博客存档 - Ailantha

"The Mount Everest Of Corruption," Part Two

5/27/2025

...Continued from previous post:
This is like the Mount Everest of corruption - Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley on Donald Trump's gala dinner for the top buyers of his $TRUMP meme coin.

So this time around we said, "Hey, we're going to play by the rules but we're not going to go so far as to stymie our business." - Donald Trump Jr. on how the Trump family decided this time not to let ethical concerns over Trump's presidency keep them from making maximum financial profit.

Last Wednesday, May 21, Pete Hegseth, (pictured here showing off some of his white supremacist tattoos prior to his appointment by Donald Trump to the office of Secretary of Defense),

...officially and on behalf of Donald Trump accepted from Qatar the gift of a super luxury jet purportedly for Trump's use while he's President, then to be turned over to him after he leaves the office (see post from 5/25/2025, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-mount-everest-of-corruption-part-one).
Trump's jet now sits on an airfield in San Antonio, Texas awaiting a massive 1 billion dollar tax-payer-funded renovation that will take years to finish.
This deal stinks to high heaven of political graft and corruption, and the stink of the deal was still fresh when the night after Donald Trump got his new jet he threw a gala dinner at his Virginia Trump National Golf Club for the 220 customers who spent the most last month on his $TRUMP meme coins.

Now, I don't pretend to altogether understand what a meme coin is (though I've certainly tired). I know it's some kind of digital cryptocurrency, which I also don't pretend to altogether understand (though I've certainly tried). Donald Trump, however, obviously altogether understands that sort of thing, as since he was elected to his second term four months ago his family has raked in billions doing all kinds of crypto deals: there were real estate deals with Qatar and Serbia, a bank deal with the United Arab Emirates, a Saudi-funded tournament at his Miami golf club.
Among these lucrative money-making ventures was his $TRUMP meme coin, which he launched a few days before his inauguration.

As I understand it, this $TRUMP meme coin doesn't physically exist. You can't hold it in your your hand. As I understand it, meme coins are imaginary things that people make up, then they make up a picture for it, post the picture of their pretend coin online and people pay real money for this pretend coin. The more people who buy the pretend coin, the more valuable it becomes. People then buy and sell their pretend coins. Apparently it's possible to make a lot of actual money trading on non-existent meme coins. Or lose a lot of actual money. Which is what happened with the $TRUMP meme coin.
When it was initially launched, the $TRUMP meme coin soared in value, then as soon as its value peaked the savviest investors fast as lightening sold their coins and made a terrific profit. The value of the coin then plummeted to almost nothing and everyone else who'd bought the coins lost their money. Donald Trump, meanwhile, who makes a fee every time a coin changes hands, made hundreds of millions on his $TRUMP meme coin.
Then back in April Trump came up with the idea to boost up the value of his coin. He ran a month-long contest, the prize of which was an invitation to a gala dinner with "Crypto President" Donald Trump. An invitation would be awarded to the top 220 buyers who spent the most on $TRUMP meme coins, as stated on the contest registration form:

Special access to Donald Trump was to be given to the top 25 spenders, with a VIP tour of the White House thrown in.
Contestants from all over the world reportedly spent over $394 million among them to snag a seat at the gala dinner table and, more importantly, the chance to influence the President of the United States and U.S. financial regulations.
And so last Thursday, May 22, the 220 winners of Donald Trump's meme coin contest arrived at his golf club, where they were met by protesters, whom they had to drive by,

...then walk by in the drizzle,

...until they reached the entrance of the golf club, where they then got their wrist bands and raffle tickets to win a gold Trump-branded watch. Donald Trump, meanwhile, arrived at his golf club for his gala meme coin money-making dinner in a U.S. military helicopter,

...and he also had them schlep along a podium bearing the seal of the President of the United States. Probably something along the lines of this one:

And so they came, millionaire and billionaire cryptocurrency investors and executives from around the world who'd dropped what was likely for them a little pocket change to buy $TRUMP meme coins for the opportunity to pedal influence with Donald Trump and maybe win a free watch at the gala dinner raffle. They came from China, they came from Korea, they came from Taiwan, they came from Japan and from other places, including the U.S. Among the American contest winners was Former pro basketball player Lamar Odom,

...who wrote of the Trump Gala on his social media, " Honestly...I'm fired up."
As were the other gala dinner winners. The top $TRUMP meme coin spender, Chinese billionaire and cryptocurrency magnate Justin Sun, who bought more than $40 million worth of the pretend coins, told the New York Times that he was very excited to meet Donald Trump and discuss with him crypto's future.
And enthusiastic Korean crypto executive and contest winner Sangrok Oh said of Donald Trump, "He'll always be good to his sponsors."
Taiwanese gala attendee and purveyor of crypto investments Vincent Liu told the Times, "It's great to see the direction that everything's going."
And that night the winners of the $TRUMP meme coin contest must surely have had a beautiful feeling that everything was going their way, at least while Trump was speaking to them from behind the Presidential podium.
"The past administration made your lives miserable," he said, referring to an executive order by Joe Biden calling for cryptocurrency regulations aimed at protecting consumers and promoting financial stability, and which kept some foreign crypto investors out of the American market. In his speech Trump promised to bring change to the American crypto marketplace. "They were going after everybody. It was a disgrace, frankly," he said of Biden's directive to regulate cryptocurrency. "And we're honored to be working on helping everybody here."
The attendees of this gala bribeathon whooped and applauded Trump's words. (Though mayhaps they were less enthusiastic when Donald Trump, after finishing his 20-minute speech then dancing for them in that embarrassing way he likes dance in public to YMCA,

...he left without staying for the promised Dinner with the President, which, according to those who were left to consume it, was a cheap, overcooked steak accompanying an ensemble comparable to bad airline food).

Meanwhile outside the protesters kept protesting.

"It's like the Mount Everest of Corruption," said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley.
More like the Mount Olympus of corruption.

References:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-qatar-air-force-one-gift-plane-c4e1d73c3dbe18397c10e3d3d267bcd6

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/trump-memecoin-dinner.html

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/peter-schiff-says-president-shouldnt-233050524.html

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-meme-coin-federal-law-2076682

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mike-johnson-dismisses-concern-over-201310115.html

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-holds-swanky-dinner-meme-coin-investors-says-biden-administration-persecuted-crypto-innovators

https://www.theverge.com/cryptocurrency/674327/trump-coin-short-sell-hedge-contest-dinner-winner

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-meme-coin-crypto.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-meme-coin-top-220-buyers-spent-140-million-analysis/

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"The Mount Everest Of Corruption," Part One

5/25/2025

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This is like the Mount Everest of corruption - Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley

It's bad enough that Donald Trump snagged a used extra-super jumbo 747-8 luxury jet from Qatar, a 10-year-old flying palace that the Qataris had been trying to unload for years and that will cost the American taxpayers a billion - I repeat, a billion - dollars to refurbish.

But, see, although two new jets were being built by Boeing to replace the current Air Force One planes, those planes weren't scheduled to be ready until 2027 or 2028, and Donald Trump wanted himself a new plane to fly around in, and he wanted it NOW.
And so, since whatever Donald wants, Donald gets, soon after his inauguration the Pentagon went on a discreet mission to scour the world to find a new prèt-à-porter plane for Donald.
When the Qatar plane was unearthed, discussions began between Qatar and the Pentagon for a possible deal for the U.S. to buy or possibly lease this plane to keep Trump happy until the new Air Force One replacement planes were ready.
In tandem with these negotiations, the Qatari plane was flown to Mar-a-Lago so that Trump could have a look-see. He had a look and fell in love with what he saw: a gargantuan aircraft that dwarfed Air Force One in size and opulence, a stately pleasure-dome fit for a modern day Kublai Khan.

The cost of flying the plane is $35,000 an hour. The trip from Qatar to Mar-a-Lago cost one million dollars.
Nonetheless Donald Trump simply had to have that plane, and so acquiring that plane for him became a front and center Department of Defense objective. Pentagon officials were in negotiations with Qatari officials on a deal to buy or rent the plane when Trump crashed the party, so to speak, by announcing on his social media page that Qatar was giving the United States - by the "United States" meaning himself - a free luxury jet.
But, Qatar, even though they'd up until then had no luck finding a buyer for their $400 million behemoth - or at least that's what it was worth that when it was new and had likely depreciated in value over the years - but still, they weren't intending to gift it to Donald Trump. But then, I guess weighing the pros and cons of disputing The Donald, they decided to go ahead and make him happy, gift it to him, and get something in exchange down the road.

Of course, the President of the United States accepting a $400 (or so) million dollar jet from another country is 100% illegal. The Foreign Emoluments clause of our Constitution forbids any person holding any federal office from accepting any gift or compensation from any foreign government or power without the consent of Congress.
Congress did not consent to Donald Trump receiving that plane from Qatar. But, on the other hand, Congress didn't object, either. Because Republicans hold the majority in Congress and are under Trump's thumb. And so, with nobody who had the power to enforce the law bothering to enforce the law, Donald Trump, as usual, blew off the law and accepted his free jet from Qatar after giving Qatar an offer it couldn't refuse.
Except that the Qatari jet isn't really free, anyway. It's been determined that it will cost the United States a billion dollars to rebuild it to Air Force One specifications. That's far more than it's costing to build the two new Air Force One's that are currently under construction. It's more than twice as much as the Qatari plane is worth. Not only that, it's likely that Trump's new plane won't even be finished before his term of office is over. Unless, of course, he decides not to leave when his term of office is over, an idea he's been bouncing around.
Or, even if Trump does surprise us all and follow the law by peacefully leaving when he's required to, he has directed that his plane won't remain Air Force One, but will be turned over to his Presidential Library. Which basically means turned over to him. He's promised he won't fly it after he's done being President. Which is probably about as true as anything else Donald Trump says.
For some of us this whole Qatar plane business begs the question: Was the free-not-free plane extortion on Trump's part or a bribe on Qatar's part?

I guess it doesn't really matter: six of one flavor of corruption, half a dozen of the other.
But Donald Trump's luxury Qatar plane is corruption; huge, outrageous, criminal mob corruption.
And yet, though it's bad enough, this case of Trumpian corruption isn't even the very worst. That worst corruption - so far - the "Mount Everest of Corruption" - so far - that Senator Merkley refers to took place last Friday night at his Virginia golf club.
To be continued...

References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/us/politics/trump-qatar-jet-gift-air-force-one.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/us/politics/trump-air-force-one-qatar-jet.html

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/politics/trump-adminstration-approached-qatar-jet

https://www.newsweek.com/reports-trump-administration-initiated-qatar-boeing-deal-2074527

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5406188/qatar-gift-plane-trump-air-force-one-overhaul-explained

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A Sad Aloha, Then A Happy One

5/21/2025

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Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"   http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
   "Hail Mary"    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
"Tropical Depression"       https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

A Sad Aloha, Then A Happy One

...Continued from yesterday:
On our last day in Honolulu, while we were having breakfast at the Hale Koa,

...one of our regular servers, a friendly guy who had been working at the hotel restaurant for all the years that we'd been coming there and who knew how much we loved Hawaii, gave us a box of cookies so that we could bring a little bit of Hawaii home with us.

A few days earlier another of our regular servers had given us this bag of coffee.

Tom had told her that the coffee at the Hale Koa was the best he ever had, so she went out to Costco and bought him a 24-oz. bag of the brand they serve at the hotel. She wouldn't allow us to pay her for the coffee, insisting that it was a gift.
As we were leaving the restaurant several of the servers stopped to hug us and told us to come back again next year. Lord willing we will.
We spent our last day and evening strolling around Waikiki and the Hale Koa grounds while I, as usual, captured more images of all the places and things I wanted to remember.
The view from our hotel room.

The Hale Koa courtyard

The Hale Koa botanical garden

A view on the way to downtown Waikiki

The Bank of Hawaii building

Downtown Waikiki

Hula Dancers at the Royal Hawaiian Center (see post from 5/1/2025, https://www.ailanthwww.ailantha.com/blog/in-search-of-hula-part-2a.com/blog/in-search-of-hula-part-2)

The Hale Koa courtyard at night

The next morning, Wednesday, April 23, in the wee hours, we were back in the lobby saying our final aloha to the Hale Koa,

...and soon after we were at the Honolulu airport.

Sadly, we had to say aloha to Hawaii.
But happily, six hours over the ocean after we left Hawaii we were saying aloha to Los Angeles, where we spent several days in the South Bay area, which I like to call "Hawaii Lite."

There we spent several days trekking up and down the hills,

...enjoying the flora and the architecture along the way.

A couple of times we ate at our favorite Hermosa Beach restaurant, Scotty's.

I also spent considerable time at Ralph's,

...buying provisions to make some dishes for our kind L.A. hosts.

Wherever you are, it always feels good to share the aloha.

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The Incomparable Bishop Museum

5/19/2025

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Though Tom and I have been to Honolulu over half a dozen times, still every time we go there we feel called to revisit the Bishop Museum, a treasury of the history and culture of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
And so on Monday, April 21, we set out from the Hale Koa across town to the Bishop Museum.

Panoramic views of Honolulu from the Bishop Museum.

After crossing through the lobby of the entrance building, which houses the planetarium,

...one enters the courtyard on one side of which is the science center,

...and on the other side of which is our perennial destination, the original Bishop Museum, built in 1889, that houses the world's largest collection of cultural and natural history artifacts of the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands.

I love to spend hours getting lost in the three levels of exhibits.

But among all the exhibits, I do have two favorites.
First is the Kahili Room,

...displaying the kahili, or feather standard staffs of the ali'i nui, or Hawaiian high chiefs,

...along with a history of the Hawaiian monarchs from Kamehameha I, who conquered and united all the islands,

...to Queen Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawaii, who in 1893 was forced with much sorrow to surrender Hawaii to the United States,

..and all the kings and queens in between, who I always imagine from their paintings must have been so uncomfortable, all trussed up in their Western clothing in Hawaii's tropical climate.

My other favorite exhibit is Pacific Hall,

…dedicated to the hundreds of Polynesian islands with their hundreds of languages and cultures, and with models of the canoes used by the seafaring islanders of ancient times,

...such as the double-hulled canoe that a thousand years ago carried voyagers from Bora Bora twenty five hundred miles across the Pacific Ocean to where they discovered the string of lovely, verdant islands that they named Hawaii.

Along with the permanent exhibits always on display at the Bishop Museum, there are also temporary special exhibits that offer something new to see each time we visit.
This time the special exhibit was on the ways in which the Kānaka ʻŌiwi - the Hawaiian people - sought to maintain their identity and assert their presence in the early years after their land became an American territory.

Part of the exhibit covered the ali'i - the chiefs, men and women who, since ancient times, were the leaders who carried out all the levels of governance and welfare of the islands.
After Queen Lili'uokalani was overthrown and Hawaii became a U.S. territory, the ali'i likewise lost their governing positions.
However, the ali'i remained leaders by organizing themselves into groups that continued to work for the health, education and welfare of the Hawaiian people. According to the exhibit, "The Ali'i championed philanthropic causes such as education, health, and elder care to provide for the well-being of all citizens of Hawaii."
Here is one of the exhibit photographs taken in 1919 of the Hale o na Ali'i Society wearing cloth replicas of the traditional feather capes formerly worn by the Hawaiian chiefs.

I left the Bishop Museum musing what a better place the world might be if, instead of the leaders we now have, the world were ruled by the ali'i.

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The Healing Power Of Indiana Jones

5/16/2025

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The Healing Power Of Indiana Jones

...Continued from yesterday:
Friday, April 18, was my visiting family members' last day in Honolulu. They spent the day on the beach for a final day of snorkeling, swimming, and sunning.

They reported that the snorkeling was exceptional that day.

Tom, meanwhile, hiked to the Ala Moana for his daily New York Times fix (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/i-maddie-or-maybe-penny), while I meandered around the Hale Koa campus and the beach snapping pictures.

After a little while, though, I headed back to the hotel, energy flagging, throat a bit scratchy, head throbbing ever so slightly, and my only desire being to to sit in the lobby and join the other folks enjoying the breezes and the Hawaiian music that always wafts through the open-air lobby.

View from the lobby of the courtyard below.

View from the lobby entrance.

The artisan merchants who come to the Hale Koa every Friday to sell their island arts, crafts, and jewelry were there in the lobby as well,

...including one vendor who we see there every year who bears a distinct resemblance to a certain iconic movie character.

Late in the afternoon the cold I felt like I might be coming down with officially arrived. And so that evening while the others went out for pizza and to watch fireworks on the beach, I schlepped myself down to the Post Exchange for some provisions. (The Hale Koa being located on the Fort DeRussy Army post, of course there was a PX on the grounds).

These I ate in my room while watching "Leprechaun," a dreadful yet watchable movie in which a very young Jennifer Aniston in her first movie role grapples with a murderous Irish Fairy.

(Technically, "Leprechaun" was not Jennifer Anniston's first movie. She was one of a troupe of dancers in a scene from a truly awful "E.T." rip-off called "Mac and Me."

However, in that particular scene Jennifer Anniston's presence is lost in the crowd).

The next day our visiting relatives left Honolulu, some in the wee hours, our daughters in the afternoon,

...so I pulled myself out of bed and rode along while Tom drove them to the airport.

That evening I once again rolled myself out of bed and we walked next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village,

...to eat again at the restaurant we'd discovered a few days earlier called Blue Water Shrimp (see post from 5/12/2025, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/kulu-kulu-honolulu-purple-yam-ice-cream-playing-at-konos-and-other-memorable-food-related-experiences).

After our delicious dinner we headed back to the hotel room where I flopped back into bed and turned on the television, roaming through the channels until I came to
AMC which, as good fortune would have it, was running an Indiana Jones Easter Weekend Marathon. By luck we tuned in at the last scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and so we were in time for the start of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

The next morning, quite miraculously, I woke up feeling ever so much better. I figured it must have been from taking a dose of Indiana Jones before bed. ; )
It was Easter Sunday, and so after breakfast Tom and I walked the mile and a half from the Hale Koa to St. Augustine by the Sea Catholic Church for 10 am Easter Mass.
It was a beautiful morning, and the streets were already full of people,

...as was the beach on the other side of the street.

Though we arrived at St. Augustine's about 15 minutes early, the church was so crowded that we were lucky to find a place to sit on a step at the back of the church near a statue of At. Augustine.
The church was quite beautiful,

...and the altar and entrance were flanked with feather standards, the staffs of the Hawaiian chiefs.

The music was also beautiful, Here's a clip of the choir singing.

After Mass we strolled for a while along Kalaka'ua Avenue.

We stopped for lunch at Lulu's, a restaurant we'd been to on previous visits.

We were seated in a great spot along the bar that overlooked the scenery below.

As on our previous visits, the food was really good, and the wait staff so nice.

After lunch we walked back along Kalaka'ua Avenue,

...to Fort DeRussy,

...and the Hale Koa,

...where I was happy enough to spend most of the rest of the afternoon sitting around in the lobby.

That evening we split an order of the Easter Dinner Special at Happy's.

Then we walked down to Waikiki beach to join the others who were there watching the sunset.

Then we went back to our room to catch more of the Indiana Jones Easter Weekend Marathon.

Seems no matter how many times you watch him, "Indiana Jones" just never gets old.

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I, Maddie. Or Maybe Penny.

5/14/2025

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I, Maddie. Or Maybe Penny.

...Continued from yesterday:
One Wednesday evening we were out having dinner with our visiting relatives at the food court at the Royal Hawaiian Center in downtown Waikiki.

One middle-school-aged member of our familial group decided they would like some Raising Cane's.

I offered to take our youngster to get their Raising Cane's. The line was a mile (a figurative mile) long, and when we finally reached the front of the line I could see that the counter was a beehive of activity, an efficient assembly line of young workers busily and noisily bustling to and fro, some taking orders, others churning out parcels of chicken fingers, side fixings and drinks.
"Name for the order?" asked the counterworker after my youngster ordered their chicken fingers and Texas Toast.
"Patti," I replied, evidently too softly to be heard above the buzz of fast food workers and customers.
"Maddie?" asked the worker.
"Patti," I repeated.
In due time an order that I thought must be ours arrived at the pick-up counter.
"Maddie?" called the announcer of order arrivals.
"I guess I'm Maddie," I joked with my youngster, and we both had a little chuckle.
The following day a couple of us accompanied Tom on his daily trek to the Barnes and Noble at the Ala Moana Mall to get a copy of the New York Times. It seems that the Ala Moana Barnes and Noble is the only spot in the Waikiki vicinity where one can acquire a copy of the New York Times, and it's always a day late. However, as my mate Tom likes to say, "These times demand the Times." Even if the news therein is a day late.
And so we all headed out on the pleasant mile walk from the Hale Koa to the Ala Moana.

Our first stop was at the Barnes and Noble to pick up the New York Times.

We then left Tom off at the food court to have a cup of coffee and read his paper,

...while we strolled around Ala Moana, the largest open air shopping center in the world.

...the top floor of which offers a panoramic view of Honolulu.

We stopped in a few stores, including It's Sugar,

...a most beautiful candy store,

...that sells all kinds of sweet treats,

...and where all around the store there are charming sea sculptures made out of candy.

Then we returned to the food court to meet Tom and get some lunch.

My young relative decided they'd like another round of Raising Cane's.

While we waited in line I jokingly asked if I should give my name for the order as "Maddie." My youngster opined that I should. So I did.

"You know, though," I said to my young relative, "I really don't think 'Maddie' suits me. I'm not a 'Maddie.'"
"No," they agreed. "You're more of a...Penelope."
"Penelope?" I thought about that name for a moment. Penelope. The wife of Ulysses in "The Odyssey." Evokes things classical. Cultural. Kind of arty. Slightly strait-laced.
Yes, I agreed with my youngster, "Penelope" would be a good name for me. "Penny" for short. “Penny” is nice. Kind of mellifluous and understated, though the "y” at the end bespeaking a capacity for humor and lightheartedness.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt “Penny” was a more suitable name for me than “Patti.”
Well, all right, maybe not really more suitable. I guess I just like “Penny” a lot more than “Patti,” which, in truth I’ve always accepted as merely the least awful of the several iterations I’ve tried of my legally given name, “Patricia Ann,” or - as back in middle school my friends loved to gleefully make me aware - the present tense of “Patrasha Can” (See post from 1/30/2014, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/ill-tell-ya-whats-in-a-name).
So anyway, though I think I’d like it fine if I could be a "Penelope/Penny,” I expect I’ll be a “Patti" (but please don't ever call me "Patricia!") 'til I cross over the rainbow bridge.
But if there's such thing as reincarnation, I guess there's always hope to be a "Penny" on my next go-round.

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Kulu Kulu Honolulu, Purple Yam Ice Cream, Playing At Kono's And Other Memorable Food-Related Experiences.

5/12/2025

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Kulu Kulu Honolulu, Purple Yam Ice Cream, Playing At Kono's And Other Memorable Food-Related Experiences.

...Continued from yesterday:
One day while we were in the elevator at the Hale Koa a group of several of our fellow riders were discussing among each other where they would eat dinner that night. One of them then turned to the rest of us on the elevator and quipped, "When we're on vacation all we think about is eating."
He was speaking in jest and we all chuckled, but we knew what he meant: When you're on vacation eating is part of the experience, often a memorable part.
Like our breakfasts at the incomparable Hale Koa breakfast buffet, which make breakfast the most sublime meal of the day.

And yet, even on top of a glorious Hale Koa breakfast, when lunch time rolled around, there we were thinking about eating again, often at Happy's, the Fort Derussy short-order take-out eatery, where one time, grabbed by the delicious aroma wafting from behind the counter, I succumbed to the temptation of trying the fried chicken and French fry combo, to which I developed an immediate lunch time addiction, the French fries being so hot and crispy, and the chicken being equally hot and crispy on the outside, and oh, so juicy on the inside.

Tom, on the other hand, more prudently developed a lunchtime craving for the seafood salad, a doubtlessly healthier option,

...though I usually gave him a bite of my fried chicken.
We had some good dinners as well at Happy's, especially the Easter Dinner Special, a platter of steak, potatoes and vegetables that was so generous that we split one meal.

On Friday, April 11, our daughters Claire and Theresa arrived along with a few other relatives to spend a week with us in Honolulu.

After their long flights and with their body clocks being six hours later than Honolulu time, they were ready for bed by 7 pm. But then I suggested they join us in going out to the Royal Hawaiian Center for our daily cream puffs from the Kulu Kulu Honolulu bakery,

...which helped them find their second wind.
So we all walked into downtown Waikiki to the Royal Hawaiian food court and joined the Friday night crowd there.

After looking over the wares in the Kulu Kulu Honolulu display case, Tom and I planned on getting our usual cream puffs, and Claire chose a tiramisu pastry.
Theresa, however, decided that, rather than a pastry, she would like a shave ice from the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand on the street in front of the Royal Hawaiian Center. In fact, a shave ice sounded good to me, too, so I decided to go with a shave ice instead of a cream puff.

So Theresa and I went out to the shave ice stand and joined the long line of folks who, like us, were also in the mood for a shave ice.

However, this was quite an efficient operation, and so the line moved fast,

...and soon we had our shave ices,

...and the others their tiramisu and cream puff.

Then we walked back to the hotel through the enchanting lights of Waikiki.

However, switching out my usual cream puff for that shave ice was sort of an epiphany that opened my eyes to the other possibilities I could be seeking out at the Kulu Kulu Honolulu instead of staying locked in my cream puff habit.
And so the next time we went to Kulu Kulu Honolulu I considered trying something new. The bakery sold soft serve ice cream as well, and I found myself intrigued by a purple-colored flavor called ube.
One of my daughters, who had tried ube ice cream on a previous visit to the island, told me that ube was a purple Hawaiian sweet potato, that it made a delicious ice cream flavor, and that I should try it. But I wasn't sure I wanted to try sweet potato ice cream. In fact, I was more sure that I didn't want to try it than did.
"Oh, come one, try it," said my daughter. "You'll like it."
Now, one had the option of buying an ube ice cream cone, or an ube-vanilla twist. This being my first time, I decided to cautiously try the twist.

It was delicious, just as my daughter promised, though I couldn't very well distinguish the purple part from the vanilla part, the two flavors rather melding together.
Still, on our next visit to the Kulu Kulu Honolulu (by which time I was now on familiar terms with the server, who would greet me with, "Hi! You're back!") I decided to jump into the deep end, so to speak, and try the fully ube cone.

I also decided I would try to figure out exactly what it tasted like. I closed my eyes as I began licking and concentrated on what this taste could be compared to. It was not exactly vanilla, but...butter pecan. That's what ube reminded me of. Butter pecan. And so from now on, if I'm ever again given the opportunity to eat ube ice cream, why I'll do so without fear.
One night when all the other members of our family group had scattered to do their respective things for dinner, Tom and I decided to seek out some food at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, an outdoor mall located next to our hotel where there were a variety of shops and restaurants.

We came across a place called Blue Water Shrimp that we decided to try,

...where one ordered one's food at the counter, which would be brought, when ready, to one's table,

...in the cute dining area.

The food turned out to be fantastic, and the portions ginormous. Tom had the grilled salmon,

...while I had the grilled rib eye. Deelish!

The restaurant also served beautiful pineapple smoothies in a cored out pineapple,

...as well as ice cold coconut milk in the coconut.

We knew we now had a new go-to dinner place to add to our list of Waikiki go-to dinner places.
Another night one of my daughters came up with the idea of going to Kono's for dinner, Kono's being a terrific burrito place about a mile from the hotel that we discovered a couple of years ago.
And so we walked through town to Kono's.

There was a courtyard next to the restaurant with tables and chairs,

...and I noticed a piano sitting in the courtyard.

It looked as if it were there for anyone to play,

...so I did, briefly.

To be continued...

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Water, Water Everywhere, But I Don't Like To Swim

5/9/2025

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Water, Water Everywhere, But I Don't Like To Swim

...Continued from yesterday:
At the Hale Koa, the military R&R hotel in Fort Derussy, Honolulu where Tom, I, and a few days later, a few family members stayed,

...there are two pools.
There's the adult pool, set back in a secluded tropical bower.

And there's the meandering all-age pool,

...that includes a kids' splash pad,

...a water slide,

...and an infinity pool,

...that looks out over Waikiki Beach.

Then, where Fort Derussy ends, Waikiki Beach begins,

...with its clear, gentle, blue water.

And then there are the lovely blue water beaches beyond Honolulu, that we visited during our trip:
Ko'olina,

...Hanauma Bay,

...and Shark's Cove,

And then there's me,

...who doesn't like to swim. Or sit around by a pool. Or on a beach.
In truth, except for the shower, I really don't like to get into the water much at all. Especially the ocean. Maybe it's because I never learned to swim.
In any case, to me the ocean is scary. It moves. And there's, you know, things in it; things that might be alive and might, I don't know, sneak up on you and...bite you; or sting you; or touch you and you won't know what it was that just touched you. None of which seems worry everybody else.

And yet, here's the paradox: though I don't much like getting into the water or sitting around on the beach, I do like being at the beach and looking at the water. I love the beauty, the natural wonder of the landscape and the seascape, especially of Hawaii. And I enjoy walking along the margin of the water and snapping pictures of that beauty,

...and of everyone else enjoying the sand and the sea,

...which seems so appealing when I watch other people enjoying it that I kind of wish I could, too. And which, on every trip to Hawaii, I swear I'm going to try, as I once again swore I would on this trip.
Our visiting relatives, who would arrive on Friday, unlike me love the water and were looking forward to snorkeling at all the beaches we were planning to take them to during their time here. And so I had reserved snorkeling gear for them at Snorkel Bob's, a popular snorkel shop near Waikiki.
Snorkel Bob's

On Friday morning, the day of my relatives' arrival, I woke up at 5 am (not out of necessity but rather out of residual time zone jet lag). But it was so very pleasant sitting in the Hale Koa lobby, enjoying the breeze and the beautiful Hawaiian music playing over the speakers, watching the light mosey up and the pink-blue sunrise sky.

It occurred to me that maybe the sun and sea on the beach soothed others' souls the way the breeze and music in the Hale Koa lobby soothed mine.
Still, later that afternoon when our family arrived and I took them to Snorkel Bob's to pick up their gear, I thought I'd see about picking up some snorkeling gear for myself and then giving snorkeling one more try, even though the last (and first) time a few years ago that I tried snorkeling I lasted under the water for about fifty-nine seconds: The sea was too cold, I don't know how to swim, I couldn't stand putting my face underwater even with a mask, I didn't even like being in the water, and being that close to live fish gave me the creeps, even the beautiful exotic fish swimming among the coral reefs.

In the end it was the memory of that last time, and especially of being that close to the fish and the thought of them being that close to me that made me back off from renting any snorkeling gear for myself.
And so, during our snorkeling trips to the beaches beyond Waikiki (our strip of Waikiki Beach being, they tell me, also a great snorkeling spot) I was happy to walk along the surf, snap pictures, and watch our stuff so that everyone else could enjoy being in the water and watching the fish.
On Saturday we went to Ko'Olino, a lovely beach west of Honolulu.

After our morning at the beach we went to the nearby town of Kapolei,

...for lunch at restaurant called Monkey Pod,

...where the music was lovely,

...the chickens friendly,

...and the food delish!

The following day, Sunday, we went to beautiful Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, where one must make a reservation in advance, as only a limited number of visitors are allowed each day, and where visitors are required before visiting to watch a video laying out the nature preserve rules to follow in order to protect the delicate coral reef ecosystem.

Hanauma Bay. The dark areas are the coral reefs where snorkelers find a magical kingdom of tropical fish,

...unless, like me, they prefer to stay on land,

...where there were also some enchanting sights to be seen,

...including a sea lion also enjoying the beach.

On Monday we travelled up to the north side of the island,

...to Shark's Cove,

...where there is a rocky tide pool where at low tide one has only to step into the shallow water to see sea creatures darting about the rocks below.

And so here I did wade into the shallows,

...since I needed only to stand in water up to my knees and look down to see the fish below, a few of which I managed to snap as they swam by.

Those who ventured out deeper and closer to the reef,

...told of seeing more fascinating things: sea turtles, a little octopus, and a humuhumunukunukuapua'a fish that nipped the leg of one of my family members for for getting too close.
I believe for me getting bitten on the leg by a fish would be too steep a price to pay. Even to see a humuhumunukunukuapua'a go swimming by.

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On A Mission In Chinatown

5/5/2025

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On A Mission In Chinatown

...Continued from yesterday:
My mate Tom needed a new watch. Well, in truth, all he really needed was a new battery installed in his old watch. However he'd have settled for either an inexpensive new watch or a new battery in his old watch.

We were in Honolulu, though, and, while there were some upscale jewelry stores in the area where he could have procured a high-end watch if he'd wanted a high-end watch, neither the Target at the Ala Moana Mall nor the Long's Drug Store in Waikiki had a watch department. We figured maybe it was because most people simply don't use watches to tell time anymore. They use their phones. Tom still likes his watch.
However, I came up with the idea of looking for a watch or a battery replacement shop in Chinatown.
Chinatown is an old historic part of downtown Honolulu near the waterfront. The Chinese laborers who emigrated to Hawaii in the 19th century to work on the sugar plantations eventually left the fields and many gravitated to this area to become merchants and entrepreneurs. During our visits to Honolulu Tom and I always visit Chinatown.

We like getting a sense of Hawaii and its history beyond the beaches. And this time we were also on a mission.
And so on Thursday morning we started out from the Hale Koa,

...and walked a couple of blocks to the bus stop,

...from where we took a bus to downtown Honolulu.

We then walked to the heart of Chinatown.

We looked in a few shops, but without any luck at finding a watch,

...until we came to this shop, which carried watches.

But, alas, all the watches, even the men's watches, were glitzy, glittery affairs with rhinestone faces and shiny faux silver or gold bands that Scoutmaster Tom wouldn't be caught alive wearing. Nor would I.
We went next to the Maunakea Marketplace,

...where we came across all kinds of interesting things,

...but no watches.
We entered one place that looked like a consignment store.

We asked the elderly woman who was tending the shop if she sold watches. She appeared not to understand English, but called from a back room a young man who translated for us. She then smiled and nodded and gestured for us to follow her.
She led us out of her shop and down the street...back to the glitzy watch store!
We decided to abort the watch mission and go visit the Kuan Yin Buddhist temple.
We walked several blocks along the river,

...past men playing cards and board games,

...and the Japanese Izumo Taishakyo Shinto shrine,

...until we came to the Kuan Yin Temple.

Behind the temple is located the Foster Botanical Garden, which we next visited.

After our walk through the garden we decided to seek out some lunch at our favorite Honolulu Chinatown eatery, a Thai-Lao restaurant called Olay's,

...where the dining room is set in a charming garden,

...with a koi pond,

...and yummy food. Tom and I both ordered the Pad Thai.

Though the restaurant was crowded when we arrived, by the time we left most of the lunchers were gone and the place was quite serene.

After lunch we decided to head back, so we walked back to the bus stop,

...and caught the "E" bus to Waikiki.
We actually got off the bus a couple of blocks early. Just because it is such a nice walk to the Hale Koa hotel.

That evening we walked the mile from the Hale Koa to the Ala Moana Mall,

...where we ate at the food court, a place we discovered a few years ago when it was revealed to us that this was a favorite eating spot among the locals.

We tried a place we'd never tried before called L.A. Brisket,

...where the beef was out-of-this-world tender and delicious, and the portions so large that we split a meal.

After dinner we walked back to the Hale Koa. Which was also a nice walk.

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In Search Of Hula, Part 2

5/1/2025

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In Search Of Hula, Part 2

...Continued from yesterday:
I couldn't believe it. The final performance of the Kilohana Hula Show was exactly one week previous. If we'd come to Honolulu one week earlier we'd have caught the last show (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/in-search-of-hula-part-1).
Tom and I sat at the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound for a few more minutes while I nursed my disappointment and we tossed around what to do with the hour we had been planning to spend watching the Hula Show.

Not that there was any lack of things to do.
We headed back down Kalakahua Avenue in the direction of downtown Waikiki, passing what there was to see along the beach and the avenue.

We decided to pop into the International Market, a nice mall,

...except for the Cat Cafe Moff, which we visited last year and, I'm sad to say, in no way approve of (see post from 5/18/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/a-tale-of-two-cat-cafes).

After the mall we decided to revisit Duke's Alley (see previous post).

Then, since we were near the Royal Hawaiian Center, where there is a pretty grove, a mall, a food court and a cultural office,

...I got the idea of stopping into the cultural office and asking if they knew of any other hula shows in the area. Even if it wasn't the Kilohana Hula Show, I still longed to see some hula.
As it turned out, we learned from the very friendly young guy working in the cultural office that there were, in fact, hula shows on the stage right there in the Royal Hawaiian Grove every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday evening from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. We were in luck: It was Wednesday.
So Tom and I returned to the Royal Hawaiian Grove that evening about 5:15 pm, by which time the area was already crowded with folks who, like us, had come in search of hula.

However, we were able to find ourselves a nice sitting spot on a long flat rock.
Tom in front of our rock.

The performers were a troupe called the Pu'uhonua Trio and made up of three singer/musicians and three dancers, all of whom, we would learn at the end, were related: mother, daughters, sisters, husbands, wives.

(At one point one of the performers joked that if one spends enough time on the island one realizes that everyone is related).
Now, not having seen the Kilohana show, I can't compare the hula we saw at the Royal Hawaiian Grove to the hula that we didn't see on the Hula Mound. But the hula we saw at Royal Hawaiian was wonderful.
The dancers performed to traditional island songs sung with beautiful Hawaiian harmonies. One could not but be carried away by the music and the singing,

...and by the dance,

...performed with so much beauty,

...joy,

...generosity,

...and with such graceful, flowing movements.

Here are a couple of clips of the Pu'uhonua Trio dancers and musicians:

We saw one more hula show at the Royal Hawaiian Grove, a Tuesday night show the night before we left Honolulu. This was a performance by the Kawika Trask Trio, a troupe of three musicians and four young dancers who performed an enchanting and captivating mix of traditional as well as ancient hulas brought over from the South Seas by the earliest seafaring people who migrated to the Hawaiian islands.