Food

Aloha everyone. Once again there is not much to report on. Josh and I have been relaxing. The non-stop, always-on-the-go pace from the first half of our time here has finally taken its toll; we are exhausted. But we also realize that our time here is running out, so we are really going to make an effort to enjoy our last five or six days here. It is not often one finds themselves in a tropical paradise such as Hawai’i, so it would be moronic for us to just sit around the house.

Our active ways has taken its toll on me in another way as well: my health. I have lost around 13 pounds since I have been here. It feels great. It may seem like a lot, but I was the heaviest I’ve ever been prior to this trip (thanks to my pizza-, beer-, and fun-filled senior year), so the shed weight was more than needed. This loss is obviously the result of more activity (through hiking, swimming, running, etc.) and less of being a couch potato (through Planet Earth, FIFA Soccer 2007, and the television in general).

It is also a result of eating healthier. My grandparents don’t really eat anything unhealthy, so I have been fed well. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever consistently eaten this many vegetables in my life. I have eaten virtually no beef, virtually no fried food, and have consumed virtually no alcohol, and my body is reaping the benefits.

While on the topic of food – and because of a lack of other things to talk about – I’ll talk about some of my food experiences. More specifically I will talk about fish. As can be imagined of any place on the ocean, fish is a significant part of the diet here. Before my Pacific travel, there were only a few types of fish I had tried (let alone liked). I am a huge salmon and tuna fan, but I also enjoy rainbow trout and tilapia, but that was about the extent of my fish diet. Now that I am in Hawai’i, I eat fish more than any other kind of meat. I went out to dinner with my grandparents and their friends at a local Chinese restaurant where we at a ton of sea food. I tried mussels, lobster, duck and oyster, but the main dish in the procession of plates was some sort of snapper fish. The element that was different than my fish experiences in the past is that it wasn’t just the meat that was served, but instead I found the whole fish lying cooked and not scaled on the plate. This was hard to get used to because when you just eat tuna from a can or just the meat of a salmon it is just simply meat, but when the fish comes prepared as it was this night you are no longer detached from the thought that the fish was once a living breathing animal – the fish becomes a real thing. I am not claiming to be a vegetarian or that eating fish is wrong – I am just saying it makes the dining experience mentally different.

Eating raw fish is another dining experience that is different. I am not talking about the small amount of fish that comes in sushi (and I love sushi), but I am talking about raw cuts of meat. The first time we went out to eat we went to a sushi bar in Honolulu with one of my aunt’s friends who is a sushi cook. The first thing that brought out was sashimi – a variety of raw fish. Most raw fish is a bit firm and chewy. It is obviously cold and the texture takes some getting used to at first – I am really not sure how to describe it. I really liked raw salmon, king crab, and hamachi. I can’t say I am a huge fan of raw fish yet, but I hope I acquire a taste for it because I have a feeling it will continue to be a regular part of my diet during the rest of my travels in the Pacific. At the very least I would recommend sampling it. As is the case with all foods, the taste will differ from restaurant to restaurant and fish to fish, but give it a shot. How do you know you don’t like it if you don’t at least try it?

That about wraps it up for now. Josh and I are going hiking tomorrow and then hopefully to a new beach. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I LOVE YOU. Mahalo for reading. Aloha - Justin