Cookin'- Studio Style

Thanks to Carl's incredible hunting and gathering skills, we eat like royalty pretty much all the time. A few nights ago we had zucchini, rice, ahi, and lobster with garlic butter. It was AWESOME!!!! Its hard to believe that we pull off the dinners that we do in our tiny studio apartment, but somehow we make it work.

But one things for sure- no matter what you're cooking River will be right next to your feet every step of the way. She doesn't get our leftovers anymore, but her tenacity has not let up one bit.

Watermelon!

Carl and I spent the day after our wedding at our favorite beach with a few of our friends and River. We had an amazing time, and we had the entire beach all to ourselves. But somehow in our blissful daze we neglected to take adequate care of our dog, and she unfortunately suffered from a heat stroke and was rushed to the emergency vet. It was very traumatizing for all parties involved. We vowed to never let it happen again, yet one week later we almost went through the same experience. I was able to catch it earlier though, and River was fine.

Now we go to the beach prepared. We bring gatorade every time we take her out, and this time we brought one more thing- watermelon. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is what I study, watermelon is used as a preventative for heat stroke, so today I decided to try it out. I cut up a seedless watermelon before we left, and we brought a few gallon sized bags full in the cooler. I was curious to see how River would like it, and it turns out she loves watermelon. I would hold a slice for her so it wouldn't get all sandy, and she would gnaw away. Needless to say, we didn't have any heat stroke incidences today.

Bug Report

The boss gave us full reigns on borrowing the boat for lobster hunting. The season opened on the first, and we finally got the opportunity to go last nite. After the manta ray trip we dropped off the customers and headed straight back out. Six of us paired into groups of two and headed off in separate directions. The water was super clear, and the moon was full so visability was good. We each had a flashlight of some kind, and Chris and I had a 3-prong hawaiian sling and a speargun between us. The current was rediculous, and it really made it tough to navigate the walls, arches, and ledges that the lobster hang out around. Next time we will be more prepared.

Chris and I both ended up swimming around with two lobster each in our hands. They try to get away from you when you least expect it, so you have to keep a tight grip on them. This makes it very interesting to do things like check your air pressure gauges, adjust your mask, equalize, etc.. Needless to say we should have a more productive trip next time with proper gloves and bags for the bugs.

At the end of the dive we noticed a large Uhu (parrotfish). We decided to add him to the list of soon-to-be-barbequed sea creatures. These guys are beautiful and taste great too! More to come....

creepy crawlies

Kona has a ton of insects crawling around all day and night. It is something that a person must make peace with if they intend to live in this tropical environment. We leave our doors and windows open 24/7. Luckily the local gecko and cat populations keep most of them in check.

Yesterday the office girl Jasmine set off a bug bomb in the shop at work. Amongst a ton of dead roaches, there were these two guys crawling around just hours after deployment. They are quite creepy, and they get to be twice this size. These were about 5 inches long. I have spoken with several people that woke up to find these in their beds at nite. Those that have been stung say it hurts pretty bad, a bit like a scorpion I believe. We harrased these guys for awhile and then left them for the office girl to find in the morning ;). Dont worry, she has a good sense of humor!

Bikin' It

We did so many fun things with our families while they were here. Not in any particular order, I'll start going through a few of our adventures. We'll start with the bike ride of a life time.

A few weeks ago I joined 14 of my family members, including my sweet Mema, for a bike tour of one of the few presently erupting volcanoes in the world, Kilauea. The ride was 16 miles long, and it was breathtaking. We rode by craters, lava tubes, fern forrests, and lava fields. Our tour guide Eric was extremely knowledgeable, with degrees in geology and hawaiian studies. I can't imagine there could have been a better person for the job.

This picture was taken at the entrance of the Thurston lava tube. Some lava tubes on the Big Island are as long and wide as a New York City subway. I'm not sure how big the Thurston Lava Tube is, but its definitely the biggest one I've ever seen. It was very dark and cool inside, and water was dripping from the ceilings. Eric told us that ancient Hawaiians used to cut the tops off of gourds and set them in the lava tubes to collect water. It is supposedly some of the purest in the world.

And here's Mr. Muscle man Alex....

p.s. that rock weighs like 2 pounds. it only looks heavy.

The tour ended with a picnic lunch and a van ride to a winery, which we all agreed was terrible and could definitely be nixed. I believe its the only winery on the Big Island, and it left much to be desired. The wines were all extremely fruity, and needless to say, we did not care for them. But it was my Mema's first wine tasting, so that made it more fun.

We're Hitched!

Last Sunday concluded the most wonderful and beautiful week of my life. We had all of our family in town for a celebration of our lives together, and it was beyond any words I can find to describe it. I cannot begin to make you understand how incredibly blessed and touched we were to have so many of our closest friends and relatives all gathered for three straight days of love and laughter. The weeks prior were very stressful, to say the least, but I would do it all again a thousand times over to experience the gift we were given. Thank you so much to all of you that were here in person and in spirit. We cannot thank you enough for sharing this time with us. We are blessed beyond words.

sushi time!!

With all the family in town and all of the wedding preparations going on, we haven't had much time to blog. I thought I would put up some pics of the fishing trip Brian and I had last week. We have being making a serious effort to learn this style of fishing, and it is starting to pay off. We landed the first fish at around 10pm, and shortly after putting the fish on ice and congratulating ourselves, we get another strike. The second fish was a bit smaller, but still a solid fish. We also had several run ins with a large oceanic whitetip shark, which we caught twice. We also caught a much larger blue shark (12ft) twice. These sharks would come into the chum line and take our baits. We would fight them to the boat and cut them off, only to have them return 30 minutes later and take another bait. It was very exciting.

The next morning we trolled around after the sun came up and caught a small mahimahi (15lbs)and a small bigeye tuna (25lbs) which tasted great. Sashimi from bigeye tuna is even better than yellowfin!

The largest ahi went 137lb on the scale, with the smaller one right at 80lbs. We cut up the small one to divy up amongst friends and family, but the big one went straight to the market and fetched us a nice check of $360! Cant beat getting paid to fish. More to come soon.