trying new things

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Though I didn't grow up in the heart of Lancaster County, it was about 1-1/2 hours away, and we had Amish families living within a few miles of our home. That translates to plain cooking - lots of fried foods and starches. I've found my family and friends are not necessarily interested in trying exotic foods. When the trip to Hawaii came up, I decided I would try some of the items I had seen on television. (I'm a Travel Channel and Food Network junkie.)

I had enjoyed seeing a Hawaiian chef named Sam Choy, a rotund man with a constant smile on his face. On one particular show, he enthused about something called poke (po - kay). It's a raw tuna marinated in pa`akai (Hawaiian salt), limu (seaweed), kukui (candlenut) and chilies. Not being very adventuresome in my culinary experiences, I have not (until this trip) tried ANY raw fish. It simply didn't compute. However, this was something I was determined to taste. Our regional public affairs officer in Hawaii told me, "be careful what you wish for, girl." That didn't fill me with any confidence I would like this stuff.

Our first day in Honolulu we found Sam Choy's restaurant - http://www.samchoy.com/restaurants_bigaloha.html - and decided to lunch there. I ordered the raw poke (tuna) and a seared poke (marlin), and found both delicious. The tuna was very tender and soft, making me wonder if it had been "massaged," which I know the Hawaiian chefs do with salmon before serving it.

On our second day, we went with our counterparts to The Willows, a beautiful restaurant built on artesian wells - http://www.willowshawaii.com/. Our table was situated under a roof next to a pool. The side wall was completely open to the air. Their poke was even better than Sam's. It had a wonderful bite from the chilis and, I think, a better flavor. I went back for seconds on that.

The most disappointing food of the trip was the kalua pig. I tried it at two different restaurants, including The Willows. The smoky taste was almost too strong, and at both places it was dry as bone.

I was told (later) there was poi at The Willows, but I didn't see it and therefore didn't get to try it - though from what everyone says, it's an acquired taste and I probably wouldn't like it.

One of my favorite foods there was the mahi-mahi (or dolphinfish, not related to the mammal). This light flaky fish was delicate and absolutely wonderful. Though I'm not overly fond of ginger, this was grilled with just a hint of it, enough to give it a little ginger bite but not overpowering.

I also ate a delicious dish at The Willows called haupia. This is a light, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth coconut pudding. It was exceptionally creamy, and I tried both the regular and the fried haupia - though the original recipe was better.

I enjoyed taro-root pancakes, though not the taro root itself. I do not like sweet potatoes, and this purple yam-like dish had a texture I didn't like and the taste was too much like a sweet potato. The pancakes had none of that flavor, but were more like the buckwheat pancakes we ate growing up.

The best food by far was the abundance of fresh (REALLY FRESH) fruit. The pineapple was perfectly ripened, not picked early for shipment to places like Alaska. It was tender and juicy and so sweet, my mouth is watering as I type. Every buffet we ate at included a section of fresh fruits - pineapple, strawberries, guava, mangos, melons and papayas. I could have easily bypassed everything else, but my eagerness to try regional dishes made me spoon out just a little of everything.

As you might guess, I enjoy eating, and I found this trip full of wonderful aromas and flavors. It was such fun to let go of my "safe" foods and try something different. I look forward to returning so I can get it fresh and am thinking of trying poke and mahi mahi here at home (if I can find the mahi mahi locally).

Hawaii

I just returned from a wonderful (mandatory) trip to Hawaii, my first time in the islands.


We had a conference there, attended by our counterparts from Hawaii, Japan and Alaska, as well as from the regional office.


I arrived Monday, Jan. 26, about 7 p.m. As soon as we entered the airport, the humid air hit me full in the face. By the time I retrieved my bag at the baggage carousel, I was sweating. What a change from -20 degrees!


I traveled with Kent from down the road about 100 miles. We both had rooms at the Hale Koa Hotel, owned by the Army. It's in Honolulu right on Waikiki Beach. After a shuttle ride, we arrived at the hotel. I was surprised to see there was no front wall at all on the hotel. We exited the shuttle and walked directly to the desk with no doors or walls. The entire lobby is open to the air. There were a lot of large pillars to support the ceiling, and numerous little conversational seating areas, as well as two benches streetside. We checked in, then met downstairs to have some supper.


I did have a rice bowl on the plane (NOT recommended - it wasn't very good, and definitely not worth the $5 they charged).


Biba's restaurant on the lower level sits on an open courtyard with both indoor and outdoor seating. We opted for outdoors, as it was a pleasant night. Their mahi-mahi was wonderful - moist, flaky with a delicate fish taste.

After a good night's rest, Kent and I tried Koko's Cafe in the hotel and enjoyed an excellent buffet breakfast. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the buffet was full of fresh fruit, a rarity in Alaska especially at this time of year.


After breakfast, we walked through the Hale Koa grounds to the beach, where we shot some photos of Diamond Head and the grounds. I was bummed out that I had forgotten my good camera - it was on the desk at home. However, I had the smaller camera - about the size of a deck of cards - so I made do with that. I can get good photos with it, but the other one is much better.

We found a free trolley to Hilo Hattie's, which I'd been told I HAD to visit. The day was overcast, but very pleasant temperature-wise - about 60 degrees in the morning. The trolley skirted through the Waikiki area and on to the store. I was able to find a cool Hawaiian shirt and skirt, as well as a few items for gifts.

Bob from Anchorage arrived about 1:30 p.m. so the three of us went to Sam Choy's for lunch. I've seen him on television and read that he's an excellent chef, so we decided to try it. I had poke (raw tuna in oil and spices), which I heard on TV was a kind of Hawaiian comfort food. I liked the raw form, and also tried a fried poke (marlin seared and served with rice).

After lunch we decided to recon our conference location and drove out there. It was interesting looking at all the sights on the way, but the traffic returning to Honolulu about 3:30 p.m. was horrible, backed up and crawling. I noticed the houses are built very closely together, without enough yard for pools or much other activity. The city of Honolulu seemed to be full of high rises (and lots of high-end stores like Coach, Tiffany's, Prada, etc.)

Our conference lasted 2 1/2 days. It was very good to meet all the people we correspond with via e-mail all the time, to learn that we all face similar challenges and hear how they deal with them.

The second day of the conference was a "cultural day." We were booked on the Admiral's barge from Pacific Command for a trip to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial. We motored past the memorials to the USS Utah and the USS Nevada, as well as by the USS Missouri, where Japan signed the surrender papers. We also saw the USS Bowfin. The USS Arizona Memorial was a beautiful white monument above the sunken ship. We learned the ship is still leaking oil and were able to see the oil slicks.

USS Missouri on left, USS Arizona Memorial on right

oil slick from USS Arizona

The USS Arizona Memorial was a solemn place. There's a place the park ranger called the shrine room, a room at the back of the memorial with the names of all the casualties on board when the ship was attacked. The white monument is beautiful and I think a fitting memorial. It's like the VietNam wall in my mind - a simple but emotion-provoking reminder of those young men who lost their lives.

I had a very special surprise on this trip. My dad told me he spent a few days in Hawaii as he waited for transport to the Philippines during World War II. He said the name was Aiea Landing, but he wasn't sure it still existed. All I'd been able to learn was that Aiea today is primarily a residential area. I couldn't find Aiea Landing anywhere on a map or on Google in today's geography.

When we arrived at the Admiral's boathouse, the young sailor on duty said, "Welcome to Aiea Landing." So I was able to get a lot of photos for my dad. I'll print them out and mail them this week.

Following our tour, we shopped a short while. Though I wasn't all that interested in shopping, I decided to check out the electronics. And there it was - the cameral model I'd been eying for a couple of months. It's an upgrade from the one I left back in Fairbanks, with a better optical zoom, and it was about $150 less than online (it hasn't hit Fairbanks stores yet). So I came out with a new camera.

The shopping trip moved into a tour of part of the island. We visited the Punch Bowl National Cemetery, another solemn place, and very beautiful.

Punch Bowl National Cemetery

Bird of Paradise

We visited the windward side of the island, but it was very cloudy and rainy. We drove to Hanauma Bay and watched the surf, then on the Blow Hole, where the water surges up through a hole in the rocks in a spout. The tide wasn't right, however, so we didn't see any spouts. We did see some whales spouting and the surf surging into the rocks was cool.

surf crashing at Blow Hole

We also drove by the Iolani Palace and other sights on our way back to the hotel. The lushness of the place astounded me. I love palm trees, and there were so many different varieties. There were gorgeous flowers everywhere. What a wonderful sight for eyes that have been looking at nothing but white for the past few months!

Following our conference end, we had about 7 hours to kill before turning in the rental car. We drove to Hickham Air Force Base where Kent lived a while back and to Kaneohe Bay Marine Base where Bob lived when he was a small child. Both installations were beautiful, so green.

We got back to Alaska Saturday morning, and I spent the day sleeping. There was little of that on either the flight to Oahu or the return flight. Both planes were packed and I have trouble sleeping when I'm crowded in like a sardine.

The trip was great in several ways. I'm so glad to have met my counterparts and to get some great ideas, as well as support for the challenges we still face. I loved the warmth (the locals were all cold - they were having a "cold spell" with temperatures dipping to 60 degrees at night!) and the green and the blue of the water. And the friendliness of the people we met was unmatched.

I will say, however, it's good to be home again. As much as I enjoyed myself, I still found it a little too warm when the thermometer hit 70 and the humidity was high. I don't think I'd want to live there - too many people, too much traffic. I do want to return, though, for another visit. I didn't get to the North Shore and I spent the entire time on Oahu. I'd like to see more of the islands.

It's definitely something I'll remember for a long time. I've already set a photo of one of the beaches as my desktop background, so when the winter here drags on a little too much, I can remember how warm and nice it was.