Short Hawaii Trip Xmas '09

Sakura Okazuya

musubi, grilled salmon, hash, gobo, potato mac salad, shoyu hot dog, and mochiko chicken

Our favorite shrimp truck: Macky's!

spicy shrimpy goodness

garlic buttery morsels of love

pineapple whip at Dole for dessert

moh's pineapple float in the collectable pineapple cup

(that you can use as a bank!)

when geko's jump from plant to plant, they do this!

shave ice happy hour at Dave's- $1 for that bowl!

Pudding parfait with rocky road on top

Ow, hot tamales

Today, Aaron and I did our own little Christmas since we won't be here to open presents on Christmas day.  We'll be in Hawaii!  Woo!  In honor of Christmas, we went and got tamales since we won't be with Aaron's family this year.  Aaron's grandma makes really yummy tamales.  We found 2 tamale shops in Pacific Beach to try and compare.

First, we went to Grand Ave. Tamales.  It's a tiny little shop with 2 tables inside.  Behind the scenes in the kitchen, we saw a microwave and a steamer.  There was also a little area behind that we couldn't see.  We picked up a chicken, beef, pork, and chile cheese tamale to go.  I suggested we eat it on the beach.

Next, we went to Tamales Ancira on Garnet Ave.  They had a few more tables, and served their tamales with rice and beans.  We got  a chicharron (fried pork skin), chicken, and picadillo (ground beef and vegetable) tamale.  Everything was a little spicy and tasted pretty good.  Aaron didn't like the fact that all the tamales had the same sauce on them.  They didn't really need a sauce.  The meat was flavorful on its own.  I liked the picadillo best.  I didn't really like the chicharron. 

our tamales

L-R: chicharron, picadillo, chicken

At the beach eating the tamales we picked up first

First, beef

super flavorful; I thought it tasted like mole

Next, chile and cheese

It was like a chile relleno in a tamale

There was cream cheese and monterey jack and possibly egg

The chicken tamale was wrapped up so pretty!

The chicken was very flavorful and delicious;

a little spicy, but not overpowering

Joined by a few birds

Ensenada Cruise

Cruised to Ensenada a couple weeks ago.  (So really, this should be posted up in November, but Thanksgiving came around, and I got lazy.. so.. at least it's here now.)  It took 2&1/2 days to get there, and we got back overnight.  The food on the ship was.. forgettable.. but it was all you can eat.  So, eat we did.

We stopped in Ensenada for one day and we made up for the lack of good food there.  We got off at the port, and looked around town for a little bit.  We ended up haggling with a taxi cab to take us to the blowhole for $35, when the tour buses that were taking people were $15 each.  Essentially we saved about $25 on transportation.  Plus the taxi driver drove crazy and fast, so we probably got there much faster than we would have on a bus. 

First stop, fresh hot crispy churros.  Trav bought some from the first guy we saw (churros had been his mission all weekend), and they were super delish.  For some reason, I don't have the picture of them saved.

Next stop, $1 tacos.

Long line of toppings for your tacos

Aaron and I got carnitas (oh so good!)

..and adobada.  Also so good!

Chowing on tacos

and now,

 blowhole: a haiku

Water rushing up

tiny splashes in my face

ew. Mexi-water.

After visiting the blowhole, we stopped for some fruit. 

I got pomegranate topped with lime and chile. 

Super sour, but I ate the whole refreshing cup.

When we got back in to town, we found an ice cream shop selling fruit popcicles! 

I got strawberry cream.. so yum!

Ann got hers dipped in chocolate

Found cheese balls that tasted like Andy Caps hot fries :)

The Fury in the Durian

We have been wanting to try the elusive durian fruit for a long time now.  We keep hearing how bad the stench is, and even the Andrew Zimmern, the Bizzarre Foods guy can't handle!!  His other intolerable food is SPAM, though.. so how reliable is his opinion?

We thought cutting into the durian outside would be best.  I said we should do it in the back yard so the neighbors wouldn't know where the smell is coming from just in case it was as horrible as we've heard.

The spiny outside is pretty nasty.

Aaron strapped on the ove' glove and dug in

We cut into it, and realized the inside was still partially frozen (after a few hours of sitting in the trunk and an indeterminate amount of time in a crate in the produce section of 99 Ranch).

  Individual pods had their own seeds and a custardy, stringy pulp.

The custardy, stringy, pulp.

Aaron tries it first...

and he likes it.

I'm a little scared of it..

but it's not so bad.

The final verdict?

It's really not bad.

Aaron thinks it tastes like a mix of honeydew and avocado.  He likes it and would eat it again if it weren't for all the work you need to put in to eat it!  I don't think it's yummy or gross.  It did get better the more I ate.  To me, it tastes like unripe cantaloupe.  I would eat it again, but only to test if maybe I like it more or less under different conditions.

We think one reason it wasn't so bad maybe have been because it was partially frozen.  At room temperature, we think it would be much worse.  Some portions of the durian we had were defrosting and seemed a little more pungent in taste and smell.  We saved a little of it and plan on trying it a few different ways, i.e. room temperature and in a smoothie!  We'll see how that goes.

In the end, though, the fury in the durian caught up with me.

*side note: I asked Aaron for a few Title suggestions, and he came up with:

• The Beast from the East
• The Stink from the Chink
• Spiky on the Outside, Stink and Creamy on the Inside
• The Good, the Bad, and the DURIAN

Canada day.. whoops, never mind.

Woke up later than we planned this day, and decided not to make the trip up to Canada. 

started the day at Tully's with my daily dose of latte: not a very good latte.

Snoqualmie Falls

Bottom of the falls

Happened across a candy store: english toffee delicious. 

hawaiian salt caramel not as delicious as it sounds.

energy drink that tastes like liquid Smarties!

(took us a while to figure out exactly what that flavor was.. then Aaron blurted out SMARTIES!)

XXX- super sweet but delicious root beer.

we'll have to go back to try their huge burgers.

Visited the serpentarium: home of The Reptile Man.

(and a very large snapping turtle!)

..and (seven out of) the ten deadliest snakes!

..and my favorite, the two headed turtle!

Last stop: Red Hook Brewery

day 3: whaaaaaaaales!

The sun had just started to light up the sky when we left our shabby chic (minus the chic) hotel for our day of whale watching!  We drove for a couple hours north to San Juan, where we got on a ferry to Friday Harbor.  I made sure I grabbed a coffee for the long day ahead (and to keep up with my latte-a-day Seattle mentality).  Cars and people can ride this ferry to the San Juan Islands, and it's a pretty nice hour long ride.  We got to Friday Harbor and hopped on our shuttle for a half hour ride that took us to the other side of the island, where we got on our little whale watching vessel.

Kong and I on the ferry

View from our boat

Handsome husband

It's cold out on the water

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but there were sooo many whales out that day.  The boat captain said it's the largest group with the most activity they've seen in a while.  There are three resident groups in the area, and they believe all three groups were present.  It was really amazing to see so many huge majestic creatures in their natural space up close.

Breach!

 

Spyhop

Tail slap

hehehe

Fresh oysters with a white wine sauce grilled right in front of us.  Yum.

Leaving the island.. took a little nap on the ferry ride back.

Beth's.  Home of the 12 egg omelette. 

Yes, folks, that's 12 eggs filled with swiss cheese, sour cream, bacon, and tomatoes.

On top of a huge pile of hash browns.

With two slices of toast.

Served to you on a pizza pan.

..and my husband attempted to finish it

(he even got a few cheers)

He finished the omelette, but left some potatoes.  Great effort!!

My chili burger wasn't very good.

However, Kong and Ninja definitely left their mark at Beth's!

Beth's Cafe: 7311 Aurora Ave N. Seattle, WA 98103

totals:

coffee: 4

bacon: 3