Hawaii

     Aloha, viewers.  I've just finished a "trip" to Hawaii.

     As usual, I began with dinner when I woke up in the evening.  After researching Hawaiian cuisine, I came up with a dish that's inspired by a traditional Hawaiian meal, and my mum cooked it for me before I woke up (so obliging, isn't she?).  I had swai fish (a mild white fish) which mum seasoned with ginger, white pepper, garlic and soy sauce, cooked with egg and edamame (soy beans), served over rice, topped with chopped crisp bacon, and a seasoning blend which contains chilies, sesame seeds, and shredded seaweed.  It was fantastic.  With it, I had a macadamia nut latte that I bought at my favourite cafe yesterday morning before I went to bed.

 

     A couple of "sharks" smelled my dinner, and came in for the kill.  I had to share it with them, for my own safety.  They thought it was fantastic too.

 

     Later, I listened to music by Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole.  He seems to have been especially well-known for his rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", but he sang many things, in English and Hawaiian.

     Then, my trip came to full swing.  I spent the night being crooned to by Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby in Paradise.  Nice, eh?

     I began with Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii (1961).  The story is set in Kahala, but the filming took place on Waikiki Beach, in Diamond Head, Mount Tantalus, Hanauma Bay, Kauai, and downtown Honolulu.  Elvis's character Chad has just returned from the army, and his wealthy Southern parents want him to take over the family pineapple business, and don't approve of his beach-boy habits, or his native Hawaiian girlfriend, and as he fights for independance, he gets a job as a tour guide, and is put in charge of a group of teenage girls and their young and pretty school teacher.  Chaos ensues.

     The proper accompaniment to this film would have been pineapple juice, or something involving pineapple, but, I had none.  Instead, I had all-natural guava nectar garnished with fresh banana slices, and a few pieces of teriyaki beef jerky.

     After that, I watched another Elvis film, Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962).  This film was also shot in Hawaii, but the specific location isn't mentioned.  In this one, Elvis plays Ross, a slightly angsty fisherman who wants to by the boat that he and his father built before his father died, but he can't afford to, which is, in part, the reason for the angst.  He spends most of the movie caught between a pretty, but immature, insensitive club singer he's known for years, and a pretty, sweet, but flighty girl he's just met.  At one point in the film, there are a pair of little Chinese girls that sing with him.  That's the highlight of the film for me; they're so adorable.

     With this film, I had a handful of sweet potato and taro chips, and an orange smoothie.

     For my final film, I watched Bing Crosby's Waikiki Wedding (1937).  A spokesgirl for a pineapple company (another pineapple company...) is taken to Hawaii for a promotional thing, and she hates it.  Bing's character Tony is hired to fix this problem, and keep her from going home.  So, he wins her over with his charm and pretty voice, creates some fake drama, a fake adventure, fake peril, and then falls for her for real.

     With this one, I had a cup of white tea flavoured with mango, mangosteen, rose hips and hibiscus, and a serving of Hawaiian haupia (coconut) pudding.  The package assured me that I would taste the flavour of Hawaii.  It was very easy to make.  You boil a cup of water, stir in the packet of mix, pour it into a dish, and chill it.  It's somewhat similar to flan, but it's more firm, is whiter than milk, and tastes rather like young coconut.  Before eating it, I drizzled a bit of agave syrup over it.  Although it was firm, it was smooth as silk, much like Bing Crosby's voice.

     Later, at the end of my "trip", I finished off with a Pepperidge Farm "Maui" cookie, which, I grant you, is not Hawaiian, but it's Hawaiian inspired, so I went with it.  "Maui" cookies have chocolate chunks, almond pieces, and coconut.  Rather like an Almond Joy candy bar in cookie form.

    And that, viewers, was my Hawaiian experience.  In case you're wondering, Luie did join me again, and Kitsu tagged along for a while as well.  Here's "Luau Luie", and "Kauai Kitsu".  They're such good sports~

     To conclude, here's a bit of Hawaiian trivia --

Fun fact #1: Pupule is the Hawaiian word for crazy

Fun fact #2: Hawaiians are the second largest consumers of Spam in the world.  In 2005, Hawaiians consumed more than five million cans of Spam.