Arizona Memorial

Exterior of the Arizona Memorial

To the memory of the gallant men here entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on December 7, 1941 on the U.S.S. Arizona.

Fittingly, as this is the 7th of December, we take time to pause and reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In the second photo, of special note are the smaller displays. Listed on these markers are the names of men who survived the initial attack while on the Arizona who later were interred within the ship many years later.

Hula Grill Tasting Menu

Before coming out to Hawaii, there were many things that I had not experienced. Among them was the concept that you can find Monday to Friday at the Hula Grill – the chef’s tasting menu. What’s so awesome about this meal is that, for a set (and very reasonable) price, you choose your meal from a set list, one starter, one entree, one dessert, building to a fantastic three-course meal.

To start, as with most of the other food posts here, the pictures are split between my Canon PowerShot and Beedoo’s Panasonic Lumix. However, we do have to start with one taken with my iPhone, as it is of the actual menu. 🙂 It’s not the best photo, but it gives you an idea of the choices we faced for our courses. You can also view the tasting menu online here.

Two things I will like to note about the tasting menu –

1. A portion of the proceeds from the purchase of the menu goes to local organizations whose goals are to further awareness and protect the natural resources on the islands.
2. The portions that you are presented with are actually half of the size of the normal serve that you would get if you purchase the regular item off of the menu

Before the main meal began, we got our drinks. Both Beedoo and I had the Lava Flow, which is just an awesome drink to enjoy, and one that is something that is a great refreshment to enjoy and, in my experience, doesn’t have much of an effect on me. For me, the best part is just to be able to take my time and enjoy all of the flavors that are in the drink – coconut, strawberry, pineapple and banana.

Beedoo’s other half had the Blue Hawaiian, which he reported as being strong.

Shortly after the drinks were served, the waiter brought us a bread basket, which was at the perfect temperature. What was even better was that the bread was served alongside two containers of oil – one with plain olive oil, and the other containing a chili oil. What we did was mix the two oils and it was a perfectly spicy. For me, I did put a little more chili oil than olive oil on my plate as I do like my foods a bit spicier 🙂

Due to the fact that we had set ourselves a 5:30 reservation (as the tasting menu is only available from 4:45-5:45 PM), it was just the perfect time for us to catch a sunset over Waikiki. Since you’re on the second floor of the Outrigger Waikiki, you have an unobstructed view of the sunset over the ocean (well, other than a few palm trees that you have in front of you, but that’s hardly an obstruction :))

However, that’s enough of the beauty, as it was time for us to begin the main portion of the meal, which were the starters. Both Beedoo and I had the Potsticker Duo, which was a surf and turf combo – Kalua pig with Ponzu plus Lobster & scallop with guava-plum sauce.

Both potstickers were delightfully crunchy on the outside, the fillings were awesome, but the best part was the sauce, as you do not really expect to have a sweet sauce along with the savoury fillings that you’re presented with on the plate. What made this even better to me was that there was a small collection of greens next to each potsticker, which helped to collect the sauce on the plate.

Beedoo’s other half opted for the tomato soup, which was presented with a finger sandwich of Big Island goat’s cheese and garnished with basil oil. Note: In the current version of the tasting menu, the soup option has been changed to be a chef’s choice.

One thing to know about him is that he can be a bit of a picky eater at times. One of the things that I’ve been told that can be a bit of an issue is tomatoes. Being tomato soup, it might be surprising that he did finish the whole bowl and enjoyed it thoroughly! 🙂

Soon after that, our waiter presented us with our entrees, of which we all had something different. I chose the Shrimp Chow Fun which featured locally-made rice noodles and truffle kabayaki. Note from Beedoo – this appears to not be on the menu anymore! It has been replaced by Shrimp Scampi with garlic butter, tomatoes and capers.

The shrimp that they put in the dish were certainly not shrimps, they were jumbo shrimp (or prawns if you would prefer :)). Now, I have no idea what a kabayaki is, but the dish had an excellent Asian flavor to it, and the noodles were perfectly cooked, making this a fabulous dish! 🙂

Beedoo chose the fresh-caught fish, which was crusted in macadamia nuts and served with rice, pineapple coleslaw, along with a chilli beurre blanc tying it all together.

I do not remember what the fish was, but it appears to be a whitefish, so possibly opah. The particulars of the flavours are not coming to me as a surprise, but I do remember it being quite decent from the taste that I had of it.

Her other half had the lemon ginger roasted chicken, which came with asparagus, mashed potatoes and a Maui Onion and roasted red pepper (capsicum) sauce.

As far as the entrees go, I felt that the shrimp was the best of the lot, but really, all three of the dishes were spectacular.

Ah, but this is a three course dinner, so we had desserts left over, and with the portion sizes being perfect, we all had room for dessert!

For the starters and mains, there were more selections than people. For dessert, the ratio was perfect, so we each had one of the choices. I opted for the Island bread pudding, featuring fruits of the island up to the discretion of the chef.

It was sided with some fresh vanilla ice cream. If you make the picture full-size, you’ll see the vanilla bean specks in the ice cream, and that was definitely a great addition to the dessert. The bread pudding itself was alright, but not the best of the three desserts 😉

Beedoo opted to have the Tropical Dreams Sorbet (which does have a sub choice of mango lychee or raspberry guava). I think you can tell which one she took by the photo 🙂

The raspberry guava sorbet would be the correct guess :). It was served on a fried wonton wrapper and tasted fairly decent, but again wasn’t the best…

The definite winner of the dessert round was her other half who got the ice cream sandwich (labeled on the menu as petite, but I would disagree!).

Just looking at this ice cream sandwich now is making me crave one just like it – filled with awesome ice cream and surrounded on three sides by chocolate or chocolate syrup, with a raspberry coulis as a garnish, this was by far the best of the three desserts that we were presented with, and the one that, if you do take this meal, you should be having every single time 😉

Overall, the tasting menu gave us all full stomachs without being overstuffed. It was amazing to think that all of these three courses were just half of the size of the regular portions if you ordered these items a la carte.

On a normal night, had we ordered a la carte, I know that I would not have had dessert, as the potstickers and shrimp would have been more than enough to fill me right up to the brim.

Note from Beedoo –

Out of all the places I most wanted to eat, this one was really high on the list of must-dos for me.

I would rank this 3rd of the top 5 meals we had on Oahu. The whole meal was seriously amazing – we each tried a bite of all the options you see above.

Starters – The soup was amazingly flavourful, the Kalua Pork potsticker was packed so full of pork and it tasted incredible, I could eat those all day long. The lobster and scallop version was great too.

Entrees – All 3 options we tried were wonderful but there is no doubt the winner serving size wise was the Other Half with the chicken, this seemed like it must be a full size serve unless you get a half chicken for the regular serving!

Dessert – again the winner was the Other Half who chose the ice-cream sandwich – if you are not going to have the tasting menu I strongly recommend you drop by the Hula Grill for one of these at some point during your stay.

The service was fantastic, we had a wonderful time here, great atmosphere, and the food was amazing. Would return for both this menu and some of the other options there. Possibly even breakfast.

Let me add this – if you can’t get into Dukes downstairs, go upstairs and see if you can get a table at the Hula Grill, you won’t regret it for a second. Both Dukes and Hula Grill are part of the same chain called TS Restaurants. You may even find some of the menu items you wanted to order at Dukes are also available at the Hula Grill.

MapFrappe – Oahu vs. Rhode Island

For those who may not be familiar with the geography of the various states, Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, and it is not an island. It is, however, slightly bigger than Oahu.

Pink Pineapple?

Yep, it’s a pink pineapple. This one is one of the many varieties in the exhibition garden at the Dole Plantation.

Early Morning on Ala Moana

Looking out over Ala Moana Blvd. just before sunrise.

I’ve shown the view that I had a bit after this photo was taken, when the first of many multitudes of rainbows came to me as a surprise, however I had been up for a while prior to that, and I had a chance to take this photo when most people were still asleep. 🙂

Tiki Torches

These tiki torches can be seen while you’re dining at the Hula Grill. The tiki torch is something out of Polynesian culture, but has really taken hold thanks to the rebirth of Tiki Culture in the USA.

Agricultural Declaration

 

This is something a little bit different to our normal fare of Hawaiian beauty, but I think this is a worthwhile thing to mention. For visitors who have never been to Hawaii previously, it is a very sensitive ecological environment.

Because of that, the state takes ecological safety very importantly. As such, you are required to fill out this simple form that lets the Department of Agriculture know if there are items that are potentially damaging to the ecosystem in your baggage, so it may be inspected upon its arrival on the island.

Rainbows over Honolulu

This was the view that greeted me on my first morning in Honolulu, after a rain shower had passed through town. Here on the mainland, it’s pretty rare to see a rainbow, and even more rare to see a double rainbow.

Either Hawaii’s special, or there’s a lot of leprechauns and gold pots on the islands 🙂

 

Delta to HNL, Part 1

Previously in my trip, I had an overnight stay at the Comfort Suites, where I didn’t sleep (incidentally, I’m never a good sleeper the night before I leave on a trip). Now, it’s time for me to fly on Delta from Milwaukee to Honolulu, via Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

My day started out really early (5:00 AM), after a sleepless night in my hotel (not caused by the hotel, but by my anxiousness to get out to Hawaii to meet up with my best friends in person again, and not wanting to miss a flight). I took the courtesy shuttle through the end of the night and beginning of the morning, riding with a couple of other folks who were going to LA as well.

Actually, it was a different LA to the one I was transiting through. They were on their way to Lower Alabama. Both gentlemen were from Up North, and were heading south for the Winter. It was a short drive to the airport as I was the last pickup for that round, and shortly after, my checked bag was left with the folks at Delta and I entered the airport, skipping check in since I had done so already (and paid for my bag) the night before from my phone.

Since I had a few minutes, I wandered around the pre-security area. There is a store that I like to look through when I’m at Mitchell Airport, simply because of the variety of items they have available. That store is Renaissance Books, and they have a wide selection of books to buy and peruse before you go through security. However, because of the hour, they were not open as of yet.

One other piece of advice I have to give is to, while at the airport, visit the Mitchell Gallery of Flight. It has a good variety of exhibits on the history of civil aviation, along with a small exhibit on Jim Lovell who most will know as part of the Apollo 13 crew.

The line for security to concourse D was about 3 lines deep, but was moving consistently, even with the full body scanner in action in the morning. After going through the recombobulation area, I headed to gate D43 for my flight out. If you’re in a bit of a rush and have a gate the far end of the D concourse, there are moving sidewalks available in the lower level, just follow the signs after security.

You will not miss too many shops at all, and there is a coffee shop, along with a small restaurant and news store available for you to peruse while waiting, but not as good a selection as other airports have after security.

Another note about Milwaukee – there is no free wifi available in the airport. In order to get online, you do need to either have your own mobile internet, or purchase a pass from the wifi operator in the airport, Boingo. They do have wifi available in a number of airports, including Dulles.

However, for me, I wasn’t too bothered, as it was still early in the morning, and I did have my phone with me. I spent a few minutes reading USA Today, which honestly isn’t worth $2 to buy…at least to me. I ultimately recycled it before I got to Honolulu.

Soon after, they started calling our flight for boarding, and while I do not stand around waiting for my group to board from the minute they start boarding the flight, I do pay close attention so that I am among the first to board in my group, as that usually will ensure that I have space available in the overhead bin for my backpack 🙂

Delta 1071
N946DN (previously owned by JAL…)

Scheduled Dep MKE: 7:00 AM CDT
Scheduled Arr MSP: 8:28 AM CDT

Actual Dep MKE: 7:30 AM CDT +0h30
Actual Arr MSP: 8:18 AM CDT -0h10

This was the scene as we boarded. A couple of minutes later, I was confronted with a choice – when I went to Australia, I made it a point to ask the flight attendant upon entering the plane for a seat belt extender, which was necessary due to my extreme size. To be honest, I really should have been made to buy two seats on the flights last time. It just wound up that I was incredibly fortunate, and did not have to buy a 2nd seat.

I made the choice on this occasion to not ask for the extender right away. I figured, why not, let’s try to put the belt on naturally, low and across the hips. As it turned out, had I asked for one, I would have had to return it! The belt fitted me perfectly, which was very exciting for me! 🙂

Of special note on this flight was the announcement the crew made prior to closing the doors and heading out. The lead flight attendant made it a point to remind us that, even though the FAA had allowed airlines to file paperwork to allow for gate-to-gate use of electronics, it was still not official for Delta, so we had to adhere to the rule of no electronics during takeoff or landing. This was the only flight on this day that the new rules were discussed.

The flight to Minneapolis was delayed because of other incoming traffic into MSP, which meant that we had to get in line behind the other incoming flights and wait on the tarmac at Milwaukee, which is something that I would prefer than staying in the air and circling, wasting lots and lots of fuel in the process. The crew kept us updated as far as the progress, and after a smooth 48-minute flight, we arrived in Minneapolis, where the sun was shining.

While on our way, however, the flight crew did take the time to do a quick snack service, which in the morning consisted of a Biscoff cookie, and your choice of Coca-Cola beverages (of which I chose water).

Layover in Minneapolis

In my original plan, I only had about a 30 minute layover in Detroit, but thanks to my calling Delta and talking to a supervisor, I was able to get this particular flight arrangement, where I was able to transfer directly from the Milwaukee-Minneapolis flight to the Minneapolis-Honolulu flight via Los Angeles, instead of leaving things to chance with Delta transferring bags and making the flight in such a short time.

I have to give huge thanks to the person I spoke to – they not only waived the change fee, but they managed to get it that I didn’t have to pay the fare difference either. Epic WIN!

Of course, had I followed the original plan, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the awesomeness that is MSP. I actually lived in the Twin Cities for a bit of time while I was in college at the University of Minnesota, and it is certainly an area that I love to be in. One other small advantage, and one that I think Aussies would love to hear for shopping purposes – clothing sales are not taxed in Minnesota! 🙂

Anyway, my layover started out with visiting the restrooms. I then stopped at the lottery vending machine that was there, buying $5 worth of scratch off tickets. In the end, I won back $2 of the $5. After I bought the tickets, I discovered something that I never remembered in my previous trips to Minneapolis, since I had not had time to explore the airport too much.

In concourse D of MSP, there is an upstairs viewing area available where you can look out on the planes, and watch takeoffs and landings on runways 12L/30R and 4/22. This is the transport and radio geek in me speaking, but I would love to have a way that you could plug your headphones into a jack and listen to the tower frequencies. 🙂

However, the folks at MSP do make it easier for you to do that, as they do offer free wifi – the only thing you have to do is view a short ad for one of a number of sponsors, and you’re connected throughout the airport. Using the free Wifi, I was able to use the LiveATC app on my phone to listen in to the MSP tower without using my data plan.

After watching a few takeoffs and landings, I started walking around the concourse in search of breakfast and lunch. I wound up finding out another way that Minneapolis-St. Paul is superior to Milwaukee – the sheer quantity of shops and restaurants post-security. I stopped at one of the shops to pick up some souvenirs for myself and my friends (including a keychain shaped like Minnesota that has a very large sticker on it proclaiming that was made in Canada).

One of the things, while I’m talking about the Minneapolis airport, that I love is the fact that there are two of the Snoopy statues that were created and decorated in 2000 to celebrate the life of Charles Schulz (a Minneapolis native) in the airport. The first one that I spotted was the one in the central mall, which I believe would have been designed by someone at Northwest Airlines.

I then made my way to the central mall area, where they had a fully-featured food court, including one of the best sandwich shops out there – Charley’s Philly Grill, where I had a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich and hash rounds. I enjoyed my meal at a window seat in the food court, which again looked out on the tarmac and runway 4/22.

Once breakfast was done, I continued moving around the airport. I had enough time that I was able to do a full lap of the airport, aided by the moving sidewalk, making travelling around there such a breeze.

During my lap of the airport, I came across two things in Concourse A – first, was the travelling Snoopy right by the kids’ area. The second was a taco stand. But it was no ordinary taco stand; it was a place called Maui Tacos, and as you’re travelling along the moving sidewalk (which features a British lady informing you that the walkway was moving), there’s a huge map of Hawaii along the wall, showing off surfing spots around the islands.

Strangely, it only included Sunset on the North Shore, and not Waimea, Haliewa, or Pipeline. I’m thinking that was due to space 😉

I wound my way back to the end of Concourse G, at gate G22, stopping off at Subway and getting myself something for lunch to enjoy sometime later in the afternoon, probably in Los Angeles. At the gate, and this is something else that is cool, you had a bar set up where you could use some iPads that were put there as a courtesy of the bar (you could order food and drink from there and pay using your credit card).

Eventually, it was time for the ground crew to call our flight for boarding, and we started to make our way into the plane, and to get settled in for our flight to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, there was something else happening. What happened would completely change the complexion of the day, and I’ll get into how it impacted on my trip next time.

Comfort Suites Milwaukee Airport

For me, this is where the trip began. When we were organizing the trip, I had originally planned to depart out of Milwaukee at around 9AM on Friday, but thanks to some good negotiation with the people at Delta, I was able to get a 7AM flight.

That led to a new wrinkle – how to get to the airport so early, and the idea was hatched to pick up a stay at a hotel the night before. I used Hotwire to get a deal on the Comfort Suites Milwaukee Airport, and I have written a review on Trip Advisor, which I have, for the most part, republished here; just with a couple of more details 🙂

I stayed at the Comfort Suites while I was on my way out on a trip to Hawaii. It worked out much easier for me to stay overnight in a hotel since my flight was due to leave Milwaukee at 7AM, and I found that the rate for the hotel, and having a family friend take me down to the hotel was a better (and less expensive) option than having to be awake at 3AM to leave my home with a car service.

The room that I was booked into (2062) was a suite with two queen beds, and it had a very simple set-up. When you enter the room, you are presented with the two beds, a large dresser and a flat screen TV.

Behind that is the bathroom and kitchenette, featuring a microwave, mini fridge and coffee maker. Finally, you have the sitting area, with a second TV, couch and workspace.

There was also a window there, and in the room that I stayed in, it had a view of the indoor pool and spa, which was fantastic – it also meant that you would not have to worry about any sunlight coming to you as a surprise if you are a later sleeper, or staying in the summer when sunrise can be as early as 5:30 AM.

One thing that I have seen mentioned in other reviews is the charge for the use of a safe in the room. I was aware of the charge already (which can be removed by simply asking at the end of your stay) thanks to the reviews. However,  travellers who may not have read reviews on TripAdvisor are made aware of the charge for the safe on the check-in paperwork that you sign off on prior to receiving your room key. One other thing that I arranged for right away was a booking on the free shuttle that runs at :10 and :40 past each hour.

After getting myself settled in to the room, I headed down to the bar in the hotel to check out the happy hour that was mentioned (which you get a card for at check-in), along with the prospect of pizza being available for a dinner. When I got there at around 6PM, there were a couple of people in there enjoying the complimentary beverages (Miller Lite was the beer on tap, along with house wine and soda). While there was not any pizza there at that time, there were pretzels laid out on each of the tables.

I waited for around half an hour or so in hopes that the pizza would appear. Ultimately, I decided to head out into the rain and walked over to Subway to buy dinner, along with stopping at Speedway to pick up a bottle of water. There’s also a McDonald’s at the same corner, but I wasn’t interested in it. I then came back to my room and had my dinner.

I then went into the pool and enjoyed the spa and pool area, swimming a couple of laps of the pool, then spending time in the spa. I also played some of the games in the game center, which was a good way of spending a couple of minutes, even though some of the machines seem to be a bit out of maintenance, which is a disappointment.

While on the way to the pool, I went back through the pub (which I will mention was quite poorly lit, even for a “pub” atmosphere), and found that a single pepperoni pizza had been delivered sometime around 7:00-7:30 PM.

After that, it was time for me to (try to, but ultimately fail) go to sleep. I will note that it was due to me not wanting to oversleep and miss my flight, as the bed was very comfortable and I was glad to have the choice of soft or firm pillows available to me.

One item that I had seen touted on their website is that the rooms are more “tech friendly” with USB ports available. I was disappointed to find that all of the available power outlets were in the kitchenette, bathroom, and seating area of the suite, and not a single USB port available in my particular room. This could be an issue if you like to plug your devices in near to your bed and have them set to play an alarm, especially if you’re needing to get up at 4:30 AM for your 5:10 AM shuttle to the airport.

One other thing about the room was that the toilet seat was cracked. While that did not prevent me from using the toilet, it did make the experience unnerving since I did not know if the rest of the seat would hold. When I spotted it, I did make a call to the front desk, and they did assure me that the issue would be resolved in the morning when maintenance came in.

A final item about when I checked out (which was easy with the gentleman who was there doing the overnight shift) – I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there was a box on the front counter with a number of bags in it, offering a small breakfast treat for those who, like me, were getting up too early to enjoy the full breakfast the hotel offers.

In the bag was a granola bar, an apple, and a bottle of water, all of which I did enjoy having as a nice treat which came as a surprise to me.

Overall, the Comfort Inn is certainly a hotel that I would stay at again if I were needing to stay overnight close to the airport prior to heading out on a very early flight on my own, and not wanting to use the at-airport parking. It’s also a great option for anyone staying for a longer time in the Milwaukee area, as you find that while you are not immediately close to downtown, it’s only about a 10-15 minute drive, and you can certainly pick up public transportation into the central city.

Up next for me: going through the recombobulation area at Milwaukee Airport, and on my way to Honolulu. It was dark then, and I was expecting it to just be hitting sunset when I arrived.