A real local favorite of mine that is quickly becoming a visitor must-do is the hike to Kuliou’ou Ridge.  The trek starts at sea level from the back of Kuliou’ou Valley.  Follow switchbacks leading up the mountainside until you notice the vegetation change from tropical trees to pine and finally to steep red dirt cliffside.  The end of the trail has one of the most rewarding vistas on the island, as you are able to see both the south side of Oahu and the east side from Hanauma Bay and Rabbit Island to Kailua and the Mokulua islands.

There is a picnic table a little more than halfway up the trail, which makes for a really pleasant snack stop before continuing to the top of the ridge.  Be sure to bring lots of water, as this hike is a bit strenuous compared to other hikes on the island.

This hike takes four hours round trip — three if you’re fast.  From town, drive along the Kalanianaole Highway, taking a left on Kuliou’ou Road.  Drive all the way into the valley.  Park at the end of Kala’au Road.  The trail begins from the cul de sac.

What was once a little-known lighthouse on the rocky eastern coast of Oahu has now become one of the most well-trodden yet wonderfully rewarding hikes on the island.  Many visitors choose to hike from the the parking lot along the paved path to the lighthouse and back.  There are, however, two worthwhile detours, both of which take add an extra hour to the hike.  The first are to visit the pillboxes scattered on the hillside, which will give you a sense of the effects of Pearl Harbor and Hawaii’s current role as a Pacific port of call.  The second leads you down the steep, rocky path to several tide pools you can swim in and blow holes that make for entertaining flying objects by the water’s edge.  During the winter, from November through April, be on the lookout for whales, who find the Makapu’u Lighthouse an especially nice place to breech.

This hike takes two hours round trip, plus two hours for the additional detours.  Take the Kalanianaole Highway past Hanauma Bay and Sandy Beach.  Parking is available on the right hand side, just before the hairpin curve leading to Sea Life Park.

Just wanted to comment on breakfast that we had this morning at I Love Country Cafe. They are known for the breakfast menu of giving large amounts of food for a very decent price. And there are MANY MANY healthy choices, as it is a popular spot for bodybuilders and athletes. But this morning while going to work, my girlfriend and I were hungry, so we stopped by I Love Country Cafe (the one next to Ala Moana adjacent to Blockbuster and Payless Shoes). What did we find there? Seriously, one of the cheapest breakfast’s I’ve had in the longest time.

Basically, for $2.75, you can choose between three combos. The first is 2 eggs, rice, and ham or spam. The second is 2 eggs and french toast, and the third is 2 eggs and pancakes. We both got scrambled eggs, brown rice, and ham (we’re both trying to be more health conscious). All I can say is wow, for $2.75, this is a steal. The ham was very tasty, and were cut up into large triangles. It kind of had a slight spam taste, but most likely this was because they probably cooked the ham next to spam on the same pan (that kind of rhymed huh?). The eggs were great, and didn’t have that very buttery taste some restaurants make them, which I don’t like too much.

So was this a bargain? Sure it was! They have lots of local variations for breakfast, so I would say stop on by if you are short on cash and want delicious healthy food. Really, I KNOW I’d rather go here to get their breakfast than any fast food joint. Period.

If you ever drove on Beretania St. and wondered what that little Chinese restaurant on the corner was, let me tell you about it.  The Northern Chinese cuisine restaurant is called Dew Drop Inn, and it’s a great place to dine if you are a big Chinese food fan.

The restaurant is VERY VERY small.  About 8 tables total.  It’s a cute little place, and it gets even cuter when you look at their menu.  They do have a traditional large menu as seen in all Chinese restaurants, but what sets this place apart is a little photo album that has pictures of many of their dishes with their prices.  This gives you a better idea of what you are eating, especially if you don’t frequent Chinese restaurants.  I think it was a great idea!

My mom and I bought their Drunken Chicken, Jia-Jiang Mein, and Shao-Bing pockets with pork filling.  The flavor of the chicken dish was really awesome, and the “drunken” part of the dish does live up to its name with a very alcohol taste.  Some may not like this dish, but it tastes a lot better than it sounds.  The ginger on top of the cold chicken was also a nice touch.  The Jia-Jiang Mein is basically a noodle dish with a ground pork sauce and chopped cucumbers.  They give it to you in a pretty large bowl, so it was worth it.  The dish wasn’t as salty as other restaurants, so I would recommend this dish since it was perfectly seasoned.  Lastly, the Shao-Bing pockets are basically large pieces of flat dough with seasame seeds on top, and cut on the inside to make a pita-looking pocket.  You fill the pocket with their ground pork and tofu, which was more sweet than salty.  I loved the shao-bing pockets, since they were large (size of your palm), and they gave you four hot pieces.  The pork filling was a bit too sweet for me, and was almost like char-shiu.  If you want the best place for shao-bing, go to Kirin on Beretania across Star Market.

If you are feeling Northern Chinese Cuisine, look no further!  They are located on 1088 South Beretania.

Why do I say this?  Think about the last time you went to a car dealership wanting to just check out what’s there.  How many of you saw a group of dealers sitting around, and once you arrive, they stalk you like prey.  And even if you INSIST that you are browsing, they keep tagging along.  Once you show remote interest in a vehicle, they are already sitting you down to get your information.  I just hate it.

At Honda Windward, where my dad purchased an Accord about 2 years ago, we have the most pleasant experience.  No one hounds you, no one pushes you to buy, and best of all, everyone is very friendly and smiles all the time.  But I’m not here to talk about the dealers.  I’m actually here to talk about the service department.  I recently bought an Acura in 2006 from Pfleuger.  They treated me fairly well, as I had previously bad experiences with them (and sadly, they are the only Acura dealership on Oahu and I wanted an Acura).  Luckily all the people I dealt with were really awesome and nice.  BUT, their service department…it’s just a big rip off.  I was lucky to receive two free oil changes when I got the car, but little did I know, the oil changes were $49.99.  REALLY?!  Are you kidding?  When I was up for my 3rd oil change, I called to figure out the price since I had my first two for free.  They told me $49.99 and I just gasped.  Mind you, I don’t have a high performance Acura…it is just the base model RSX.  It doesn’t need special oil.  It just needs Honda oil.

So I called Honda Windward.  What does it cost there?  $29.99.  Pflueger Acura’s SPECIAL for oil changes cost $39.99.  Is there any difference?  No.  There is no such thing as Acura oil.  Honda makes Acura, and they use all Honda parts.  Don’t believe me?  Open your hood next time if you own and Acura and notice all the parts are labelled Honda.  That’s what I mean.  And Honda Windward also service Acuras along with Hondas.  Why?  They share similar parts and pretty much run the same way.  Makes sense since Acura is just the luxury line of Honda.  So I got geniuine Honda oil and filter for $29.99.  That was great news.  But besides the price, what made it worthwhile?  The friendly staff, who call you when the oil change is done.  They even look for you if they can’t get in contact with you on the phone (they found me at the show room).  Here are the reasons why it was good:

1. $20 cheaper
2. They stay true to the manufactuer’s timing to change oil.  They did the usual 6 months or 5000 miles, whichever is first.  Pflueger reminds you that it’s due on 3 months.  The ACURA MANUAL says it’s 6 months, and changing it more frequently will not help your vehicle.
3. Friendly friendly staff.
4. They give you a FREE CAR WASH at their Honda Windward Auto Spa not too far away.  Yeah, it’s normally $9.
5. They gave me ANOTHER free car wash through e-mail just for using them.

I can go on and on.  No wonder those commercials for Honda Windward always praises them for being a good dealership.  They do live up to their name.  I can’t say the same for other dealerships.

One night after a long day at the beach, we decided that we should head out for a nice dinner.  Since we had a coupon for $25 off (a gracious gift given by Non-Stop Travel for booking a trip on the Pride of Aloha), it was a good time to use the coupon since we’ve had it for quite some time and it was going to expire soon.

First off the ambience is very nice.  The restaurant it dimly lit, but with accents that have a very indian and southwest asian look to it.  The restaurant was not very packed, but I know that I’ve seen it much more packed before, so I wasn’t too worried about the amount of people.

Let’s start off with the food.  We purchased the set menu for two, which included either one satay, small plate, or salad to share, two big plates for the entrees, and one dessert.  This would cost us $33 per person.  We ended up ordering the salt and pepper calamari with shrimp as our appetizer to share, which came with a vinegar and green chili sauce.  It was very good.  The batter was very light and crispy, so we definitely enjoyed this dish.  The sauce was also very good, and I almost wanted to keep it for what else was to come.  The normal price for this appetizer was $12.  For the entrees, I got the chili plum glazed rack of lamb, which was on top of a sweet onion curry risotto and was served with a side of sesame tempura asparagus (original price $28).  It was very tender (but not as tender as the lamb at Le Bistro…which by far as the best lamb ever), and the chili plum was a good complement to the lamb.  The lamb did not have a gamey taste, but they did include mint just in case.  The curry risotto was a big surprise, and I’m not normally a big fan of risotto, but I think I could eat a huge bowl of that.  My girlfriend got the thai style fish of the day, which was the tender opakapaka.  You could have a choice between thai, vietmanese, or indonesian (original price $23).  She said the thai style was a bit salty, and the forbidden black rice was not that tasty and was too crunchy.  She did enjoy the tangy cucumber salad with a roasted aromatic rice powder that came with it though.  The thai style was basically frying the fish crispy with a basil, shallot, and chili sauce.

For desert we got the sundae with coconut (1 scoop) and banana (2 scoops) gelato, with fudge sauce and coconut shavings.  It was surprising good, especially the coconut gelato.  I wished they had given us 2 scoops of coconut gelato since it was so good, but oh well.  This was originally $7.

So with the set for two, if you purchase things that are kind of pricier, it would save you some money.  In this case, it saved us only $4.

I only have three complaints.  The service was REAAAAAAAAAAAALLY slow for a restaurant that was pretty empty that one night we went.  The waitress just kept on talking to her coworker and just took her time.  That kind of irritated us.  Another thing about the waitress was that when we said that we ordered the dinner for two, she disregarded this or forgot and charged us the entire price.  Maybe because she wasn’t paying attention.  The other complaint was when we presented the $25 coupon.  Instead of taking off the entire $25, she subtracted $12.50 from the bill, taxed it, then subtracted another $12.50.  She said it had to split up, but couldn’t really come up a reason why, and didn’t explain it too well.  This of course meant that we had to pay a little more, because we had to pay tax on a larger total.  It’s more of the principal than the actual cost.

So bottomline, the food was pretty good, the service was kind of bad (perhaps just our waitress?), and the coupon wasn’t calculated correctly.  I might try it again, but probably with a different waitress.

Last weekend we headed off to Diamon Head Market and Grill for breakfast since it’s pretty much in our backyard, and we had a few fantastic lunch sessions.  And since you have to eat outside, it was a good opportunity to bring our dog too.

I ended up getting the roast pork hash with an over-easy egg on brown rice.  My girlfriend got the fried rice (also brown rice) with scrambled eggs and portuguese sausage (the meat for me of course).  Both plates included, I guess what you could call cornbread, but it was sweet and had some subtle coconut topping.

Both plates were really delicious.  It didn’t cost us too much…about $20 total.  The roast pork hash was very delicious, with nice chucks of potato and a great crispy crust.  The over-easy egg was also really good, and the brown rice was surprisingly a perfect compliment to the dish.  Her fried rice was definitely one of the better ones I’ve eaten, and the portion was LARGE.  And being that it was brown rice, I was quite surprised how great it worked out with fried rice.

So what do I not like about this place?  The Market that is connected to the grill is WAAAY to expensive.  I got two drinks, Arizona Iced Tea and a French sparkling lemonade.  That set me back almost $5.  I can see how the food there might be expensive because it looks all fresh, but the drinks?  I know Arizona Iced Tea is 89 cents almost everywhere.  I suggest buying your own drinks and bringing it over to save some money.  But besides that, this is a great place to eat breakfast.

They are located at 3158 Monsarrat, which is pretty close to the Zoo.  Go check it out!

If you’re looking for a place to wind down with locals in a comfortable setting, the new Therapy Sports Bar in Koko Marina Shopping Center might be the place.

I stopped in with a friend two months ago just after the bar opened, and the bar was relatively uncrowded.  It has a nice clean setting with a bar in the front, games along the wall (including basketball and computerized games), karaoke TV’s throughout the place, and two pool tables in the back.  I imagine a day visit would be worthwhile too, as the entire back wall overlooks the lagoon.

My second trip just yesterday demonstrated its increasing popularity.  It cooks up pupus and food all day and night and can hold large parties up to 12.  So, when you tell your friends you’re “going to Therapy,” it will take on a whole new meaning.

My girlfriend and I headed over to the north shore so that we could get some awesome Kahuku shrimp.  And where else to get the best garlic shrimp that Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck?

For $12, you get a pile of shrimp with two scoops of rice.  They LOAD the garlic and butter all over the shrimp, and are even kind enough to put the sauce over the rice too.  Since we were sharing the plate, I also got a garlic hot dog, which was $3.  Let me tell you, that hot dog was also very very worth it.  It had a nice garlic taste, and it was the size of a Costco hot dog.

Luckily we got there kind of late (around 1:30pm) due to some traffic because they were fixing an electric line.  Why lucky?  That’s cause we didn’t have to wait in line!  Last time we were there, it was soooo packed, we had to wait quite a while.  This time, it only took about 2-3 minutes before we got our food.

Next time, I want to try their spicy shrimp.  It looked good, but there is a disclaimer that said it was very hot, and there were no refunds.  That must be some real spicy shrimp…still not sure if I’m up to the challenge.  If you tried this shrimp, let me know, and if it’s worth it, I’ll be sure to try it.

So how do you get there?  Just take your normal route to the north shore and get off onto Kahuku.  Keep on driving until you see the truck.  That’s it!

So the next time you are heading down to the north shore, make sure you stop by Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck.  You will NOT be disappointed.

The other night we went over to The Fat Greek on Waialae Ave since we heard good reviews on it from our coworkers.  Turns out we really like Greek food, so this was a perfect opportunity to eat there!  And, we live pretty close to the restaurant, so it only took us about 5 minutes to get there.

The first thing I have to gripe about was the parking.  It’s awful…at the beginning.  The restaurant is located between City Mill and Saab on Waialae Ave.  The best way to park is to go down Waialae Ave towards Ewa side.  This way, you can make a right and get right into the parking lot…which can hold about 5 cars maximum.  What we DIDN’T know was that if it’s after 5pm, you can park at the City Mill parking lot and walk across the street.  We didn’t know that, but next time we’ll park there…it’s just more convenient than the crowded and impossibly hard to park area.

The restaurant is actually pretty nice.  It’s reminds me of Kakaako Kitchen at Ward.  Why?  It turns out people don’t actually serve you.  You just purchase the dish at the counter, then when your order is ready, your beeper will vibrate and you just go and pick up the dishes yourself.  They even have a fountain drink machine if you order soda.

I ended up ordering the gyro and my girlfriend got the falafels.  We also ordered babaganoush (sp?) for our appetizer.  The babaganoush was actually very tasty.  The eggplant was grounded up pretty well into a nice paste, and it tasty really good with their pita bread.  And let me tell you, this was probably the best pita bread I’ve ever had.  It was very soft on the inside and not overly cooked on the outside.  And the pita came out fresh and warm.  Can’t beat that!

My gyro was equally as delicious, with cuts of beef and lamb.  Their cucumber sauce in the gyro was reaaaaaaaally tasty too.  Not too overbearing, and just right.  I was able to taste the falafels as well, and they were really good.  What I was kind of disappointed with was the salad that came with the entrees.  It wasn’t really greek.  It was basically salad with onions and dressing.  Gone were the feta cheese and olives.  That’s what makes a Greek salad, and both those things were missing.

We also got dessert which was a raspberry pyramid chocolate cake.  It was very good, looked cool, and wasn’t too rich.  I kind of wished there was more raspberry since there was only a little layer in the center, but nevertheless, it was enjoyable.

Both my gyro and her falafel plates were $7, and the appetizer was $5.  The dessert was $4.50.  All in all, it was a pretty cheap dinner with tasty food.  Would I go back?  Definitely!