Life Is Either A Daring Adventure Or Nothing
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” –Helen Keller
This has been one of my favorite quotes for a while. I asked myself ‘Why?’… I love that adventure is a unique perspective – that everyone’s definition of an adventure is slightly different. Daring is also a loaded word. It’s a bold statement, and very absolute. It’s personal. It reminds me that life is extremely short, and to try new things.
I have the next two weeks off work, so I have decided to create or learn something new every day. I will blog about some days’ creations.
This design is something I’ve had sitting on my desktop, half-finished, since March. The photo was taken at Shark’s Cove, Oahu. Although this photo was taken in March of 2012, this is actually the first spot I ever went snorkeling back in 2007. I remember feeling a little terrified and excited, and since I’m not the world’s best snorkeler I still feel a little bit like that every time I go. It’s an adventure.
What was your last adventure?
Eat This: Hawaii {Oahu}
Hawaii has amazing food. While my brain typically goes straight to the beach or sunshine when I have Hawaii on the mind — this last trip has me missing the food. I was lucky to have a recent transplant & avid foodie as my host. While we spent most of our time on the Windward side, there were some great finds on North Shore and the Honolulu area as well.
What to Eat on Oahu – 15 Tasty Things:
1. Lilikoi everything
Liliko’i is Hawaiian for passion fruit. After a while, it starts to feel like you could find something lilikoi flavored on any menu in Hawaii.
EAT: lilikoi pancakes at Moke’s Bread & Breakfast, 27 Hoolai St, Kailua HI 96734Save to foursquare
2. Plantation iced tea
A simple mix of iced tea and pineapple juice. Super refreshing.
DRINK: order it on the flight over (if you’re on Hawaiian Airlines)
3. Hawaii food trucks
Oahu has their share of food trucks. Along with the ubiquites shrimp trucks scattered around the island, there are plenty of places to get tacos or BBQ corn.
EAT: fish tacos at Camille’s on Wheels, Uluniu St, Kailua HI 96734 and HonoluluSave to foursquare
4. Former food trucks
Ok this one isn’t really a category. Opal Thai used to be a food truck on the North Shore and has since opened a stand-alone restaurant. When the owner asks if they can order for you, you just do as they say. Fantastic.
EAT: Opal Thai, 66-460 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa HI 96712Save to foursquare
5. Fresh papaya
A papaya a day keeps the… rain away?
EAT: fresh papaya from anywhere you can find it
6. Malasadas
While a Portuguese-type donut, malasadas are also a popular Hawaiian treat. If you’ve been to Honolulu, you probably know about Leonard’s Bakery, but there are a few more places around the island to get your malasadas fix too.
EAT: call in an order for malasadas at Agnes Portuguese Bakeshop, 46 Ho’olai St, Kailua HI 96734Save to foursquare
7. Smoothies
While you might be dreaming about drinking an alcoholic bevvy on the beach in Hawaii, smoothies are the best post-beach fix – especially if you’re spending a lot of your day being active in the water and/or sunshine.
DRINK: Ginger Ono smoothie (or the pictured gourmet smoothie bowl) at Lanikai Juice, 600 Kailua Rd, Kailua HI 96734 or new North Shore location.Save to foursquare
8. Hawaiian Shave ice
Ordering a shave ice is pretty synonymous with a North Shore visit. While there are shave ice stands all around the island, and the ‘recipe’ looks pretty standard, I’ve been told that it can be done wrong. Word to the wise.
EAT: shave ice at Matsumoto Shave Ice, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa HI 96712Save to foursquare
9. Plate lunch
Unless you’re a plate lunch aficionado, you’ll probably order it once, deem it ok or good, and then move on to all the other amazing meals Hawaii has to offer. However, there are some superb plate lunch-style menu items at many restaurants.
EAT: tofu plate w/Okinawa sweet potatoes & bok choy slaw and mint hibiscus lemonade Sweet Home Waimanalo, 41-1025 Kalanianaole Hwy, Waimanalo HI 96795Save to foursquare
10. farmers market
The Kailua Farmers Market happens on Thursday nights in a local parking lot. You can call it dinner and shopping, but get there early or all the tasty dinners will be sold out.
EAT: Lilikoi cheesecake OnoPops at Kailua Farmers Market, 609 Kailua Rd, Kailua HI 96734Save to foursquare
11. Japanese department store food
If you’ve traveled in Japan, you already know the beauty that is the Japanese department store. Most department stories have a floor in the basement that is all food. And it’s not your typical food court. You’ll find delis, snack stands, sit-down restaurants, markets, desserts, beer gardens — you won’t go hungry and it’s a great way to save on food. So if you find yourself near the Ala Moana Shopping Center go take a look.
EAT: Osaka-style okonomiyaki at Shirokiya Department Store, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu HI 96841Save to foursquare
12. farm stands
When you make the drive around Oahu, especially in the North Shore area, you’ll find plenty of farm stands, to get fruit, smoothies, and lots of treats.
Eat: fried banana bread with ice cream at Kahuku Farms, 56-800 Kamehameha Hwy, Kahuku HI 96731Save to foursquare
13. fish
You’re in Hawaii, surrounded by miles and miles of open water — it’s kind of a given that you’re going to find amazing fish and seafood here. :) Butter fish, mahi, ahi… if you like fish, you’ll be happy with the options.
Eat: Thai red curry Mahi on green papaya salad & garlic mashed potatoes at Uahi Island Grill, 131 Hekili St, Kailua HI 96734Save to foursquare
14. Coconut
If you’re lucky to have a coconut tree in your backyard, karma says you should drink and eat all the coconut you can.
DRINK: young coconut
15. Poke
Poke is a raw fish “salad”. It’s usually an ahi tuna base, marinated in soy sauce and spices, and you can also get many styles like a spicier version or with different ingredients. The key here is fresh, fresh, fresh.
EAT: fresh poke from the deli at a grocery store, served with white rice
All photos by Olivia Raymer, except papaya: janineomg, okonomiaki: hirotomo, malasads: _e.t, poke: greggman
Have you been to Hawaii? What’s your favorite Hawaiian food?
NerdPress + Lilikoi Pancakes = Weekly Love
You know what happens when you live/work from Hawaii for a month? You spend all of your free time outside — in sunshine and/or water — instead of blogging. Mixing things up is good for the soul. So without further ado, here’s a long overdue Weekly Love.
-NerdPress – In March, I decided to focus my tidbits of evening Internet-ing time on designing a WordPress theme. Ta-da! Fun and exciting process (which my mom termed NerdPress on Facebook).
-Being a Hawaii tourist – Our last weekend in Hawaii, we did a few of the more touristy things that I’d done my first go around on Oahu in 2007. Like visiting Pearl Harbor and the North Shore, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay etc. It was fun to revisit after five years. So we ended up having dinner at Opal Thai on the North Shore (used to be a food cart), and it was some of the best Thai food. Ever. The owner of the restaurant was super chatty and we started to order and then he was like “Oh, good choice. Have you been here before? I want to order for you. Would that be ok?” Unusual, yes, but an excellent idea.
-Back to Portland – My month in the sunshine is over, but I was so excited to get back to Portland and my little home, and my little cat, and the rain (I guess?). Looking forward to hitting up all my favorite places now that I’m home again.
-Hawaiian Air – I was loathing the fact that Hawaiian Air doesn’t have wifi on my way to Hawaii, but on the way back, time sorta flew. Said by me upon landing in Portland: “I could totally be on this plane for a few more hours. Could you?” Maybe it’s the mini cans of Dole Pineapple juice, or the glee of playing Flight Control on a plane…
-Listening – M. Ward’s A Wasteland on NPR’s First Listen. Quite lovely!
Lilikoi pancakes – Oahu has nothing on the Portland breakfast scene, but they do have Lilikoi pancakes in Kailua. Heaven.
-Running – I had a brief love affair with running while in Hawaii. It’s so much more fun running in non-rain.
What are you up to this week?
Hawaii: Instagrammed
“Aloha” from Hawaii! One of my 2012 goals was to work remotely [ie. not in Portland] for 1+ month. After two months of anticipation of ditching Portland for warmer weather, we have arrived on Oahu. I must say, it feels great to finally make this goal a reality.
So here’s a little peak at my first five days of working and playing in paradise via Instagram.
First stop: the beach!
Day 2: Stopping by the Camille’s on Wheels food truck in Kailua for Ahi tacos.
Evening hike to the pillboxes in Lanikai. More like a “hike” compared to more recent treks.
Graffiti on the Lanikai bunkers
and back down to the lovely Lanikai beach
a house I could afford on Lanikai beach :)
Heading to the North Shore.
Aloha
stopping at Malaekahana State Recreation Area on the way to the North Shore.
apparently it was an uncharacteristically calm day at Shark’s Cove for winter snorkeling. We’ll take it!
Post-snorkel treat at Matsumoto’s Shave Ice
Onward to Kaena Point for hiking, albatross spotting, and monk seal viewing.
Olomana 1 Summit hike – gorgeous trail
View of Olomana Peak 3 from the 1st summit
First night visiting Honolulu (“town” as the locals call it) for post-hike burgers at Burgers on the Edge and strolling along Waikiki beach front.
Are you on Instagram? I’m poweredbytofu, if we’re not already following each other. Aloha!
I’ve Got A Golden Ticket
Things that feel amazing: clicking the “Buy now” button on a flight. Even if you’ve had a trip partially planned already, clicking “purchase” makes it official — you’re going somewhere, it’s a done deal. At which point you can yell “I’m going to [insert destination]!!!” (Some of us don’t stop yelling this every few hours for about a week)
So four days into 2012, I clicked the fateful “buy” button on a ticket to Hawaii for March! It feels good to be crossing a travel goal off my 2012 Goals list already, and I’m excited to be making my goal of working remotely for 1-3 months actually happen. What else is on my travel list this year?
2012 Travel Goals:
- Work remotely (not in Portland) for 1-3 months
- Sublet/Airbnb my condo for 1-2 months (see above goal)
- Try kiteboarding in Hawaii
- Apply to at least one new credit card for airline miles
- Travel to South America (Chile please!) or Portugal for 2+ weeks
- Visit a new island in the Caribbean
- Try couchsurfing
- Visit NYC, San Francisco, Boston or Savannah (essentially: another US city that I haven’t been to)
- Be a traveler at home: attend 12 new Portland things
- Go on a quarterly getaway trip with boyfriend (overnight or weekend trip in Oregon/Northwest etc)
- Take a “spontaneous” same-day trip (using HotelTonight etc)
- Take a digital sabbatical (no social media/email) while on a trip
What’s on your 2012 travel list?
Join BootsnAll’s 2012 Indie Travel Challenge and share your list. Need some ideas? Check out 18 Travel Resolutions to Keep This Year.
Next up on my list, I need to sublet my condo in Portland for the month. So if you know of anyone who wants to see what it’s like to be a Portlander for a month (albeit not our best month weather-wise, but I still love my city!) in a cute little condo overlooking the river and on the Streetcar line, send them my way please!
Meanwhile, I’ll be hiking the Stairway to Heaven on Oahu. :)
Things I ♥: travel, food (I'm a pescatarian), the Pacific Northwest, bikes (I ride an orange mixte), beer (IPAs), summer, coffee, lists, and kittehs. Travel enthusiast, dabbler, and product manager at BootsnAll Travel Network.
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