When I Grow Up

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

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I got to thinking recently about our future and what I might want to be when I grow up. I am enjoying the real estate business but I am not sure that I want to do it forever. Besides, there is always the possibility that we won’t want to stay on this rock for the rest of our lives and it is very difficult to restart a real estate career in a new market. So I started thinking about education possibilities. Even if I go to a 4-year school I would still have years of working before I could think about retirement so it might be a good time to look into something new and fresh.

I mentioned to Ashley and Braden the other night that I might want to go back to school but I was kind of stumped when they asked what for. I also mentioned to Lynn that I was considering this and when he asked what I wanted to do all I could come up with was be independently wealthy. So I was stumped. And it was depressing me. I’ve always been a passionate person with lots of dreams and I could not come up with something that I really really wanted to do. I mean, if I go back to school, I want it to be for something that I really love to do and would do it even if I did somehow manage to become independently wealthy.

I stewed on this for a while and could not believe that I could not come up with something. I remember telling Ashely her whole life to follow her passion and chose a career she loved… And now I was somehow passionless? Not acceptable!

I put this on the back burner for a while because it was bugging me. Then all of a sudden, a lightbulb went on in my head. There was something that I have always had a passion for and immense interest in. Something that I knew I wanted to do even as a teenager but had been derailed by other things. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed these other things and made a lot of money doing them, but this original passion always remained with me.

So what do I want to be when I grow up? You didn’t think I was going to tell you did you? LOL…Okay I will… I’m thinking maybe an architect or urban planner. Both are very interesting and exciting possibilities. Either would also nicely compliment my real estate career if I decide to continue it beyond my schooling.

Now I just need to identify the right school and figure out how to balance school and my real estate job. It’s been a while since I worked full-time while also going to school full-time. But I’m really excited. And I believe I have rediscovered my passion.

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Off Da Rock: San Francisco Day 4 and our Return

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

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Day 4 of our little San Francisco adventure came entirely too quickly. The four of us went to breakfast at Lori’s Diner for the last time for this trip with plans to head to the San Francisco International afterwards. A dense fog had engulfed the city and we were all getting notifications of flight delays out of SFO. Just as it had on the way in and so many other times before, SFO was reminding us once again that it is not the best airport to fly into or out of.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel for our luggage and decided we should probably go ahead and get to the airport just in case things changed. We all piled into a Town Car and headed out. Since we were flying different airlines we agreed to save our goodbyes and just meet on the other side of security. Sadly however, unlike most airports, we could not get from our gates to each others gates from inside the security area and could only gaze across the tarmac where we could see each others gates. Poor Andee was devastated.

Since Lynn and I had a short 40 minute layover at LAX and our planes departure time was scheduled to leave 2 hours late we had basically resigned ourselves to the fact that we might be staying in Los Angeles that night. Then we realized that the plane we were to take to LAX had not yet landed and it started getting more doubtful that plane would be allowed to land at all.

After a while I was paged and learned that our airline had changed us to another carrier and it was a direct flight into KOA. This meant we would arrive home hours earlier than we originally planned… if we could make the flight that left in 45 minutes from a gate in another terminal. At Andee’s request, we tried to clear security in their terminal so we could have goodbye hugs before taking a shuttle to our new gate. But as we did not yet have boarding passes for our new flight we were not allowed to go through the security checkpoint there.

IMG_9072We went back outside and basically ran to our new terminal where we got boarding passes, eventually got through security and caught the last boarding call for our flight. We have not been on a flight that wasn’t completely full in years but there were many open seats on this one and we had a isle to ourselves. I suspect some bodies where supposed to be in these seats that were on other flights that did not make it in. Anyway, 5 hours later we were touching down at Kona International… home sweet island home…

Being in a city again always makes me miss them… and the shopping! Take the Union Square Macy’s Men’s Store for example… 8 floors of mens clothing… each floor bigger than our entire Kona Macy’s! Drool… LOL. We were able to fill our shopping hunger and quickly found a number of items we had been having trouble finding here on the rock. And we were mostly able to do so without making Killian completely nuts!

It was a great trip and we’re already discussing the next one. We’re thinking San Diego… :)

Oh yeah, and Ashley and Braden are coming here tomorrow for a few days on their way back from Kauai! We’re very excited to have the newlyweds. If you’ll recall, this is how it all started so this pretty much brings us full circle. Aloha!

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Off Da Rock: San Francisco Day 3

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

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We sat down for breakfast at Lori’s Diner at 9:00 for sustenance and then headed over to Crate & Barrel so Lynn and I could do some shopping for things we can’t find on the island before heading back to the hotel and catching a cable car up Powell. Our destination was the top of Lombard and then a walk to Coit Tower.

The cable car stop was right where we wanted to be and we walked down the famous curvy street snapping photos all the way. It is a really cool street but I think it’d suck living there with all the crowds of tourist and constant flow of cars. Anyway, another thing we had never actually done before. Andee is good at convincing us to do tourist things and it was cool.

IMG_8114Continuing along Lombard we stopped for a PowerBall ticket and then made our way to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. The stairs were closed which was disappointing so we had to take the old elevator up with an elevator operator I am pretty sure was George Takei. I gotta say that there are some of the best views of the city at the top. There were also very impressive murals on the inside that are totally worth going for. I also decided that if I ever move to San Francisco I totally want to live in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. And another interesting tidbit, Coit Tower was dedicated on my birthday… of course decades before I was born.

From there we walked back towards Fisherman’s Wharf and had lunch at The Buena Vista followed by… yes more Irish Coffees! Then we headed over to the Hyde Street Pier and SF Maritime Museum to see the boats and we had so much fun!

After the boat fun we headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf for some street vendor crab IMG_8225cocktails and dodging of bird crap before catching the F Train again and taking it all the way to Castro Street. I’ve got to say that The Castro has really changed in the 20 or so years since I first saw it and I think the change is for the better. There are still sex stores and there should be but there were all kind of home decor and hip clothing stores to support and enhance the neighborhood. It feels more like a real neighborhood now to me.  We did some shopping and then went to a nice wine bar there and shared a bottle of wine. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel in Union Square for dinner. It was awesome when I picked up the wine list at the restaurant and discovered it was an iPod… very cool.

 

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Off Da Rock: San Francisco Day 2

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

IMG_9049The evening before we had decided to go to Lori’s Dinner for breakfast which was on the opposite corner from out hotel at Powell and Sutter. This became a daily event for us at 9:00 AM each morning and I would have coffee, milk, 2 eggs sunny side up, bacon, hash-browns and wheat toast. It was a great way to start each day and gave us the fuel needed to explore the city.

After breakfast we got on the F train to Pier 33 to catch a boat to Alcatraz Island which Andee really wanted to do and had booked a month ago. In all of our visits to San Francisco we had never been there and since she really wanted to go we were down for it. It was actually pretty cool.

IMG_9044After Alcatraz we did what I had been wanting to do and we walked the shoreline and made our way over to Scoma’s for an early dinner/late lunch of seafood and wine. It was delicious as always and we had a really great time there. Then we made our way over to the beach past the Hyde Street Pier and walked the San Francisco Bay Trail towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we went back and did Ghirardelli Square and then stopped in at The Buena Vista for some Irish Coffee’s… Yum!

Since we had eaten lunch so late we decided to stop at Boudin for a loaf of Sourdough and some cheese and caught the F train back to Union Square. That evening we snacked on the bread and cheese in Andee and Killian’s room while we had evening cocktails. All in all a full and fun day.

 

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Off Da Rock: San Francisco Day 1

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

IMG_8129After years of traveling to the Bay Area pretty much weekly I don’t know why I didn’t remember that it is always better to fly into San Jose or Oakland than to SFO. But I didn’t and that is where the fun started. We woke up at 6:00 AM to catch a flight to SFO. Andee dropped us off at the airport as their flight was several hours after ours. Ashley and Braden would also be at the airport this morning to catch a flight to Lihue, Kauai for their honeymoon. Anyway we hugged Andee and told her we’d see her and Killian in San Francisco in a few hours.

We checked in, cleared security and made our way to our gate. Soon we boarded, the door closed and we pushed back. Then we stopped. Then there was an announcement that Air Traffic Control in San Francisco was limiting flights in do to fog. There were many delays and unfortunately, our flight had been canceled. D’oh!

In this age of iPhones and other smart phone devices it is interesting to watch in these situations as everyone just goes to their devices and starts working on alternate travel arrangements. I overheard the captain comment as we left the plane that “all of these iPhone people had already booked other flights”. We were not having that kind of luck though and were being told the earliest we could get a flight to SFO was the next day.

I texted Andee and Killian who were now at the airport for their flight. Eventually we IMG_9023managed to get booked on a flight bound for LAX and then SFO, which coincidentally was the same flight Ashley and Braden were supposed to be on. As luck would have it, none of us left on this flight. We all scrambled to make alternate arrangements again. I booked another airline while Lynn worked with our current airline. Ultimately Ashley and Braden ended up on a flight to Burbank where they would take a taxi to LAX for the Lihue leg of their flight. We ended up on a flight to San Jose where we would take a taxi to San Francisco. This worked but cost us several hundred bucks in taxi fares. Hey, at least we got to fly first class and we actually made it to San Francisco. Andee and Kil arrived about an hour later and Ash and Braden got to Lihue many hours after that.

Our room was next to Andee and Killian’s on the 14th floor of Sir Francis Drake Hotel, as planned. We had dinner that evening in Union Square and then had drinks in the lobby bar and talked until around midnight. There was a very interesting exchange between a couple of drunk people that I won’t get into but it was mildly entertaining and I learned the definition of, and got a live demonstration of, a douche-canoe. Good times :)

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Off Da Rock: SLC Days 1 & 2

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

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Last Thursday we boarded a red-eye bound for LAX and then SLC to attend and participate in our little girls wedding. I can’t really sleep upright in those little coach seats so I barely remember arriving at LAX around 6:00 AM, which was 3:00 AM our time. We hopped another flight which arrived in SLC around 9:00 AM and my BFF Andee picked us up at the airport.

We had just enough time to down some coffee, Andee made us breakfast, and then we showered and headed to the wedding events, after a stop for RedBulls. After finding the venue we spotted a very excited Ashley waiting inside. She looked so pretty in her wedding dress and it was so nice to take her in my arms and hug her. We were told I would be walking her down the isle and then joining Lynn at the head table with the grooms parents and Ashley’s mom and her husband.

IMG_8993The events of the day went until almost nine that evening. It was all very exciting and cool but I was deliriously tired, wired from caffeine and a little buzzed from Jameson. LOL. The fact that our little girl had just gotten married and all of the attention, socializing and meeting people also had a little to do with how we felt. After the wedding events we joined some of our friends that had been in attendance for a later dinner at RedRock Brewing Company in downtown SLC and had a great time. We finally got to bed around 11:00 and needless to say I slept like a rock.

On Saturday we walked walked around downtown with Andee and her husband Killian so she could show us new stuff we had not seen before. We grabbed some lunch at Siegfried’s Delicatessen which we have missed since we don’t get a lot of German food here on the island.

IMG_9458That afternoon around 3:00 we had the same friends from the night before over for burgers at Andee and Kil’s condo. Ashley and our new son-in-law Braden joined as did Lynn’s parents. I was still in a bit of a daze from the day before but we all had a really good time. As my friend Brittney said on Facebook (and I paraphrase), It’s awesome to have great friends that you can pick up right where you left off even after years of not seeing each other.

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Oh boy… Look what we’ve gone and done now!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

2013 BMW 328iWhen we moved to Hawaii Island our car was paid for, in excellent shape, and 8 years old. I ordered it new from Germany in 2002, I loved it, and so it made sense to bring it along. No that same car is 11 years old, and while we have kept it well maintained and in excellent shape it has the kind of problems any eleven year old vehicle has… and it isn’t cheap to maintain.

For a while now we have been talking about getting a new one, and discussing all of the reasons to do so and the reasons to not do so. We have not had a car payment since like 2005, but since the warranty and free maintenance expired in 2006 so trust me, we have spent plenty on it since then. We have always driven new cars and justified it with the fact that we would rather have a budgeted monthly payment spread out evenly than the large surprises that can come with an older vehicle.

After making every attempt to avoid it, I recently ended up at BMW of Hawaii to have the air conditioning flushed and recharged. This only after taking it other places who ultimately could not work on it and referred me back to BMW. After some diagnosis of the problems I was told that to repair the air conditioning would cost me around $3,700 and there was another $1,500 in work needed. That adds up to a lot of car payments!

So, having anticipated this and doing my homework, I met with the sales manager to see what kind of deal we could work out. I stuck to what I wanted and actually struck a good deal with them. I did not have the work performed on my current car and they will be taking it in trade knowing what work needs to be done, and I get my upfront cash taken care of with the trade. So, I configured and ordered a brand new car from Germany which should be built and delivered sometime in June.

Yes, we have car payments again but we also have free maintenance for the entire period that we plan to drive it. It will also work in my favor in terms of taxes as I will use it so much for my real estate business. It’s quick and it drives… OMG! So ULTIMATELY! Anyway the images are of the car exactly as I configured it on the BMW website.

Interior 2013 BMW 328i

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The Boys Volcano House Adventure

Posted on March 24, 2013 by
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Volcano House

A little over a week ago I got an email from Aqua Hotels and Resorts letting me know that Volcano House would be opening on Friday, March 22nd, or at least partially opening. I checked my calendar and then asked Lynn if he’d like to go on Saturday, March 23rd… I already had the reservation made except for clicking on “Confirm”. Of course he was all over it because spending a night at Volcano House is something we have been wanting to do forever… and it has been closed as long as we have lived on the island.

So yesterday we headed out there for a little mini-adventure-staycation. Since we arrived a bit early we went into Volcano Village for provisions… you know, wine and snacks. Then we decided to go to Volcano House and see if we could check in early. We were a little disappointed that the lobby is not yet open. In fact, only 8 rooms are actually complete but every one of them was rented! Since Volcano House is perched on the crater rim right inside the national park the views of the caldera are amazing! We almost just plopped down on the couch and stared. But there would be time for that later. So we dropped our stuff and headed out to explore.

Hiking HVNP

Hiking HVNP

We’ve hiked many of the trails that snake Hawaii Volcanoes National Park but we still found new trails we hadn’t done before. We ended up doing several fairly modest hikes and then walked over to Jagger Museum. All in all we didn’t walk/hike much more than 8 miles or so. We had a really good time though, just the two of us laughing and talking as we discovered new things.

After getting back to Volcano House we cleaned up and headed over to Kilauea Lodge for some dinner. We didn’t make reservations so they punished us by sitting us at a table by the bar that had a lot of traffic from the staff. We hardly noticed though as food, conversation, atmosphere, everything was great.  We shared a good bottle of Merlot, some really good fresh bread and we each had a spring greens salad with a herbed vinaigrette. I ordered the Safari Schnitzel (it was made with antelope) and Lynn got the Beef Paupiettes. Everything was amazing. We even ran into a friend from Kona who was there with her husband celebrating an anniversary.

Kilauea Caldera

Evening View from Hotel

Back at Volcano House we basically settled in to watch the red glow of the smokey crater and red skies reflected above. There were no TV’s… and it’d be a damn shame to stare at a TV with this going on outside your room! We brought a deck of cards but didn’t use them. We did do a nighttime hike to get some other vantage points but eventually turned back for fear of all of the 500 foot cliffs and cracks and holes in the ground that are filled with fire. LOL. We were on an established trail but only had our iPhones as flashlights and when batteries ran low we decided it was best to go back. We sat in front of that window for hours sipping wine, talking and watching that one of a kind view. We could even see it from bed and I laid there at several times during the night just watching.

This morning we had a light breakfast and did a few short hikes we had not done before (and didn’t even know they existed) before packing up and heading out. On the way back we drove like 19 miles up Mauna Loa… most of it bumpy curvy one-lane road… always an adventure. Stopped at Punaluu for the bathrooms and then back into Kona. It was a great quick trip that left us both with big smiles on our faces. We’ll do it again sometime after Volcano House opens all the way.

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Watching all the cool things grow!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by

Foxtail PalmsCheck out our Foxtail Palms! Near the ground you can actually see trunk emerging whereas before mostly what you saw above the ground level was the crown. In fact, all of our palm trees are showing trunks now and growing at a significant rate. And our Areca Palms have really taken off. Some have trunks two inches thick now. It’s really cool seeing our landscape take off and enjoying the fruits of our labors.

Speaking of fruits… We finally planted a papaya tree. It is awesome to look out the windows and see papaya, lime, dragon fruit, açaí and banana all growing in the yard. Not to mention over 6 varieties of palm trees, eucalyptus, ficus, plumeria and all of the other tropical plants that adorn the landscape. No wonder the bright yellow canaries and brilliantly colored cardinals like to hang out here so much.

One of our back lanai chairs broke this week and I am trying to decide if I want to replace it with an identical chair for $30 or replace everything and invest in some nice wicker chairs and couches which will be hundreds or thousands of bucks. Eventually we’ll do nice stuff out there but I am not sure if now is the right time or if there may be other priorities for our money. I may be buying a new car soon just because our current one is getting old enough that it is costing us a lot to fix and I could also use something I know will always be reliable for my job. It’s always something, right?

Anyway, Happy Aloha Friday to all!

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An Excuse to get off the Rock and Spend Time in a Great City

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

Ashley is getting married in May so it looks like the boys are headed to the mainland in a few months. Lynn travels back for work almost quarterly but I have not been on the mainland for several years now!

The wedding is in Salt Lake City but Ashley and her fiancé will not be arriving there until Friday, the day of the wedding, and then they leave for their Kauai honeymoon on Sunday. Not to put too fine of a point on it, as I do not wish to offend, but we realized that we only really needed to be in Salt Lake City for a couple of days. As such, we are flying in on Friday morning and out less than 48 hours later on Sunday morning.

Lynn SFOWow, long flight for a two day stay, right? Yes it would be… except… we figured as long as we are on the mainland anyway, why not go somewhere we really love and miss? So as the kids are flying to Kauai the boys will be flying to San Francisco. We asked our friends Andee and Killian if they’d like to join us and they were totally in so we’re doing a quick mini-vacation together in San Francisco before heading back to Kona. We are very excited!

Not sure if Ashely and Braden will be able to stop by Hawaii Island after their week on Kauai but it would be great to see them for a few days if they can.

So the picture… Some of you may recall that I lost a lot of photos in a hard drive crash back when we still lived in Hilo. As such, I had to turn to printed photos to find a picture of San Francisco to accompany this post. The picture is not dated so I have no idea what year it was. From looking at Lynn, I’d say it was probably about 14 years ago or so. We went to San Francisco so frequently back then it is hard to recall what trip it might have been.

As much as we enjoy life here in Hawaii and our travels between the islands, it is kind of exciting to be making a trip to one of the truly great cities and being able to do so with good friends. There will probably be many more trips like this in our future, as well as a much anticipated trip to Australia so look for that! Aloha.

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Neighborhood Night Out at Hotel Manago

Posted on March 1, 2013 by

Hotel ManagoLast Sunday we were at Long’s Drugs… you know…  for our weekly box of Merlot… when I got a text message from our next door neighbor. She said that our entire cul-de-sac was going to dinner and wanted to see if we could go. Well what the hell we thought, if the whole cul-de-sac was going how could we refuse?

She said we would be going to Hotel Manago, a Captain Cook, Hawaii establishment dating back to 1917, “famous” for pork chops. Now I can’t say either of us are big fans of pork chops but we were down for a new experience and a night out with the neighbors. I asked the time, and she responded 5:00… because most our neighbors are old… LOL.

We rode with our next door neighbors for the 20 minute trip to Captain Cook where we met the rest of the neighbors at the Hotel Manago restaurant. The simple menu was on a chalk board on a wall and then entire table ordered the pork chop specialty for $9.75… Lynn and I added a glass of Merlot and a few of the neighbors added Kona Longboards.

First we received sides consisting of a seaweed salad, a steamed vegetable dish and macaroni salad… all served family style. The main course was two whopping pork chops, smothered in gravy and onions. Honestly we still are not pork chop fans, though these were indeed tasty. We both liked the seaweed salad and Lynn loved the macaroni salad (I do not like this macaroni salad, I know, very un-local of me).

On the way home we stopped by the Gelato place by Annie’s Burger and Beer (we did not indulge) but we froze our butts off… yeah it was like 65 degrees! LOL. All in all it was a cool night out and we got to know our neighbors even better. It’s cool that we live in such a cool neighborhood. Aloha!

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Beaches, Work, Big Toes

Posted on February 11, 2013 by

We try to get in some beach time at least once a week. After all, that is part of the reason we live this endless summer on a tropical island. Of course life here, as with life anywhere, means we sometimes get busy doing things we have to do and we don’t always have time for the things we want to do.

Since my last post about our afternoon at Kiholo, life for both of us has been more about work than it has been about beach time. On the one hand it is good because the boys are making some good and much needed money. On the other hand, it means lots and lots of the boys need their beach therapy! And no beach therapy makes for cranky boys!

Not guys to get discouraged or beat, we find creative ways to blend the necessary parts of life with the less demanding, just also necessary parts of life. A good example was last week when I needed to go to Waikoloa Village to tour a house for a client (one I ended up selling by the way). I waited for later in the afternoon when Lynn was off and we headed out for pictures and video of the house… conveniently followed by a few hours on the sand at Anaehoomalo Bay. It provided some time together as well as our much needed beach time. And all, sort of, in the name of work.

My weekends have been quite busy lately as well, but we had some time on Sunday afternoon. Since we had errands to run during this time but also wanted some time by the water we decided to stick close to town.  We ended up at Old Airport Beach and spent a few hours hiking the lava covered shoreline north of there. And with the exception of taking a chuck out of my left big toe because I am dumb enough to hike lava in flip flops, it was a very enjoyable few hours together exploring.

Anyway I wanted to share a little one minute video I took on Sunday and just kind of check in. So far, as predicted, 2013 has been a pretty awesome year for us. How has 2013 been treating you guys?

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Beach Therapy, Kiholo Bay Style

Posted on January 28, 2013 by

One of the cool things about living in Hawaii is constant access to really amazing things. I mean, people all over the world spend a lot of money to fly to the islands, rent cars and hotels and pack in as much paradise as they can in a week or two here. Everything they long to do and experience here we can do and experience pretty much whenever we have a few minutes to spare. And this, we realize, is very freaking cool.

Yesterday we both had some time and wanted to get out for some beach therapy. We had not been to Kiholo Bay since like November when our friend Travis was here last. So we decided to head out there to play. It was a great day, lot’s of sun and blue skies and just a gentle breeze. Whales entertained us offshore while we hiked, chilled and swam.

As has generally been our experience at Kiholo, we almost had the entire bay to ourselves. We may have encountered a total of like 10-15 other humans the entire day. And the lagoon and tide pools were like out own private swimming spots in paradise.

As usual, “beach therapy” worked wonders for both of us. Even after just a few short hours we came back sunned, relaxed, energized and ready to take on the week ahead.

Aloha everyone!

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Happy New Year and My Posole Recipe by Request

Posted on December 30, 2012 by

Anyone who has ever spent a new years with me has been treated to my posole, which I have always believed to bring good luck for the next year when eaten before and just after midnight. And over the years, especially after moving to the Big Island, I have been getting requests for my recipe… A recipe that does not really exist outside my head.

So I am going to attempt to write something down here for those who wish to attempt to prepare this special dish for themselves. I am not saying that this is the most authentic posole to ever be prepared, but it was handed down to me by a beautiful old rotund Mexican lady that I knew and loved when living in Albuquerque, New Mexico in my teen years. I may have refined it some over the years though.

Ingredients:

  • Pork Loin
  • Mexican Style Hominy
  • Seasonings – Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Cumin, Salt and Pepper. You can add chopped onions and garlic as well if you wish but have the powdered stuff available.
  • Bacon Fat
  • Flour
  • Anaheim/New Mexico Red Chili Powder
  • Lots of LOVE

Posole

  1. I like to slice the pork loin in long strips and grill over a flavorful wood. This year I am using Maui Kiawe. The object is not to cook the meat but to sear it. Then set aside. I am searing mine today and refrigerating tightly wrapped over night.
  2. Many hours before you plan to eat, I recommend New Years Eve morning, cube the strips of seared pork loin and add to a large pot. Cover with lots of broth or water (or both) and liberally season. Bring to boil then reduce the heat and cover. And let it cook, adding liquid as needed, for like all day long. The idea is to cook the meat until it shreds.
  3. As the meat cooks taste occasionally and adjust seasonings as needed. Don’t be afraid to use lots of cumin and garlic.
  4. An hour or two or three before you are ready to serve, add liquid again and add your Mexican Hominy. Be sure and taste and season as needed.
  5. This basically completes the posole, but make the sauce as well!

Sauce

  1. Mix dry ingredients together: flour, lots of red chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and lots of cumin.
  2. Heat bacon fat and add flour mixture (a little at a time, you may not need it all). You are making a rue, like you would making a gravy because this is basically what this is, very hot and flavorful red gravy.
  3. Slowly add broth and whisk until smooth. Adjust fluid/flour/seasonings as needed.

Ladle the posole into a bowl and and spoon some of the red chili sauce over it and serve. Those who like to sweat will want more of the sauce and those more sensitive to spicy dishes will prefer less. It’s all good either way!

And on that note I would like to thank all of you that follow along and I wish you a very very great 2013. Try the posole, can’t hurt! <3

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Wait, That Ain’t Superman!

Posted on December 19, 2012 by

Jalousie Windows in Honolulu High-RiseLook! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a rapidly falling pane of glass from a high-rise building AHHHHHH!

So who here thinks that jalousie windows in a high-rise central city building are a good idea… just a show of hands is good. This is what we had in our 12th floor hotel room in Honolulu recently. And if I may say so, they freaked my ass out! Maybe I’ve lived a sheltered life, but I have never been in a high-rise before that had these kind of windows.

If you are one of those inland-mainland kind of people that is not super familiar with this style of window, you may not be aware how easily these pieces of glass can break! Okay, okay, I have never actually broken one, but I’m TOLD they are easy to break.

They also have a tendency, especially over time, to loosen and just kind of fall out. I HAVE experienced this in houses we’ve lived in on the islands, but have always been able to use my lightening-quick reflexes to catch them! Then I just put them back where they belong and then fix the lose clip.

So anyway, the whole trip I was pretty much terrified to open, close, adjust, look at, breath too heavy near or in anyway get too close to one of these damn windows. I was afraid I’d touch one and end up nailing someone on the street below with a pane of glass! BTW, we were in a tiny little corner room with two walls of these windows.

You should also know that when coming and going from the hotel itself, I insisted on giving the hotel a very wide berth, and only entering and exiting under the protection of the porte-cochère! Also always, ALWAYS keeping a keen eye on the sky! Aloha.

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