Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Poi donuts?

Go to Hawaii when you are young enough and strong enough to take in the water sports, stay in the hot sun on the beach, enjoy the night life and the tropical drinks. My sister, Gay, worked for Western Airlines back in the sixties. She had the opportunity to travel to these beautiful islands several times from her home base in San Francisco, California. 

I met a young woman from California who had just come over for the weekend. It is a four hour flight I believe from there. She and I were the only two in the reflection pool one evening. Such a delicious evening. As night fell and the small lights around the pool brightened, the sky became the focal point of my interest. Tall palm trees grew around the pool. As I looked up the moon hung directly over me between the slow-dancing fronds of the palms. I was not sad, although we were leaving soon, but I felt tears forming and wondered why. Have you ever seen something or felt something so out-of-this-world perfect you cried? 

The Ko Olina resort is near Kapolei, named for the volcanic cone Pu'u o Kapolei which is translated to mean hill of beloved Kapo. Kapolei is a fast growing second city and I imagine it will take some of the traffic from Honolulu which needs relief. Rush hour around the big city is terrible. Kapolei is an affluent city spread out over what was once sugar cane and pineapple plantations. I wish I had seen it before commercialism took the beaches. Don't get me wrong. I loved the resort and enjoyed every minute I was there, but it seems the old Hawaii is gone or at least hard to find now. A few years ago, I went with Gay and Stu to Kaua'i another of the Hawaiian islands that is not as commercialized. We saw farms and rural areas and not so many high rise hotels. Both are lovely but very different from each other, I think.

Gay talks about how much it has changed since she visited as a young woman. She had the opportunity to visit with a native family and said that was great except she had to eat poi and that was really hard to do. I gave poi a try once and it is AWFUL to me. But Gay discovered a wonderful way to eat poi. Donuts! Yes, that purple pasty stuff is not the only way the taro plant is used. The stem that is mashed and tastes so bad to us can be dried and made into a flour and used to make donuts. I ate one, glazed, and it was almost as good as Krispy Kreme. I think that was the best thing about this trip for Gay. 


The purple ones are Poi Donuts - so, so good
When I was on Kaua'i, I bought a muu-muu at a festival. I think I paid 14 dollars. It is a loose colorful cotton dress that I wear at home all summer. It is comfortable and cool. I vowed if I ever went back to Hawaii, I would get another one. So one day we ventured into Honolulu where I had found Hilo Hattie, the brand name in my dress, had two stores. Hilo Hattie sells shirts, pants, dresses of all kinds, and cotton muu-muus. 



I was so afraid the style had changed and I would not find my dress, but there it was, red with white flowers and 100 percent cotton! Wow! I decided to get another one if I could find my size in another color. Sadly they are making many of the clothes in synthetic fabric now. But I found a navy blue with white flowers down the front. Tacky, I'm sure, but I wore it home on the plane. It was comfortable, cool and not binding anywhere. I might even wear it to Ingles here in Hayesville one day. Nobody looks at an older woman. We are all invisible. But that dress might draw attention. It definitely says Island wear..

I now know I can order from Hilo Hatties online. They have grown into four stores now and on other islands. 


9 comments:

  1. I am MUCH more likely to weep for beauty and kindness than anything else.
    Love that you were able to find another muu-muu. Comfort and cotton go together in warmer months don't they?

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  2. I have never tasted poi, but I have seen many comments such as yours about it being inedible. Donuts, however, are a good way to use it, I guess. Love the pretty muumuu color. :-)

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  3. Glenda,
    I enjoyed your post very much. I would love to go to Hawaii, too.

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  4. Glenda, I enjoyed reading about your adventures. Maybe someday, I'll get to Hawaii. Who knows?

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  5. EC, I hate to be hot and it seems the heat drains me of energy, so my all cotton muu-muu saves me in summer. I can't find anything locally that is all cotton.

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  6. I want to take a picture of the navy blue dress with the white flowers on it, but haven't done so yet. It has a big ruffle around the top and at the bottom which makes it look quite different from my red and white muu-muu.

    The glazed donuts were very good, but look different as they are purple.

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  7. Abbie, on our flight over to Hawaii, a tall girl with a white cane got off the plane with us. The airline staff had someone take her, or she took his arm, and walked her to where she was to go. She traveled completely alone which surprised me. But I imagine when you go to see your brother, you travel alone, don't you? I am always amazed at how visually impaired people are so independent.

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  8. Brenda Kay, you should plan to go to Hawaii one day. You and your sister, Barbara, would have a good time.

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  9. Yes, Glenda, I travel alone to Florida to see my brother, and airline employees have been, for the most part, helpful. I've never traveled alone to Hawaii, though.

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I really appreciate your comments, and I love reading what you say.