The Alley Restaurant- Aiea Bowl

Who would have thought that a bowling alley would have great food?!! If you have not been down to Aiea Bowl then you must! I had heard about the famous tasty chicken and lemon crunch cake, but only made it out this past week for my first taste and I was not disappointed. The Alley has a great selection of local food at a reasonable price and on top of that their remodeled dining area is cozy and large enough for family dining.  There is a Tuesday night special with a deluxe pre-set 5 course dinner.  It looked gourmet and delicious, but that night my friends and I decided to stick with the simple local fare. We each ordered something different and had a sampling session.

Tasty Chicken and Furikake Crusted Ahi Combo 
Boneless chicken battered, deep fried, and dipped in their secret Sauce

Fresh Ahi, sliced and crusted with Furikake

Handmade Hamburger Steak Patty and Tasty Chicken Combo 

Made daily, tender patties of hamburger covered with their homemade gravy.

Pulehu Steak

Fried Pork Chops 

My tasty chicken and furikake ahi hit the spot.  It came with a choice of 2 scoops of brown or white rice and macaroni or fresh salad.  The chicken was crispy and perfectly cooked with their awesome sauce and the ahi was seasoned with just the right amount of furikake.  Each of the other dishes also had the local flavor and taste I appreciate when I think of home.  This is local food at its best!  Unfortunately, the lemon crunch cake did not have the opportunity to be photographed, but trust me when I say that it is probably one of the best cakes you'll ever taste. The owner I heard used to be a baker and with its light and homey taste, you will be coming back for more.  I most certainly will be coming back to the alley and not for bowling either!

Aiea Bowl 
99-115 Aiea Heights Dr., Suite 310
Aiea, HI

Sunset in Hawai'i Nei

I love watching the sunset in Hawaii.  I get a sense of peace and joy in knowing that I have a God who watches over us and loves us no matter what happens.  As the sun comes down, I am comforted to know that the next day will bring new blessings and adventure.

 

 

2009 Honolulu Marathon

The morning dawned upon the Honolulu Marathon and I woke up excited and in anticipation for this race.  I've done many half marathons, but never had the desire to do a whole full 26.2 miles, just the thought intimidated me, but today I did it! I joined the crowd of 23,469 runners in the wee hours of the morning.  The race started at 5 am and it was so crowded at the start that we were literally packed like sardines.  We began the race with the boom of fireworks and it took a full 10 minutes before I even had a chance to cross over the starters mat.  I enjoyed the first half of the race as the cool 65 degree weather was comfortable to run in.  As we headed over Diamond Head road, the sun rose and it was a beautiful peaceful scene.  However, after the halfway mark is where the race really began for me.  It was a challenge to stay strong mentally and continue running as my legs began to feel like jello.  The last 6 miles especially were a struggle to keep my legs moving one step at a time.  I would stop briefly at times to grab a drink at the drink stations and having to restart running was painful.  I was beginning to think this race would go on forever and was never so happy as to see the 25 mile marker.  The last mile was a battle to think positive and pick up a little bit of speed so that I could make my goal of under 5 hours.  With happiness I finally crossed the line, received my shell lei, took a picture, and hobbled my way over to the relaxation area where food, drinks, and my cool dry fit finisher shirt awaited me.  My legs were completely shot and cramping, but lucky for the runners, there were free shiatsu massages. and the 20 minute wait was worth it.

 Stash of goodies for the run!

Finisher's shirt with the lei, medal, and commemorative timing chip that we got to keep!

Close up of the chip and medal, both pretty nice.

Thinking back now upon the race, I still cannot believe I finished it with minimal training and made my goal of under 5 hours.  It was a long race and I didn't particularly enjoy the last few miles, and won't enjoy the leg soreness I'll be going through the next few days, but I definitely would have to say that completing a marathon is one of the hardest things I've ever accomplished and I'm pretty stoked to have finished.  Who knows maybe I'll be up for more, but for now, I'm taking my ibuprofen, hobbling around, and recuperating.

Top 3 Winner's of today's race:
Men

1. Patrick Ivuti 31 Ken 02:12:14
2. Nicholas Chelimo Kipkorir 26 Ken 02:13:10
3. William Chebon 26 Ken 02:14:59

Women

1. Svetlana Zakharova 39 Rus 02:28:34
2. Kiyoko Shimahara 32 Jpn 02:29:53
3. Pamela Chepchumba 30 Ken 02:32:41

Race Map Course

Local News

Boots & Kimo's Homestyle Kitchen

Kailua is a side of the island I don't normally drive out to, but today a friend and I decided to wake up early and catch the sun as it rised over the waters.  Early mornings require some early breakfast and as we sat trying to decide of a place to go, I suddenly remembered a place I'd always heard about that had these famous pancakes with macademia nut pancake sauce.  We tried to remember the name of the restaurant, I remembered Kimo's and my friend remembered Boots, our trusty GPS told us Boots & Kimo's, not bad 2 heads equals one GPS.  Luckily it wasn't too far from the beach we were at and opened at 7 am which was perfect because I heard it gets crowded.

Their menu consists largely of breakfast items that are available all day, but they also have a lunch menu as well. After looking over everything we decided to go with the famous pancakes and try the fried rice omelette as well.

Famous macademia nut sauce with 3 pancakes

Fried rice omelette

The pancakes were light and fluffy with a sauce that had a hint of macademia nuts and a sweetness to it that we could not figure out, but it was quite tasty.  The omelette however was a big disappointment.  The fried rice was not very flavorful and contained bits and pieces of bacon with none of the local island flavors I was expecting.  What made it very unappealing though was the sliced cheese layered in the rice.  It was unappetizing and not worth the price paid for it.

The restaurant quickly filled up and there was even a line as we left.  I'm glad we got to try the famous pancakes, but Boot's and Kimos is a place I probably will not go back to for anything other than that.

Boots & Kimo's Homestyle Kitchen

151 Hekili St, Suite 150

Kailua, Oahu 96734

Dumpling Night

I love eating dumplings, especially homemade ones! Two nights ago, I came home from work and found a package of dumpling wrappers and bowl of filling ready to be wrapped up.  My mom had already combined ground turkey with chopped cabbage, shitake mushrooms, minced white onions,and chopped greens onions  all together with her special seasoning. I did the easy job of helping her to wrap.

All ready to go!

The wrapping doesn't take too long and we made a total of about forty dumplings. YUM YUM!

Dumplings all wrapped nicely, waiting to be cooked!

Pan fried with a crispy bottom but moist and flavorful filling

Homemade dumplings with a bowl of rice is the perfect way to end a long day, comfort food at its best!

Eddie Would Go!

Another great moment in surfing history with the 2009 Eddie Aikau Big Wave surfing contest.  This contest is held in memory of Eddie Aikau who was a well known surfer and lifeguard in Hawaii back in the 70s.  He saved many lives at Waimea Bay and was a legend in himself.  He lives on in surfing history not only because of his great surfing skills, but because of his bravery in attempting to rescue his fellow voyagers from a capsized canoe with only his surfboard.  Eddie was selected to be part of a crew that would sail the traditional ancient Polynesian route from Hawaii to the Tahitian islands in March of 1978 using the stars as their only guide.  It was a great privilege, but because of stormy weather their canoe developed a leak in one of its hulls and capsized. Eddie took his surfboard and attempted to paddle to Lana'i  19 miles away for help, but was never found again.  The crew was later rescued by the coastguard.

In his memory, the Eddie Aikau was made and only runs if waves are big and by big I mean in the 30 feet + range, and it is not often we get these types of waves that are clean and rideable.  Today waves were in the 40-50 feet!!  The contest has ran only 9 times since it's start in 1984 with the most recent in 2004, that is until today. Crowds came out in mass between 20,000-25,000 to watch the 28 invited contestants. 

Big winner today, California's Greg Long with the perfect ride and perfect score of 10!

credit: Cestari/ASP 

 

1, Greg Long (Calif.) 323 points, $55,000
2, Kelly Slater (USA) 313, $10,000
3, Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) 292, $5,000
4, Bruce Irons (Hawaii), 275
5, Ramon Navarro (Chile), 267

Official website of the contest and videos of the rides for today:
http://live.quiksilver.com/2009/bigwave/videos.php?btn_videos=_over

Local News
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/Long_wins_Aikau_contest.html

Waves the day before the contest at Waimea Bay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzks5M-sJ4

Aloha and happy surfing!

Home in the Islands

I flew back home to the islands this past Monday for a month long stay of work, but also fun and time with family. The weather hasn't been too nice, rainy and chilly, but the weekend started off fantastic Friday with sun and more sun today and hopefully tomorrow. I'll take the sun with the rain so long as there is no snow and ice which supposedly will be happening in Seattle next week. Stay safe all you Seattlelites!

On a warmer note, today hit the mid 70s.  My friend and I tossed our boards and towels in the car and headed off to the South side where we hit up a popular surf spot called Canoes.  Surf reports forecasted a nice 4-6 feet with low tide! Unusual to have during the winter as the waves usually are on the North side in the winter (there will be 40-50 ft waves this Monday!).  But there was a little bump nonetheless and we enjoyed it with lots of strong sets, white water, and fun! So much that we were out there for about two and a half hours. I can already feel the pain my body will be in tomorrow, but well worth it! 

last glimpse of the sun going down

Physical activity leads to food and off we went to a nearby popular local Korean plate lunch place called Gina's.  It's one of my favorite places one because the food is good and two because the people who work there know how to treat their customers well as friends.  Today I  ordered their chicken katsu and meat jun plate to take home for the family.  Their portions are generous with your choice of four sides along with your order.  Prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get.

Chicken Katsu plate

with double order of taegu and daikon

Meat Jun Plate

(thinly sliced beef dipped in egg batter and fried) with cabbage, taegu, daikon, and kim-chee

After dinner, my dad and I spent some quality time at Honolulu's annual tree lighting ceremony and parade held at city hall.  I had not been since I was a little girl and was glad to see the festivities.  It was crowded with many lights, music, food, and people, all getting into the Christmas spirit!

    Santa and Mrs.Claus Hawaiian style!

Mele Kalikimaka!!

 

Stay warm everybody and be safe. Sending you some aloha from the islands, Mele Kalikimaka!!