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Monday, March 28, 2016
Fwd: Hawaiian Airlines Airfare War | $140+ Each Way
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Dumpling Inn (Kearney Mesa)
One of our very favoritist restaurants in this area, Dumpling Inn recently moved 2 doors down into an enormous space which is just as packed as it was before when they were in a broom closet. Food quality has not suffered one bit. Tonight we sat in the back room at a table for six and enjoyed 5 trays of Xiao Long Bao (50 dumplings), 4 orders of deep fried beef curry dumplings, hot and sour soup, wonton soup for DD, Kung Pao chicken, and greens with garlic.
Dumpling Inn & Shanghai Saloon
4625 Convoy, San Diego, CA 92111
Original Pancake House (Poway)
What's better than a girls breakfast out after a sleepover? Nothing! Turkey bacon and avocado omelet, strawberry pancakes, and scrambled eggs with ham.
It was a busy morning at OPH since it was Easter Sunday morning. We got a late start at home due to Mom - the girls had been up for hours - we made it there at 8:40am and had to wait for 20 min. The girls enjoyed playing Stack, a new Android game I'd found. The waitresses were wearing Rabbit Ears. The restaurant was loud as usual but the food was great and the portions big. The ham in my scrambled eggs was real ham, not sandwich meat. The omelet had almost an entire avocado in it. The sourdough toast was chewy and substantial. Another great breakfast at OPH. Just come early.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Saturday, March 19, 2016
6 Places Every Beatles Fan Should Visit | Travel Deals, Travel Tips, Travel Advice, Vacation Ideas | Budget Travel
http://m.budgettravel.com/blog/budget-travel-vacation-ideas-beatles-tours,24787/
"Abbey Road
There comes a time in every Beatles fan's life when this photo just needs to be taken. Grab your friends, hop on the Tube's Jubilee line to the St. John's Wood station, and take a 5-10 minute walk down Grove End Road to Abbey Road Studios, the place where the magic happened. Chances are you'll spot the crowd lined up to cross the street long before you see the Studio, so join in the Beatles-inspired merriment and help a fellow pilgrim get the perfect shot (they'll most likely assist you as well). A word of caution: this is an active street and there are cars full of people going about their day who will honk at you for blocking the road, so work together and wait for gaps before jumping into the middle of the road. No photo is worth compromising your safety, but with a little patience and creativity, it works. After your moment of Beatles-fan glory, walk by the Abbey Road Studios entrance gate to read song lyrics and graffiti messages left by thousands of fans from around the world, all lovingly written in sharpie along the front wall. Free."
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Love Boat Sushi (Big Bang Sushi) - Rancho Bernardo
Not the easiest parking lot to leave (you can only go E on RB road or S on Wed Bernardo) but the food is great! The sushi is carefully and exquisitely crafted by Japanese sushi chefs. We like the PGA Tour, Chef Special, Hot Night roll. Sam usually has either the Udon or chicken teriyaki and the chicken portion is huuuge. We've been a few times and since they recognize us, it seems like we get special treatment from the proprietor. That's what we love about family restaurants.
Love Boat Sushi
Rancho Bernardo Rd, San Diego
https://goo.gl/maps/v83FuCUyPLU2
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
The Board at The Barrel Room (Rancho Bernardo)
The meat and cheese board at The Barrel Room is the best in San Diego. Plenty of high quality meat and Cheese (and most boards skimp on quantity) and the bread is perfect: toasted crunchy but still soft inside and great artisan flavor. We plop the sugared walnuts right on top of the sandwiches. 3 meats and 3 cheeses are perfect to split. We ordered the smoked Gouda, Manchego, and Port Salut; and the Prociutto, Salame, and the sausage. With a side of Dijon. And the Daou Cabernet. Way to blow your diet!
The Barrel Room
Rancho Bernardo, San Diego
https://goo.gl/maps/QPdEY8btm952
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Raiders of the Lost Chinese Ark (Beijing, China, 5/21/2009)
Our mission was, actually, to locate 2 shipments and verify the contents. They sent us to a dusty warehouse near the Beijing airport. Being Sunday, the staff were outside lolling on the sidewalk, smoking and one guy had his arm around what looked like a 18mo old baby. The young wife was hanging around too with another kid, turned out they were twins. My colleague told them we were the ones requesting access and the whole retinue made its way over to the dirty, cramped office. There were a few couches in the office, covered with suspicious stains. A TV was blaring some Chinese period drama. The staff searched the computer for a long time looking for our shipment. They led us to a big crate. Aha! They set about opening it. We were in the main building and I noticed the racks were full of HP printers toner and boxes. I realized we were in the HP warehouse. The racks were guarded by an extremely vicious german shepard, the largest dog I'd ever seen in China (usually I only see small mongrels). He was barking up a storm. It seemed like he barked the most at me. "HP dog", said my colleague Charles.
Finally the crate was opened but it was not the plotter we were looking for. Hmm. In the meantime the two babies were running around the warehouse filled with standing puddles of water, piles of debris, loose screws, paper scraps, and a few mm layer of dirt. One of the kids had a humongous filthy screw in his hand that he would periodically gnaw on. This same kid ran towards the german shepard which caused the dog to go into a frenzy. The dad caught him before the dog broke free from his chain.
After another 15 min they located the other shipment in another building. This building was in much the same condition but contained mostly sales gifts such as manicure sets, frisbees, and wok utensil sets, all with the HP logo on them. Many of the boxes were open with contents strewn about on the floor. I saw an E-size DesignJet plotter that obviously had not survived the shipping process - the crate and foam had distintegrated and the plotter was tilted and falling out. This was sitting on top of our crate.
The guys opened the crates by removing the screws with wrenches. The only reason there was a 2nd wrench was because I brought one. Otherwise we'd have been there all day. In America we would not have touched a job like this without power tools. Of course there are no power tools here. "Only china man power" said Charles. No wonder things take so long in China. The guys vaulted themselves to the top of the 5ft tall crates like they were ex-olympic gymnasts. Perhaps they were. I was like "wow". As I was helping them extract screws I suddenly felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, handling the Ark of the Covanant. What would we find when we looked inside?
We had been asked to unpack and turn on the equipment but these things were 7ft long, 4ft high and weighed 90 and 120kg apiece. And were wrapped like king tut's mummy. Thank god otherwise we'd have all been vaporised. Took a bunch of pix and closed them back up. Looked like they were in good condition and extremely well protected.
In the meantime the kids were being shuttled around the yard in a handmade bamboo cart with 4 wheels from 4 different sources, that was reinforced with leftover marketing collateral stickers. It was the most pathetic little thing you ever saw. On the other hand, it was a masterful use of resources and spare parts.
There was one more shipment to find and it was at the back of the main building. We stepped on a bunch of boxes at the far end of the aisle to go around the dog but when he saw we were behind him, he lunged at us again. I was positive he was going to snap his lead. I was genuinely afraid. The guy said something in Chinese and Charles said "he says the dog has bit several men."
As the guy was getting the boxes down, he dropped one from about 4ft onto the ground. Nice. But all this stuff was ok too. As we came back, Charles asked the guy a question and looked towards one of the side doors. The guy also looked towards the side wall and responded. 75pct chance he was asking whether we could escape out a side door instead of passing the dog again. I predicted the question correctly (body language tells most of the story), but the answer was no.
Mission accomplished and time to head back to town. Of course no taxis so we had to take the city bus. Suddenly I felt a pain in my shoulder. A small yellow ladybug had bit me. I still have a mark 4 days later.
An hour later we disembarked at the bus terminal, then took the subway over to Qian Men which was an incredibly stunning recreation of China from the 20's, that is if Walt Disney had gotten a hold of it. It was sort of like a Chinese version of Disneyland's Main Street, for those of you whose frame of reference is all things Disney.
We had an incredible Peking duck dinner at QianJude duck restaurant, the best in Beijing, therefore the best in the universe.
We had 2 kinds of wrappers, flour and tortilla (oh yes! Some things are universal), and they brought us extra slivered onion (Charles argued with them over why such a tiny plate of onion was considered a Large order.) They also brought slices of tiny green and red peppers which was a really nice touch with the oiliness of the duck. Between the two of us we ate an entire duck including the head. So very delicious. We received a card saying "this is duck #115,452,786 served at this restaurant". A great conclusion to a busy day.
Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
Finally the crate was opened but it was not the plotter we were looking for. Hmm. In the meantime the two babies were running around the warehouse filled with standing puddles of water, piles of debris, loose screws, paper scraps, and a few mm layer of dirt. One of the kids had a humongous filthy screw in his hand that he would periodically gnaw on. This same kid ran towards the german shepard which caused the dog to go into a frenzy. The dad caught him before the dog broke free from his chain.
After another 15 min they located the other shipment in another building. This building was in much the same condition but contained mostly sales gifts such as manicure sets, frisbees, and wok utensil sets, all with the HP logo on them. Many of the boxes were open with contents strewn about on the floor. I saw an E-size DesignJet plotter that obviously had not survived the shipping process - the crate and foam had distintegrated and the plotter was tilted and falling out. This was sitting on top of our crate.
The guys opened the crates by removing the screws with wrenches. The only reason there was a 2nd wrench was because I brought one. Otherwise we'd have been there all day. In America we would not have touched a job like this without power tools. Of course there are no power tools here. "Only china man power" said Charles. No wonder things take so long in China. The guys vaulted themselves to the top of the 5ft tall crates like they were ex-olympic gymnasts. Perhaps they were. I was like "wow". As I was helping them extract screws I suddenly felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, handling the Ark of the Covanant. What would we find when we looked inside?
We had been asked to unpack and turn on the equipment but these things were 7ft long, 4ft high and weighed 90 and 120kg apiece. And were wrapped like king tut's mummy. Thank god otherwise we'd have all been vaporised. Took a bunch of pix and closed them back up. Looked like they were in good condition and extremely well protected.
In the meantime the kids were being shuttled around the yard in a handmade bamboo cart with 4 wheels from 4 different sources, that was reinforced with leftover marketing collateral stickers. It was the most pathetic little thing you ever saw. On the other hand, it was a masterful use of resources and spare parts.
There was one more shipment to find and it was at the back of the main building. We stepped on a bunch of boxes at the far end of the aisle to go around the dog but when he saw we were behind him, he lunged at us again. I was positive he was going to snap his lead. I was genuinely afraid. The guy said something in Chinese and Charles said "he says the dog has bit several men."
As the guy was getting the boxes down, he dropped one from about 4ft onto the ground. Nice. But all this stuff was ok too. As we came back, Charles asked the guy a question and looked towards one of the side doors. The guy also looked towards the side wall and responded. 75pct chance he was asking whether we could escape out a side door instead of passing the dog again. I predicted the question correctly (body language tells most of the story), but the answer was no.
Mission accomplished and time to head back to town. Of course no taxis so we had to take the city bus. Suddenly I felt a pain in my shoulder. A small yellow ladybug had bit me. I still have a mark 4 days later.
An hour later we disembarked at the bus terminal, then took the subway over to Qian Men which was an incredibly stunning recreation of China from the 20's, that is if Walt Disney had gotten a hold of it. It was sort of like a Chinese version of Disneyland's Main Street, for those of you whose frame of reference is all things Disney.
We had an incredible Peking duck dinner at QianJude duck restaurant, the best in Beijing, therefore the best in the universe.
We had 2 kinds of wrappers, flour and tortilla (oh yes! Some things are universal), and they brought us extra slivered onion (Charles argued with them over why such a tiny plate of onion was considered a Large order.) They also brought slices of tiny green and red peppers which was a really nice touch with the oiliness of the duck. Between the two of us we ate an entire duck including the head. So very delicious. We received a card saying "this is duck #115,452,786 served at this restaurant". A great conclusion to a busy day.
Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
32 Qianmen Dajie Chóngwén, Beijing China
http://www.tripadvisor.com/1204549
Frog Soup (on a business trip somewhere in Henan province, China, 5/12/2009)
When you go to a restaurant in China, they will always push the specials on you. They push hard and they won't take no for an answer. And when they tell your Chinese colleague that a special soup is "for ladies" then like any good man, he caves to the mysteries of woman-hood and feels compelled to order it for you. So it arrives and it looks like chicken broth with some kind of soft rice bits in it. It tastes OK.
"So what is in this" I ask.
"I'm not sure." says my colleague.
"Is it meat or vegetable?"
"Neither."
Neither. Hmmm. Really?
"Well...what do you consider meat?" asks my colleague.
"Uh...anything that comes from an animal?"
"OK - then it's meat," he says happily, able to answer my question at last.
"What animal?" I ask.
"Oh, frog," he says.
I decline to find out what part of the frog looks like soft white grains of rice.
The funny part is, the next time we go to the restaurant he orders it for me again!!! Pretty shocked that he didn't pick up on the nonverbals. It's the small dish that looks like chicken broth with rice:
At this meal,it's in the same small glass bowl in the lower right corner of the picture.
"So what is in this" I ask.
"I'm not sure." says my colleague.
"Is it meat or vegetable?"
"Neither."
Neither. Hmmm. Really?
"Well...what do you consider meat?" asks my colleague.
"Uh...anything that comes from an animal?"
"OK - then it's meat," he says happily, able to answer my question at last.
"What animal?" I ask.
"Oh, frog," he says.
I decline to find out what part of the frog looks like soft white grains of rice.
The funny part is, the next time we go to the restaurant he orders it for me again!!! Pretty shocked that he didn't pick up on the nonverbals. It's the small dish that looks like chicken broth with rice:
At this meal,it's in the same small glass bowl in the lower right corner of the picture.
5 chinese girls trumps fat rich american every time (Shaolin Monastery, China, 4/25/2009)
So yes they did sell me an inconvenient ticket. When I landed in DengFeng, 15min from ShaoLin, swarms of unlicenced taxi drivers swarmed the bus. Since I didn't see an obvious ticket window to Shao Lin Monastery, I asked the shill lady how much. $50!! No way. I pull out 30. "Ok ok." She says. Never, ever, pay full price in china. So she motions me to a small minivan that may or may not be a taxi. Some grizzled unshaven middle aged chinese dude with a cig hanging from his lips, who looks like he runs dice in the alley, gets in. He starts yelling at me in chinese, so I will understand him better. I wonder if he's going to take me to a back alley and rob me. Except I outweigh him. Advantage: me. I wonder if he gets in an accident will he leave me for dead on the highway. Hmm, no counter to that one.
After a little while he drives down a small side street. He stops, motions to me to roll down my window, and yells out my window to a woman. I hold my left ear closed to avoid going deaf. I think he's telling his wife he's got a job and will be back later. She looks at me sceptically.
When he figures out I don't know English, he hands me a ShaoLin brochure. "No!" He says theatically. He weaves in and out of traffic at a high speed. He shoves a Shaolin tourist map at me. Someone has carefully taped it all over with clear tape. "No!" Or maybe he means "Know!" What is he saying? Otherwise why would he show this to me? I look at the map. One picture shows a suspended bridge with monks on it. Can I go there? What if the bridge was only strong enough for small chinese people? If it breaks when I'm on it, will I be able to use my legs to brace myself when I hit the side of the mountain? Hmm don't want to break my leg in china. Risk assessment says No. I decide against asking where the bridge is.
He motions out the window at the Songshan mountains. "Know!" He exhorts again. He comes to a turn. "Yong tai su?" He yells at me at the top of his lungs. I'm only 12″ from him. "Yong tai su??" I have no idea what this is. Su means temple. Is it shao lin, or a waste of time? I say OK. "Know!" He says again.
We reach the parking lot and its deserted, but yes there's a temple. I fumble in my mandarin book and point to "please wait for me" and "hour" and I hold up one finger (wait 1 hour). He pulls out a dirty wad of crumpled bills and shows me a count of 70 (us$10). OK, the price has gone up. I pay him the money and he gets out of his car. It turns out grizzled dice guy is going to give me a guided tour so that I don't dawdle. He directs me to the ticket booth. I take out 100rmb. He actually puts his hand in my wallet and pulls out another 100 bill. Did I just pay for a ticket for him? The attendant gives me 2 tickets, one for yong tai and one for shao lin. Ok now we're getting somewhere. He leads me thru the temple taking some nice pix of me in front of everything. Every time we're ready to move to the next Kodak moment, he says "know!" What the hell is he saying? It's chinese for something. Grizzled dice guy is leaning against the wall in the picture below:
He makes sure I get coins to throw onto the lucky frog. He makes sure I see all the shops. I buy a nice ring of sacred beads. I bargain her down 30rmb. Mama never pays full price. Then the 2 of them go off in the corner while she pays him heung yau (kickback). Hey I don't read James Clavell for nothing you know.
Then as he's driving me over to Shao lin he picks up 5 chinese girls (this is a chinese mini van, could fit about 2 dozen chinese people in back) and he and they proceed to gossip about me right in front of me and giggle. I can tell, because I can hear them say meiguo (american) several times. I give him a few dirty looks. He motions to me and says something about Shaolin and motions to them and says something else. Ok, he'll still take me to Shaolin before taking them to their destination. He stops at a gas station and kicks me out and has the girls tell me to walk over to the temple which it turns out is actually not far. 5 beautiful chinese girls trumps fat rich american every time.
Shao lin is beautiful. But I don't have a map and I can't tell where all the cool stuff is. Is this gate and the shops all there is? I do some more shopping. I buy one of long 6ft strands of huge wooden beads (65rmb $10us). From henceforth this will represent my kung fu. Debating whether to give it to my program manager, we need all the kung fu we can get. And all that kung fu trickles downhill. As I'm exiting the bathroom stall, I miss the step and twist my ankle and fall on the (wet) floor. Hard. A nice person helps me up. My ankle hurts. A lot.
I can see on the map that I finally obtain that there is some cool stuff around the bend (forest of pagodas) but I'm not sure my ankle will hold up. I rest but it only gets a little better. Maybe I will just have to come back again on another trip. So I didn't get to see this:
As I limp back to the front, another transportation hawker yells "bus" and "Zheng Zhou". How much? 27RMB (US$4). Yeah - getting here cost 30+70 (US$15) so that sounds good. Skipping armpit DengFeng sounds even better. She wants the money now, but I motion to show her I'll pay her when we get to the bus. As soon as I can verify the soundness of the transport with my own eyes (it's a medium sized bus with tires that are not worn down) I pay the money.
And now I sit here on the bus telling you my story. Should be back in ZhengZhou at 1815 and my train is at 2216 so lots of time for dinner and shopping. Right now I feel pretty satisfied with my adventure. But the wheel will turn and you will have to wait for the next installment to find out what happens next.
ZhengZhou circa 2009:
P.S. On the way home, I met a university student on the train who wanted to practice his english with me. He started talking english to me when he saw me writing in english on my phone. His english name is David. He goes to Er Lo agricultural university. He studies animal science. We show each other the pictures on our cell-phones. Even the guys next to us wanted to see. (They did not know David) He showed me a picture of green eggs but he could not explain what they were. My pic of DD outside the hotel in Hawaii is coming in handy, I have shown it to everyone. He asked if I liked the food in China and as proof, I showed him many pics of food that I took. They laughed to see the pix of dumplings and hotpot and baijiu. It was really nice to talk to him. He gave me his email address (which later I found to be invalid).
Shaolin Temple
Songshan Mountain, Dengfeng 450000,China
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g661421-d321197-Reviews-Shaolin_Temple-Dengfeng_Henan.html
After a little while he drives down a small side street. He stops, motions to me to roll down my window, and yells out my window to a woman. I hold my left ear closed to avoid going deaf. I think he's telling his wife he's got a job and will be back later. She looks at me sceptically.
When he figures out I don't know English, he hands me a ShaoLin brochure. "No!" He says theatically. He weaves in and out of traffic at a high speed. He shoves a Shaolin tourist map at me. Someone has carefully taped it all over with clear tape. "No!" Or maybe he means "Know!" What is he saying? Otherwise why would he show this to me? I look at the map. One picture shows a suspended bridge with monks on it. Can I go there? What if the bridge was only strong enough for small chinese people? If it breaks when I'm on it, will I be able to use my legs to brace myself when I hit the side of the mountain? Hmm don't want to break my leg in china. Risk assessment says No. I decide against asking where the bridge is.
He motions out the window at the Songshan mountains. "Know!" He exhorts again. He comes to a turn. "Yong tai su?" He yells at me at the top of his lungs. I'm only 12″ from him. "Yong tai su??" I have no idea what this is. Su means temple. Is it shao lin, or a waste of time? I say OK. "Know!" He says again.
We reach the parking lot and its deserted, but yes there's a temple. I fumble in my mandarin book and point to "please wait for me" and "hour" and I hold up one finger (wait 1 hour). He pulls out a dirty wad of crumpled bills and shows me a count of 70 (us$10). OK, the price has gone up. I pay him the money and he gets out of his car. It turns out grizzled dice guy is going to give me a guided tour so that I don't dawdle. He directs me to the ticket booth. I take out 100rmb. He actually puts his hand in my wallet and pulls out another 100 bill. Did I just pay for a ticket for him? The attendant gives me 2 tickets, one for yong tai and one for shao lin. Ok now we're getting somewhere. He leads me thru the temple taking some nice pix of me in front of everything. Every time we're ready to move to the next Kodak moment, he says "know!" What the hell is he saying? It's chinese for something. Grizzled dice guy is leaning against the wall in the picture below:
He makes sure I get coins to throw onto the lucky frog. He makes sure I see all the shops. I buy a nice ring of sacred beads. I bargain her down 30rmb. Mama never pays full price. Then the 2 of them go off in the corner while she pays him heung yau (kickback). Hey I don't read James Clavell for nothing you know.
Then as he's driving me over to Shao lin he picks up 5 chinese girls (this is a chinese mini van, could fit about 2 dozen chinese people in back) and he and they proceed to gossip about me right in front of me and giggle. I can tell, because I can hear them say meiguo (american) several times. I give him a few dirty looks. He motions to me and says something about Shaolin and motions to them and says something else. Ok, he'll still take me to Shaolin before taking them to their destination. He stops at a gas station and kicks me out and has the girls tell me to walk over to the temple which it turns out is actually not far. 5 beautiful chinese girls trumps fat rich american every time.
Shao lin is beautiful. But I don't have a map and I can't tell where all the cool stuff is. Is this gate and the shops all there is? I do some more shopping. I buy one of long 6ft strands of huge wooden beads (65rmb $10us). From henceforth this will represent my kung fu. Debating whether to give it to my program manager, we need all the kung fu we can get. And all that kung fu trickles downhill. As I'm exiting the bathroom stall, I miss the step and twist my ankle and fall on the (wet) floor. Hard. A nice person helps me up. My ankle hurts. A lot.
I can see on the map that I finally obtain that there is some cool stuff around the bend (forest of pagodas) but I'm not sure my ankle will hold up. I rest but it only gets a little better. Maybe I will just have to come back again on another trip. So I didn't get to see this:
As I limp back to the front, another transportation hawker yells "bus" and "Zheng Zhou". How much? 27RMB (US$4). Yeah - getting here cost 30+70 (US$15) so that sounds good. Skipping armpit DengFeng sounds even better. She wants the money now, but I motion to show her I'll pay her when we get to the bus. As soon as I can verify the soundness of the transport with my own eyes (it's a medium sized bus with tires that are not worn down) I pay the money.
And now I sit here on the bus telling you my story. Should be back in ZhengZhou at 1815 and my train is at 2216 so lots of time for dinner and shopping. Right now I feel pretty satisfied with my adventure. But the wheel will turn and you will have to wait for the next installment to find out what happens next.
ZhengZhou circa 2009:
P.S. On the way home, I met a university student on the train who wanted to practice his english with me. He started talking english to me when he saw me writing in english on my phone. His english name is David. He goes to Er Lo agricultural university. He studies animal science. We show each other the pictures on our cell-phones. Even the guys next to us wanted to see. (They did not know David) He showed me a picture of green eggs but he could not explain what they were. My pic of DD outside the hotel in Hawaii is coming in handy, I have shown it to everyone. He asked if I liked the food in China and as proof, I showed him many pics of food that I took. They laughed to see the pix of dumplings and hotpot and baijiu. It was really nice to talk to him. He gave me his email address (which later I found to be invalid).
Shaolin Temple
Songshan Mountain, Dengfeng 450000,China
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g661421-d321197-Reviews-Shaolin_Temple-Dengfeng_Henan.html
Friday, March 11, 2016
Disaster or cool adventure, you be the judge (Oahu, 2/23/13)
DH and I had a wonderful breakfast/brunch this morning with Aunty Jan at Big City Diner in Kaneohe. And then we were off to kayak. But in our haste to meet Aunty this morning, Mom forgot her fancy paddle at the house so we had to go back after breakfast - a 45 min round trip. We got to Kailua Sailboard and Kayak to find hundreds of kayaks at the ready. Guess we didn't really need a reservation after all. And the kayaks had back rests! Deluxe! Today we wore fingerless gloves and surf socks in our Tevas. We debated whether to wear long sleeve surf shirts but it was mostly sunny so we decided not to.
The guy that helped us had lived in Nagano, Japan for 8 years and had married a Japanese girl. He noticed my middle name Naito so we chatted about Wakayama where part of my family comes from.
We had to haul the 2man kayak overland about half a mile thru the park to the river where we ditched the kayak wheels in the pile of wheels. We paddled 100 yds down the river then again dragged the kayak over the sand berm to the beach. The 3′ waves made the beach launch tricky. We got Dad in the front seat of the boat but we couldn't keep it perpendicular to the waves, get me in, and have me drive forward with the paddles in time to keep from being capsized by the next wave. In other words, we capsized on the first attempt. The second launch attempt we capsized again and when Dad stood up, the kayak, now sideways, and pushed by a huge wave, knocked him down again. 3 times was too much. He was now covered in sand from head to foot. "I'm done" said Dad. Two people took pity on us and offered to help us launch. I think the right way to launch would have been to get Allyn in, then push out beyond the surf then get in myself. But I was way too short for that. Hawaii beaches are very steep. Beyond the break, I would have been up to my neck and then I wouldnt have had the upper body strength to pull my self into the boat. My normal beach launch method is the brute force method - paddle like hell straight into the breaking waves. It can work in California, but in 3′ foot Hawaii surf crashing on a steep beach - not easily. And with a novice partner, basically impossible.
I really wanted to get to Flat Island. I really wanted to use my paddle that I had dragged all the way to Hawaii in my luggage for a 2nd time. I thought thru the risks. There were a number of other kayakers in the water. They were struggling against the wind and waves also, making slow progress. There were lifeguards at Kailua and I knew they would already have their eye on me as a lone paddler. If I capsized I could hang on to the boat (because I would be leashed to it) but I probably couldn't climb back in. But i could hang on long enough to get rescued. The most likely damage from capsizing would "only" be losing my expensive paddle. And Dad did not like the idea of me trying to go it alone.
I decided to try going it alone. So I launched again from the beach with Allyn's help. I was able to punch thru the waves and get beyond the break, but instead of being able to pause and float and take pictures, the wind kept pushing me and rotating the boat parallel to the waves. I barely had enough time to fasten the kayak leash to my wrist before I was forced to paddle to straighten myself out for the next swell.
I got to the buoy and decided to turn around, judging that I had depleted half my strength. Then I realized I had forgotten to take one of my trophy pictures: my feet in the front of the kayak in the foreground, with my destination in the background. It was too late to swing back around to take it. I aimed the camera over my shoulder wildly and clicked the shutter, hoping Flat Island was in the shot.
As I feared, it was not easy coming back. It took constant maneuvering to stay pointed at the beach and not get rotated parallel to the surf (which would have swamped me). The swells pushed me along a little, which helped. I wanted to kayak surf in, but just as I reached the beach, i got turned and the wave dumped me out of the kayak. Again. This time the velcro leash broke free from my arm. Lot of good that leash would have done me if I'd actually capsized out in the deep. I'm so scraped up now from the kayak hull hitting me, especially on my right leg. It really stung in the shower later.
Long walk back to the kayak store. "Did you have fun?" they asked.
I finally read the Conditions board AFTER we got back. Flat Island: "advanced paddlers only". Waves: 6-8 foot face. Wind 25mph. All coded yellow and red. Ha ha. Winter conditions in Kailua are tough even on a clear day. Later, Kaina said he wouldn't have gone out today. Maybe just to make me feel better.
Then, I almost forgot my paddle at the showers. And, I forgot to take a picture of the Conditions board, so guess what, a third trip to Kailua today.
DH was a really good sport today. I wonder why he even goes with me. If he had known what we were getting into today he would not have gone. It was very challenging even for me, the experienced paddler. I wish I'd had a GoPro with me today to properly capture how crazy it was out there. I felt sorry for all the tourists that lah-dee-dah'd out from Waikiki. Kailua is held up as the premier kayaking destination in Oahu. This would have been dangerous for the inexperienced paddler and could easily put them off kayaking for a while. Doesn't make for good business though. I know DH's interest in kayaking dropped several notches today.
Tonight my shoulders arms and legs are sore sore sore.
TL, DR: know your limits.
Kailua Sailboards and Kayaks
130 Kailua Road Suite 101B, Kailua, Oahu, HI
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60652-d947324-Reviews-Kailua_Beach_Adventures_by_Kailua_Sailboards_and_Kayaks_Inc-Kailua_Oahu_Hawaii.htmlSaturday, March 5, 2016
Cork and Craft (Rancho Bernardo)
Send off for a longtime employee. Sad, but I also laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. That is what a wake is all about. The Irish are nuts, but also right on.
MOSTRA MOCHA STOUT
Milk Stout - 5.1%
Simulating a mocha coffee drink and is incredibly easy drinking
Brewed with Guana cacao nibs and Mostra Fortissimo Espresso
Milk Stout - 5.1%
Simulating a mocha coffee drink and is incredibly easy drinking
Brewed with Guana cacao nibs and Mostra Fortissimo Espresso
The Cork and Craft
16990 Via Tazon, Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, CA 92127 (858) 618-2463
Saturday morning pancakes
Cooked by my daughter. Is there anything better? Oh yes, her discovering that she needs to serve her guests first, resulting in Dad eating her "favorite" pancake.
NYTimes: A One-Man Quest for a Missing Jet
I am more than a little obsessed with MH370, having been a long time international traveller to Asia. When did the passengers know or suspect they were in trouble? What did they do then? What would I have done? What did they do when they realized they were about to crash? Who would have programmed the computer before flight and why didn't they ever claim responsibility?
A One-Man Quest for a Missing Jet
Blaine Alan Gibson, who found debris that officials say could be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, says he is "intrigued by mysteries that need to be solved."
"This animation shows where floating debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could have drifted if experts are correct about where the plane went down, based on a model released by Australian officials on Tuesday."
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Cambodia's Kampot Pepper Wins Coveted EU Protection
http://m.voanews.com/a/ap-cambodia-kampot-pepper-wins-coveted-eu-protection/3215893.html
"The peppercorns, which come in white, red and black, are described by gourmet chefs as having a complex flavor with floral overtones. Cambodian farmers from the seaside region on the Gulf of Thailand say the area's microclimate and mineral-rich soil give the pepper its unique taste."
Monkey Style Burger (In N Out Burger)
To assemble: Toast bun on a hot skillet with butter, until the edges are golden brown. Starting with the bottom bun, spread 1 tablespoon of spread on the bottom, and top with pickles, tomatoes, and lettuce. Add 1 burger patty, a heaping tablespoon of caramelized onions, and the second patty. Top that with french fries, more spread, and another scoop of onions. Finish with the top of the bun. Serve immediately.
Hungry yet?
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