A parade and fireworks in Kailua-Kona

Independence Day is just around the corner and Kailua-Kona is gearing up to celebrate. If you will be in the area at the time, come on down. Aliʻi Drive through town will be closed to traffic to allow for the festivities. It all begins at 5:50 PM with a race for the children – a keiki run – heading out before the parade. The parade will begin at 6:00 PM proceeding through the center of town. Over 60 groups are expected to march. 

After dark the fireworks will begin at 8:00 PM. The organizers promise a spectacular display. Aliʻi Drive will remain closed to traffic to allow people to congregate and watch the fireworks which are set off on a barge in the bay.

We are fortunate in that our house looks down on the bay. So a group will gather after the parade for a barbeque and whisky tasting on our lanai. We look forward to that get-together each year.

A unique restaurant in Kawaihae

If you are staying at a hotel on the South Kohala coast or are up that way for dinner, a truly unique place to eat is the Blue Dragon Restaurant and Spa. The restaurant bills itself as Coastal Cuisine and Musiquarium. When they are open for dinner, which is Thursday through Sunday, they feature some of the top musicians on the island and a menu you want to work your way through.

We recently went there with some friends who hadn’t been to the Blue Dragon. We specifically went to enjoy our favorite slack key guitarist, John Keawe, who was playing and being accompanied by hula dancers (his wife Hope and two grandchildren). We have been enjoying the performances of John and Hope for the past 15 years.

As usual, we began the evening by sampling the scotch menu. We all selected the Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or, which is a delightful whisky. It has an excellent nose and a delightful fruity flavor. 

Then the really hard part of the evening began. We had to choose from the menu. The first thing that caught our eye was the Living Salad. The chef grows salad greens in small containers of vermiculite and serves them with a pair of scissors for clipping off the leaves and an excellent dressing for dipping. Accompanying the greens are baby carrots, daikon and cucmelons which are tiny melons with a cucumber taste. We had one container for the table and enjoyed clipping off the greens and dipping them in a Kiawe Honey Dressing. It is a truly unique salad that we had never seen before.

For appetizers Betty had Kohala crayfish which are raised in Kohala and were excellent. I had fried oysters which were equally good. For entrees Betty had lamb chops with a truly outstanding pomegranate-port wine-fig sauce. I had Cajun angel hair pasta with crayfish. We both savored our dishes which were again unique. I keep using that word, but the preparations are unlike anywhere else on the island.

To keep using the unique theme, we had a half mango with mango ice cream sprinkled with li hing mui. If you haven’t had that powder on anything it adds a wonderful flavor to sweet items. It was the perfect end to a delightful meal.

Our server, Nathan and his assistant Makani, were very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and preparations. We and our friends will definitely be back to work our way through the ever changing menu.

Lake Waiʻau is recovering

In early April I posted a hope that the winter snows would help Lake Waiʻau near the top of Mauna Kea recover from years of drought. For those of you who don’t have my book, Lake Waiʻau exists at an elevation of 13,400 feet. It is a sacred place for Hawaiians and I can well understand that. It is unique, beautiful and the site of some interesting experiences that Betty and I have had. We first saw the lake in 1982 and although it was not large, it was breathtaking.

When we were putting the book together in the summer of 2013 we hiked into the lake to take a current picture of it. Much to our surprise the lake was almost non-existent. Years of sparse rain and snow on the mountain had taken its toll. The beautiful lake was then a mud puddle.

Well the snows and rain have come back to Mauna Kea. This year was a reasonable winter, the wettest we have had in many years. I am happy to report that the water level in the lake is much higher than it was last summer. It is probably at about 75% full. Another good year and the water level should be back to normal. That is welcome news to those of us to whom the lake is special.

Is this the dry side of the island?

I know that anyone who has been in Kona during the month of May will not believe it, but we do live on the dry side of the island. All of the rain is supposed to fall on the Hilo side. Also this is not the rainy season. Unlike the rest of the State, the rainy season in Kona is July and August.

With that being said, at our house we have had eight and a half inches of rain this month. I have been keeping records since we sold the tour business and have accumulated 13 years of data. This is the wettest May we have had in those years and the fifth wettest month in those 13 years. Betty keeps asking if we are sure we didn’t move to Hilo. It seems that we have had one storm system after another pass through the area. Betty asks if I can go outside and grill a steak for dinner. The words are no sooner out of her mouth and the clouds drop another torrent.

Despite all this rain, be assured that this weather is unusual for Kona. We can usually be sure that every day will be sunny and if it does rain it will be at night. We used to call Kona, Camelot, because it only rained at night. That has changed this year but we anticipate a return to our idealistic conditions.

A Restaurant in Paniolo Country

When we first brought a group from the mainland out here in 1980 we stopped for lunch in Waimea at the Red Water Café. It was an experience since we weren’t expected and had a group of 30 people. A phone call went out from the owner to friends and our people helped so that we had an entirely enjoyable experience. Since then the building housed the Edelweiss which was an excellent German restaurant. The owner of the Edelweiss retired and eventually the building was reincarnated as the Red Water Café once again.

We have had dinner there and although not reminiscent of the original restaurant or the Edelweiss, it has definitely established its own niche. On our last visit we were delighted to have Jeff as our waiter. He has served us before and is very knowledgeable concerning the preparations and especially the Scotch menu. Thus, as usual, we began with a delicious whisky served in a snifter so we could enjoy the nose.

The menu has a definite Asian flavor and in fact the restaurant has an excellent sushi selection. Since sushi is not what we came after, we selected from the regular menu. There are many excellent appetizers, but we have fallen in love with the Thai Caesar Salad which is topped with fried calamari, shaved beets, carrots and daikon. It is delicious and something that we always come back for.

For our main course we always have a difficult choice. The Kiawe Smoked Center Cut Pork Chop with Molokai Purple Sweet Potato Palau, local Bok Choy & finished with Ginger Papaya Sauce and the Guava Braised Boneless Short Rib on a bed of Wok Fired Mustard Cabbage & Onions, finished with fresh Tomato & Wasabi, topped with local Mung Beans, served with a choice of Mashed Potato or Steamed Rice are excellent choices. However, the Chef’s Creation fish dish beckoned us and we were not disappointed. The fish was done to perfection, not overcooked and dry but moist and delicious.

While there are several desserts to choose from, we zeroed in on the Dark Side of the Moon, which is a flourless chocolate-truffle torte served with a raspberry purée. It was the perfect end to an excellent meal.

If you have the opportunity to be in Waimea at dinner time, you will not go wrong by eating at the Red Water Café. It is definitely a fine experience.