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Spirit
of Aloha | Articles
| Aloha Shorts | January/February
2008
Aloha
Shorts
News
and Notes from Around our World
PHOTO: JOEWESTPHOTO.COM
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Lāna‘i’s Got Good Taste
The island of Lāna‘i’s petite landmark Hotel Lāna‘i, built in 1923 by pineapple industrialist James D. Dole, reopened last fall with new owners, new décor and a savory new restaurant: Lāna‘i City Grille, under the direction of award-winning Hawai‘i chef Beverly Gannon, one of the original founders of the Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine movement.
The menu emphasizes fresh local ingredients, with dishes like home-style meatloaf that make you long for home.
“Friday Under the Stars” is a dinner-hour music fest every week. For reservations, call 565-7211. |
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| PHOTO: PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION |
A Whale of a Festival
Another reason to love Maui is for the great humpback—a beautiful, intelligent and endangered whale that can weigh more than 40 tons. Each winter, as many as 5,000 humpbacks migrate from Alaska to Hawai‘i, where they play, breed, give birth and rest within the safety of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. You can help celebrate them this year at the Great Maui Whale Festival Feb. 9-24, sponsored by the Pacific Whale Foundation and County of Maui Department of Parks and Recreation. There will be events galore, including special whale-watching adventures, a volunteer whale count, a race and more. Call the Pacific Whale Foundation at 249-8811 or visit pacificwhale.org for more details.
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PHOTO: DARRELL ISHII
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Chocolate
at the End of
the Rainbow
Chocolate from Waialua Estate, a 20-acre cacao farm on O‘ahu’s North Shore, is now much in demand by world-class chocolate makers. Hawai‘i’s rich volcanic soil and gentle climate are the perfect ingredients for growing cacao, and Hawai‘i is the only U.S. state to grow it—with Waialua leading the way.
Where do you find Waialua chocolate? Island company Malie Kai Chocolates introduces its Pure Hawaiian Dark Chocolate bar and Pure Hawaiian Milk Chocolate bar, featuring 55 percent and 38 percent cacao, respectively, all harvested from Waialua Estate. Find them at Neiman Marcus, Executive Chef and R. Fields in Honolulu, and other locations statewide. Visit maliekai.com for more information. |
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PHOTO: BRETT UPRICHARD
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Maui
Nō Ka ‘Oi—Once Again
For the lucky 13th time in 20 years of the Readers’ Choice Awards poll, readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine have selected the Hawaiian island of Maui as the “Best Island in the World.” More good news in the same survey: Maui surpassed every other destination in the world—island or otherwise—as “most desirable to visit,” with a grand score of 90.0, ahead of Sydney (87.8), San Francisco (85.5), Florence (84.8) and Bangkok (82.6). Gone to Maui lately? |
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PHOTO: BISHOP MUSEUM |
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Pictures Still Worth a
Thousand Words
In 1940, the Bishop Museum’s handsome Picture Gallery, one of three galleries that formed the foundation of the museum when it opened in 1891, was closed due to space restraints. Its valuable and enormous collection of paintings and other works of art depicting Pacific cultures at the time of Western contact vanished into the vaults.
Now, as part of the museum’s plan to restore the historic Hawaiian Hall to its original glory, the collection will again be available for public viewing. The grand reopening of the Picture Gallery is scheduled for Jan. 19. On permanent display will be 18th- and 19th-century oil paintings of early Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, illustrations of Pacific flora and fauna, early views of volcanoes and striking portraits of prominent individuals and Hawaiian monarchs as interpreted by such noted artists as John Webber, Louis Choris and David Howard Hitchcock.
Plan your visit by going to bishop museum.org or calling 847-3511.
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PHOTO: MICHAEL DARDIN, QUEENS’ MARKETPLACE |
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Meet You at the Marketplace
Hawai‘i’s newest shopping center is on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast. The upscale Queens’ MarketPlace—a 28-acre center with space for more than 70 shops, eateries, gardens, offices and other venues—opened in October at the Waikoloa Beach Resort, and was an immediate hit. By early spring the MarketPlace will be home to new restaurants and an enormous gourmet market featuring more than 250 artisan cheeses, wines and specialty food products. All this, plus a blend of whimsical architecture: Look for the ‘Iolani Palace bandstand, a Chinese pagoda, a Japanese koi pond, and Hilo Town and Honolulu Chinatown buildings. Call 886-8822 for
more information.
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MUSIC:
Listen Up
•Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar: One of Hawai‘i’s signature sounds is that of the slack key guitar—a unique, loose-tuning style of playing practiced in the Islands for 150 years. “Treasures” draws from various live concert performances on Maui and is the third in the successful series (the first two won Grammy Awards for Best Hawaiian Music Album for 2005 and 2006). Many of the great slack-key masters are featured, including George Kahumoku Jr., Ledward Ka‘apana, Cyril Pahinui and Dennis Kamakahi. It’s a must have. (Daniel Ho Creations)
• Maunalua—Ho‘okanaka: Favorite local boys Bruce, Bobby and Kihi have hit the mark yet again with their new release, which follows on the successes of their award-winning debut album and second album. “Ho‘okanaka” presents harmonically enchanting renditions of some of the most beautiful traditional Hawaiian songs ever created, as well as new material written by the group. The trio’s refined talent and passion for Hawaiian music shine through in every piece. (Lökahi Records)
•Matt Catingub Orchestra of Hawai‘i—Back to Romance: What happens when you combine some of Hawai‘i’s best loved contemporary male artists, including Henry Kapono, Jeff Peterson, Robert Cazimero and Jake Shimabukuro, with some of the world’s best loved romantic songs such as “Tenderly” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me”? The answer is an atmospheric album with originality and style, from lush piano instrumentals to jazzy vocal pieces to contemporary ‘ukulele, backed by the jazz orchestra of choice in Hawai‘i. (Mountain Apple Co.)
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Books
• Traveler’s Tales
The small publishing house of Interlink Books, based in Northampton, Ma.,
several years ago conceived the idea of a series of “On-the-Road” histories of each of the 50 states that would be “as idiosyncratic as the states themselves.” The Hawai‘i version, On-the-Road Histories: Hawai‘i, written by John H. Chambers, an Australian, was published in 2006 and was hard to find even in big Hawai‘i bookstores. It seems to be available now, if you look long and hard, and it’s a handy companion for first-time travelers, or for long-time residents seeking to update their knowledge of the land. Many nice archival color and black and white photographs and maps illustrate lively discussions of major (and sometimes interesting minor) events.
• Living It up,
Island-Style
If you’ve enjoyed the Good Life of Hawai‘i in this issue, do the next best thing: Throw a party. The book that tells you how to do this in Hawaiian style is Party Hawai‘i: A Guide to Entertaining in the Islands, by Kaui Philpotts (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2007). “Today’s parties are more sophisticated and yet relaxed at the same time. The host may be serving lychee martinis, but all the shoes are off in a tumble at the front door,” says the author, before she goes about describing a variety of special events and how to stimulate the ideas that make them successful. It’s all here: from selecting a theme to invitations to food and drink—and even where to find help to clean up afterwards.
• What to Eat While You’re Living It Up“What does Hawai‘i like to eat? Just about anything. Except maybe grits.” What Hawai‘i Likes to Eat, by Muriel Miura and Betty Shimabukuro (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2007) is a collection of local recipes by two writers and home cooks who, over the years, between them have written, edited or published 22 different books dealing with food in Hawai‘i. For this one, they surveyed a large group of locals in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and asked them to identify their favorite foods. The survey included major restaurants, chefs and people who just like to eat well. Oven-baked kālua pork anyone?
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