Breakfast on the Island

No wonder everyone participates in rigorous outdoor activities in Hawaii - they have to work off their enormous breakfasts! Local-style breakfast is about meat & rice. It's not really that different than say, a big country breakfast, but the rice makes it seem more Asian and less Western.

For something basic, look no further than your local McD's.


This is the "Local" breakfast plate with eggs, Portuguese sausage, Spam, and rice. It comes like this:


Then you chop it all up and mix it together, and add Soy Sauce:


Pretty good if you want something quick, tasty and relatively cheap. Hawaiians love their Spam - I read that they consume 4 million cans per year, which comes out to about 12 cans per person per year. What I want to try and didn't, is the Spam musubi.


Another breakfast that I tried was the "Loco Moco". Also very simple: Eggs, hamburger patty, rice and gravy. Tasted a bit like having salisbury steak for breakfast - I suppose a lot depends on the gravy:


My favorite morning treat of all was the wonderful, fresh pineapple that is available everywere. I would buy some every day at the local ABC store, and savor the delicious, juicy chunks. It is so much a part of the diet and culture, that even McDonald's gives you a side of pineapple with every extra-value meal. It's like sunshine in your mouth!

Wake Up Call

6:30am. Waikiki Beach. Waves lapping along the shore as you move through your vinyasa. Light rain falling. Amazing.

Doing yoga on the beach is like nothing I have ever experienced. It's more challenging in some ways because you can't anchor yourself like you can on a hard floor - the surface, sand, is always shifting and moving under your weight. So you really have to balance. But in another way, you can kind of maneuver yourself into stability by using the sand as a prop.

We used mats to do the lying down poses and stretching (I had to laugh at myself for kicking sand in my own face a few times). Then for the standing poses and vinyasas, we rolled up our pants and went right down to the water's edge. We did our DFD's with our backs to the water, and rolled through our chatarangas on a slight slope, which was really hard. When it came time to do balancing, we faced the ocean and got into tree pose, and then held hands in a line formation to help each other balance. I few people stopped by and joined in, which was cool.

The sound of the surf and the feel of the breeze were so refreshing. When you closed your eyes, it was wonderful to concentrate on those natural sounds. When class finished, the rain started coming down HARD, but I enjoyed it. It's a warm rain, and I walked the mile back to the studio taking my time and feeling how awake and alive my body felt.

Doing it Raw

I was jonesing for some sushi last night, so I walked over to Sansei Sushi on Waikiki Beach, near the Duke Kahanamoku statue. It's a nice little sushi bar featuring some very fresh fish and special rolls. The sushi chefs were friendly and cool, and I had the best uni of my life - amazingly fresh and tasty, like someone scooped it directly from the sea and plopped it into my mouth (with two quails eggs convieniently finding their way on top). Not everyone likes uni, but those who do know that it has to be super, super fresh. I always ask the sushi chef before I order it if they have it, and you can tell by his expression if it's as fresh as you want it. When I asked last night, his eyes widened and he said, "Oh, yes. Very fresh. VERY fresh." He was dead serious, and of course, it was just as fresh as he said.


I also tried one of the specials, which was innovative and very tasty - Torched Kampachi with a yuzu aioli, shiso, and hot sauce. It had a bright, tangy flavor and the flesh of the fish was amazingly tender.


The problem with sushi is that I can eat so much of it - put sushi in front of me, and I become like that whale that glides through the ocean with its mouth open at all times, with rolls and nigiri going in one after the other. Sansei is great, but not inexpensive - it would be easy to walk out of there $100 later, especially if you add beer or sake to your bill. I managed to restrain myself, but 24 hours later I am tempted to go back and have more of that uni...

A Good Start

Kailua Pig Tacos and a $3.00 Mai Tai, at Moose McGillicuddy's. Could get used to this.

Not Too Distant Shores

When I landed on Oahu yesterday, I had to ask myself...why in the world have I never been to Hawaii before? It's a mere 5 hour plane flight from San Francisco, about the same time it takes to get to Chicago or New York, where I have been countless times in the 10 years that we have been living on the West Coast.

I came here to relax and it seems to have everything I need - beautiful beaches, great food, nice people and a snail's pace of life. I've never been in a place where the surf culture is this prevalent - everyone does it, and you see boards wherever you go.


My brother is living in Waikiki, so I am seeing this place from a different view than most vistors. The plethora of designer stores from Cartier to Prada to Quicksilver are virtually empty, looking out of place with their in-season plaid wool skirts and fur lined jackets, despite bus after bus of Japanese tourists. Who wants to shop when the beach is only a block away?


Time to get on the road and see where it takes us.