Follow in our footsteps: If you have a story about Hawaii, an anecdote about growing up in the
islands, a memory of a visit to the islands that surprised and delighted you, a recommended activity, an
island personality, or even a poem about Hawaii, send it in an e-mail to OleHawaii@Hawaii.RR.com so we
can include it here!
 |
Edited by Eileen and Richard "Ole" Olson
 |
Lucky we Live... H A W A I I |
| Kalalau Beach |
Apr 1, 2004: It’s interesting what many of our guests focus on. Of course they want to know what to do, what tours to go
on, what hikes to take, what snorkel spots to try. Most are inquisitive about the weather. One thing that fascinates
everyone is just the idea of living in Hawaii. What’s it like? What are the people like? Can you actually pluck fruit off the
trees? And fish out of the sea? What do people do for a living? What kind of jobs are available? Is the cost of living really
one of the highest in the United States? How can we afford to live here? What does a house cost?* What are the schools
like? How in the world did someone like us, Eileen and I...malahinis, or strangers, come to adopt Hawaii...and be adopted
by Hawaii. How did we come to call it home?
I guess the unspoken question is also: how can I come to call it home? That, and: Do you really go surfing every day?
It’s a broad question... living in Hawaii, that is, not surfing every day (that's settled: YES! ). So we choose "Living In
Hawaii" as the initial theme of this newsletter. In the course of considering the question, we’ll editorialize. Share photos.
Draw cartoons. Tell stories. Modern Hawaii is a land of immigrants. Even many of the Hawaii nei, the local people who
were born here, have interesting stories about how their parents or grandparents came to Hawaii. There are very few
Kanaka Maoli, pure Hawaiiians, and the history of one of the most generous peoples on earth is sad. But even they were,
originally, immigrants...probably from Tahiti and thereabouts. Which is another interesting story, because we’re talking
about upwind, open water sailing without a G.P.S., a sextant, or even a simple compass (as western men know it).
The history of Hawaii is intriguing. Perhaps we’ll argue about island politics. Spotlight island opportunities.* Focus on
island food.* Island music.**Island wildlife***. Island religion.****
We'll notice trends in island motor vehicles.
We'll discuss our pets...ours, and our friends.
We’ll tell Hawaiian children’s stories.
Recount Hawaiian legends.
So, as the Jimmy Buffet song goes: "follow in my wake...you've not that much at stake, for I have plowed the seas, and
smoothed the troubled waters. Come along let's have some fun, the hard work has been done."
If there is anything you would like to know about Living In Hawaii, drop us an e-mail at OleHawaii@hawaii.rr.com .
No guaranteed answers, but if can, can; If no can, no can.
Come visit us in Hawaii one day. Until then, check back from time to time for more about how We Live Hawaii!
Aloha,
Ole & Eileen :-)
on, what hikes to take, what snorkel spots to try. Most are inquisitive about the weather. One thing that fascinates
everyone is just the idea of living in Hawaii. What’s it like? What are the people like? Can you actually pluck fruit off the
trees? And fish out of the sea? What do people do for a living? What kind of jobs are available? Is the cost of living really
one of the highest in the United States? How can we afford to live here? What does a house cost?* What are the schools
like? How in the world did someone like us, Eileen and I...malahinis, or strangers, come to adopt Hawaii...and be adopted
by Hawaii. How did we come to call it home?
I guess the unspoken question is also: how can I come to call it home? That, and: Do you really go surfing every day?
It’s a broad question... living in Hawaii, that is, not surfing every day (that's settled: YES! ). So we choose "Living In
Hawaii" as the initial theme of this newsletter. In the course of considering the question, we’ll editorialize. Share photos.
Draw cartoons. Tell stories. Modern Hawaii is a land of immigrants. Even many of the Hawaii nei, the local people who
were born here, have interesting stories about how their parents or grandparents came to Hawaii. There are very few
Kanaka Maoli, pure Hawaiiians, and the history of one of the most generous peoples on earth is sad. But even they were,
originally, immigrants...probably from Tahiti and thereabouts. Which is another interesting story, because we’re talking
about upwind, open water sailing without a G.P.S., a sextant, or even a simple compass (as western men know it).
The history of Hawaii is intriguing. Perhaps we’ll argue about island politics. Spotlight island opportunities.* Focus on
island food.* Island music.**Island wildlife***. Island religion.****
We'll notice trends in island motor vehicles.
We'll discuss our pets...ours, and our friends.
We’ll tell Hawaiian children’s stories.
Recount Hawaiian legends.
So, as the Jimmy Buffet song goes: "follow in my wake...you've not that much at stake, for I have plowed the seas, and
smoothed the troubled waters. Come along let's have some fun, the hard work has been done."
If there is anything you would like to know about Living In Hawaii, drop us an e-mail at OleHawaii@hawaii.rr.com .
No guaranteed answers, but if can, can; If no can, no can.
Come visit us in Hawaii one day. Until then, check back from time to time for more about how We Live Hawaii!
Aloha,
Ole & Eileen :-)
(Click on photos to enlarge. Click "Back"on your browser to return to this page.)
Way out west, there's a beach, Polihale.
Of them all, it's the grand finale.
But the sun will command
Your respect, 'cause the sand
Burns your feet like a hot tamale.
Limerick by Kirk Miller (4-time guest: May '98; Oct '01; May '06; and May 2011)
Of them all, it's the grand finale.
But the sun will command
Your respect, 'cause the sand
Burns your feet like a hot tamale.
Limerick by Kirk Miller (4-time guest: May '98; Oct '01; May '06; and May 2011)
GOOD GRINDS: Kirk Miller’s Favorites
• Our favorite restaurant near Kekaha is Toi's Thai Kitchen, which was as good as we remembered it. We ate there many times. My favorite
(and my daughter-in-law's favorite) is Matsaman satay. Everything there was excellent.
• Food at the Grove Café at Waimea Plantation Cottages was good; nothing special, but good.
• Wrangler's Steakhouse was very good, just as we remembered it.
• Jay's never was open the entire time we were there. I presume that it closed.
• Mermaids (in Kapa‘a) used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but no longer. We are disappointed that they added curry to their peanut
sauce, pretty much ruining their satay items.
• Our new favorite restaurant in Kapa‘a is Olympic Café. Great food at reasonable prices! We ate there many times.
• Keoki's Paradise in Poipu is one of our favorites. Excellent food, and pricey, but we found a cost-conscious way to eat there (see below).
Their hula pie is excellent, and we paid for only the first of the five slices that we got. At the bottom of your receipt is a note saying that, in
the future, you get a free slice of hula pie when you order two entrées and show them your prior receipt. So the second time we ate there,
we showed them our receipt and got a free slice of hula pie. We saved our receipt from our second visit, and got free pie on our third visit;
saved that receipt for our next visit . . .
• Keoki's lunch menu is pretty much equivalent to their dinner menu, but half price; the lunch menu doesn't have as many choices as their
dinner menu, but the items on the lunch menu are pretty much the same as the dinner menu. If you eat there for dinner, eat in the bar area
and order from the bar area's dinner menu, which is the same as the dining area's lunch menu (half the price of the dining area's dinner
menu). The price of hula pie is the same at lunch and dinner; but it's free at lunch or dinner if you have a receipt from a prior meal.
• We like Duke's Canoe Club, too. It has the same lunch and dinner menus as Keoki's, and you can get a free slice of hula pie there by
showing your Keoki's receipt.
• I finally got Coralie converted to eating dessert first. So we ate hula pie as an appetizer. That way, when she gets full before finishing her
dinner, she can take the leftovers home. But if she eats dessert after dinner, she cannot take hula pie home for later consumption.
• Another favorite place is Kilauea Video, where we loaded up on Tropical Dreams ice cream. I thought that Tropical Dreams ice cream was
sold only on the Big Island, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Kilauea Video sells it. The ice cream is very rich (just the way I like it)
and has the freshest ingredients I ever have seen in ice cream. If you haven't had Tropical Dreams ice cream, you need to try it. It is
wonderful! Yes, I am an ice cream-aholic, but my wife, my son, and my daughter-in-law are not ice cream aficionados, and they raved about
Tropical Dreams ice cream. The store also serves sugar-free and fat-free soft serve ice cream, and it's surprisingly good. The store was
going to move from Kilauea to Kapa‘a in June -- I think on the main street by Big Save.
• La Bambas was okay, but after being treated to Tex-Mex food in Texas for 30 years, La Bambas couldn't compare. But thanx for telling us
about it. La Bambas got my wife over her craving for Tex-Mex after going without it for a couple of weeks.
• Caffé Coco (in Kapa‘a) was good, but not as good as it used to be. I think that its ownership changed hands.
• We had two disappointing dinners at Pacific Island Bistro in Kapa‘a, and didn't go back.
• Our favorite restaurant near Kekaha is Toi's Thai Kitchen, which was as good as we remembered it. We ate there many times. My favorite
(and my daughter-in-law's favorite) is Matsaman satay. Everything there was excellent.
• Food at the Grove Café at Waimea Plantation Cottages was good; nothing special, but good.
• Wrangler's Steakhouse was very good, just as we remembered it.
• Jay's never was open the entire time we were there. I presume that it closed.
• Mermaids (in Kapa‘a) used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but no longer. We are disappointed that they added curry to their peanut
sauce, pretty much ruining their satay items.
• Our new favorite restaurant in Kapa‘a is Olympic Café. Great food at reasonable prices! We ate there many times.
• Keoki's Paradise in Poipu is one of our favorites. Excellent food, and pricey, but we found a cost-conscious way to eat there (see below).
Their hula pie is excellent, and we paid for only the first of the five slices that we got. At the bottom of your receipt is a note saying that, in
the future, you get a free slice of hula pie when you order two entrées and show them your prior receipt. So the second time we ate there,
we showed them our receipt and got a free slice of hula pie. We saved our receipt from our second visit, and got free pie on our third visit;
saved that receipt for our next visit . . .
• Keoki's lunch menu is pretty much equivalent to their dinner menu, but half price; the lunch menu doesn't have as many choices as their
dinner menu, but the items on the lunch menu are pretty much the same as the dinner menu. If you eat there for dinner, eat in the bar area
and order from the bar area's dinner menu, which is the same as the dining area's lunch menu (half the price of the dining area's dinner
menu). The price of hula pie is the same at lunch and dinner; but it's free at lunch or dinner if you have a receipt from a prior meal.
• We like Duke's Canoe Club, too. It has the same lunch and dinner menus as Keoki's, and you can get a free slice of hula pie there by
showing your Keoki's receipt.
• I finally got Coralie converted to eating dessert first. So we ate hula pie as an appetizer. That way, when she gets full before finishing her
dinner, she can take the leftovers home. But if she eats dessert after dinner, she cannot take hula pie home for later consumption.
• Another favorite place is Kilauea Video, where we loaded up on Tropical Dreams ice cream. I thought that Tropical Dreams ice cream was
sold only on the Big Island, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Kilauea Video sells it. The ice cream is very rich (just the way I like it)
and has the freshest ingredients I ever have seen in ice cream. If you haven't had Tropical Dreams ice cream, you need to try it. It is
wonderful! Yes, I am an ice cream-aholic, but my wife, my son, and my daughter-in-law are not ice cream aficionados, and they raved about
Tropical Dreams ice cream. The store also serves sugar-free and fat-free soft serve ice cream, and it's surprisingly good. The store was
going to move from Kilauea to Kapa‘a in June -- I think on the main street by Big Save.
• La Bambas was okay, but after being treated to Tex-Mex food in Texas for 30 years, La Bambas couldn't compare. But thanx for telling us
about it. La Bambas got my wife over her craving for Tex-Mex after going without it for a couple of weeks.
• Caffé Coco (in Kapa‘a) was good, but not as good as it used to be. I think that its ownership changed hands.
• We had two disappointing dinners at Pacific Island Bistro in Kapa‘a, and didn't go back.
May 2011