Island hopping...a quick respite

I'm trying hard not to get bogged down by the tiniest of details that creep into every day. Consultations, proposals, design, research, etc. Also attempting to take on the role of "efficiency expert" in my own business...challenging, but necessary. Too bad that every time I want to point a finger at someone, that someone is me!

Already wishing that I was back here (my weekend getaway with the family back in July):

Loved seeing the larger than life sculptures on display at the Grand Wailea. The piece shown above is by Satoru Abe, the one below is by Esther Shimazu.


Had a really lovely stay at the hotel. My favorite memories were the morning walks through the grounds, lounging by the pool with Eat, Pray, Love in one hand and a blended mojito in the other, and sitting out on the lanai of our suite while desperately wishing I could freeze time.

We decided to limit our activities so we could fully enjoy the hotel amenities, but we did manage to squeeze in a few low-key things.

En route to Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm, I spotted this picturesque structure and had to snap a quick photo:

Of course, my camera was just getting warmed up for all the beauty at the farm. Both the protea and hydrangea blossoms were h-u-g-e!

And there was this little guy that was hanging around without a care in the world:


We hit up the Surfing Goat Dairy, too, and munched on a goat cheese sampler plate.

Ahh, counting down til my next vacay...

bridges, boardwalks, and brown butter cookies

It's been quite awhile since I took a vacation during the summer. Normally, I'm a spring/fall/winter travel gal but couldn't resist the opportunity for a quick getaway with my husband this past June. Because of work commitments, we only had about 7 days to explore, relax and rejuvenate and ultimately decided on a mini road trip on the California coast.

We kicked off our trip by visiting with good friends (and the adorable addition to their family) in L.A. Being in the company of a little one meant lots of time spent at their apartment, ordering take-out, and taking short walks for ice cream and mango lassis. What a treat! Sadly, this kind of relaxing quality time with friends is a luxury these days and I loved every minute of this rare indulgence.

Two days into our trip, we had a lovely homecooked breakfast with our friends (by the way, Trader Joe's blueberry juice really is heaven in a glass), filled our gas tank, and hit the road. With our GPS mounted securely to the windshield, we headed north with no real plan. Lunch in Santa Barbara? Wine tasting? Nope, decided to switch it up and check out Solvang, the quaint Danish town that made an appearance in the movie, Sideways. I tried to see only the cute flower boxes and gaslamps without the throngs of tourists walking along the cobblestone sidewalks. I tried to get excited about eating ebelskivers in the shadow of a big windmill without feeling as if I had just entered Epcot Center. Eh, I couldn't really do it. Maybe next time I'll just pay a visit to the ostrich farm on the edge of town and call it a day.

While Solvang left much to be desired, I knew that our next stop would not disappoint. Back in December, a friend gave us a lovely gift of cookies from Brown Butter Cookie Company. The cookies were good. Really good. So good, that I made a mental note to order some cookies online...I've made a lot of online purchases before, but never cookies. That's how good they were. So, as luck would have it, Brown Butter Cookie Company is located in Cayucos, just a stone's throw from the main highway. It was one of the "must stop here" locations that I programmed into the GPS, and stop we did! Loaded up on cookies, enjoyed the smell of ocean air, and continued on our way to a B&B in Cambria.



Cambria, ahh lovely Cambria. Love the stretch of coastline that fronts the row of inns and B&Bs here. Love the long walks we took on this boardwalk. Love the tidepools and seals that we discovered when we veered off the boardwalk and made our way down to the beach. Is it odd that I can travel a couple thousand miles from my island home and still be enamored by the same beautiful ocean?

Our time in Cambria was too short, but I squeezed every drop of serenity I could from the time we spent there. And I knew the road ahead held lovely promises of its own.

This is NOT the much photographed Bixby Bridge that's included in every photo montage of Big Sur. It's Big Creek Bridge, just south of Bixby Bridge. It's smaller, doesn't have the same dramatic coastline backdrop for picture-taking, but I think it's just as beautiful. And I didn't have to jostle my way to edge of the mountain to get a good shot. Because I did that at Bixby Bridge and ended up with only one photo without someone's elbow in it...and all of them had cars in it. I think this bridge is perfect.



After leaving the rugged beauty of the Big Sur coastline, we stopped for a quick lunch of cinnamon rolls and calamari in Monterey, and made it to the Peninsula before the worst of the rush hour traffic. Spent some time visiting my old haunts in Mountain View and Palo Alto the next day, and went on an impromptu 15-mile bike ride along the bay.

Have always loved this long boardwalk at the Palo Alto Baylands Preserve and always make it a point to check it out.

We winded up our California adventure with a couple days in San Francisco where we ate our way through North Beach, Cow Hollow, and Sunset districts. Found some new loves in Hayes Valley this time around including Nancy Boy (am officially addicted to their signature scent to freshen up our home) and Miette (I think I could sustain myself on their Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramels alone).

Love vacations.

And these guys...never get tired of seeing elephant seals and thought they deserved a mention:

JAPAN: the sights

Timing is everything and despite the fact that my visit to Japan was post-summer and pre-fall, I did get the tiniest taste of the changing of the seasons.


Someday I'd like to return at the height of cherry blossom season or during the Sapporo Snow Festival, but who am I to complain when I was able to enjoy Japan in full color:


and in black and white:

JAPAN: the food

Since I can't possibly sum up my adventures in Japan in a single paragraph, I'm tackling it in sections. First up, the food (of course).

As expected, traveling through Japan was a gastronomic delight. During our stay in Kyoto, I fell in love with kaiseki once again. Kaiseki is a traditional Japanese meal that consists of multiple courses made from the freshest seasonal ingredients. Flavor aside, each dish is a feast for the eyes. Every color, every texture, every bowl, plate and garnish is selected with great care. In short, the meticulous way in which the food is presented makes the meal almost too pretty to eat. But failure to do so would mean missing out on the wonderfully layered flavors with each course. True to form, the kaiseki-style dinner that was served in our Kyoto ryokan (Japanese inn), definitely did not disappoint!

On the second leg of our trip, we headed north to Hokkaido and were greeted with cool, brisk weather...perfect conditions for a bowl of hot ramen (or two!). Friends of ours had already clued us in on the rich, creamy dairy products found in Sapporo so we also filled up on ice cream (and lots of it). A quick visit to the Sapporo Beer Factory was the perfect respite after a long day of sightseeing and allowed us to scientifically perform side-by-side taste testing of Sapporo's finest brews. A night of all-you-can-eat lamb (and beer) was the perfect way to cap off our first day in the city.

The third and final leg of our trip was spent in Okinawa. As most tourists do, we stayed in Naha and walked along the famous Kokusai-dori. This street, lined heavily with souvenir shops and restaurants, reminded me a lot of International Marketplace in Waikiki...that is, until I saw the snakes. Just a block away from our hotel, we saw rows and rows of habu snakes sitting pretty in their jars of awamori. Awamori is an Okinawan liquor made from distilled rice and the habu is a venomous snake believed to have medicinal purposes. Put those two things together, and you've got a big jar o' awamori (also referred to as habu sake). If my brother had not ordered awamori with his dinner on our first evening, I probably wouldn't have tried it. But I did...and it's not the drink for me.

I failed to mention the massive amounts of snack foods we consumed during our trip, mostly because we are still consuming them (and feeling a little guilty about our sweet indulgences). I also didn't write about our favorite vending machines. Perhaps another day when I'm dreaming about Japanese food.

Not soon enough

Destination selected.
Tickets purchased.
Countdown started.
Excitement contained...for now.

Seattle recap

Mother Nature took it upon herself to ensure that we had the most delightful weather during our Seattle visit. We missed the heat wave entirely, and the short cold front that swept through immediately after that, and relished in the uncommonly warm and mild summer weather that caught everyone by surprise.

The photos above show some of the highlights from our trip: a short hike at Deception Pass, the beautiful array of flowers and produce at Pike Place Market, a fun ride on the ultra-cool escalator in the Seattle Public Library (I've never seen a library like this!), artsy views at the Olympic Sculpture Garden, and the most beautiful sunset on Puget Sound.


Of course, I had to throw in one extra photo taken at Trophy Cupcakes. By chance, I had stumbled onto a slideshow of favorite cupcakes on the Martha Stewart web site and made a mental note to pop in if we happened to be in the area during our vacation. (Ok, maybe it was a bit more than a "mental note" since I immediately mapped out the location on Google maps and memorized the most direct route to the shop from our hotel.) There were lots of cupcakes to choose from, but I had to go with the one that was featured on the Martha Stewart show, right? I ordered up one Valrhona chocolate cupcake with a bittersweet chocolate/graham cracker crust and topped with toasted marshmallow...after one bite, I was smitten.

There's definitely a lot to love about Seattle, and we can't wait for a return visit.

Going to my happy place

After a very hectic couple of months, I'm SO READY for my vacation to kick in! We're packing up and heading out of town for two weeks to visit family and friends on the mainland. Our first stop is sunny California to see some friends and traipse around Disneyland + California Adventure Park. Then we'll head to the midwest for a white(?) Christmas and lots of family fun. I'm counting down the hours 'til our plane takes off!

Happy Holidays!

Extreme dining

My husband and I are heading back to Chicago this Christmas for another Windy-City-Winter and along the way, we'll be stopping in L.A. for a few days. One of our FAVORITE things to do while travelling is finding cool places to eat, whether by accident or after lots of intense research. After chatting with Tanna ("Wedding Goddess") and Tessa ("Top Chef in the Making") of The Wedding Cafe, we have a strong contender for "unique dining experience."

T&T told us about a dark dining experience that they had in L.A. -- not somber or spooky, just dark. The Opaque restaurant, located in West Hollywood, hosts a you-can-eat-it-but-you-can't-see-it feast on the weekends where patrons dine in complete darkness. Now, if the restaurant is so dark, how does the food find it's way to your table? The waitstaff are visually impaired. Fascinating concept, isn't it? For $99, you get a three-course meal and a memorable experience that will last a lifetime. It's also the one time in your life when you can dine in a fancy restaurant and throw table manners out the window...that's worth the price of admission.

Fondue fun

Imagine strolling down a road lined with charming boutiques and then stumbling onto a shop specializing in gourmet chocolates. You walk through the doors of the shop and learn that it is actually a café that not only sells delectable chocolates in exquisite gift boxes, but also offers fondue on their menu. This was my experience on my last day in Chicago as I discovered Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge.

My fiancé and I would have been quite happy sipping on a couple of hot chocolates but opted for the fondue platter filled with fresh strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, graham crackers and pound cake. We dined upstairs in the loft and ignored the tinge of guilt we felt for bypassing a healthy lunch in favor of this decadent meal.

Leaving the lounge with our wonderful sugar highs, we vowed to dust off our fondue pot and give it an honorary spot between our toaster and rice cooker.

Purse envy

Some women go ga-ga over jewelry. Others love their shoes. For me and my sister-in-law, nothing’s better than finding a cute new purse. And believe me, collecting purses isn’t a hobby…it’s a sport.

I recently heard about a cool Chicago-based boutique called 1154 Lill Studio that allows customers to create their own handbags. First, select the style of your handbag from 25 different shapes and silhouettes. Next, browse through their huge collections of fabrics (anywhere from 150-300 at any given time!) and choose exactly what you want for the exterior, interior, straps, etc. In 3-4 weeks, your custom creation arrives at your doorstep, ready to be initiated into your personal handbag hall of fame. How fun is that?!

Cold Hand Luke

I admit it. I have cold hands. Even as I’m typing now, I can feel that my fingertips are a little chilled. That would be great if I were a shrimp cocktail, but…

Anyway, many years ago I was shopping at REI and found these cool warmers in the camping aisle. I was skeptical at first, but decided to buy a pair to try out. I ripped open the wrapper, exposed the pouch to air, and bingo! I was an instant convert. I made sure I packed them in my pockets on every snowboarding trip, snow-shoeing expedition (alright, I only went on one of these), and every time the temperature dipped below 50 degrees.

So when I started planning my New Year’s trip to Chicago, these hand warmers were at the top of my “must bring” list. They’re really meant for extreme weather conditions and emergency situations, but I think a Hawaii girl walking around the bone-chilling streets of the WINDY CITY is pretty extreme, right? My fiancé laughs at the ten pairs of hand warmers sitting on my shelf, but he grew up with that kind of weather. He just doesn’t understand. Now, I wonder what he’ll think when I tell him that I want to try out those big adhesive body warmers in the produce section of the Waipio Costco?