kauai - day 2

woke up 'relatively' early to grab breakfast at kountry kitchen in kapa'a, where peeps were already lined up out the door - my kind of place! i had the amazing macadamia nut pancakes w/coconut syrup, heidi had the polynesian omelette (kim chee, portuguese sausage) w/hash browns.

we were planning to hike the famed kalalau trail, but because sunday is a rest day for most on the island, a few of the places we wanted to hit on the north shore were closed. so, perfect day for a drive to and up waimea canyon!

along the way, made a pitstop at the kauai coffee company, where one could sample all of their varietals in a relaxed plantation setting steps away from the coast. even though i don't normally sip the java, their hawaiian coconut caramel crunch is the truth:




making our way up waimea canyon drive (approx. 40min from our spot on the eastside), before we even hit the waimea canyon lookout we stopped at the side of the road for this ho-hum vista:


between mile markers 10 and 11 is the lookout of waimea canyon, dubbed the "grand canyon of the pacific." not nearly as expansive as its brethren, it still stretches 14 miles long, 1 mile wide and more than 3,600 ft deep, and the sight is truly one to behold.




one thing i didn't know about kauai was its abundance of wild roosters, hens & chicks roaming the island. they are everywhere - parking lots, outdoor restaurants, parks - and it's quite hilarious to see them clucking about.



at the end of waimea canyon drive is the pu'u o kila lookout, where we parked and embarked on a short 2.4 mile roundtrip hike to pihea peak. trails differ greatly from the ones back home, as they are much rockier, muddy and slippery out here due to the abundant rainfall.




starving after all of the activity, we made a beeline to shrimp station for their coconut shrimp, then took a stroll down the street for a mouthwatering pint at waimea brewing company.




lastly, dinner was in poipu at josselin's tapas bar & grill, where we feasted on:

* lychee sangrias from a portable sangria cart!
* poached oxtail ravioli, vietnamese pho broth
* wood oven roasted kauai mushrooms, potato foam, red miso powder
* blue cheese panna cotta, mixed greens, candied walnuts
* seared diver scallops, vietnamese caramel
* 36-hour braised pork belly, apple kim chee, rosemary orange local honey





the food at josselin's was a revelation - inventive, playful and most importantly delicious. i didn't think anything could compare with saturday's dinner, but this was every bit as amazing...

parting shot is this panorama of the na pali coast:

kauai - day 1

arrived at lihue airport at 1:45pm to balmy temps in the low 80s. picked up our rental car - free upgrade to a chevy HHR! - and made a pit stop at fish express, at the behest of everybody at enterprise. scored the hawaiian plate - heaping portions of kalua pork, "two scoops rice," lomi lomi salmon and poké shoyu - for $8.


because they only offer takeout, we threw our bounty in the car, drove a few miles and stumbled upon wailua golf course, a public course with gorgeous ocean views. we tore thru our food and made a beeline to our resort on the east side, right near kapa'a.



our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we took a stroll around the coconut marketplace and enjoyed our first experience with lappert's ice cream. a scoop of kauai pie (kona coffee ice cream, macadamia nuts, toasted coconut & chocolate fudge) and coconut pineapple later, we were able to check in and relax before dinner. check out heidi's excitement at the number of shaved ice flavors:



dinner reservations at hukilau lanai were at 5:45pm, as they offer a special five-course meal before 6pm for $40 with wine pairings and $28 without. the rundown of tonight's feast:

* sweet potato ravioli - roasted okinawan sweet potato, kilauea feta cheese & lemongrass cream sauce
* mixed greens salad - fresh beets, corn off the cob, cherry tomatoes, basil vinaigrette
* fresh catch - grilled island uku, warabi & local mushrooms, mirin vinaigrette
* not your grandma's meatloaf - island-raised beef, red skin smashed potatoes, brown butter sauce & corn fennel relish
* vanilla bean crème brulee






dinner was incredible - one could taste the freshness of the local ingredients and the anticipation of the next course was riddled with excitement. the one thing i fear is that we set the bar too early in the trip...

hukilau lanai
520 aleka loop
kapa'a, HI 96746
http://www.hukilaukauai.com/

thanks anthropologie!

hey - how did they know i was going to be here?

warrior dash socal 2011 - recap

the final results are in and i didn't do as bad as previously thought - placed 262 out of 5,403 insane warriors-in-training with a final time of 32:36.85 on saturday. of those in my age group, i placed 22nd out of 372.

including sunday's times, it projects out to 559 out of 10,045 - taking into account the exact setup as saturday's course. it was almost a full three minutes slower than last year's time, but this year's version was also set up a lot more difficult.




on to the 10K mud run at camp pendleton in june! it'll be my first - and i've heard horror stories about how tough it really is - but i'm looking forward to hopefully finishing...

2011 warrior dash socal - results

survived my 2nd warrior dash, with the revamped course showing more of its fangs this time around. because of my parkour background, i remember thinking last year that i wished the obstacles were more difficult so i could make up more ground on the runners. well my wishes were granted, holy smokes. perhaps i should refrain from such thoughts in the future.

the layout remains the same - 3.08 hellish miles with about 12 sets of obstacles interspersed throughout. new for this year was something akin to a spiderweb, except made out of bungee cord that one had to try to maneuver thru, around or under. looking back, the best way to attack it would have been a military crawl underneath the whole thing, but what's done is done. a quick recap of the obstacles i can remember:

1. hay fever - straw bales were also on the flat part, which made the climb that much tougher.
2. junkyard jam - they placed tires at the foot of each landing area, which made each jump that much more precarious
3. warrior wall - they placed a rope line immediately after each wall, so one had to go over/under four straight times
4. said spiderweb obstacle (see above)
5. walk the plank - easy if you have balance, but the uphill climb out of the gully is a bear
6. tumbleweed tickler - either i was so gassed or i have bad memory, but i can't recall this
7. deadweight drifter - same as last year. still hard.
8. wall/rope climb - i just scaled the wall sans rope. finally an advantage!
9. cargo climb - much higher than last year
10. warrior roast - higher flames this year
11. muddy mayhem - more mud, so everybody had to get down & dirty for this one

i thought i might be able to improve upon my time from last year, but after i barely trudged past the finish line, i'm not so sure. stay tuned... results should be posted this evening...

review - nike+ sportband

consider me a little late to the game, but i finally climbed aboard the nike+ train and it's all systems go. for the uninitiated (which included me until this past thursday), nike+ helps you track your distance, pace, time and calories burned while you run. they achieve this thru a small sensor you place underneath the removable insole of a nike+ shoe, which in my case is the original lunaracer. used in conjunction with the sportband (essentially a rubber watch), one can remove the link - it doubles as a USB port - plug into your computer and voila!

you can log each of your runs, track your progress, set goals and even interact with friends also using nike+ to create a sort of friendly competition... all in the name of getting in better shape. i seriously can't wait to get out for my 2nd run...

one can also calibrate the link so that the distance is accurate, whether by going to a track or a location with clear mileage markers. desperate to take it out for a spin, vim & i ran a personal best 10.02 miles in santa monica (SM pier to the venice pier, then turned around and reached entrada ave, then back to SM pier) today. my band somehow logged it as 15.39, so i adjusted it back to 10.02. i should have a more accurate reading next time around, but to be safe, i'll head to the UCLA track and dole out exact distances.


some of the other info it spit out in a fun interactive graph/readout were as follows:

duration: 1:52:28
mileage: 15.39
pace: 7'18" (average)
calories burned: 1,746 (adjusted down b/c of the incorrect mileage)

parkour - UCLA

this past saturday was the 4-week mark prior to warrior dash 2011, so it's time to step up my training... with some parkour! actually i really need to increase my long distance running aptitude, as the 10k camp pendleton mud run is right around the corner as well. but in the mean time, some captures from UCLA:

new balance minimus trail - first look

after spotting an early photo of these bad boys in the december issue of details magazine, i naturally did the immediate google, only to find out their release date was march 2011. what to do for three months?

i patiently bided my time and before you know it, voila! here's a peek at the kicks before i took them out for a spin this past weekend:




mind you, i've been on a barefoot kick (pun intended haha) these past few years, so my indoctrination has been leading towards this day. i first experimented with the nike presto many years back, bridged the gap with the nike free 5.0 trail and the air rift, and most recently have been running exclusively in the nike free 3.0. even the NB salesperson was warning me not to run too much soon in these, so i'll be sure to report back after a few training sessions...

in-N-out secret menu

behold... the entire in-N-out secret menu.

i've either heard of or tried most of what's on here, but grilled whole onions is definitely next up...