Lunch Break Honolulu - 65 Great Places to Beat the Clock

I was reading this great local book that I thought I'd share with you called "Lunch Break Honolulu - 65 Great Places to Beat the Clock" written by David Choo. Mr. Choo writes for the Downtown Planet reviewing wonderful places to eat.

I think most of us would like to have a job like his. I noticed from the descriptions in the book, that he goes each place 2-3 times to sample various dishes before he writes his reviews. Ahh.....to get paid to eat lunch.

I did notice that I had eaten at a lot of the places he mentions in his book. And I agreed with all of the things that he had to say. I love eating at places that are off the beaten track. But I was really interesting in discovering even more places to try.

I've since tried "Ahi and Vegetable" when I happened to be downtown. It was exactly how Mr. Choo described it. And I had the Spicy Ahi bowl with sushi rice everytime I went. It was just so yummy!!! I liked to sit at the counter looking out on to the street. People would walk by trying to figure out how it all worked. Then they noticed me in the window and I would wink and give a thumbs up at them.

Pick this little book up and I'm sure you'll be surprised at how many restaurants you've been to his list, and how many more you have to try!

Try Looking Up!

(Left, First Hawaiian Bank, right, Bank of Hawaii)

I was walking in downtown Honolulu the other day. This is really one of the few places in Hawaii where we have wall to wall highrises. Waikiki also has a lot of tall buildings, but they have a different feel to them having all those balconies on the outside. I wouldn't call our buildings skyscrapers as I think you have to have buildings like those in New York.

(First Hawaiian Bank building, Bishop Street)

It was another beautiful day in Hawaii. I had my camera and I decided to look up and take some pictures. I thought I'd share them with you because I thought that they were kind of neat. It gives you a different view of Hawaii.

Behind the Scenes of LOST

I used to work on the tv show LOST for the first 3 seasons. It was a fun show to do with a really nice crew that becomes like a big family. Since there isn't any new episodes airing right now, I thought I'd share with you some of the more interesting facts and funny stories that happened while I was there.

During season one and two, the production office was located at the Dole Cannery in Iwilei. The building was once a canning warehouse for pineapple. The place has been renovated and is now a mixed use of retail and office space. But for a long time, it was the place where lots of teenagers got a summer job canning pineapple.

Anyway, this place was just a big warehouse that now had floors. It was like a maze to get to the office door. Even some of the crew would get lost if they hadn't been there in a while! The sign for the office didn't say LOST but was actually the name of the production company, which is totally different. So if you didn't know the name, you had an even harder time looking us up on the office building directory downstairs.

It was between seasons or the time we in the biz call "being on hiatus". I was in the office by myself. The office door had one of those skinny windows next to the door that was probably about 8 inches wide and ran almost the height of the door. I was walking towards the door from inside the office, when all of a sudden, I could see flashes of light coming through the window. I stopped in my tracks, startled and puzzled.

I was really curious as to what had just happened. So I rushed to the door and flung it opened. I caught sight of a group of people at the end of the hall just turning the corner and disappearing from view. I couldn't figure it out. So after a beat, I followed them, walking quickly down the winding corridors.

I caught up with this group of 12-15 people at the elevators. Each of them were wearing tags bearing the logo of one the tour groups that cater to Korean visitors. While we waited for the elevator, I asked the tour guide what her group was doing here off the tourist beaten path. It seems that they were fans of the show. They were so excited to be this close to LOST that they wanted to take a picture of our office door!!!

If you'd like more of these little stories or have a question, let me know. Just don't ask me for answers to where the story lines are going because I don't know ;)

Iolani Palace - Update

Iolani Palace was the sight of recently filming for a movie about Princess Kaiulani. The asphalt drive in the front of the palace was covered with bark chips to create dirt roads where horse drawn carriages were the norm. Lanterns and banners were draped and hung.

Being a period piece, the extras had to wear costumes that went with the times. I didn't have my camera with me when I saw them filming, so I can't show you the dresses that they wore. But I was really impressed with it all. I managed to snap these pictures of the palace the next morning.

There has been some controversy over this film. The producers and directors have said that they wanted to cast an actress who was part-Hawaiian and part-Caucasian. The person that they ended up with was Q'orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in the film "The New World." While she is a fine actress, to me, she doesn't look like she's part-Hawaiian.

I'm not sure when this movie is going to be released, but it will certainly be interesting to see how much is fact and how much is "hollywood fiction".

Spreading the Aloha Spirit

I love to travel. And when ever I do, I always bring along with me several boxes of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. My favorite brand is the Hawaiian Host "tiki" box. (The MacNut Crunch is also really good). I'm usually traveling to see friends so they usually get a few boxes. And I'll leave some for the housekeeper at the hotel or give them to people who helped me.

A few years ago, I had gone to Chicago on business and had taken my family. It was a very cold May. (When you're used to high 70's to low 80's, the high 60's are pretty cold!). We packed a lot into the four days that we were there. So at the end of the four days, we were all very tired and ready to go home.

We went to Avis to return our car before heading to the airport. I walked into the office because I wasn't sure if I had gotten the right rate on the car. The gal at the counter barely looked at me and seemed to be having a bad day. I was happy to know that in 10 hours I was going to be home so I wasn't particularly bothered by her attitude. I thanked her for her help and picked up my carry on to leave. That's when I remembered that I had an extra box of chocolate covered mac nuts in my bag.

I reached in my bag, pulled out the box and handed it over to her. She looked up and that was the first time that I actually saw her eyes! I still remember the smile that lit up her face. She thanked me for the box and I told her "Aloha" and left.

As I was getting settled on the shuttle with my family to go to the airport, she came running up to the bus, still smiling. She gave me a certificate for a free rental day and thanked me again. My kids and husband were trying to figure out what was going on. So I smiled at them and told them I was spreading "the Aloha Spirit"!

Iolani Palace

I had only been to Iolani Palace once in my whole life. It was for Kamehameha Schools' Explorations program way back in 1974 when I was 10. I only remember going in and seeing the room with the thrones in them.

Recently, Iolani Palace displayed pieces of King David Kalakaua's royal jewelry to commemorate the 125th anniversary of his coronation. The exhibit was only going to be for a day. There were some pieces in the collection that even the palace curator hadn't seen because they came from a private collection.

There was a long line of people when my husband and I arrived. The line snaked from the bottom steps of the palace down to almost the pavilion. (You don't see the line because everyone was in the shade). It was a beautiful sunny day and I didn't mind waiting one bit.

I love to people watch and today was no exception. There seemed to be more locals than tourist there that day. There was an older couple who had brought their grandson with them. I don't think he really cared about seeing the jewels, but had really seemed to like getting out of school early and being with this grandparents. The group in front of us were having a discussion of overthrow.

We got the "mini tour" because there were so many people who were going to go through the palace that day. We didn't even have to wear the booties! The staff were very kind and helpful with the information that they shared.

The collection that was shown was much more than I imagined. There were many pieces that were given to King Kalakaua during his reign. There were many medals and ribbons that he wore. What was amazing to me was that a lot of the jewels in the pieces were very large. Kind of the big bamgucha sized marbles we used to play with at recess as well as the cat eye size as well. I'm glad that I had a chance to go and see these pieces. I got to see a part of Hawaii's history that I hadn't seen before.

After we left, my husband pointed out that I still hadn't been on a full tour of the palace. I guess I'll just have to leave that on my list of things to do.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY AT YOKOHAMA

I live on the windward side of Oahu in Kahalu`u. During the winter months, it can rain almost everyday. And if it doesn't rain, there are some very dark clouds covering the sky. This can make for beautiful waterfalls on the Ko`olau and lush greenery. But it can also make for a gloomy day. After a while, I just had enough.

So I decided to take a ride out to the end of the road to Yokohama. It was a gorgeous day!! Here's some of the pictures that I took. I got to try out my new Nikon D40 DSLR camera. It takes great pictures.

Sometimes it's fun to be a tourist on your own island. I like to drive so it was nice to just get in the car, turn on the radio and travel down the highway.

Yokohama beach during the winter doesn't get many swells. But you still have to watch out for the undertow. The lifeguards were on duty and had the signs and flag up. They were really helpful enough to recommend a part of the beach that would be better for swimming.

I had a wonderful morning playing tourist, getting some sun and soaking up the warmth.