Saturday, March 21, 2009
Posted at 11:56:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The first clip, with the underwater scene and "spooky" song, is from Old A; the second, me resting in the "grassy knoll," is from our first Puako dive. All the rest are from our third Puako dive, yesterday. They were so LOUD!!
Island Naturals - Mangosteen! for $17.39/lb, or about $3.50 each, as opposed to $2 each at Farmers' Markets (didn't buy it; just took a photo); Local (Maui) neem.
Posted at 1:34:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Big
Office Max
Kona Wine Market
Kona Bros.
Big - Tried on Mares fins sort of like the ones I admired online, to see what the fit is like. (Not as cool, and not silver, but probably similar profile.) Rented them for $10 for the week, to see if I like them. Also bought neoprene socks and got Sara to decorate them with white paint pen so I won't mix them up with Dean's!
Posted at 11:00:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Keauhou Farmers' Market Eats!
Tart Lady:
- mint/pepper/lemon cookie thingy
- pitanga lemonade (Dean) (yuck!)
Makali'i:
- fish taco (Laura)
- brunch burrito (Dean)
The delivery guy from the cafe was there, but no Kristen. I asked about her and he told us it was her birthday so she had the day off! He also said they're getting a truck to drive around on a route and sell food out of at construction sites, the Toyota dealership, etc. That's great!
Lotus Guy:
- Lilikoi juice
- Summer rolls
Other Eat-Now Stuff:
- lilikoi baked good (Laura)
- Mac-ginger-orange-choc cookie (Dean)
Gifts/Take Home Stuff:
- Lilikoi jam
- Lulo sauce
- Calamansi jam
- Mac nuts
Fruit:
- ice cream bean
- yellow pitaya (dragonfruit)
- plenty of papayas
- miracle fruit from the Weird Fruit Guy, now! (!) (5 for $1; it was bigger than the South Kona Green Market kind, but was kind of smushy)
- 15 calamansi!
- other citrus: a million tangelos, 1 grapefruit, a couple different kinds of lemons, tall Abhay Apuri lime, kaffir lime (the kind that look like brains), Kona Lime (orange-colored), a rangpur (I think...) [edit: wait... I just found out that rangpur and Kona lime are the same thing!], 1 gigantic Meyer lemon
- 12 lilikoi (they were tons weightier and jucier than the ones from the other market!) (we used up all the rest of our cash on 3 more lilikoi at the end!)
- 26 lulos! (we had one left from last week, so we now have 27!)
The Lulo Guy, upon sighting us: "Here's my Connecticut lulo connection!" :-) When we told him next Saturday will be our last Farmers' Market, he demanded that I bring him one more recipe next week so he'll have three for the booklet he's making. Quite the challenge! We slurped a refreshing lulo juice sample and Dean liked it so much that we had to go back and buy 10 more lulos because Dean wants us to be able to make a huge pitcher of it!! He also got all inspired and wants to invent his own lulo drink too. (That's why we got 26 lulos.) Wow! The Lulo Guy called us "My best lulo customers!" I love his quotes, but I always have trouble remembering them.
Dean, afterwards: "Best Farmers' Market yet."
Oh yeah, Tip for Future Selves: There's a Bank of Hawaii at KTA, if you need to procure small bills on Friday to prepare for the market!
Friday, March 20, 2009
I'm so tired tonight. I was tired before 10:00!
Posted at 10:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Bruise count:
Right shin: 2 medium mauve, 1 medium turquoise, 1 tiny fawn
Left knee: 1 medium mauve, 1 tiny purple, 1 tiny fawn
Left hip (side): 1 large yellow/purple mottled, 1 medium mauve
Left arm: 1 medium purple (side of elbow), 1 medium mauve (forearm), 1 medium hard to see but I can feel it (triceps)
Also, left wrist: 1" double scratch.
Dean, slurping our almost-nightly bananalulo smoothie: "Lulo's good!"
Posted at 8:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
At end: "Mm! It was good!"
After: "When we go home we won't be able to have bananalulos!"
Dean is cute. :-)
Later, Dean starts watching a Modern Marvels episode on his laptop.
Laura, distractedly: "What are you watching?"
Dean: "Money."
Laura, after realizing what he said: "...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? You can't watch that without me! I LOVE MONEY!"
Hahahahaha. But... it was about currency. Coins and bills! And you know how I have my coin collections and everything. That was a pretty funny quote, though.
Posted at 12:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Puako #3! It looks great! It looks flat! Sunny. Blue.
Notes from my dive slate:
It's never this calm at Puako! It's like a lake.
Surface-swim = easy!
Dropped down at other buoy (right-hand one). Whales during descent.
Weird and cool whales today.
These are the best whales yet!
It's like a weird musical instrument.
LOUD! It's so cool!
Even if the dive ended now, I'd be totally satisfied, after those whales! (Dean got some great video; I'll post it soon!)
Shared air! (Dean got gypped and his tank only started with 2400 psi instead of the usual 3100 or 3200, so we shared my air for a little while to get more evened out.) I liked it, except I couldn't see Dean because he was really close to me but outside my peripheral vision.
I don't like the stirred up places. (They felt dirty and confined.)
Monster COT! 15 arms (less than Baby!) but huge. He went into wet cat mode when I picked him up. I cut short our Crown session because my back hurt from my feet floating up. It was shallow and I was really low on air, so it was hard to stay under, and it gets all arched when that happens.
We had to switch to snorkels swimming in, since we were nearly out of air. Even though Dean started low on air, and my back was hurting, we stayed under for an hour and 17 minutes! (???!!!) That's our longest ever, I bet! What the heck! Crazy! [Edit: No! Our longest was at Puako on November 20, 2006--1 hour 21 minutes. This was our second longest.] The water felt a lot warmer than usual on this dive (even though our dive computers still read 72°), probably because it was sunny and shallower (so our wetsuits were less compressed). Dean wasn't cold at all, and I was only cold part of the time. (Amazing!)
All our Puako dives on this trip have been great, and they've all been different! (I am still saving the other two to finish posting about together.)
On the way back, we got a shave ice at the Kawaihae place near Kohala Divers (li hing mui/passion-orange, with vanilla ice cream on the bottom) but it wasn't as good as the Fishaholic stand. A guy was running it instead of the usual lady; I don't think he has quite the touch she did. Then, for dinner, our third Dara's (again, no Mr. Dara!). I predict it will be our last-ever Dara's. :-/
Thursday, March 19, 2009
We ate more of our miracle fruit (picked on Saturday, bought on Sunday, and stored in the refrigerator after we brought it back to our place). WOW. It was FAR less potent. The key lime, especially, was horrible. Bottom line is that how fresh the miracle fruit is makes a dramatic difference. We tried the usual lemons, limes, lulo, etc., and the only thing that was very effected was our bananalulo smoothie; the lulo was completely overpowered by the enhanced sweetness of the banana, and lost its lulo punch. It was so inferior!
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
This explains why the miracle fruit we got from Florida was a bit disappointing; the power of the fruit drops off very quickly after it's picked. Keeping it frozen did help, but time really is of the essence when you're dealing with miracle fruit!
Roadhouse! I actually got a Roadhouse Cafe meal and liked it, even though I could not detect even a slither of brie in the "Turkey Veg & Brie Pie" phyllo pastry parcel. Dean got the soup of the day ("all veg") and the Roadhouse Veggie Burger (he was scared of the brie in the veg. pastry parcel, although we now know his f & l was all for nothing). And I'm gonna get a lili-cheesecake!
Posted at 3:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Surfin' Tail / walked in wet green paint but it wasn't very wet / good lili topping (nice & tart, just pure lilikoi), but too fluffy/soft cheesecake part / Abide.
[7:49 PM] We did nothing today, so I don't have anything else to post about! Yay! All caught up now (except for my Puako dives, but I typed in my dive notes from my slate, then erased it all down), out on the balcony in the soothing light rain. It's dark now. It's NICE out here. I had another KMC in my special smusher. Dean made me break out my decaf so I could do if after having already had a Surfin' Tail. (S.T. = really good, BTW.) I like abiding, like the Dude. It feels so good out here, in this chair, in the air, drip drip drip, dark black night and still sweet air.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Posted at 10:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm so behind right now, it's just impossible. It's Wednesday night and I haven't finished Sunday and I also now have two Puako dives to post about! But at least I can combine them. So anyway I'm just going to think about today right now. My nails are getting long again so it's hard to type. BTW, I have been typing my entries directly on the laptop! Using the separate keyboard was hurting my shoulders too much so I switched to the built in one even though I'm not good at it. I've improved to a tolerable comfort/accuracy level as a result, at least if I angle the computer a bunch. I still can't stand it flat.
Okay, I'm back. I shortened my claws and took a bath, so now I can touch-type properly and I've de-salted and tended my wounds. We both got whaled hard on the lava rocks, coming in from the dive at Pine Tree Pools/Pine Tree Pinnacles this afternoon, and I got banged around quite a bit. My mask got half knocked off a couple of times from the force of the waves, but I managed to keep it, and to keep my regulator in my mouth. I was choking/gasping on water (feels salty in my chest!) which I must have inhaled though my nose when my mask was dislodged. But after I stabilized myself on some rocks out of the pounding and coughed it out a bit and caught my breath, I was OK and was able to swim across the small channel between the spot we'd crashed on and the much easier exit spot we'd planned to use. (Dean says we should mark the spot with the goodie bag next time!) I'll have to check out the bruises tomorrow. So far all I can see is a purplish bump on my elbow and a scratch on my wrist, on the one piece of skin that was exposed between my wetsuit and my glove. Having a nice thick wetsuit for protection sure is nice! It did hurt a bit when I was randomly crashing into rocks, so I'm sure I'll find some more bruises on my legs tomorrow, but I was pretty well padded, considering. And with all that coughing, I didn't even get wheezy! Wow.
Dean was fine, but the top of his snorkel (strapped onto his tank) got smashed so it won't be a dry snorkel anymore! His tank also got all dislodged and was hanging off, not held on by the velcro tank strap anymore. I tried to fix it for him but I wasn't strong enough. He took it off in the water and fixed it before climbing out though.
Anyway, I kind of love this kind of thing, in a weird way.
Since the entrance spot didn't have a good puka to stash our Crocs, I wore my neoprene socks out until I was ready to put on my fins in the water. It was so dramatically colder when I took them off! When I get new fins, I think I want to get ones that I can wear neoprene socks with, like Dean's. Mine fit my bare feet perfectly, so there's no room for anything but really thin Lycra socks. Now I have my eyes on these. I love my old fins so much (even though they're really scraped up and algae-stained by now), the only way I'll give them up is if the replacement ones are also 1) sleek, 2) silver, and 3) Italian. (My old ones are Seac Sub brand, and I can't read their website, but I love the graphics! They don't make silver fins anymore.)
Anyway, it was a good dive other than the whaling part at the end! Good, but weird. First we checked Pine Tree Portal, but it was too rough there, so we continued down to our fav new hangout, Pine Tree Pools. There was one protected spot there where it looked easy to get in and out, so we decided to try it as a new dive location. (Here's my pre-dive photo of our entrance/exit spot, including, on the right, the lava rocks where we got whaled.) Getting in was easy, and once we got past the waves and a barrier reef (easy), we dropped down, having no idea what we'd find. The bottom was all rocky/boulder-y, with sand and little patches of coral. It seemed really boring, but I kept finding cool stuff!
First a Triton's Trumpet (I mimed glockenspiel-hammering its shell to give it a big headache, since they eat crown-of-thorns!). Dean signed, "Baby"... OH NO!!! It better not crawl over to Pine Tree Portal!!!!! Anyway, I wasn't mean to it other than empty threats, even though it's my archenemy of the sea. I just illuminated it with the flashlight for Dean so he could take a photo. I love being the spotlight guy!
Then, just crawling carefree in the blank blah of sand, another beautiful divided flatworm. And tumbleweeding along, a black banded urchin that was hollowed out but otherwise entirely intact, save for the hole it its underside. (Who did it??) Its spines were still wiggling on their own, even with no one inside. After we examined it in amazement and took a few photos, I set it to rest, and Dean signed, "RIP." We also saw a couple of cool eels, and, again, just crawling in the open, on the side of a rocky wall, a light-spotted sea cucumber, shocking and conspicuous with its distinctive fleshy spikes. Its soft belly was white, and it wasn't grabby or sticky. 
There was a crown-of-thorns (it didn't want to play), some wire coral, a yellow cushion star, school of striking white-and-yellow pyramid butterfly fish, a cool and unusual triggerfish (gilded?), a big scrawled filefish hiding it a cave (photo is at top of the page), lots of other nice fish, and a weird green linckia star with two super-long arms, one medium-long arm, one short arm, and one stub. We were near the base of a mooring ball for part of the dive, so maybe this is a boat dive site? The topography that wasn't rocks/sand/boulders was cool tall tall pinnacles of coral rising from the deep to high above, almost but not quite reaching the surface. I was freezing nearly the entire time, but there was enough interesting stuff so that we stayed in for an hour and I almost ran out of air during our whaling on the way back to shore.
Other stuff from today: I went on a morning mission to Big to pick up new tanks while Dean did his remote work. It was easy to get there with my Guy! Dani unloaded and loaded the tanks for me since I'd kill my back if I tried to lift them in and out of the back of the Jeep. I chatted with the gang (Sara, Dani and Ralph today), then drove to the International Market and browsed around for a while before returning back to our place. I visited the Goodies Guy and bought some of my fav-soap-ever from him (I told a lady who was fingering it that it's the best soap ever, and she bought some; the G.G. glowed with pride). He gave me a free soap, as usual, and I only bought four little bars.
On the way to our dive, we got a shave ice from the Fishaholic truck; it was really busy there, so I stood in line and bought it while Dean waited in the Jeep since there were no parking spaces. I got my usual best-combo-ever, half li hing mui and half passion-orange, and silently groaned as the people in front of me asked for a root beer "snow cone." Aaaaagh. I had to eat it in the moving Jeep, which was a huge challenge, but no disasters occurred, in part thanks to my li hing mui/passion-orange colored towel. It was great. Why haven't we had more shave ices on this visit??? I wonder if anyone has straight lilikoi/passionfruit as a flavor choice.
After our dive, we stopped at Kona Mountain and I attained the last punch on my Club Card, so Dean's chai was free! I don't think we'll be able to fill another one before we leave. The store lady was asking Dean if we were new to the island, so he told her about my longtime loyal Kona Mountain fandom, since the days when they had the little cafe on Mamalohoa Highway. She was suitably impressed. The Kona Mountain Guy gave us free mini-coconut coffee frappes because he had extra left over, and Dean commented, "Mmm, I don't even like coffee, and I like this!" and I replied, "That's because it's Kona Mountain coffee." The KMG liked that. :-)
We had Ba-Le for supper, after re-tanking at Big. Ralph told me seasons are off by two months here (compared to New England), so now it's like the equivalent of January and Hawaii is at its coldest. Oh, and I had my laulau plate lunch for breakfast! I didn't eat the lomi salmon part since it's raw fish and I should've eaten it right away, but I liked the rest. The meat inside the taro leaf was really moist and tender. (I couldn't figure out if it was beef or pork; when I saw Sara, I asked her and she said she couldn't tell either!) Here's a picture before I ate it.
Okay, bed. It's 1:38 AM!!!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Posted at 5:47:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Passion Paradise = tequila + lili + li = best drink ever. Dean got a calzone at Cafe Pesto and liked it!
Another wonderful Puako dive, although totally different than the last one! I'll write a combo post about both later. Puako's treating us so well on this visit.
( Best part = mother and baby devil scorpionfish! (!!!) )
L, trying to dry hair in front of car vents because it's raining: "Oh no, my hair's getting all frizzy."
Posted at 4:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
D: "It looks good."
L: "I can't trust you. You just say that no matter what."
D: "No! It looks like a wild dog!"
L: (laughing) "Is that good?"
Pipe Dreams was still a pipe dream, so we're heading north. It was raining all morning in South Kona and Keauhou, but the norther we go, the clearer it gets. I had a fun Mamalohoa Highway morning mission in the rain, getting another Samantha massage, then Oshima Surf-ing. Love LOVE O.S. My brain was still foggy from the Benadryl this morning, but it's improved now.
Posted at 1:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Down with Lava 105.3! Up with KONI 104.7!
Posted at 11:30:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, March 16, 2009
[I didn't actually write anything today other than that Lotus post (typed by Dean on my Palma) but I wanted to remember what I did, so I'm filling this in on Thursday:]
Posted at 11:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Last night we took Sara out to dinner at the Imari (it was fun!) (and my eel-on-the-top roll, uni, and plum-and-shiso roll were as wonderful as ever) (I liked riding in the back seat of the Jeep with Sara, talking about our mutual coin collections and all kinds of random stuff), and this morning Sara picked me up and took me to see the Asia Trans packing/distribution place in Kona while Dean dialed in to a board meeting. She knew everyone there and gave me a tour of the shelves, all filled with crazy Hawaiian snack foods including ten thousand different li hing mui ones! She kept saying, "You're got to try this one," etc., until her arms were filled with a big pile of snacks that she GAVE me to sample! Sara is too nice!! :-) She also took me to a cool thrift store (hopefully I'll remember how to get there) and I bought a skirt for $3, which I didn't even try on, but it fits perfectly. (!) I just liked the fabric and thought it would be modify-able, but I won't even need to. While we drove around, she showed me her supercool paper money collection from all different countries (it was AMAZING... I looked at, and commented on, every piece in detail... some were SO cool). She also gave me a whole bunch of duplicates from her foreign coin collection. They are awesome!! I can't wait to catalogue them with my others when I get home. And to pick out some of my dupes to send her in trade! Also, she stopped at a local food place in South Kona on her way to pick me up and got me a traditional Hawaiian plate lunch to try, and I put it in the refrigerator for later!
After my fun Sara Mission, we checked out Pipe Dreams again, but it still looked surgy. I was starting to feel really wiped out because I'd taken a Benadryl that morning because my arm rash went crazy for no reason (only on the right arm!) (and after being almost completely cured, too!) and I felt more like taking a nap (!) than going on a dive, so we just went to the Lotus for lupper, then came home and I dazed on the couch until 11:00, then went to bed! Zzzzzzz. What is with these crazy mysterious Hawaiian rashes??
Lotus. Solar. Hot except near fan. Lotus' lilikoi juice = the best. Banana cinnamon lassi = the best. Very soothing tasting. Lotus' summer rolls = the best. We'll see about the Chicken Mango Tango.
Posted at 4:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The menu is overwhelming. Good decor. Reminds me of when the A-Team went to Vietnam. Comfortable temperature now. Laura: "It's the best chicken ever! [Moans.] Do you believe I'm moaning about a chicken?"
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Posted at 2:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I can't believe I ate Rooster and Tabasco. Miracle Fruit + lilikoi was my favorite! Miracle Fruit + lulo was Dean's. He kept going after more of them! And I loved comparing all the limes. Normally limes are so bitter you can't really enjoy/properly discern the taste and see how the different varieties vary, but after Miracle Fruit you can!
Fruits we tried with our Hawaiian miracle fruits: (left to right in photo) (here's a big version) lemon, lulo, Tahitian lime, Key lime, calamansi, starfruit, rangpur, lilikoi. Oh, and in the center dish: my bilimbi/vinegared cucumbers. We also tried straight apple cider vinegar, lime juice concentrate from Dean's groanful grocery store squeezy-lime thing, Mike's Hard Lemonade, plain yogurt, Tabasco, Rooster sauce, and honey.
The effect was dramatic! Much more so than with the mail-order Florida miracle fruit. I'll write more about individual responses and/or post parts of our video later, but I don't want to spend tons of time stuck in front of the computer right now, and it's holding up the rest of my posts, so that's all I'll say for now. It was a big success!
It was really weird, after our Miracle Fruit Tasting Experiment I felt all wired, like I'd eaten too much sugar! But I'd eaten a bunch of sour things, not sweet ones. Maybe my body was tricked just like my tongue was.
Not really related to this post (other than that I'm a huge fan of lilikoi now) (and, according to Dean, I = lilikoi), but here's a photo of the special orange lilikoi we got at the Green Market. Isn't it pretty? Normal lilikoi are yellow like in the plate photo above. The market lady said the orange kind was sweeter, but I don't know because I haven't eaten it yet, and anyway we devoured all the yellow ones (four of them!) while under the influence of miracle fruit, so I can't compare them! Lilikoi are weird. They weigh almost nothing.
Notes from the South Kona Green Market:
Posted at 10:35:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow! It's huge! This is quite the event. Music & laughter & kazoo-playing can be heard.
Dean: "It's like a Medieval carnival. There should be all... jesters jumpin' around."
?!! Miracle Fruit! Just sitting there among other stuff, like nothing. A little hand-scrawled sign to identify them, and that was it. When I asked her about them, the grower lady mentioned incredulously that she had heard there are crazy people in New York City who make a big deal out of it and have miracle fruit parties. I assured her that it was true, and asked her if it would be okay for me to take a picture. She also had a miracle fruit plant in a pot. It was quite ordinary-looking. And the miracle fruit berries were 3 for $1! The ones we mail-ordered from Florida were $2 apiece (plus 2-day dry ice shipping). These little guys were smaller, but, as we would see later that afternoon, much more potent, picked the day before. We bought six, then went around again looking for sour stuff to go with them.
Key Lime (1)
Rangpurs (2)
A bunch of lilikoi, including one special orange one
Lemons
A really nice starfruit
A guy had "ugly lemons" and when I tried to ask him if they were actually a different breed of lemon or just ugly looking normal lemons, he stomped on one to open it up and show me the inside. It splashed everywhere, including all over my legs! He was weird. I still never determined if they were normal lemons or not. I think the story was that he had this one freakish tree that grew deformed lemons that still tasted just as good as regular lemons, but I don't know for sure because he was too wacky to fully understand.
There were artists and growers and jewelry-makers, someone giving "angel readings," and a snake oil medicine woman stand. At least three different bands played while we were there, all totally different from one another. I felt like such a visitor, unlike at the Keauhou Farmers' Market. I was out of my element. It was exciting and disconcerting.
Dean: "It's so different than the other one... the other one's more... how would you describe it?"
Laura: "Civilized?"
Dean got a burrito from an aggressive Mexican lady who kept shouting, "Best Mexican food on Big Island!" and "Crazy tamales here!" We could hear her all the way on the opposite side of the field. She was a massive Rrrrrr roller, very dramatic and hawker-ish. "Burrrrrita!" It was so good, he went back for "cheeps." She even claimed at one point to be the best Mexican food in the whole state of Hawaii, but Dean thought that was probably a bit much.
Dean: "It's more 'this area' style. Hippy-ish."
Dean: "It's like a commune."
It wasn't that extreme--there were no topless women, no herb-smoking, or anything like that. But it sure was different than our local one. Some of the vendors were the same--the coconut machete guy, the Lotus Cafe owner (who we had a nice chat with), and probably a few others. I got more Lotus Cafe summer rolls, and they were good. We tried a special homemade soft cookie sandwich (banana flavored, although they also came in chocolate, cherry, and vanilla) with cream in the middle, and it was good, too. There were also big fancy-looking Mexican cookies that looked like they should be for some special holiday. Lots of baked goods. Lots of jellies, jams, preserves. Citrus. Garden vegetables. New Age-y type art. I got some beautiful hand-illustrated botanical cards of different local plants, 5 for $14. Prices were very good. We got a lilikoi-ginger juice combo from a juice stand, but it wasn't as good as the Lotus lili juice. The Lotus guy seemed affronted that someone else would even sell lilikoi juice when we mentioned it (even though he himself didn't have any that day) and acted like the other guy's would clearly be inferior. Which it was, but it was pretty funny!
Here's a YouTube video that shows some of the vendors and gives you a little bit of the feel (but only a little).
Posted at 1:10:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I was grinning so much when I made this video. And it all just came together! I knew I wanted "Sea of Love," and, what the heck, I found a version by Iz (!) and everything clicked! From March 2nd, at Pine Tree Portal.
