Today was the last day of my holiday. For dinner I thought back to a lunch I had in Hawaii, viz., a saimin burger and went about making a saimin salmon salad for dinner tonight.
In case you’re interested, I cooked the noodles in hot water and then fried them in egg rings. I added a little olive oil, soy sauce, Tabasco sauce and maple syrup.
Saimin burger from L&L Hawaiian BarbecueSaimin salmon salad for dinner
I spent my last day of my holiday at home cleaning up and unpacking, washing more clothes and catching up on personal e-mails. I also went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and shot some photographs.
My last breakfast in Hawaii was a Blueberry whipped cream Queensland nut waffle at Eggs ‘n Things in Waikiki.
Blueberry whipped cream and Queensland nut waffle
This was a very good waffle. The cream while it looked bulky was basically full of air and very light and fluffy. I’m assuming no calories. I also poured maple syrup and coconut syrup all over the waffle.
There are so many tourists and very few locals here.
The Royal Hawaiian from the Aqua Waikiki Wave
After breakfast the bags got packed and Honolulu International Airport (HNL) was reached.
The flight back to Australia was QF4 HNL to SYD. I was treated really well on the flight. The attendants ensured I had the menu selections I wanted and it was about the best international flight I’ve ever flown.
Prior to departing I bought a copy of Muriel Miura’s Spam cookbook. Not only does it contain amazing recipes but also some great facts about spam.
Lunch was a grilled salmon salad. Delicious 😀
Chocolate mousse. Yummy 🙂
This melon flavoured ice bar was really good.
Dinner was dolphin fish (not the sea mammal). My first time. It was wonderful.
Panna cotta was good.
Breakfast before the bus ride back to Canberra was yoghurt and muesli.
Today is the last day in the North Shore. We drove through the middle of Oahu and onto Diamond Head before arriving in Honolulu.
We had to clean out the refrigerator so that meant I had to eat the rest of the spam while Bron made Cinnabon.
I took advantage of the extraordinary sweetness and cinnamon happiness in Cinnabon and combined it with the jalapeño spam, the last of the asparagus and a couple of eggs.
While I was preparing breakfast I processed a nice photograph from the Pali Lookout.
After breakfast we sadly had to pack our stuff to leave the North Shore so we can spend a night in Honolulu before our flight back to Sydney and then a bus ride to cold frigid dry painful Canberra.
On departing the North Shore I ate at two more food trucks before noon. The first was Giovanni’s which has legend status but according to reviews has gone downhill a bit of late. I’d already had garlic prawns and hot and spicy prawns so I thought I would try their lemon and butter prawns. For $USD13 I was given 12 small prawns which were a little overcooked and tough. The sauce was mostly lemon juice and a little butter. I was pretty disappointed.
Given the disappointment we headed off in the direction of Romy’s food truck in the hope of better quality prawns.
We weren’t disappointed and as a treat I had some sweet and spicy pineapple. The meal was very expensive though, it cost me $USD21. The prawns though were well cooked, the shells were tender and the garlic was strong.
As we drove through the ‘centre’ of Oahu we contemplated a Dole whip from the Dole Plantation but drove past thinking of the Diamond Head crater trail walk ahead of us.
As we approached Diamond Head I was thinking of lunch but thought it may be best to wait until after the climb given it’s a gentle trail but a steep climb at the end. It was a hot day and I think it was best to wait until after the walk.
The view of Waikiki from Diamond Head
Check out the walk I posted on RunKeeper. What it doesn’t show that well is the elevation.
After the walk we went to Leonard’s Bakery to try their legendary malasadas. My blogging friend Spencer Lum recommended them as a MUST DO in Oahu.
And try them I did. I bought four and ate them all. I had a cinnamon malasada, a chocolate malasada puff, a custard malasada puff and a coconut malasada puff.
They were all very good.
I wonder if I can get malasadas in Canberra.
On arriving in Honolulu we checked in again to the Aqua Waikiki Wave for the last night in Hawaii
After a walk around Waikiki we found a Mexican restaurant to have our last meal in Hawaii. We sat down at La Cucaracha Mexican Bar and Grill in Waikiki. I asked for some jalapeño poppers because I’ve fallen in love with them plus a couple of fish tacos. Sorry about the quality of the photographs. The lighting was dim and very red. The food was okay, it didn’t make my mouth sing but it was not too bad.
So ends our stay in Hawaii. Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast and then head to HNL for the flight to SYD.
I’ll catch you in a few days. I hope you’ve enjoyed the story of the #Hawaii #holiday
Please let me know what you have thought.
Have you walked up Diamond Head? Did you enjoy the view?
Pali Lookout was quite good but we were over run with busloads of tourists.
The views are really very nice.
After Pali lookout we drove down to Kailua Beach. We couldn’t find that many places to eat and ended up at the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue shop. It was like visiting a mortuary. I thought I was in the land of the undead. We decided to take our food to the nearby park and eat there.
I chose a saimin burger and a plain spam musubi. Both were good. I’m going to have to try to make these when I get home.
The beach there was beautiful. The water was so blue and clear.
After the beach we stopped at Island Snow and I had a pineapple, coconut and lime snow cone topped with condensed milk. The condensed milk topping really adds a different dimension to the cordial flavoured shaved ice. It’s not just the sweetness and creaminess, it’s the caramel.
For dinner we went to Opal Thai Food (66-197 C Kamehameha Highway Haleiwa, HI 96712). The chef and owner makes a point of greeting each patron and asking what they know about Thai cuisine and then he chooses dishes for them. This meal was spectacular. We started with a radish apetiser and then two mains. One was a duck dish and the other a prawn noodle dish. I could eat them forever.
This was a crisp crunchy radish dish.
Garlic prawn noodles
Roast duck with fried basil leaves and lots of garlic.
Sorry those images of the Thai food are blurry. I was trying to shoot the photographs quickly.
Tonight was our last night on the north shore. It’s been fantastic.
SUP Hawaii! Today we went stand up paddle boarding except I have a vestibular defect so I did sit down paddle boarding. Back in 2000 I had a left inner ear infection and now have permanent high frequency deafness, tinnitus and poor balance.
First things first though. For breakfast Bron made poached eggs.
After breakfast we headed to Surf N Sea at 62–595 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa, HI 96712 to hire paddle boards and a kayak.
I spent some time in a kayak and some sitting on a paddle board shooting photographs of what was around me.
I shot a few randoms out on the water on stand up paddle boards.
After the paddle boarding we went to Kaiaka Bay Beach Park for a picnic lunch. I had a jalapeño spam, jam, avocado, cheese sandwich. It was delicious. I love these sort of sandwiches that you made on site at a picnic after a lot of physical exertion. They always taste good. This was my first experience of jalapeño spam and it was tremendous.
After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and saw turtles.
After the joy of seeing some turtles we headed into the local town of Haleiwa and to the famous Matsumoto’s shave ice. Why is it shave ice and not shaved ice? This place is famous for the texture and flavours. I choose a Matsumoto combination of lemon, coconut and pineapple plus condensed milk. It is spectacularly good.
This was amazing. The flavours so awesome. The condensed milk added a new dimension to shaved ice. I love it.
At the shops there is also a spam stand. I bought a T-shirt. I’ll post a photograph in the next couple of days.
On the way back to the condominium we stop for supplies and I find some teriyaki spam musabi. My blogging friend Spencer Lum has told me this is a must try.
After the musabi we do a little more snorkeling and then it is time for dinner. Bron cooked pork chops Hawaiian style with pineapple and ham and cheese. We then had Ted’s bakery chocolate custard pie and pineapple Queensland nut pie with a doughnut and haupia pudding.
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