Thank you, Tess Gerritsen. We got a $5.50 plate lunch at Kenneke’s (Shoku Chicken, two scoops rice, one scoop mac salad) and had a picnic at Waimanalo Beach, which was every bit as beautiful as she said it would be. We loved it. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
We started the day with fresh, hot malasadas at Leonard’s Bakery and headed for Hanauma Bay, where we spent hours snorkeling in the clear waters. We were struck by how incredibly fat the American tourists were and how thin everybody else was. Maybe it’s those malasada breakfasts. We left when all you could see in the water were other tourists.
We went for lunch at Kenneke’s in Waimanalo, home of the Fear God Power Lifting team and some darn good shave ice, too. The beach was spectacular but the park seems to draw equal numbers of tourists and homeless people, who camp in decaying cars or under make-shift tents erected amidst the pines that line the shore.
Afterwards, we schlepped back to Waikiki in terrible traffic…some caused by rush-hour congestion, the rest caused by morons (like the idiots tourists on mopeds, wearing shorts and t-shirt and no helmets, weaving in and out of traffic, steering with one hand while talking on a cell phone in the other). Once we got back to the hotel, I barely had five minutes to change before Cindy Chow picked me up and took me to the Pearl City Library, where once again I was greeted by a lively, friendly crowd and given yet another fragrant lei (I’ve been lei’d twice-a-day since I got here. Now that’s aloha).
Tomorrow we’re off to the North Shore and another library talk. I’ve also got to start writing something besides blog posts…or the next time I walk into an ABC Market it will be to pick up a job application.
Gee, here in Detroit the wind chill is 6 degrees. Lee–I’m jealous.
Got lei’ed twice. Talking dirty in Hawaii, ey?
“Mr. Monk Gets Lei’d”….I like it.
Not to be a nitpicker, Lee, but it’s Shoyu chicken, not Shoku. Shoyu being, of course, Japanese for soy sauce.
Glad you got to experience the plate lunch. There’s nothing like it. And like I said before, Rainbow Drive-in — that’s where you want to go.
Haha Rob, and here I was thinking that “Shoku chicken” must be some new dish they’d invented since I left the islands.
But give Lee some credit. At least he called it “Shave ice” and not “shaved.”
Rob, thanks for catching my error!
My copyeditor changed “Shave Ice” to “Shaved Ice” on my manuscript for MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII and if it’s still that way in the galleys, I’m going to change it back…again… and send them some pictures of the “Shave Ice” concessions here!