day trip to kauai

wanted to visit the graves of my dad and grandparents and spend the day with Nelson and Ruthie on Kauai, another island about a 20 minute flight from Honolulu. we got up early and got to the airport.

what??? not united... on the Hawaiian airlines plane

here we gooooo

can't believe we are here, it's been so long.

sleeping giant. a big landmark in Kauai.  after the airport we picked up Nelson and Ruthie at Nelson's sisters house then off to Kapaa to put some flowers at Nelson's first wife grave. 

Next stop is a Hawaiian quilt shop... so many choices but just got a book but could have stayed all day!!!

wish i could make this one, so cute

lunch time! our favorite place to eat in Kauai

it's a small shack and we had to wait since the seating is limited and it's a popular place.

started with fried won ton and a beef and chicken BBQ stick, both very good

famous hamura's saimin.  worth a trip to Kauai just to eat this!!! even good on a hot day...

OMG, is this place real??? Nelson told us they have the best taro chips here.  as we drove up we didn't think it was open cause it looked like a condemned house.  It was a dump but sorta looked open.  Jeff and Nelson went in.  Jeff said the inside was unbelievable (not sure what that meant except bad).

taro chips were very good and the best we have had.  will go back again!!!

visiting with auntie Julia at her restaurant.  had a great time talking and eating some snacks.  it was great to see her again and wish we could visit more often....

lilikoi chiffon pie, a specialty of Kauai.  super duper yummy!!!

the day went super fast, in fact we almost missed our flight back to Honolulu and had to run for our plane.  wish we could have stayed longer... as usual it was sad to leave...

We're on Vacation!!! Hawaii our favorite place to be...

We have arrived!!! View from our hotel room... 

Zippy's, our first dinner!!! rice, fried chicken, chili and mac salad...

zippy's saimin, still good

Our favorite malasdas were closed today so we had to go to Leonards.  Picked up our cousins Nelson and Ruthie (from Las Vegas) at their hotel to spend the day with them.  They visited Hawaii the same time as us but are only spending a few days in Oahu and then going to Kauai to celebrate Nelson's sister's birthday... we are going to also meet them there for a day

wow, those malasadas look so yummy!!! but had to wait since Jeff had to get his coffee at starbucks. Good thing it wasn't very far away!!!

Nelson and Ruthie

first big bite... yummy

so good

we ate the whole dozen of malasdas!!!! it was memorial day so we visited the graves of Ruthie's parents (uncle larry and auntie bessie) , our grandparents and Nelson's parents and brother.

it was really nice to visit and bring them flowers

For dinner we went to dk's steakhouse to celebrate both of our 20th anniversaries.  Nelson's Auntie gave them some mango's so he had the chef cut them for us.  very delish!!!  Jeff also brought his own wine from his collection to celebrate!!!

crab dip

Nelson's steak (he is a steak lover and wine too)

our dinner was super good and we had another great celebration.

(we are celebrating all year long)

Nelson and Ruthie were off to Kauai for the rest of the week and we hiked to makapu'u lighthouse.

It's about a 2 mile hike each way, up hill on the way up.  The first time we did the hike last year it took us 2 hours.  This time we walked up and ran back down, in 45 minutes.  It was so hard to get there and I felt so out of shape but in the end it was fun and felt great.

good thing it was a cloudy day!!!

Jeff's favorite saimin place is closed, so sad...

we'll just have to come back to Hawaii soon

butter rolls from Liliha bakery.  so good.

saimin at Liliha bakery for dinner.  good but not great.

spam and egg sandwich.  the bread was so soft and yummy.

valentine's day in Napa....

warning: this post contains lots of good food, so if your hungry you might want to look at this later...

first stop, lunch at Taylor's Refresher... yummmmmy

the weather was rainy and our flight was delayed for hours but we finally arrived.

cold and rainy but still beautiful

dinner time

michael chiarello, always wanted to see him in person and this is our second time...

soooo many choices....

vino

appetizer, artichokes and burrata cheese

short ribs for jeff and rissoto with salmon for me both were yummy...

side of polenta, it was super rich and good

desert, huckleberry bread and gelato, looks strange but taste good...

breakfast at bouchon bakery

ham and cheese croissant and coffee

jeff's favorite doughnut only made on the weekends...
the best way to start the day. we wish we had bouchon bakery near our house but jeff said if we did we would weigh 500 pounds and that would not be a good thing!!!

regusci winery

wine tasting

all good...

lunch, had to pick taylor's again... so good

the menu

waiting for our order

burger and tortilla soup... good on a cold day

more wine tasting at elyse, another favorite

dinner at our favorite french restaurant bistro jeanty...

yes, we ate all this food in one day!!!

sole, words can't describe how good this is

steak

frites (fries, french!!!)

simple ice cream and chocolate sauce...
our tummy's full after we ate all that food

Happy Valentines Day!!!
hope everyone had a lovely day...
finally went shopping, yippeee!!!sadly, didn't get this bag but a smaller one... oh so cute!!!
(i have a bag and shoe addiction)

valentine's brunch

a thomas keller restaurant.

we made reservations months in advance and were really looking forward to this!!!

the menu

kinda strange but salad was very good...

eggs benedict

grits

chocolate panettoni bread pudding
the most perfect valentine's day brunch...

one last stop before going to Airport...
the line was really long but we wanted to get one last thing for dinner when we got home...

we got ham sandwiches, chips and cookies, drove to San Francisco and few home...

our valentine's day dinner...

very yummy... a little picnic at home!!!
we love napa and wish we could live there one day but we have a long list of places we wish we could live...