MY SIMPLE LIFE IN HAWAII

Any regular reader of this blog site knows that I'm old, for I live at 15 Craigside, a seniors' community in Honolulu.  

• For the past 15 years I've taken two lengthy trips/year, at least half a dozen being global, that is, around the world....usually about two months long.  
• More recently, cruises have encroached, as our most recent journey involved a Norwegian Encore 39-day sail from Seattle to Southampton (UK), plus a Viking Tir European Christmas cruise of 14 days from Amsterdam to Budapest. 
• Our next extravaganza in a month will involve flying to Kansai Airport, Japan, to participate in the Osaka World Expo, then an Oceania cruise from Yokohama to Vancouver.

However, I've come to that point in life when I am beginning to enjoy life more at home than not.  Nothing fancy.

• Mostly writing this daily blog, something I have been daily doing for almost 17 years
• My first posting was on 29April2008.
• You know how long this has been?
• Beginning with kindergarten, this means that during this period I have gone through elementary, intermediate and high school, plus I'd just about be graduating from college.
• But a student has long holidays and weekends off.
• I've been doing this daily.
• 
  I have published 3 books since I retired from the University of Hawaii a quarter century ago.  I still maintain an office on the Manoa Campus, but I don't teach anymore, and my research is this blog site.

• 
  Otherwise, lot's of sports on TV.  I've just drafted three ESPN fantasy baseball teams.
• There are Netflix and Amazon Prime to plead for my time, where I'm in the midst of completing at least three dozen series, and watch a movie or two or three or more weekly.

There is a myriad of activities at 15 Craigside.  

• Plus we now and then go out for things.
• They serve three meals a day here, which I pay for, but in my calculations, during the 10 years I've lived here, I've only eaten around 20% of my meals in the main dining room.

• 
  I do take out food to enhance the dish, so I shop twice a week for items like sashimi, caviar, artichokes, foie gras, alcohol and such.  I do things like ozoni for New Year's morning, mint julep for watching the Kentucky Derby (same for Belmont stakes and other races), the Super Bowl, where this year I had a hurricane, Po Boy and gumbo, for the game was played in New Orleans, and other such moments, which happen maybe three times/month.
• So here are a few photos of the past couple of weeks.

We get served a Hawaiian luau meal every five Fridays, so I purchase toro, poke mix, ikura, kazunoko, sea asparagus, ogo, kukui not (inamona), sweet onion (preferably from Maui), green onions, sake, and a couple more ingredients, to make my very special POKE.  Below, had this meal with Kapahi Bourbon, brewed from corn, barley and rye grown in Hawaii.  Also added Awamori (a shoju) from Okinawa.  Plus lau lau, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice, squid luau and, for dessert, haupia.  Read from Wikipedia luau, which explains all the above.

I went to a University of Hawaii baseball game.  They're doing well this year.  Had a giant hot dog with chili, plus beer.

Nice Honolulu sunset view from my computer.

Unfortunately, when Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island is erupting, and the wind pattern shifts the VAZE to Honolulu, we get air pollution.

Then when the tradewinds return.

Note those yellow trees above and below.  They are Gold Trees, and there is a story to them.  I noticed one in the mauka (mountain) direction, so I walked around .75 miles to take a photo.

Invited to a Chinese dinner at Fook Yuen with Marine Agritech colleagues, hosted by Wenhao Sun, whose company produces the sea asparagus and most of the edible seaweed in Hawaii.  Most of the men in this photo are university professors.

Moutai, Johnny Walker Black Scotch and Nouveau Beaujolais.  That white bottle of Moutai costs $650.  53% ethanol, or 106 proof.

Wenhao and I.

Appetizer of jellyfish, abalone and duck.

Peking Duck.

Lobster.

Mushrooms and Chinese Cabbage.

I might add that the person in the darker purplish shirt below is Phil Bossert, former president of Hawaii College.  I assisted he and Wenhao in their research to clear up Ala Wai Canal using sea plants with phytoremediation properties.

I visited my parent's gravestones at Valley of the Temples, where the Byodo-In Temple is located.

15 Craigside has a golf tournament every couple of months, and we just went to Mililani Golf Club.  I did amazingly well and teamed with a person I was riding with to win the low score award.  Also, several door prizes.

The chef at 15 Craigside makes for us a brown bag brunch with spam musubi, a banana and cookies (baked by a resident here).  I had my traditional Bloody Mary with the musubi.  One reason I golfed well.

Last night we went to the Hawaiian Financial Federal Credit Union annual dinner at Hilton Hawaiian Village.  Unfortunately, it started with the most boring meeting you can imagine.  In fact, it was excruciating.  They did call out 84 door prizes just for surviving the gathering.  We did not win anything.

We thought about a drink with dinner, but notice those prices.  $$10.50 for a bottle of beer.  You can buy three six-packs of the best beer for two bottles here.  Drank water instead.

The dining room.

Poor photo of meal.  The dinner itself was a luau (as explained above), but with some deficiencies.  No lau lau, no squid luau (it was something made with spinach) and no haupia.  Plus the hot food wasn't, and dishes came so that it was like a chinese-course dinner.  Giant cake piece at the end, which I avoided, for I'm in a weight-losing mode.

There was a much too long show by Brother Noland and his band.  Did not recognize even one song.  He is known as the father of Jawaiian Music, and is much honored.  But all the dozen or so tunes he sang sounded the same to me.

The featured entertainer was Kalani Péa.  He is today famous, for he is now a four-time Grammy winner for Best Regional Roots Music.  Also an educator who promotes the Hawaiian language and culture.  He first recorded eight years ago.  Alas, also did not recognize any of his songs.

Had to validate the parking ticket before leaving, which was a royal pain.  Paid $15 extra.  The cost of the dinner should have covered this cost.

Oh well, life in Paradise, or Purgatory, is not quite perfect.  I close with the cold opening last night of Saturday Night Live, a meeting of Trump, Musk and Rubio.  Mike Myers was back as Elon.

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