Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Almost back to the real world.

I am having a lovely time right now. I am at a resort in Kaapaa Kuai. It is gorgeous, the company has pulled out all of the stops for our last two nights on the islands. Until now the accomodations have been budget. Not bad or anything but not luxurious. This however is off the hook. Spacious rooms, pools with pool bars, saunas, amazing gardens and a private beach. I spent today just swimming in the surf and lounging by the pool. I really want to stay forever. OK not really I am glad to be going home to the wife and kids but I am going to miss Hawaii.

I am already plotting how I am going to bring them here for vacation. Maybe next April when the humpbacks are here, bring my little girl to swim with me in the sea, my son to explore the volcanoes and lava caves, and my wife to romance in the warm tropical nights. I so badly want to share all of the adventures and experiences I have had here with them.

I am going to miss so many of the things that have become staples of my life while I have been here. Lions blend coffee, Rice with every breakfast (although that is something I will start doing at home.) Plate lunches, the fresh fruit, being able to buy liquor at Seven Eleven which is like a dream of my youth come true, it is so satisfying to be able to buy a Slurpee and a little bottle of rum to put in it. Swimming in the ocean before breakfast, convenience store musubu, (musubu is a dish something like sushi, rice rolled in nori but without the vinegar and spam or teriaki chicken instead of fish, it is so good and is in every convenience store like breakfast burritos are around my home.) I am going to miss poke, I had never had poke before and am now an adict. I am a big raw fish eater anyway sushi, sashimi and carpachio, but they pale before poke. It is the king of fish dishes. Tonight I had Ahi/Wasabi poke and fresh papaya for dinner, with lemon squeezed over both and a little ice cold white wine. Absolutely nuts and under ten bucks

I am going to miss the birds flying in every building because nowhere bothers with doors, I am going to miss the peacefull tranquility of the nights which exists even in the middle of crowded Waikiki.

I have one more day of work tomorrow and one more night here then I fly home. I will be glad to see the family and share my pictures and stories, and remind my wife how much I love her, sadly I only have two days to catch up before I am off again for a week in eastern Washington. After that however I have a week off, I will be home in time for my sons birthday and then have ten days before I travel again. To Idaho this time I think.

18 comments:

Tracy said...

The dream of your youth- being able to buy liquor at the Seven Eleven. LOL

My grandparents owned a tavern so all the booze was at my disposal in my childhood.

Glad you enjoyed your work/vacation.

Tracy said...

I read the comment you left about my daughter to Sarah. Her face lit up and she smiled and said, "I like Ryk cause he's the only one who didn't tease me about my teeth."

I had to laugh cause I am guilty of teasing her a little.

Happy Birthday to your son!

Hope you have a wonderful homecoming!

Ryk said...

Tell her Hi. Mick has been lucky so far he has only lost one tooth at a time. My daughter however had holes in front just like Sarahs. I think it is beautiful so she doesn't need to worry if people tease.

Ryk said...

I have had a great homecoming so far. I didn't get in until three AM because of the time change and the drive home from the airport and unloading equipment at the office and driving my teammates home and etc. etc. I gave the kids kisses when I got home and my girl woke up, then my wife woke up and visited for a while and treated my sunburn for me.

This morning I gave out presents and we are off for both fun and chores but I am taking a quick blog break while we have lunch.

Will be back later.

Fiat Lex said...

Hawaii sounds delicious. Where I work now, we have a sushi guy, but alas--he gets off at seven and I at ten, so after the fist time I do not want to chew raw tuna and eel which has been cooling on a shelf for two hours. One day perhaps I will make it to Hawaii, see the ocean in person, dig my toes into the sands thrown off by Pele.

Happy birthday to Ryk junior (unless his name is something else, in which case happy birthday to him, the singular and original!), and I am happy for you, that you have had this wonderful trip. Taking your family back there is an admirable ambition and I hope you can do it soonly.

Peace and such.

Tracy said...

Sorry ryk and fiat lex but you guys are gross for eating raw fish!

Now lobster,smoked, grilled and fried fish and Mexican food are delicious. ( I ate escargo a couple of times. I didn't like it, but I thought I was cool.)

Ryk, You struck me as a Marlboro man, steak and potatoes kind of guy.

Sarah says Hi back and thanks.

Ryk said...

Tracy

I do like my steak and potatoes from time to time but I also like more adventurous fare. I love most oriental foods, and am a big lover of Sushi and Sashimi. I love to cook as well and am always experimenting with new dishes I cook a mean barbecued rib eye but I also serve up some excellent steak au poivre.

My wife is a good cook as well so we seldom eat out when we are together, romantic evenings usually involve leaving the kids with grandma and coming home to cook for each other.

As to apprerciating raw fish it is mostly a state of mind. If you think of it as raw fish at first it will seem gross. I suggests starting with somthing mundane like sushi with cooked seafood like crab or smoked salmon and then experimenting with other types, save Tako for last. Another good "raw" preperation is carpacio. It is effectively cooked with the marinade. It isn't truly raw even though it hasn't been heated.

To each his own anyway, it may well be that some foods just aren't for some people. Fortunately my kids aren't fussy they like most everything we serve them. My son is actually a food daredevil. Mick goes out of his way to eat odd things he loves shark and frog and aligator, as much for the idea of eating them as the taste.

A few months ago I was having a special family barbecue and told everyone they could pick whatever they wanted for me to cook. My daughter asked for filet and lobster, (she is going to bankrupt some poor boy as a teenager), my wife wanted some grilled Ahi, my son however wanted a whole trout with the head on. He had seen it done on a barbecue show and had to try it. I did a pretty nice job of it, stuffing it with herbs and orange slices and getting the skin crispy. He spent the whole meal talking to the fish while he ate it. "Oh aren't you a yummy fishy? yes you are, now I am going to eat your tail, mwa ha ha ha." Needless to say the boy aint finicky.

Ryk said...

Fiat, yes it is definitely worth going. Had I not gone there for work it would have been a long time before I justified the expense to go for vacation. It doesn't sound worth it. Just playing on the beach and surfing, I can do that near home. However having done it I understand why people pay the money. It is a unique experience and everything just feels different.

Anyway I am off again. I leave for Seattle WA in about half an hour so I have to go.

Take care.

Tracy said...

I'm just wondering if that raw fish tastes just like chicken? Filet and lobster, yum. I can picture your son talking to his fish. lol Kids can be so funny.

We've been eating out quite a bit and bbqing since our kitchen is still under construction. I love Mexican and Chinese food. I will make some gourmet meals when it's finally complete. When all is said and done it will be worth it.

I have gorgeous maple cupboards with corian counters and a wood floor. I'm still painting. Our house is an old victorian fixer upper. And all that we have been doing since we bought it is fixing it up! I really don't know why we didn't just purchase a brand new house. Guess it wouldn't have the character this one has.

If you ever connect to facebook you could see the pics.

Ryk said...

Sounds lovely, We are still apartment dwellers. It seems every time we have the resources to buy something comes up, a lay off or apprenticeship, or something. Our place isn't bad but I want a house.

Hopefuly I will be back to construction soon and will be able to finally buy.

Ryk said...

No raw fish doesn't taste much like chicken, eels do a little but only a little. I cant really describe the taste of sashimi to someone who hasn't ate it except to say it isn't fishy. That flavor that people associate with fish must be a product of cooking because uncooked it has more of a fresh meaty taste and is very smooth and buttery. Except octopus which is chewy. I am no big fan of octopus I had a pretty tasty helping of tako poke in Mauii but usually I avoid it. It is better cooked I think. I once had an Itallion octopus dish which was great, although I can't remember what it was called. Unlike raw octopus it was tender and flavorful.

Tracy said...

Construction worker that's right. You could have a life long job here at our house.

Ryk said...

I could certainly use one, I have a week off soon so I have time to make the rounds and check my resumes. I am top guy on the hire list so if anybody is looking they need to hire me first but hopefully I can convince somebody who isn't hiring that they need me.

I enjoy this job quite a bit but I would rather be building, plus it pays significantly more. I would stay at this job if I had the time to move up to management. Management people get the opportunity to travel to India, China, Europe etc. and they make pretty good money. However that would take to many years of not earning enough.

I am making it on this salary it isn't awful but I am not used to just making it, I like a little cushion. I already went through the take a pay cut and work back up when I took an apprenticeship I am too old to do it again.

I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to stick with this through the winter though. Working rooftops in December isn't great and I would get a trip to Alaska in January. I guess I will take it as it comes.

Tracy said...

Do you do all types of construction work?

Roofing is hard work! Our roof is the first thing that we had completely removed and replaced. Those guys worked in the blazing sun! I offered them water and lemonade.

I will continue to pray about your job situation.

Jesus was a carpenter, you know. Just had to throw that in. :)

Tracy said...

was/ not is

Ryk said...

I am an air conditioning tech, I mostly do refrigeration piping, wiring, and computer controls, I also do a bit of roofing, framing, and duct work, but I mostly handle the technical stuff.

Tracy said...

I know you wrote about being an air conditioning tech on my blog. I guess I didn't retain it. It sounds complicated.

Ryk said...

It can be, a lot of the time it is just grunt work welding, fitting, pulling wire and that sort of thing but on other jobs there is all sorts of computer climate control and energy saving stuff that has to be all mapped out and programmed which can be very complicated.

There is a lot of variety in what kind of work and what sort of equipment, that is part of what makes it interesting.