Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Good, the Bad, and Well, You Know

The Vikingman is over and I'm back from Hawai'i and I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, so this is the good, the bad, and the rest of what's been going on.
Let's start with the good:
Hukilau
This beach was our favorite beach. While not as picturesque, both in terms of scenery or beach adornment in the form of scantily clad tourists, the water and waves at Hukilau made it our favorite beach. We spent most of our time here.






The Polynesian Cultural Center
Dinner and the show at the PCC were another highlight. This photo is goofy, but the rest are on my wife's computer.
The pig, the poi, the poke, the haupia and the smoothies were highlights of the trip, not just the PCC. The show was good, especially for the kids. The photo to the right is an advertisement and I'll definitely give the place an endorsement. If you haven't been, make it a priority the next time you're in Hawai'i.

Kahuku Shrimp Trucks
These beauties are from Giovanni's, which is where my cousins (the locals) recommended. Another one down the road was also delicious, even if their claim of being the original famous shrimp truck is false. I ate too many of the peripheral garlic pieces at Giovanni's and ended up on garlic overload. It was worth it.



The Rest of the Good
The best of the good I don't actually have pictures for: Meeting Uncle Lyn. This made the whole trip worth it. I have HD footage of it that I'll be sharing at the reunion. I was able to keep it together okay at Pearl Harbor, but the aloha I felt there from Uncle Lyn and Auntie Carol was overwhelming. Midge and the rest of the Crowell's didn't disappoint either. They shared so much with us that the meal I prepared for them was a meager offering. I went to Oahu expecting to hate it and exactly the opposite happened - I loved Oahu. There's more family on Oahu, and that made for good times. Another highlight was visiting my Dad's old house. The current tenant had some fresh picked mangoes from my Grandma's tree in a box for us. Maybe it was the emotional connection, but those mangoes were unbelievable. Ask Racer. I was happy with our days, most days we had fruit or coconut haupia pie from Ted's Bakery and then had plate lunch before we went to the beach. In the evenings, it was mostly lau lau, rice, poi and more fruit.


THE BAD: Pounders

Notice how all the locals are behind those massive waves as they crash on to the beach. The idiot that I am I jumped in front of one of those. It pounded me into the beach, breaking my collar bone in two places - a comminuted fracture the doc's are fond of calling it. It continues to suck. Another aspect of the result that I'm sick of are the comments that at least I was having fun or at least I was somewhere nice when it happened. How does that make it better? If anything, it screwed up a good time or my enjoyment of a beautiful locale, which makes it suck worse.


THE UGLY: Vikingman
30 mph winds all day. The water was 59 degrees and so choppy that the head wind felt like a relief. At least initially. It sucked to be at my all-day limit, going down hill, and doing 11.5-12.0 mph. The return trip was better, but it was tough to recover mentally from the out leg. The run was decent, but I thought I was getting dehydrated because one hand suddenly went numb. I slowed down to drink just as I was catching Devin, who then left me for dead. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, but didn't. He beat me fair and square, which kind of sucks. At no point in the day did I have fun. Which means I won't be doing the Vikingman again any time soon.
Note: I purchased a digital copy of this, but for some reason it won't be available for a couple of days.



11 comments:

Morkthefied said...

I love it when you post on here, Kulani! I'll try to download those other pictures today, promise.

Occasional Genius said...

Fish,
I partook of your delicious brats and potato salad at Fatty's Tri on Saturday. Excellent work!!
Any chance your can share your potato salad recipe? I totally loved that stuff!

Aaron said...

Way to push the big ring.

Fish said...

Nice catch, Aaron. That picture was actually at one of the few points on the way back that it made sense to be in the tuck as I was going faster than 30.

Occasional - the recipe for the potato salad is more of a ratio - 5:1 potatoes:carrots by weight, cut the potatoes into 1/2" cubes, salt an appropriate amount of cold water to approximately sea water concentration, and cook the two together until the potatoes are approaching done (but not quite, unlike what happened Saturday). If you start from cold salt water and add the potatoes, this will take about 30 minutes, but test at 20 minutes to get an idea and again every few minutes.

Once the potatoes are done, drain both and stir in approximately 1 1/2 cups of mayo. Best Recipe's home made lemon mayo is the best, but Best Foods works well. If you use Best Foods, squeeze 1/2 lemon into the mix and add salt. That's it.

Angela said...

Did you have time to eat at the Hukilau restaurant? Brad was asking about the big luau you host the other day. Wondering if it was coming up any time soon.

Mr. Flynn said...

If you had managed to pass me on the run you probably would have run. I was so close to cracking. Most of the time I was leaving you "for dead" I thought you were just steps behind me. I was very surprised to see that at the 10 mile mark turnaround to see you not there ready to pass me.

That day was hell. Why I am signed up to do another HIM after that day I have no idea. I should be getting fat and lazy like "my friend Dave".

Mr. Flynn said...

yeah, and as Go Mom Go said let me know about the annual luau, I may have to time my next trip to UT around it.

Morkthefied said...

Angela,

We did indeed eat at the Hukilau and it was as good as you promised. It was probably the best plate lunch we had on the island. The luau is set for Sept. 6, so come to IKEA during that weekend, and take a trip a little south for some good Hawaiian eats.

Occasional Genius said...

Fish,

Thanks for posting the recipe. Sorry that was such an off topic comment.
And thanks again for your work during the Tri. Spectacular cooking for sure! :-)

Angela said...

We're there!

Mr. Flynn said...

gonna have the miss the luau. Number 3 will be here within days of that date. Next year perhaps, but I am still planning on getting out there sometime in the fall if my schedule allows.