Holiday

Snorkeling in Hawaii

Posted 2015-04-20 by Gary

Today we had a fantastic day. We went snorkeling twice, ate pie at Ted’s bakery and I enjoyed my first dole whip at Dole plantation.

After one of my first Hawaiian holiday posts my good blogging friend Barbara suggested I try a dole whip. I made a bit of a joke on Swarm that I was waiting in a dole queue waiting for my dole whip.

I’ll get to the dole whip soon. I started the day with a repeat of yesterday’s breakfast, chorizo spam with fried eggs and cheese.

After breakfast we went for our first snorkel of the day. We walked to Kuilima Cove and jumped right in. The water was a perfect temperature albeit a little murky. The tide was out so it was fairly shallow. We could easily sea brightly coloured coral, lots of fish and other sea life like sea cucumbers. I shot these images with a Nikon All Weather camera. I couldn’t see the LCD screen while I was underwater. The sun glare was significant and after I downloaded the images I discovered many of them were unusable because I hadn’t of all things aimed the camera very well. I need to point it deeper. Some of the video was hilarious (not) because I ended up with heads of fish swimming away rather than the whole fish because I wasn’t pointing deeply enough. I tried to shoot a few sea cucumbers with their castings but none of the images were very good.

For lunch we went to Ted’s Bakery again like we did yesterday only this time we had sandwiches 🙂

I went for a crab and bacon sandwich followed by a pumpkin haupia cream pie. Again I stuck my label to the umbrella pole. I love pumpkin pie. I wish had it more in Australia.

After lunch we went to the Dole Plantation to do the maze and eat a dole whip 😀

The maze is amazing (see what I did there?) I reckon the walls should have been made with maize too 😀

We took about an hour to complete it.

The dole whip is truly a heavenly treat, I really liked my dole whip in a cup with extra pineapple.

After Dole plantation we went snorkeling again and saw more fish. The water was a little murkier but it was deeper with a higher tide.

For dinner this evening I cooked Hawaiian curry salmon with some chorizo spam and then had a Ted’s Bakery Queensland nut pie with Haupia pudding for dessert.

Do you like snorkeling? I love it.

My first Hawaiian food truck experience

Posted 2015-04-19 by Gary

There is a small food truck scene in Canberra but Hawaii is the home of food truck.

Today we completed our third day on our Hawaiian holiday adventure. It was a big day. I think it’s the first day I’ve not done much walking but I’ve eaten way over and above what I needed to but everything I ate I wanted to eat.

The day started with you guessed it…SPAM! Yesterday I restrained myself and bought only two cans of SPAM (heaven in a can). For this morning’s breakfast I chose the chorizo version. It had a lovely smoky spicy flavour. The eggs were also good topped with a little Monterey Jack and Colby cheeses!

Two thin slices frying in PAM olive oil spray with some Challenge Butter. The smell was divine.

Here's the Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses! — Here’s the Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses!

The egg yolks seem paler than back home but they cooked very well. — The egg yolks seem paler than back home but they cooked very well in the butter.

My breakfast of chorizo SPAM, fried eggs sunny side up and cheese

After breakfast we went for a short walk to Kuilima Cove. We had to walk through the Turtle Bay Resort which is a very large golf course resort that overlooks the Turtle Bay beaches, coves and other geographical spots.

Apparently this cove is good for snorkeling which we plan to do tomorrow.

After a short walk on the beach and a sit on the sand to watch people we went for a drive west along the north shore.

Bron has been great driving the Impala. The traffic today seemed very thick and slow moving.

Bron mentioned we should try out a pie at Ted’s Bakery. Apparently Ted’s pies are world famous. When we walked in there were plenty of people in line to buy pies and other pastries. We went for a chocolate haupia cream pie.

Ted's Bakery's Chocolate Haupia Cream pie — Ted’s Bakery’s Chocolate Haupia Cream pie

Haupia means coconut I think. It’s a good thing I like coconut jelly dessert The chocolate wasn’t too sweet but the whole thing was a little too smooth and not much texture. That said, it was a pleasant morning tea.

One of the things you apparently do is rip off the label and stick it to the pole of the table umbrella. We did it!

The pole of the table umbrella is adorned with stickers

After our morning tea we stopped at Sunset Beach. This is a really nice stretch of sand with beautiful water and a view of the Pacific Ocean. The sand is quite coarse and it’s easy to pick up large chunks of bleached coral.

The east side of Sunset Beach, North Shore Oahu Hawaii. Dare I say, this is a lovely beach but no better than any of those on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and the Queensland sand is orders of magnitude finer and whiter than the sand on Oahu's North Shore. — The east side of Sunset Beach, North Shore Oahu Hawaii. Dare I say, this is a lovely beach but no better than any of those on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and the Queensland sand is orders of magnitude finer and whiter than the sand on Oahu’s North Shore.

After a spot of people watching and sand sitting we ventured off for some grocery shopping and then had lunch at a food truck.

This was to be our first Hawaiian food truck experience. We chose Fumi’s Kahuku Shrimp (prawn). Bron went for the classical garlic butter and I chose hot and spicy prawns.

They were really good. Like a good oriental I chose to eat my prawns shell (including tail) and all. It’s nice to add a bit of calcium carbonate to the diet. With each meal you get some rice that has the sauce from the prawns soaked in plus some crispy crunchy lettuce in a ranch dressing plus a slice of delicious fresh pineapple. We look forward to doing many more food trucks.

After quite a lot of sand and sun and food we headed back to the condominium for a rest.

Later in the evening I made salmon and salad Saturday!

A nice healthy way to finish the day…well the croutons, bacon bits and almonds may not be that healthy but the currant tomatoes were amazing. So sweet.

Salmon and Salad Saturday in Turtle Bay Oahu, HI

Have you eaten from an Hawaiian food truck? What did you have?

My first Jack in the box meal

Posted 2015-04-18 by Gary

The Yummy Lummy Cooking for one podcast

My first Jack in the box meal

00:00 /

I was reminded by a friend today that Jack in the box is best known to microbiologists because of an outbreak of Escherichia coli infection caused by the O157:H7 strain in 1993 which infected 732 people. I’ll let you know if I feel crook.

We started with a quick breakfast at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Honolulu. I had a smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese. It was pretty nice.

We left Honolulu today with this view from the Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel. It looked cloudy but it was a beautiful day. #warmandmoist

Morning view from Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel on Friday morning.

After picking up a Hertz rental car (Chevrolet Impala—please don’t tell my Holden loving friends that we were forced to drive a General Motors heap with a 3.6 L V6 which I assume is used in commodes back home) we drove up the scenic east coast of Oahu. It was a beautiful drive punctuated with great spots to stop and take in the view.

The view from the Hãlona Cove Blowhole lookout

For lunch we stopped in at Waimãnalo and ate at a Jack in the Box. I had a Jack’s spicy chicken sandwich and some delicious stuffed jalapeño peppers. Despite bad history with Escherichia coli I was pretty happy with my meal. The staff were really very friendly.

Jack in the box Jack's spicy chicken burger — Jack in the box Jack’s spicy chicken burger

Jack in the box Stuffed jalapeño peppers

We kept driving north and stopped at the Foodland in Lã’ie for supplies. You can tell what I aimed for.

I periscoped this short movie clip. I’m sorry about the poor quality. I was so excited to see so much spam and corned beef. Did you see the size of the can of corned beef.

LIVE on #Periscope: Spam heaven https://t.co/Zxx8SSLqGN

— Gary Lum (@garydlum) April 18, 2015

I did buy some spam. I leave it as a surprise what flavours I bought. I only got two cans.

If you love eggs like I do I reckon 18 eggs in a carton is brilliant. Gee I love America.

Yay for Plastic bags. hawaii is not a nanny state like the Australian Capital Territory. Plastic shopping bags are so useful and can be used multiple times.

I nearly bought this Spam T-shirt. I may go back and buy it.

After we settled in to our condominium we went for dinner at Kahuku Grill in Kahuku. This place was really good. It was laid back and the staff were extra friendly. The meals weren’t too big and definitely not too small. I had a delicious “Deep bleu” burger with extra pineapple. The beef was juicy and tender, the cheese had a great tang to it. I love pineapple on a burger. The only thing that would make it fair dinkum would be some beetroot and a fried egg.

The only negative was the lack of lighting. I had to turn the ISO up to 128,000 and shoot wide open at f/2. I kept the shutter speed at 1/40 seconds. It’s a grainy and blurry and the depth of field is way too narrow. Trust me when I say it looked really good and tasted even better

The Deep Bleu ay Kahuku Grill, Kahuku Oahu with added pineapple.

Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

1 vanilla slice, 1 cottage pie and salmon

Posted 2014-11-18 by Gary

So today ends the driving portion of my short holiday. I woke up in Wangaratta after another crapulent sleep and after not seeing the kettle yesterday when I checked in found the kettle and some instant coffee. After a shower I packed up and set off for Beechworth. I had been told by a number of friends that the best bakery to visit in Victoria is the Beechworth Bakery just east of Wangaratta. I thought a detour was in order.

My jeans are already tight and what is a few more calories going to change?

I plan to write a specific post about vanilla slices on this trip so I won’t go into detail about what I think makes for a good vanilla slice. Suffice to say, the vanilla slice from the Beechworth bakery is good but not amazingly good and is still not a patch on the Gumnut Patisserie in Bowral. The pink icing was subtle with little or no flavour besides the sweetness of the sugar. The custard had a very nice flavour and the custard wasn’t too gelatinous, and was probably the best custard of this trip.

This bakery though has another pastry that I adore and again it’s a custard filled pastry. Can you guess what I’m buzzing at? That’s a clue there too.

Take a look at this photograph and you’ll know what I mean.

So my next stop was in Holbrook, I’d already tried the central Holbrook Bakery so today I went to the southern one and enjoyed a cottage pie. So far on this trip every bakery I’ve been in hasn’t had a potato pie, either they had sold out or they just didn’t have them.

I finally got into Canberra sometime after 3 pm and after grocery shopping went for a walk to move my legs after sitting on my big fat arse all day

It’s Monday and you know what that means right?

Curried salmon with peas, corn and fried onions on brown rice.

For dessert I had the best beesting ever.

1 vanilla slice, 1 hot pie, 1 coconut jam slice 1 whopper with onion rings

Posted 2014-11-17 by Gary

With the gymnastics competition over and Miss13 flying home to Brisbane I had to make my way back to Canberra. It was raining and cold when I left Geelong and it remained gloomy the whole drive to Wangaratta.

My aim today was to take a leisurely drive through Kilmore, Euroa and Benalla stopping at each place and trying a bakery.

This is the vanilla slice at Kemp’s Bakery in Kilmore. The bakery is really good. The range of products is large and for travellers the toilets are remarkable. They are so clean. The coffee is also pretty good. Unfortunately the icing on the vanilla slice was very thick making it difficult to break through with a fork. The icing though did have a discernable strawberry flavour. The custard had a nice flavour but it was too gelatinous. I’d happily eat vanilla slices there but they weren’t the best I’ve ever had.

Vanilla slice from Kemp's Bakery in Kilmore Apple iPhone 6 with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/120sec, ISO 32 — Vanilla slice from Kemp’s Bakery in Kilmore Apple iPhone 6 with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/120sec, ISO 32

Apple + Pro HDR iPhone with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/5000sec, ISO 32

I drove through to Euroa while listening to Trek.fm podcasts and stopped at Burkes Bakery. The pies they had on selection were the usual ones you’d see in a country bakery but the bloke serving behind the counter suggested the steak with bacon and egg pie. It was very good and served at perfect eating temperature. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t cold. The filling was thick enough that it didn’t fall out after the first bite. The pastry was light but not so flaky that I got it all over me. I’d say it was a perfect casing for what was a very good filling.

Sunday lunch. Steak, bacon and egg pie from Burkes Bakery in Euroa Apple iPhone 6 with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/20sec, ISO 200

Even though I’d been making good progress I was wanting to go to Hides Bakery in Benalla again for a coffee. I was feeling very tired after another poor sleep and thought a stop for some caffiene would help. When I arrived I noticed they’d sold out of vanilla slices but I did see a nice looking coconut and jam slice. I do like a coconut and jam slice.

Coconut and jam slice from Hides Bakery in Benalla Apple iPhone 6 with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/40sec, ISO 40

I’m spending the night at the Millers Cottage motor inn in Wangaratta. It’s a budget motel and my guess it has been in operation since at least the 1970s. The decor is 1970s.

I was thinking of finding a restaurant but I felt too tired so I went and found a fast food joint and bought a burger. Yep, Hungry Jacks whopper and onion rings.

Sunday dinner. Hungry Jacks Whopper and onion rings in Wangaratta. SONY ILCE-7S with FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS at 70mm and f/8, 1/80sec, ISO 2500

So how did you spend your Sunday? I hope it was a good one. Bye for now.

[googlemaps-photo-gallery]

This is the route I took today.

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/2014-11-15T210459Z.gpx”]

Check it out 🙂

Holiday

Snorkeling in Hawaii

Do you like snorkeling? I love it.

Like this:

My first Hawaiian food truck experience

There is a small food truck scene in Canberra but Hawaii is the home of food truck.

Have you eaten from an Hawaiian food truck? What did you have?

Like this:

My first Jack in the box meal

Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

Like this:

1 vanilla slice, 1 cottage pie and salmon

Like this:

1 vanilla slice, 1 hot pie, 1 coconut jam slice 1 whopper with onion rings

So how did you spend your Sunday? I hope it was a good one. Bye for now.

Like this:

Recent posts

Post archive

Do you like snorkeling? I love it.

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

There is a small food truck scene in Canberra but Hawaii is the home of food truck.

Have you eaten from an Hawaiian food truck? What did you have?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Have you eaten Jack in the box? Do you like stuffed jalapeño peppers?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

So how did you spend your Sunday? I hope it was a good one. Bye for now.

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Recent posts

Post archive