperature. Toss crumbs with Parmesan, thyme, and parsley.

Place 1/4 cup flour in pie plate. In second pie plate, whisk egg whites and mustard until combined; add remaining 6 tablespoons flour and whisk until almost smooth, with pea-sized lumps remaining.

Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Spray wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and place in rimmed baking sheet. Season chops with pepper. Dredge 1 pork chop in flour; shake off excess. Using tongs, coat with egg mixture; let excess drip off. Coat all sides of chop with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently so that thick layer of crumbs adheres to chop. Transfer breaded chop to wire rack. Repeat with remaining 3 chops.

Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of chops registers 150 degrees, 17 to 25 minutes. Let rest on rack 5 minutes before serving with lemon wedges.