Hawaii - Day Four

Before I get to the Hawaii vacation recap, let me rant for two seconds about the whole Britney MTV movie awards flap. Can we stop calling her fat? There are many many many reasons to stop that crap (i.e. "fat" Britney is like a size 4), but I'll just say that line of mocking is just boring. Seriously, the whole thing was a major trainwreck from start to finish (including her wearing an unflattering costume and having the rattiest weave this side of America's Next Top Model). So why of all things to focus on, do you choose her weight? She performs stoned/drunk/crazy, she DRESSES like a mess, her hair's nasty, and she lumbering around the stage like a polar bear, she is molesting herself and her dancers, and the funny part is her weight? It's like the Daily Show doing a riff on Bush's press conference and making fun of his tie.

AAAAANYWAY. Day four of the Hawaii vacation was major relaxation time. After driving all over the island of Oahu, we decided to actually take advantage of the fact that we were one block away from what is arguably the most beautiful beach on Oahu (Yay Kailua!!!). It was a leisurely morning hanging out at the condo. As with every day of our vacation, I woke up at 5:30 am and walked to the beach to see the sunrise.

Here it is:



We decided to have lunch at Zia's Italian restaurant in Kailua. In keeping with our no-fuss day, we all decided to order familiar food. J had a fish sandwich. MIL had the risotto soup and a chicken sandwich and FIL had a sandwich of his own. I had the pesto and olive pasta that was surprisingly bland. It was a nice serviceable meal.

But the kicker was going to Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop for malasadas, Portuguese doughnuts that are the best bites of fried dough this side of Doughnut Plant. At Agnes' we waited for a batch that came fresh from the oven. They were crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Normally malasadas are filled with custard of some sort but these were plain and all the better for it. You could really appreciate the cinnamon sugar coating.

Aren't they adorable?



After lunch we settled in for a lazy afternoon on the beach. How much better could it get? The only downside was that FIL didn't put on the sunscreen early enough and got fried. He ended his afternoon lobster red and multiple coats of aloe were applied.

For dinner with chose the cheesy Pinky's Pupu Bar and Grill. The decor was middle of the road seafood restaurant with a view of the waterfront (or in this case a view of the canal where we saw outrigger teams paddling). Please don't let the tacky name fool you. The food is great. Like the rest of Hawaii, Pinky's was abundant with fresh, sushi grade ahi tuna. J and I split the ahi tuna plate with the ahi served three ways, sashimi style with soy and wasabi and pickled ginger, the traditional poke which is chunks of raw ahi marinated it a little soy and onions, and seared sesame tuna. The ahi tuna plate in the cheesy Pupu bar suprasses any piece of fish you will get in DC. The tuna was fresh, not fishy, and completely soft and yielding without being mushy. I love that sushi grade ahi is diner food. I cannot sing the praises of the ahi enough. In addition to the taste, the price of ahi is dirt cheap. In addition to our ahi, J and I also split a mountain of Kahlua pork which is shredded pork cooked underground. It was good but salty and an interesting contrast to the clean fresh flavor of the ahi. Seriously people, I am not touching tuna from the continent again! MIL decided to get the wonderful coconut shrimp. FIL's fish and chips was the only disappointment of the meal.

We went back to the condo where we played another round of canasta where FIL and I finally won a game off of J and MIL.