The final days of the trip...Sadness! =(

Saturday July 17, 2010

This morning we woke up super duper early and picked our instructor up and headed to the Aloha Stadium for the huge Swap Meet that they have there.We got there a little before 8 AM before it had started to get super busy and we walked miles and miles of the stadium and picked up countless and endless amounts of souvenirs.You know it's bad when you have bought so much that not only do you make a couple of trips to the car to drop your bags off, but you have completely forgotten what exactly it is that you bought.I bought a bunch of stuff for me, but several souvenirs for friends, co-workers and family at home plus some incredibly cute stuff for my adorable niece Layla, who is 5 1/2 months old.After doing some SERIOUS damage at the stadium and after making the decision that not only were we going to run out of money but we were going to run out of room in our luggage, we decided to call it a day!

From there we caught some lunch at Teddy's Bigger Burgers which was absolutely FANTASTIC!I had a Western burger which had BBQ sauce, onion rings and bacon and I ordered a side of garlic fries that were so unbelievably garlicky, but so DELICIOUS!I figured that I should eat as much garlic as I could to keep those effing mosquitoes away from me!And now that I had those French fries I think I've stored enough garlic in my system for a good year to keep those pesky 'skeeters away! =D After that we came home to take a little nap and then it was on to the night's festivities...

Mrs. O'Sullivan (my adopted grandmother) had bought us all tickets to go see a show at the Polynesian Cultural Center.We all met up at their house and she drove us all the way out there and we ate dinner at a little Chop Suey place and then went to the center for the show.We toured the grounds for awhile, purchasing some more things there (after we said we were done, but it's like crack) and then going in for the show.The show was called Ha: Breath of Life and different islands were represented including Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, etc...It told a really great story and was very entertaining.I had such an excellent time there and it was such a gracious gift from our Hawaiian family to give to us!From there it was home to get some rest!

Sunday July 18, 2010

We woke up and had a small breakfast of fruit and Portuguese sweet bread on our lanai.I think we all could afford not to eat a lot!From there we spent a couple of hours down at the beach, even though it wasn't a super nice day out.But it sure was nice to just sit out there on the beach, breathe in the trade winds and just listen to the heavenly sounds of the ocean. (I should do commercials shouldn't I?LOL!) After spending a good amount of time at the beach we went to lunch at Zippy's again and I had a mahi mahi sandwich with tartar sauce and French fries.Pretty good, not great, but okay!The least favorite meal I've had here, but still edible and not terrible!

After that we did some very last minute souvenir shopping at Long's Drugs, even though we all had concluded that we were running out of room.After that more napping and then we decided to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner called Assaggio's.I had been to this place before on Hawaii-Kai.The appeal of this place to me is that they make they're Caesar salad table side which to me is a lost art.I know no places on the mainland that do it so this was pretty special to me.Not to mention that me being a chef I was testing this girl, and she was really in the spotlight, to make sure this was right.And it was!So we all had Plantation Iced Tea, Caesar salad and I had opah (moonfish) and shrimp (which were gi-normous by the way) sauteed with linguine in a garlic, white wine, olive oil sauce with onions, basil and bacon.It was called Seafood Casino and it was absolutely FABULOUS!!!For dessert I had homemade tiramisu.Definitely couldn't pass that up and it was close to orgasmic! =D

After our incredible meal (which was pretty expensive by the way) we stopped by our adopted Hawaiian family's house to say our goodbye's to everyone.My adopted grandfather had made me, and my Mom fresh Hawaiian lei's from plumeria flowers from his front yard.It was difficult to say our goodbye's because we all had such a good time with them and truly felt the "ALOHA SPIRIT" with them everyday.It's such a great feeling to know that you have an "adopted family" in Hawaii and that they love and care about you as much as you do.That was difficult but now gives us an excuse to come back here more often.So from there we came home and started packing!What a task!I think I'm definitely going to have to be sitting on my suitcase tomorrow morning to get it closed!LOL! =)

But that's all from paradise today!Tomorrow we will be making the trek home to RFH Phoenix (Really Effing Hot) and paradise will just be a distant memory.It has been incredible while its lasted and I'm so blessed and incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity.I got my fix for awhile, so look out Phoenix, I'M COMING BACK!

Until next time fans...MAHALO!

<3 Stace <3