Where to spread my ashes: the list is long!

By • October 17, 2012 • Musings, The Daily Dish

I’m going to apologize in advance for this morbid topic.

I blame the fact that I hang out with 60-year-olds.

But one morning we started talking about our plans post-death.

One guy wants his ashes spread at his favorite surf break in Waikiki. Another wants his spread back on Molokai, where he’s from. And another wants someone — probably me — to lug his ashes to Paris and watch the sunset from the steps at the Basilique Sacré-Coeur.

It made me think about my plans once I die.

It’s not something I think about much since 1) I’m pretty healthy and 2) I’m fairly young. But you never know when your time is up, and it’s probably a good idea to share with others now — while you’re still alive! — what you want for your funeral or memorial service.

I don’t think I could pick a single place to spread my ashes. Maybe under the Eiffel Tower, at Queen’s in Waikiki, into the Pacific Ocean during an episode of aurora borealis, or at Rainbow Drive-In. There are just too many places I want to be!

But I do know one thing: when I die, I want a party. I want people to eat, drink, talk story and have fun. I don’t want anyone to cry or worry or wonder. Just know when I’m gone, it’s fine. Time just ran out on the video game and I did my personal best.

Have you thought about this, too?

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Trick or treat: I’ll take treats, thanks

By • October 15, 2012 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

This weekend my girlfriend was telling me that a former governor lives near her family’s home in Mililani — and passes out ice cream cones for Halloween.

“People would drive up to drop off their kids,” she said. “They knew.”

I would do the same, too, if I knew he was doling out ice cream!

It made me think about the kind of Halloween candies I used to get when I was a kid.

I grew up in Kalihi Valley — and even back then, it wasn’t the safest place to walk around for treats. We would get the usual booty — Milk Duds, Whoppers, Snickers, Smarties, Tootsie Roll Pops, Starburst and little boxes of Nerds.

My favorite were the packets of Sixlets, the candy-coated chocolate balls that, it seemed, was only available in October. I would trade anything — Skittles, Twizzlers, Peanut M&Ms — for these!

But there were definitely better treats out there, namely the homemade cookies, fresh fruits and Rice Krispie treats some houses would hand out. (Of course, when I was growing up, there was the razor-in-the-apples scare, and we weren’t allowed to accept fruits or anything homemade. But I digress.)

I remember one house — and I bet he was a dentist — would give out travel-size toothpastes. He wasn’t a very popular house.

So what were your favorite Halloween candies — the stuff you would trade your Lego for — and got any memories of trick-or-treating in your neighborhood? Share here!

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FUUD: Restaurant Wada on Kapahulu

By • October 12, 2012 • Food

It started with a simple request.

Japanese food.

So my girlfriend and I drove around town, looking for a Japanese restaurant that was 1) open, 2) had parking and 3) at least decent. We weren’t picky at that point.

Imanas Tei Restaurant was packed and we couldn’t find parking at Izakaya Nonbei. But before we left Kapahulu — we were on our way to Sushi Izakaya Shinn and maybe Mr. Ojisan — we took a chance and pulled into the parking lot at Restaurant Wada.

Wada opened last year in the space vacated by Tokkuri-Tei — though you would never tell walking inside.

We had asked the valet if the restaurant was crowded. He checked and came back, saying, “Nope, you can grab a table now.”

So we did.

I was curious about this izakaya (Japanese-style tavern), as I’ve seen delicious photos on Instagram. (Thanks, Reid!) I had read about its Kobe-style ishiyaki grill, its sashimi omakase, and the different ways tongue and tripe could be prepared. So here was my chance.

Though we didn’t get to eat everything we had wanted — trust me, we were full on just six plates! — we did get to sample some of the more interesting dishes on the menu.

Here’s what our fateful dinner looked like:

Restaurant Wada

Image 1 of 11

This izakaya opened last year in the space vacated by the very popular Tokkuri-Tei.

Restaurant Wada, 611 Kapahulu Ave. Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; dinner, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Phone: (808) 737-0125

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What’s happening to the North Shore?

By • October 10, 2012 • #CatTravels, Musings, The Daily Dish

Awhile back, I had written a post that was never published on how much Waikiki had changed since I was a kid.

It was aimed to run after the $115 million renovation to the Royal Hawaiian Center, which, in June 2008, transformed the more than 310,000-square-foot shopping and dining complex along Kalakaua Avenue. It’s got a decidedly Mainland feel, with huge storefronts for such retailers like Apple, Bebe, Tourneau and Bvlgari, just to name a few.

I was conflicted at the time: the streets were cleaner, the landscape more inviting. But it didn’t feel like the Waikiki I remembered growing up. And I couldn’t see the ocean.

But it’s Waikiki. It’s a playground for visitors to Oahu, with rows of hotels, restaurants and shops lining Kalakaua Avenue on both sides. It’s supposed to be tourist-friendly, accessible and self-contained. I get it.

But the North Shore?

The changes out there have been even harder to accept, with Haleiwa looking more like how Disney would interpret Hawaii for Disney World. You can’t rebuild old plantation-style structures and turn-of-the-century buildings. It just doesn’t feel sincere or authentic.

So when I heard about Kamehamehama Schools’ $12.6 million plan to redevelop four acres in this historic town, I didn’t know how to feel, exactly.

The plan calls for demolishing four of nine existing buildings — including the one that houses Aoki’s Shave Ice — and restoring two. The famous (particularly with visitors) Matsumoto Shave Ice will be spared.

It pits two long-time, family-owned shave ice stands against each other, and that makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

Talking with owner Stanley Matsumoto, there has never been an unfriendly rivalry between the two shops. They have coexisted for more than 30 years, offering similar but different flavors and goods. And both have devoutly loyal followings.

So it’s no surprise the outpouring of support for Aoki’s when several media outlets — and the shop’s own Facebook page — reported it would be closing up shop.

It’s hard to watch the North Shore turn into this visitor destination, though I know it was only a matter of time.

Folks are lured to this area primarily for the massive winter swells. But over the years, shops and restaurants have seen increases in traffic during the flat summer months, with visitors flocking here because of its reputation. The beaches are pristine, the snorkeling stellar. And now, thanks to development, there are lots of shops, boutiques, restaurants and cafes to patron.

It’s a hard balance: you want businesses on the North Shore to survive (and thrive!), but you don’t want to change its appeal and charm.

And building new and more shops and buildings may not be the answer.

What’s your take?

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‘Rage against the dying of the light’

By • October 9, 2012 • Musings, The Daily Dish

The one thing that happens when you — like me — hang out with people 30 years older than you, they make references you can’t place.

They talk about the Piggly Wiggly in Kaimuki and Spanish rice in school lunches.

And they refer to poems and songs I’ve never read or heard.

Like “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet who died in 1953 — a full two decades before I was even born.

It was used in an announcement that one of our dear friends — Jim “Jimbo” Hudson — had lost his long battle with cancer. (I blogged about him back in 2009. He’s the third from the left in the first row.)

I say “long” because when he was first diagnosed three years ago in California, we weren’t sure what was going to happen. The cancer had spread throughout his body. He couldn’t swallow. He stopped eating. He had lost a lot of weight.

But over the past three years, he fought. He went through treatment like a champ. (He even managed to keep his well-coiffed hair!) He made a couple of trips back to Hawaii, where he loved to surf, and paddled out in Waikiki like nothing had changed. He was that same upbeat, smiling guy in the lineup — with the perfect head of hair — and it seemed like he had kicked the cancer to the curb.

But we all knew it would be an epic battle — and we all hoped for the best. Remission is always possible, right? That’s what we silently told ourselves.

But the cancer finally overtook him, and after months in hospice, he slipped away, paddled out to that proverbial surf break in the sky.

It reminds me of that scene in “Point Break” where Bodhi, played by Patrick Swayze, points at the massive swell and says, “Look at it! It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, man! Let me go out there and let me get one wave, just one wave before you take me in. I mean, come on man, where I am I gonna go? Cliffs on both sides! I’m not gonna paddle my way to New Zealand!”

He goes. He doesn’t come back. But he had the ride of his life.

So the poem the Old Guys posted couldn’t have been more appropriate.

“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

The poet, who watched his father grow weak and frail with age, is telling us to fight death. No matter how we’ve lived our lives, fight it. Do it for the people who are left behind. Do it to give courage and faith to others in the same battle. Do it because you still can.

Jimbo, you will be missed in the lineup. But you will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace.

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