Gwyneth

An absolutely frivolous post filled with photos of Gwyneth Paltrow out and about.  I totally dig her style!  I like how effortless it looks, and how comfortable!

You may or may not have heard of her lifestyle blog Goop.  It was mocked by most everyone, but Gwyneth and blog have persevered, and it's fun to look at now and then, but of course, most of what she suggests for food/gifts/fashion/etc. are incredibly unaffordable for us normal folk.

Even so, I like her posts where she shows some of the outfits she puts together.  Like the one where she dresses down and dresses up a simple trench coat.  Cute!

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Amazing!

I never have to use a whole head of garlic in one go, but I don't care.  I'm totally going to do this next time:

How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

Amazing!!

Edited to Add: My friend and I did this later that night, and IT WORKS!  And it was AMAZING!!  It makes me want to buy a ton of garlic and "shake the dickens" out of them all night long.  Wait.  That sounds wrong.  Oh, who cares.  It's so wildly fun!  We should have a garlic shaking party!  Who wants to come?

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Sunset

Are you getting sick of these sunset photos yet?

Tonight's sunset was not as spectacular as last night's, but it was still pretty.

The weather has been fun today. I am sitting at home right now in a sweater. That's cold for Maui!

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Big Rainbow

It has been windy all afternoon, and the gusts have blown in a bit of rain which has formed a gorgeous and gigantic rainbow in front of the West Maui Mountains.

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Words, words, words!

This is everything I have bought from the new secondhand bookstore. I have a lot of beach reading to do!

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Books!

Bryan and I are so excited about the secondhand bookstore that opened up at the Wharf.  It's a joint project from the Maui Library and Carol, the woman who used to own the Old Lahaina Book Emporium.

I loved, loved, loved the Old Lahaina Book Emporium.  It was this tiny, narrow space crowded with tall bookshelves.  All the books were secondhand, and you could come in and trade or sell or buy used books.  I was so sad to see it close down, but here it is again in all of its glory at the Wharf, and guess what?  Now all the books are even cheaper.  Price range for a hardcover is anywhere from a buck to four whopping dollars!  Paperbacks go for $1 to $4.  I love this place.

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Birthday Sunset

Bryan and I had the most amazing time celebrating his birthday yesterday.  We went out to lunch at Captain Jack's at the Wharf, followed by an hour long stretch at the new secondhand bookstore.

Although I had already bought three books from there just a few days ago, I ended up finding new things and left the store with five paperbacks.

I have a serious book buying problem, guys.  It's dangerous.  I don't think I'm allowed to go back to the bookstore until I've read everything I just got otherwise you may see me featured on that Hoarders show.  I'll be the woman who got buried under all of her books after an earthquake or something like that.

Clutching our new purchases, we walked out of the bookstore and saw that the whole sky above the ocean was bright pink.  Even the clouds over the West Maui Mountains behind us were lit up in spectacular color.  We dropped the books off at Bryan's house and hustled over to the water to watch the rest of the sunset.

I took a few photos on my phone that cannot do it justice.  The pinks are not as neon and fiery in the photographs as they were in real life.

I wasn't the only one desperately trying to catch the moment on camera.  There was a crowd of people swarming Front Street taking photographs.  I took a photograph a minute, and you can see how quickly the color leaches from the sky as the sun drops behind the island of Lanai.















After watching the sun set behind all the clouds, Bryan and I got ready to meet our friends out for dinner at Kimo's.

We got crazy.  We ordered a bottle of wine, followed by appetizers: sashami, a shrimp cocktail and my personal favorite, the Ahi Poke.  The poke is served with house-made corn tortilla chips and a creamy goat cheese avocado guacamole.  You dip a chip in the guacamole and scoop up a little bit of the raw yellowfin tuna poke.  Delicious!

But we didn't stop at appetizers.  I kept it simple with a basic chicken stir fry, but Bryan got the 14 oz. cut of the prime rib, and our friends ate lobster-stuffed Mahi Mahi and the filet mignon.  Both of our friends requested that a lobster tail be added to their entree.

We wined and dined in impeccable style.  Local celebrity Willie K. was playing live downstairs in the lounge, and we watched him play a song on our way out the door.

After dinner we went back to Bryan's house where his roommate and our friend were waiting on us.  In the past two weeks since Bryan's birthday present arrived in the mail, I have been merciless in teasing him to heighten the anticipation.

Bryan loves games.  We are always playing cards or dominoes at his house, and for the entire time I've known him, he often mentions how he needs to add the board game Sorry to his collection.  He had just played the game with his family when he was visiting them in September, and the game has been on his mind even more than usual.

The kicker to this whole thing is that when we were at lunch that afternoon, we ran into our mutual friend who told us that he spent Thanksgiving playing Sorry.  Bryan said that he was incredibly jealous  and asked to be invited to play next time.  I just couldn't believe that someone else was bringing up this game!  It was almost like I orchestrated this conversation to occur on the day of Bryan's birthday.  I wish I was that smooth!

That night, we sat around the table at Bryan's house and watched Bryan open his present.  He opened it up and busted out the game and immediately asked if we could play it that very moment.  Our friend said, "That's why we're all here!"  And we began to play the game of "sweet revenge" for about 2 hours.

What can I say?  I give good presents.  Santa Claus, the bar has been set.  I'd like to see you beat me on this one.

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Breadfruit

A lot of people park their cars under this breadfruit tree. I feel like this is a mistake. When these football sized fruits fall from the tree they explode onto the ground and stain the pavement. I haven't seen one fall on a car yet, but I bet it happens.

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ohmygod, ohmygod!!

This is just too cool.  A search engine that will generate new book suggestions for you once you supply the title or author of a book you like.

How neat is that?

I put in Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (which I highly recommend) and got the following results for things to look into:

The Yiddish Policemans Union also by Chabon

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (I've had a good college friend recommend me Lethem many times and have not taken her up on it, but now that this is crazily awesome search engine has told me to read him, I must do so!!)

Nine Horses by Billy Collins.  Billy Collins is a favorite poet of mine.  I actually already have this volume of poetry in my possession.  Considering that this search engine pulled this title that I already know, love and own, I feel like I can trust its other suggestions.

What books did What Should I Read Next suggest for you?

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Night on the Town

I made dinner plans tonight to meet with one of my girlfriends at Hula Grill to take advantage of my company discount.

I took the bus over to Whalers Village and arrived thirty minutes before our dinner reservation, so I hustled into the newly opened Sephora.



I bought myself an Urban Decay eye shadow palette and a "surf spray" hair texturing product from Bumble and bumble.

I haven't experimented wildly with the eye shadows yet, but I sprayed on some of the Bumble and bumble hair product when I got home, and I'm happy with the results.

It seems kind of silly for someone who lives by the beach to buy a product that produces "beach hair" but I can't run out into the ocean every day to style my hair before heading to places where the rest of me needs to be salt and sand free.  I have really stick straight hair that lies flat after drying, but this hair spray gives my hair a lot more body and oomph.

After stocking up on goodies at Sephora, I headed over to Hula Grill for some grub.



My girlfriend and I each got a glass of wine and nibbled on warm bread dipped in chile water and olive oil.  The chile water at Hula Grill is so addicting.  We had our server clear the bread from us so we wouldn't completely ruin our appetites on just bread.

Our first course was a shared plate of lobster and scallop potstickers followed by our entrees that we split.  I got the Molokai Sweet Potato Raviolis served with a brown butter sauce and kale, and my girlfriend ordered the duo fish plate that featured Ahu and Opah.  Each fish filet was prepared with different flavors and each had its own garnish.  One came with a creamy risotto and the other had a lobster, vanilla cream sauce.

The finishing touch was our "ice cream sandwich" for dessert:



A huge block of vanilla ice cream is wedged between two gooey chocolate brownies topped with a chocolate ganache.  A side of whipped cream and a drizzle of raspberry sauce is the garnish.

Yum.

I'm definitely coming here again.  Who wants to join me?

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Being Elmo

I need to see this.  Right now, if at all possible.  Puppets can be a little creepy sometimes, but it's only because I find that puppeteers can infuse them with such lifelike qualities.  It really amazes me how captivating they can be.  I will always have fond memories of Kermit, and I've always liked Elmo--except the Tickle Me Elmo toys that were popular a few years back.  Those were annoying.  But the real Elmo has always been wonderful.

I especially love Elmo shown in unexpected ways...like in this outtake of Ricky Gervais' visit to Sesame Street:



"You can't even control a puppet and a fat guy."

Elmo also appeared on Jimmy Fallon's talk show:



I just want to hug him.  Elmo, not Jimmy Fallon.  The above is a long clip, but the best part starts at about 5 minutes in when Fallon makes Elmo sing a song that Elmo cannot remember all the words to, and he gets embarrassed.  Elmo tells Fallon he can't come to Sesame Street anymore.

If you're into muppets as much as I am, you may want to search for Kermit on the Ellen Degeneres show. It's a great interview.

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

A few days ago I got a big box from Amazon with a present that I bought for my boyfriend and a book that I bought for myself: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling.

I didn't allow myself to start reading Kaling's book until I hustled through my library stack first.  Once I got through two of my borrowed books, I sat down with Kaling yesterday and read the entire book in one night and an hour this morning after I woke up.

It's charming and funny and a little bit sassy.  I'm not sure I would recommend it to everyone, but here are a few bits that I found particularly amusing:

"Aspen looked the way I had always imagined Switzerland to be, down to the beautiful blonde women walking around in shearling coats with fur pom-poms.  Aspen is one of those places that looks rustic but where everything is actually sickeningly expensive.  This was on a whole other level from New York, which was just plain old grossly expensive.  Aspen was so expensive I was surprised it wasn't populated with the children of Middle Eastern oil moguls.  We were put up at a Days Inn-style motel on the edge of town, but made the smart decision, upon waking up in the morning, of moving our hang-out time to the lobbies of the fanciest hotels.  One day, we snuck into the gym at the St. Regis and did the elliptical machines for twenty exhilarating, frightening minutes."

I love the above quote because even though I have not done it myself, I can easily see myself sneaking into a hotel gym.  Unfortunately, from my limited experience here in Maui, you need to swipe a hotel card key to get into the locked swanky gym.

"I would rather have someone read my diary than look at my iPod playlists.  It's not because I have embarrassing playlists called "Setting the Mood for Sex-Time" or whatever.  My playlists are humiliating because my workout mixes have dorky titles, like "Go for It, Girl!" and "You Can Do It, Mindy!"  You might also see that some of my playlists are simply two songs on repeat fifteen times, like I'm a psycho getting pumped up to murder the president."

My workout playlists have similar titles, but I haven't chosen two songs to put on repeat for thirty minutes.  I need variety to force myself to run.

"If it weren't for my imagination, I would weigh ten thousand pounds.  This is because the only way I am able to exercise anymore is through a long and vivid revenge fantasy."

One of which is that her husband is kidnapped and murdered, and she stops speaking forever.

"I am a mute.  But a mute who goes to the gym, for I run and do lunges and squats until I have no body fat anymore and can do fifty chin-ups and twenty-five pull-ups.  Even in my revenge fantasy where all I do is exercise, I can still do only twenty-five pull-ups.  Pull-ups are tough, no joke."

Yes, they are, Mindy.  Yes they are!  I used to be able to do five pull-ups.  But now that I no longer have regular access to a pull-up bar or the proper motivation, I can only do three.

I guess the reason why I really enjoyed Mindy Kaling's book is because she and I have similar feelings about similar topics, but she writes about them in perhaps more amusing ways than I am capable.

If you are looking for someone who will make you put the book down so you can wipe tears away from your eyes, you need to check out David Sedaris.  Especially since the holidays are here.  He has a great collection of hysterical essays called Holidays on Ice.  David Sedaris is frequently featured on NPR, and if you can find tracks of him reading his material, it's a treat.

I remember during my freshman or sophomore year of college that my cousin and his wife picked me up to drive me to my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving break.  We put my suitcase in the back of their Subaru, and I climbed into the backseat of their car alongside a small animal traveling case that housed their new kitten.  For the beginning of the ride, we listened to a mixed CD that my cousin had put together, but once it was over, he put in NPR's "This American Life" that he had on CDs.

My cousin and his wife are huge fans of NPR.  I'm a little less excited about talk radio.  Even at its very finest, I can't help but fall asleep (actually, this is not exclusive to just NPR and talk radio, this is also to audiobooks of any kind when played in the car.  I remember missing vast chunks of Harry Potter when driving with Mom across California looking at colleges because she loved listening to it on tape and I promptly fell right asleep.  Thank God for those movies or else I would never have caught up!).

As we were driving through the dark towards Boise, listening to the soothing voices on the radio station, I took the kitten out of its traveling carrier and let her curl up on my chest, and the two of us fell asleep together in the back seat.

I woke up later during the drive to David Sedaris reading one of his essays about the family dog.  When I registered that we were still listening to talk radio and there was no music to be had, I almost drifted back to sleep, but I was prevented in doing so because David Sedaris is just ridiculously funny.

I started laughing so hard that I woke up the kitten.  She was not amused.

She was further put out upon arriving at my aunt and uncle's and finding out that there was a dog.  I have a great many photos of the cat and dog doing a Mexican standoff of sorts.  The kitten is perched out of the dog's reach, while the dog is wildly curious and wishes the cat would come down and play.

Actually, I just looked around on iPhoto, and I no longer have those pictures.  I guess I got a little overzealous in creating more space on my hard drive and deleted photos that I deemed no longer necessary.  Who knew that I would be writing about this kitten and this dog and wanting a particular photo to illustrate my point?

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Catching Up

I wish I had better excuses as to why I haven't been updating the blog.  I'm not out on adventures that I'm not telling you about.  I'm working 5 days a week, and then being lazy the other 2 days of the week.  I definitely wish I had more exciting things to tell you.  I've been reading a lot, but that's probably not news to any of you.

I whipped through Susan Casey's "The Wave," a nonfiction book about scientists and surfers who chase down big waves.  Casey wrote one of my favorite books, "The Devil's Teeth" about the great white sharks that gather and feed off the coast of San Francisco.  I would recommend both of her books, but the one about sharks is better.

I just finished reading David Sedaris' "When Engulfed in Flames," a book of short essays.  David Sedaris is laugh out loud funny.  I would be reading it in bed and start cackling wildly, and only when I was able to catch my breath would I be able to share with Bryan what had tickled my funny bone.

Now I'm reading Constance Hale's "Sin and Syntax," a modern guide on English grammar.  It's much more entertaining than I made it sound.  But it's nerdy.  Just like me.

You have now all been appropriately filled in on what I've been reading.  Now, onto what I've been eating:



Just kidding.  I didn't eat that.  That was a double bacon cheeseburger with furikake garlic fries that the Aloha Mixed Plate cooks made for my boyfriend.  He managed to eat all of that.  And he's still skinny as a rail.  I envy his metabolism.

I got to see more of this superhuman metabolism in action yesterday, when Bryan took me out to the tourist trap Cheeseburgers in Paradise yesterday afternoon.

I've lived up the street from this Lahaina institution for over a year, but I've never been in to eat.  Bryan had never been there either, but he was recently given a gift certificate to the place, so we now had a solid reason to see what all the fuzz is about.

We managed to miss the lunchtime crowd by showing up shortly before 3 in the afternoon.  We got appetizers (fried wontons and fried coconut shrimp--both served with the same mango chutney sauce) and burgers.  Bryan went all out and got a Kobe burger with a fried egg, bacon and banana peppers.  I got a turkey burger with guacamole.

The food was definitely tasty, but the atmosphere was kitschy and rushed.  Cheeseburgers in Paradise is a turn and burn establishment that does not provide an environment where you would want to hang out after wolfing down your cheeseburger.  Glad I got to check it out, but I wouldn't go back or recommend it to others.  I think Cool Cat Cafe has far superior burgers and a more relaxed environment.

I hit up another new lunch spot today when I ventured for food this afternoon.  I was thinking of hitting up my old favorite Sunrise Cafe when I simply walked past it to The Wharf, a shopping center in front of the Banyan Tree that houses a handful of restaurants, including Cool Cat Cafe.

I was thinking of maybe picking up some Indian cuisine from Monsoon India, but I stumbled upon a brand new place: Bamboo Fresh.  It's only been open for a week, and I hope it sticks around!  The owner specializes in organic, local produce to make tasty, cheap and super healthy food.  I got her four onion and spinach stew as well as a veggie wrap filled with fresh vegetables including avocado and kale from Hana.  My whole meal, including a drink was only $10.50!  A great deal for one of the best, healthy meals I've had in a long time.  The food and the price was definitely worth having to listen to the owner preach about choosing whole foods over processed ones, reversing cancer with good food and the health benefits of Himalayan rock salt.

Maybe next time I'll call my order in and just run in to pick it up and pay before running out the door again.

And since we're catching up, I want to let you know that is the next movie on my "to see" list:



The Descendents is written and directed by Alexander Payne, the gentleman behind Sideways.  The movie comes out January 20th.  It's already getting rave reviews from critics.  I'm excited for the story, the acting and of course, the scenery!  The movie showcases both Oahu and Kauai.

What about you guys?  What are you looking forward to seeing in theaters?  And is anyone reading something I should know about?

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Shopping!!

November is a big Birthday month.  Many family members are celebrating their birthdays, as is my boyfriend, and then of course, Thanksgiving is thrown into the mix and Christmas is coming up...

...but instead of getting bogged down by all the birthdays and preparing myself to eat my body weight in turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing on Thanksgiving day, I get excited.

I love shopping for presents.  I would like to think that I am quite good at it.  Although, if anyone is winning hands down for the best presents ever given, it would have to go to my Uncle Kevin.  I think all of us in the family can remember quite a few gifts we have received from him that have been so amazingly unique, but so perfectly chosen that once we had it in our hands we can't imagine how we have lived without it for so long (even though we had never known that such a thing existed before Kevin got it for us).

Receiving presents is awesome.  Who doesn't like getting stuff?  But receiving a gift that is unexpected yet perfectly matched to our personalities and lifestyle is the ultimate.  What's even better?  When you are the one who has found that gift.

And giving the ultimate gift doesn't necessarily have to have a big price tag on it.  Sometimes the best gifts are the ones that don't cost anything at all.  I like things that you have made yourself, and I think some of the coolest things I ever gave were things that I made when I was little.  I still think giving someone a mixed CD of songs they've never listened to yet but are going to fall deeply in love with upon the first few notes can be a great present for the right people.

If you are having trouble coming up with unique gifts, I will let you in one of my best kept shopping secrets: www.uncommongoods.com

Many of the gifts that I have purchased for my family and friends have come from this site.  I bought my dad a set of BBQ tools that were all modeled after golf clubs with real grips on the handles.  I also bought a friend an indoor gardening kit to grow her own marinara sauce that sprouted but unfortunately withered.  I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the kit or the sunless conditions of our apartment.

I also love shopping www.etsy.com

Etsy is a website where artists across the world can share and sell their handmade and vintage goods.  This is such a wonderful and fun site to explore, and because there is so much to see, Etsy employs a lot of fun and whimsical search engines to help you narrow down what you are looking for.  This is such a great site to seek out great gifts for yourself, others or your home while supporting artists from across the globe.

Amazon.com is also a great site featuring much more than just books and movies.  I bought a birthday gift for my boyfriend just the other day, and to score free shipping to Maui, I bought myself something too:

I guess that's my only downfall on shopping for others...I usually can't help but get inspired to gift myself something as well.

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Brunch

Sunrise Cafe off Front Street is one of my favorite places to grab a satisfying, belt-busting meal made of fresh and wholesome goodness.

This was the place I had my very first meal when I arrived on Maui.  I took a beach cruiser and biked down Front Street and locked my bike in front of the tiny restaurant that had been recommended to me when I told someone that I was starving (having not eaten anything since the plane flight from California to Maui).

This is a Mom and Pop shop where they accept cash only for their goods.  I am not an early riser, so these days I always manage to beat the breakfast crowd when I amble in for "brunch" at one or two in the afternoon.

I would recommend you do the very same if you stop in at Sunrise Cafe.  This place is super tiny with a tiny staff (just Dad and Son taking orders and Mom doing all the cooking), so if you sit down at peak breakfast times, you could be waiting a half hour for your food.

I usually get one of two things.  The Breakfast Burrito stuffed with rice and eggs and tropical salsa or my personal favorite, the Greek Bagel with a side of 2 poached eggs:

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I carefully put a poached egg on each bagel half and splash Tapatio hot sauce on top of it all, then I dig in with much gusto and fanfare.  It is delicious.  Each bagel half is topped with a slice of tomato, sauteed spinach, garlic and Maui Onions, sliced cucumbers and a handful of sprouts.  Oh yeah, there is also feta cheese and a sprinkling of black olives.  

This one meal gets me through my entire day.

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