Video

SUP Hawaii

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.

2015.04.21_08.16.55_001_GARY_LUM_FB

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. 

2015.04.21_10.12.07_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.20.34_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.27.36_011_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.27.42_012_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.39.46_013_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.39.52_014_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.40.25_016_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_10.40.30_017_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.02.08_018_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.20.57_021_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.22.26_024_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.24.49_028_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.24.57_029_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.25.06_030_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.25.35_032_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.30.56_033_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.49.28_037_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.49.36_038_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.28_039_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.31_040_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.35_041_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.40_042_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.44_043_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.46_044_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_11.53.48_045_GARY_LUM_FBAfter 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.

2015.04.21_12.59.07_002_GARY_LUM_FB

 

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and saw turtles. 

2015.04.21_12.05.44_048_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.03.49_049_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.04.16_050_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.11.49_051_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.12.17_052_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.12.30_053_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.12.48_054_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.15.14_055_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.15.57_057_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.16.25_059_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.16.33_060_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.16.47_061_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.18.07_062_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.26.32_063_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.31.41_065_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.33.17_067_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.33.39_068_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.33.41_069_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.33.47_070_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.33.49_071_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.34.04_073_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.34.41_074_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_13.36.35_075_GARY_LUM_FB

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.

2015.04.21_14.04.32_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_14.04.34_004_GARY_LUM_FB

 

 

 

2015.04.21_14.08.00_005_GARY_LUM_FB

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.

2015.04.21_14.37.26_006_GARY_LUM_FB

 

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. 

2015.04.21_15.43.08_007_GARY_LUM_FB

 

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. 

2015.04.21_19.10.26_008_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.21_19.49.05_009_GARY_LUM_FB

SUP Hawaii! Have you tried it? 

 

Polynesian Cultural Center Oahu Hawaii All you can eat!

So it’s Monday and we have tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie on the North Shore of Oahu. Our tickets include the Island buffet plus the show known as Hã Breath of life

But first things first. Bron offered to make pancakes for breakfast. 

2015.04.20_08.28.19_001_GARY_LUM_FB

 

We then go for a snorkel at Kuilima Cove

 

 

2015.04.20_09.42.44_056_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_10.09.10_037_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.58.40_039_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_10.00.21_038_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.58.28_040_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.57.57_041_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.56.57_042_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.56.35_043_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.54.13_044_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.54.07_045_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.53.45_046_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.52.51_047_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.52.02_048_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.51.29_049_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.49.59_051_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.50.33_050_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.47.56_052_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.47.35_053_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.46.21_054_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_09.45.12_055_GARY_LUM_FB

After the snorkelling we got ready for the Polynesian Cultural Center by stopping at Tita’s Grill on 56–485 Kamehameha Highway, Hauula, HI 96717.

I went with the garlic prawns and garlic chips. The prawns come with rice and macaroni cheese. The chips are covered in crushed garlic. I felt like a clove of garlic all afternoon and evening. 

2015.04.20_13.23.57_004_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_13.03.47_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_13.03.53_003_GARY_LUM_FB

The prawns were really good and as is my want to avoid mess and give me a calcium boost I just pop an entire prawn in my mouth and chew the whole thing down. The chips came with a dipping sauce which I think was a mayonnaise. I’d happily recommend Tita’s Grill’s garlic prawns to anyone. You may want to go for the combo which I think has its own small serve of chips rather than the standard serve of chips that I had in addition.

When we got to the PCC we watched the canal presentation with the various Polynesian islands represented. We also watched presentations on Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Tonga. 

2015.04.20_14.28.11_028_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.29.11_027_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.31.20_026_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.31.37_025_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.32.09_024_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.34.26_023_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.34.38_022_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.35.02_021_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.36.09_020_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.38.22_019_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.38.35_018_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.40.44_017_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.40.50_016_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.40.58_015_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.41.04_014_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.44.29_013_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.44.38_012_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.48.03_011_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.48.07_010_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.53.05_009_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.53.34_008_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_14.53.58_007_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_15.14.38_006_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_15.14.38_005_GARY_LUM_FB

The Samoan presentation was all about the coconut and its many uses. I learnt so much about the coconut tree and how it can be used. 2015.04.20_15.36.03_004_GARY_LUM_FB

The Aotearoa presentation was interesting. It was nicely ended by a tribute of respect to all warfighters. Veterans in the audience were asked to stand and be acknowledged. I hope this Saturday on ANZAC day they do something special given it’s the centenary of ANZAC.2015.04.20_16.00.51_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_16.00.57_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_16.02.42_001_GARY_LUM_FB

The Tongans were all about drumming and making the audience laugh. I haven’t laughed like that in years.


Before the show we ate in the Island buffet. There are three dining selections depending on how much the tickets cost. I went with the cheapest option so we ate at the Island buffet. It was an all you can eat affair featuring pulled pork, fried chicken, poached fish, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy plus desserts consisting of jelly, mochi, haupia pudding, pineapple slice, cakes and bread pudding. 

2015.04.20_17.26.04_005_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_17.51.49_006_GARY_LUM_FB

The show at the end was really good and almost like a Disney production in terms of quality. It was the life story of Mana and Lani and worked through the various Polynesian peoples. I was particularly taken by the Fijian effort given my father was born in Fiji. 

All in all the PCC was really very interesting. The price of tickets is quite steep but the owners claim it’s a not for profit affair.

 

I highly recommend the Polynesian Cultural Center

Snorkeling in Hawaii

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. 

2015.04.19_08.57.51_001_GARY_LUM_FB

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.2015.04.19_10.08.18_008_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.10.09_007_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.13.51_006_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.13.57_005_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.14.16_004_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.17.54_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.21.55_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_10.41.12_001_GARY_LUM_FB 

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.

 2015.04.19_13.20.50_004_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_13.21.13_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_13.36.58_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_13.37.04_001_GARY_LUM_FB

 

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. 

2015.04.19_15.51.44_001_GARY_LUM_FB

2015.04.19_16.10.05_011_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_16.10.45_010_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_16.09.01_012_GARY_LUM_FB

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.

2015.04.19_17.34.10_009_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.34.17_008_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.38.43_007_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.41.47_006_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.43.27_004_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.44.05_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.19_17.44.30_001_GARY_LUM_FB

 

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.

Hawaiian curried salmon and chorizo spam with cellphane noodles Ted's Bakery's Queensland Nut cream pie with haupia pudding

 

Do you like snorkeling? I love it.

My first Jack in the box meal

The Yummy Lummy Cooking for one podcast
The Yummy Lummy Cooking for one podcast
My first Jack in the box meal
Loading
/

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. 

Smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese
Smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese

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.
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 Diamond Head beach park
The view from Diamond Head beach park
The view from the Hãlona Cove Blowhole lookout
The view from the Hãlona Cove Blowhole lookout
The view from the Hãlona Cove Blowhole lookout
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
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 found spam
I found spam

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. 

 

 

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

I love how white these eggs are
I love how white these eggs are
If you love eggs like I do I reckon 18 eggs in a carton is brilliant. Gee I love America.
If you love eggs like I do I reckon 18 eggs in a carton is brilliant. Gee I love America.
Look at all the Processed cheese!
Look at all the Processed cheese!
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.
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.
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.
The Deep Bleu ay Kahuku Grill, Kahuku Oahu with added pineapple.

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