This weekend I got a little time to relax and find my way around. On Friday I got the company car (now with all the required paperwork) to use, and my first few driving adventures have been successful, despite the windy roads with Hawaiian names. Go Chevy Cavalier!
Friday night I had dinner at Roy’s with Olga and Victor, some friends of theirs who are in Hawaii on vacation, and the kids. I’d actually never eaten at a Roy’s before, and really enjoyed my macadamia nut encrusted swordfish and the chocolate souffle.
Saturday I joined Olga and the kids visiting their friends at their time share in Ko Olina. It’s a 5-star resort with 4 man-made ocean lagoons that make for great ocean swimming, no matter what the surf is doing outside the rock walls. Ko Olina is on the sunniest side of the island, which was good, since it was raining in Honolulu again yesterday. I didn’t get to snorkel in the lagoons, but I had fun playing with the kids in the pool and on the beach. On the way back we stopped in Waimalu and I got to sample food from some local-favorite holes-in-the-wall: Crispy gau gee from Waimalu Chop Suey and malasadas from Leonard’s. Crispy gau gee are like fried wontons, but bigger and pillow-shaped, and with a lot more meat inside – apparently you can only get then in Hawaii Chinese restaurants. Malasadas are a Portuguese version of a doughnut – they remind me of Rhode Island’s doughboys, but in a more manageable size. They’re a little smaller than an American doughnut, and they don’t have a hole in the middle. Apparently Portuguese laborers from the Azores came to Hawaii in the late 1800’s to work on the plantations, and they brought malasadas with them. Yum. Crispy gau gees and malasadas do not make a very healthy dinner, though…
Today I did some errands – found the Best Buy, grocery store, pharmacy, etc. I also finally met my roommate! She seems very fun and outgoing, and very warm and friendly. I think she’s in her early 60’s, and she’s done a lot of stuff – flight attendant, advertising, interior designing, etc. We had lunch together, and had a great chat. I like her very-laid-back 14-year-old black lab too!
