Waimānalo camping

I've been beach camping a few times, most recently on the Waimānalo side.  A great place, never overly crowded, clear water that reflects a fine blue, and soft sand.  Not far away is Kailua, which was the first beach that showed me powdery fine sand, I think back in the seventh grade, on a school trip.  Waimānalo is more out of the way for most people, and so a bit more secluded.  

We pitch tents, BBQ, swim (this beach isn't the best for surfing or boarding, but if you want to do those things, Sherwoods is down the road), go crab-seeking at night, and sleep with the ocean next to us.  When we wake up the air and water usually seem a little cold or at least cool, our sleepiness becomes laziness, and we often don't want the bother of getting wet and needing a shower afterwards; but whenever we do push ourselves from tent to water, we feel that it was worth it.  The morning swim here is very fine; the sun rises on this side of the island.

Liliha Bakery

I've been going to Liliha Bakery for the coco puffs for, I don't know, twenty or twenty-five years, but I'd never eaten in.  This week I had a chance to sit at that counter.  It was 1030am on a weekday but there was already a line snaking back to the refrigerated goods, and it was a bit of a put-off at first.  (When I'm in Tokyo and see a line like that, it usually sends me on my way.  I get that it's exciting for a lot of people to wait for something popular and that the wait builds anticipation, but not so much, for me.)  

Part of the reason that the line gets so long is that the eat-in area is all counter and when single spaces open up, customers who have come in twos and threes will often opt to endure until adjacent seats are vacated, that their group can eat together.  A system exists to accommodate this situation; a waitress will ask if there are any lone customers standing down the line who would like to be bumped ahead and make use of the single empty counter spots.  If there are no such lone patrons, the space goes unfilled for a little while.  It's one of those things that can't be helped; in any case, the line moved and the waitresses (there was no host/hostess to seat people) were very alert in monitoring the line.  We got to sit down after twenty minutes.

 

Liliha Bakery, parking lot

the counter

When we asked for menus, our waitress slapped them down in front of us without looking at us or saying anything, and this caused me to have a bit of a cautious first impression, but she (and everybody) turned out to be really nice.  They were busy but tried to look after everybody.  The stoves are in open view, which I quite like, in general.  I tend to like places with open stoves.  I like watching how they cook things, how they prepare ingredients, what bits of shorthand they might use in their on-the-job communications.  Maybe another part of me feels assured in being able to witness the sanitary conditions.  (This place was quite clean.)

the kitchen

The food was pretty good.  The butter rolls were great.  I chose toast when I ordered but saw someone else's rolls and changed my mind; our food servers were nice about it.  Definitely, go with the butter rolls.  The jelly's great too.

blurry picture of the butter rolls

 The country-style omelet with fried potatoes didn't really look like an omelet to me.  At first sight I did not find it appetizing because I love the way omelets usually look.  Something about the color, the soft visual texture and fluffiness.  But this omelet was tasty; I chose bacon for its meat ingredient (you can also choose from ham, pork sausage, Vienna sausage, Portuguese sausage, hamburger patty, and of course Spam).  Additional ingredients were round and green onions, diced tomatoes.

the country-style omelet, $7.99

My aunty, who lived in Alewa for many years, used to like the hamburger steak.  It was good. 

the hamburger steak, $9.39

A few days later I went again.  I had the vegetable omelet (mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and green bell peppers), which is pretty good, if you like those kinds of vegetables.  We also tried the 2-egg breakfast with corn beef hash (good stuff!).

the vegetable omelet, $7.99

2-egg breakfast with corn beef hash and fried potatoes, $7.39

I was surprised to find out that this place is open 24 hours from Wednesday to Saturday.  There aren't all that many places in Hawai'i (outside of Waikīkī) that are open 24 hours, and this one is in kind of a residential location (not far from Chinatown/downtown if you're driving, and close to Kuakini hospital, but mostly close to houses).  They close early on Sunday (counter 730pm, bakery 8pm), are closed all Monday and open at 6am on Tuesday.



http://lilihabakeryhawaii.com/

Sizzler and others things that disappear

It wasn't my favorite steak place, but now that it's closed down, I'm sorry to see Sizzler go.  They announced bankruptcy last week Wednesday, I think.  Well, it isn't Sizzler closing down, but its locations on O'ahu, all of which had already changed in name from Sizzler to GoKo Steak and Salad Bar.  Sometime back in May this year, GoKo bought the restaurants and renamed them, but from what I hear it was largely a continuance of the establishments.  But  now those are gone.  One of the inevitable things about living abroad is coming home to find things disappearing.  It is of course a sad occurrence, but especially so when they're things that you consciously look forward to seeing again.  You might think about them right after you've booked your flight home, anticipation building as the vacation ahead starts to materialize, as you start to visualize. . .Or perhaps in the middle of a hectic workday, you might long for these creature comforts, buoyed by the assurance that you'll return to them in a matter of months or weeks.  For me, the biggest blow was when all the Borders closed.  (May the Force be with Ala Moana's Barnes & Nobles--please stay with us.)  Sizzler's closing is an end to one of those things that I can't remember ever not being there.

Growing up, I lived near a Sizzler and used to go past it every day on my way to and from school.  I interviewed for a job as a teenager and even had a chance to work there; only, I declined because they said I'd have to wear black slacks and dress shoes every day, and I didn't want to do that.  I had kind of an attitude during my teen years, and it was sometimes unfortunate.  After moving to Tokyo, I had a few Sizzler experiences there--the steaks there are thinner and the salad bars have fewer options, although the produce is quite fresh--which made me appreciate our island versions more.  In recent years, I'd pay a visit to the Pearlridge Sizzler salad bar at least once a trip.  I will miss it.  I also started going to the one on Dillingham every now and then for breakfast.  It seemed like a lot of retirees were regulars who will no doubt feel the absence of the senior specials.

My sympathies to the employees. . .

Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

url link 
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/22986362/www.hawaiinewsnow.com?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9153374

P.S.  If you're ever in Tokyo, there are Sizzlers in Shinjuku and Odaiba.