Kaua’i, 2018
The Hawai’i 2018 trip kicked off on Wednesday, October 10. The shuttle left College Station at 4:00 am for Houston. We left Houston at 10:00, non-stop to Honolulu. Arrived at 1:30 and caught a 3:00 flight to Lihue, arriving at 4:00. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at Coconut Beach in Kapa’a. Kapa’a is a quaint town on the east side of Kaua’i. We had never been to Kapa’a. On previous trips we’d stayed in Princeville, or Koloa, or Lihue. Our purpose on this trip was to take part in Ni’ihau Day at the Kaua’i Museum. More about that in another post.
Kaua’i and Ni’ihau are the oldest of the inhabited islands. Ni’ihau is wholly owned by the Robinson family and cannot be visited without permission, which is never given to casual visitors. Kaua’i is home to gorgeous beaches, rugged mountain trails and the wettest place on earth, Mount Waialele.
Kaua’i has seen its share of natural disasters, In 1992, it was struck full on by hurricane Iniki, which occurred during the filming of Jurassic Park. The aftermath of the hurricane can still be seen in the number of wild chickens around the island. When the hurricane struck, it liberated the island’s chickens from their coops and no one was able to round them all up afterwards. As a result, wild chickens are everywere on Kaua’i. At the supermarket, you might just find a wild chicken sitting in your grocery cart. They have become symbols of the island. Of course, Iniki liberated some chickens on the other islands as well, but not nearly to the extent on Kaua’i. This Spring, Kaua’i was struck by torrential rains in April, which caused serious flooding and property damage to Kaua’i, especially in the Hanalei area. The remnants of hurricane Lane in August added more damage. Over twenty landslides closed Highway 560 between Hanalei and Haena. The highway is still undergoing repair and we could not get to Lumahai Beach as we hoped.
Food, or, as they say in the islands, grindz.
First stop after picking up a car in Lihue, was Foodland for some Hawaiian-style ahi poke, some seaweed salad, and some gin and tonic. Dinner. Nothing beats poke. It’s cubes of raw ahi tuna mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, sliced onions and chopped green onions. The recipe varies. Some people add rice vinegar, furitake, maybe some chili paste, garlic, or sriracha. It can also be made with yellow fin tuna, swordfish, or cooked octopus (tako) or cooked salmon. My favorites are the ahi and the tako.
Breakfast each day on Kaua’i was bagel, coffee and yoghurt, which we ate at the beach.
One evening we went to the Hukulau Lanai to hear a musician and had candied ahi. I can’t tell you what was in it, but it was one more form of poke. Another night we had dinner at Smith’s Luau on the Wailua River. The food was usual luau fare: Kailua pork, Lomi Lomi salmon, lau lau and poi. I’ll do another post on the luau. Suffice to say Smith’s is one of the best luaus.
We found an out of this world saimin place near our hotel. Saimin, if you’ve never had it, is one of the best grindz in Hawai’i. It is a noodle soup with influences from Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and Hawaiian. The restaurant is called Saimin Dojo. I had the garlic shmoke saimin with pork belly, soft egg, veggies, rice noodles and broth (above bottom left.) Mary Fran had the chicken katsu (a fried chicken cutlet) with curry sauce(bottom right.)
Another must have grind is plate lunch. We wanted to get to Smiley’s in Lihue, but 
we were too late. They were closing. The server directed us to Kalena Fish Market about two blocks away. If we hadn’t been given directions and if it hadn’t been recommended, we would have passed it up. It is a small shop in an old building surrounded by warehouses and light industry. It’s a place that those who work nearby know, but few others know. The decor is functional, the menu limited. Cash only. A lot of guys from the shops came in while we were there. The food was good. Basic plate lunch style. Three protein choices and four sides. All tasty and filling. We shared a plate of kalbi ribs, shoyu chicken, meat jun (thinly sliced beef fried in an egg batter.
Kalena Fish Market
Learn about it here). It came with rice, kimchi, eggplant and some mixed vegetables.
One other unique food item on Kaua’i is Puka Dog. A puka dog is a hollowed out Hawaiian bun, which is toasted on a special rack that toasts the inside. Then a sweet relish (pineapple, lilikoi, and others) is poured in followed by a polish sausage and topped with a variety of mustards. We had it at the stand in Poipu. I thought it was an interesting concept, but not spectacular. I would not go out of my way for it.
The Tiki Bar is open
The drink for this weekend is Mai Tai. The basic Mai Tai, as created by Vic Bergeron (Trader Vic) consists of orgeat syrup, orange curaçao, light rum, dark rum, the juice of one lime, garnished with mint and the lime husks. Mai Tai means “out of this world” in Tahitian. When preparing it, you mix the syrup, curaçao, and light rum together with ice and float the dark rum on top. It should be a two-tone drink with a light golden color on the bottom and a dark brown color on top. Some variations use a mix of fruit juices such as orange, lilikoi, pineapple, or sour mix as the base.
There are two kinds of Mai Tai drinkers—those who stir the Mai Tai and those who don’t. I prefer to not stir. I alternate sips of the dark rum with sips through a straw of the light mixture. However, i recommend that you watch how the bartender prepares it. If it is a cheap Mai Tai, the bartender might simply float dark rum on top of fruit juices with no light rum or curaçao. In that case, stir.
We had a lot of Mai Tais. Our hotel served $3.50 Mai Tais everyday from 11 to 3 pm. The best Mai Tai on his trip was not on Kaua’i, but at the Halekulani Hotel bar, the House Without A Key in Honolulu. It was made the Trader Vic way and came with gorgeous sunset, a trio of musicians performing under a century-old kiawe tree, and Miss Hawai’i 2015 performing hula. Out of this world!
Haven’t posted in awhile because I’ve been busy editing Questions Of Loyalty and getting it to my agent. The edits were completed Monday and sent to Beth. Now waiting to hear from her.
I don’t know what to call this drink. It’s based on gin and elderflower liquor. It has several different spices to give it an exotic flavor.
The temperature at the summit was in the mid- to high-thirties, but the wind chill was a lot lower. Even in our cold weather gear, we were shivering. Down at sea level, the temperature was in the mid-seventies. Some people who had come on their own, were not prepared for the cold. The mountain was shrouded in clouds, but the visitor’s center was just above the clouds. From there we looked into the crater, which was filled with clouds.
The ride was incredible. The road is great, well-paved and smooth, but, as you can imagine, descending 6,500 feet meant there were a lot of hairpins that really whipped you around. Our group consisted of 15 riders and a guide. We rode single file with the guide in front watching for problems, and the van and sag wagon behind to keep traffic behind us from entering into our file. Now and then we pulled over to let vehicles pass us. The weather was perfect—sunny and clear. At several points we stopped to remove some of the cold weather gear as the temperature warmed nearing the bottom. All downhill. The bikes were outfitted with heavy duty coaster brakes. No gears. No need to pedal except to get going from a stop.
Needless to say, the scenery coming down was spectacular, with vistas of ocean and mountains and most of Maui in view. Alas, we saw only a few silverswords and they were in protected areas. Silverswords live about 80 years. They only flower once, but when they do, it is spectacular. When Mark Twain visited, he said the silverswords were so abundant that when he first saw them he thought he was seeing snow on the mountains. Now the plant is endangered and Hawaiians are doing their best to recover it. I would definitely do this ride again if I ever return to Maui.
Today’s cocktail is The Maui Breeze.
Got myself a Kala Waterman uke. We saw these in Maui Nix surf shop in Daytona last month and I had to have one. It’s made of acrylic and is ideal for taking to the beach, the lake, out in a canoe or a boat. Getting it wet won’t hurt it. Even though it is acrylic and not wood, this is not a toy. The sound is sweet and the notes clear.
The Pisco Sour was created by an ex-pat American, Victor Morris, who opened a bar, Morris’s Bar, in Lima in 1915. the exact year that the drink was created is in dispute. Some put it in the 1920’s, while others say it was created soon after the bar opened.
The first book of the year (or perhaps the last book of 2016) was a Christmas gift. Impounded, by Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro. Impounded is a set of essays and photos by Dorothea Lange of the Japanese concentration camps during World War II. Lange is best know for her photo essays of the Depression. She was commissioned by the War Department to photograph the camps in a propaganda effort to show that the internees were being well treated. Instead, she captured much of the emotion and unfairness of the experience. As a result, her photos were impounded and only allowed to be made public a few years ago.Since my book, Questions of Loyalty, deals with the same history, I found the book to be moving and enlightening.
Rusty Puppy, Joe R. Lansdale
The mystery world is very saddened at the passing of Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone series. Ms. Grafton was a talented writer who created a revolution in literature and, especially the world of detective fiction, with the publication of A Is For Alibi. She, along with P. D. James, Sara Paretsky, and Marcia Muller created the modern, hard-boiled, female private eye and opened the way for many female and male writers. Prior to Grafton, James, Paretsky, and Muller, there were female private eyes, but they were written by men, and mostly continued male stereotypes of women. Grafton, along with the others, gave us realistically drawn women facing realistic challenges, and often having to overcome stereotypes and prejudice. She was also instrumental in the formation of Sisters In Crime, an international organization that worked to encourage women writers and to fight for equality in reviews and remuneration with male writers.I was fortunate to meet Sue Grafton several times at various Bouchercons. She was a delightful and gracious lady. We are all diminished by her death. Her latest book in the famous alphabet series was Y Is For Yesterday. Sue Grafton was adamant that her books not be translated into movies or television, and that the series not be ghost written. Kinsey Milhone’s 25th adventure was her last.
Hawaiian Noir 