Maytag. What do you think of when you see that name? Most likely, you’d be thinking “appliances”, and you’d be right. It is, however, also the name of a famous American Bleu Cheese, which gets its name from the famous Maytag family that started the Maytag appliance company. Their Maytag bleu cheese is probably the most abundant variety we have in the U.S., and was featured in a piece this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition, in a piece entitled Little Big Cheese: Maytag’s Growing Niche Market. It quickly answered my question “Is Maytag bleu cheese in any way related to the Maytag company?”. So there is the first part of this little yarn.

The second part of the story comes in when Hunter mentioned that today’s Achewood strip had a bit of a continuity error citing a “public drunkeness” arrest outside of a saloon on September 8, 1932, more than a year before Prohibition would end in the United States. How observant! Whilst doing a little Googling about Prohibition, I found mention of Fritz Maytag in this Wikipedia article on Prohibition. That mentioning stated that he helped to restart the microbrewery/homebrewery movement that had essentially been suffocated by Prohibition by buying a controlling interest in the failing Anchor Brewing company in 1965 (read a good article on this here), saving it from being quite possibly the last speciality brewer in the United States to close. Now, Anchor Steam (and it’s brethren) can be enjoyed in 48 states, along side other notable “specialty” beers as Red Hook, Pete’s Wicked, and Sam Adams. Yay for Fritz Maytag!

Combine this with my recent infatuation with home-brewing, my love of the cartoon cats in Achewood, and my love of cheese, and you’ve got yourself a bona-fide co-inky-dink.

Behold! They grilled out at lunch-time and it was good

Also, behold the lunch-time grillout gallery.

A Pluot® is actually a plum/apricot hybrid and are seriously tasty little fruits. They won’t be ursurping the plum in my fruit landscape, but will most likely sidle up and take a role in the wings. They are crisper than a plum (yay!), but the skin isn’t quite as tart (boo!). They have a more complex (yay!) and slightly sweeter taste (boo?) than a plum, owing to it’s apricot heritage. The skin is a little tougher, too, which is nice. I would like to know what a dried pluot would tasty like, as I don’t care for prunes, but I adore dried apricots.

It should be pointed out that the pluot (I haven’t said so, but I think it’s a terrible name, in a way) is not genetically modified, but is actually a hybridization of the two fruits. Therefore, it does not conflict with Mendicino County’s Measure H, which bans the “propagation, cultivation, raising and growing of genetically modified organisms in Mendocino County”. Huzzah!

This morning, we met Gary and Mayumi in the lobby of our hotel and headed out to Perry’s Smorgy to get some breakfast. As this is our last day, we will certainly miss Smorgy and all that it gave us for the low low price of $5.95 for an all-you-can eat buffet. After breakfast, we headed down to Kuhio Beach to be taught the ancient are of surfing ($25 a head — not terrible). The statue of Duke Kahanamoku greeted us with open arms, and after a brief introduction to our surfboards (this is my surfboard, there are many like it, but this one is mine), we headed into the ocean. Much to our surprise(s), none of us was completely horrible — the surfing is the easy part! The swimming through the waves is what is tough! Wow! Even Kelly, the practicing swimmer was getting tired. Nonetheless, we all had an absolute ball, and we were tired and happy at the end of the hour. There was a photographer in the water snapping our photos, and your could get them on the CD for a bit of cash at the end of your “ride”. Mine and Kelly’s photos were uninspired, but Gary and Mayumi had some good shots taken and so they had a CD made. Hopefully they’ll get on the web here soon. Gary and I sat around chewing the fat about our respective home country baseball leagues while Mayumi and Kelly slept and baked (respectively) on the beach. Gary, Kelly and I took one last sojourn into the sea before bidding it adieu. I faced south, took a handful of sand with one wave washing ashore, scrubbed my hands together, and with the next wave rinsed them clean. My way of a handshake with the sea, to show respect. We bid our fond farewells with Gary and Mayumi, made a stop at an ABC store for some last-minute gifts and a sea kelp musubi (rice ball), and headed back to the hotel. That’s where I am right now — in about an hour, we check out. In 4 hours, we board a flight home to Louisville. I’m sad to have to go.

P.S. Photos from Polynesian Center will be up tomorrow, and we didn’t have a chance to take photos at the beach today.

First off, it should be noted that the Hawaii: Day Five gallery is now ready for business. We met Gary, Mayumi, Chuck, Danna, Tom, Sue and Jim at Duke’s Waikiki for a breakfast buffet, and then split for the beach as Chuck, Danna and Tom headed for the Waikiki Zoo, and Gary and Mayumi had a meeting with the “wedding company”.

Later on we met up with Gary, Mayumi, Chuck, Danna and Tom at the Hale Koa hotel and hit the beach again! We rented some sea-going kayaks, and later built a great sandcastle on the beach.

Later tonight, we eat at San Sei — a reputably great steak and sushi house for the pre-wedding meal! I shall eat my weight in raw fish! More later!!

Update: Well, the dinner at San Sei was quite nice, with some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. Highlights included the Japanese members of our party (Shin, Etsuko, and the Taki’s) ordered green and oolong tea, and the restaurant brought out *canned* green and oolong tea. Gary said this was the equivalent of the Bristol (or any decent restaurant) bringing out canned Minute Maid orange juice when you asked for a glass of OJ.

Further update: Oh yeah — I forgot to mention that during our outing with the kayaks, Gary and I got tangled up riding a wave back and we both flipped over into the sea! Normally not such a bad thing, but the area where we were was a very shallow reef-like area, with some spots having rocks poking out of the surf! Yeesh. Well, we both managed to get back on board, and paddled back into shore to exchange with Kelly and Mayumi. Kelly had a great time on the kayak, and we even spotted some giant sea turtles! Chuck followed a manta ray around out near the breakers, too.

The sandcastle was great fun — four grown men (and eventually Kelly) digging in the sand, offering up their own sand engineering tips. Eventually we had a large compound built around our central tower. I taught everyone how to make drip castles, and we festooned our creation with shells and drip-towers. I said to Gary — “In honor of your wedding, we present thee with this magnamous affront to God!” — and then it was swept into the sea.

This morning we got up and met Chuck and Danna at Smorgy’s for breakfast around 8 AM. All of this getting up early nonsense is going to kill be back home. Whew. I can’t not wait. Despite the constant threat of birds stealing your tater tots, Smorgy’s once again delivered tasty food and great coffee.

Chuck and Danna had rented a car, so they drove us down to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet — the place to get knock-off goods and screen-printed t-shirts in bulk. Circling the stadium (which itself is kind of hideous), it was not terribly crowded, and the goods were plentiful, and the admission price of $.50 a piece was just right. You could even get a coconut postcard, if you wife would only let you indulge yourself in a silly game of postcard one-upsmanship. Ah well. We found gifts for most of the folks on our trip. A must do if you visit the place. All of the ridiculous curios you might expect to find everywhere else but for half the cost (or less).

Aloha Stadium is right close to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, but we were hungry, so we went in search of food. Good lord. It took us an HOUR. An HOUR, all of which could have been avoided by us looking on the north side of the stadium first. Ah well. We eventually found our way to the Arizona Memorial.

The Arizona Memorial was quite nice, and well respected by all who we saw there. There is a nice movie that is shown before you board the boats to get to the Memorial (voiced by Stockard Channing, I do believe). The Memorial is quite nice and is a very somber affair, especially considering there are more than a thousand men entombed within her sunken shell. Their final resting place no more than 10 feet below the calm surface of Pearl Harbor. I think the photos do that justice.

After the Memorial, we briefly checked out the WWII Navy submarine memorial (with the USS Bowfin on display) for all of the submarines and submariners who lost their lives. Kelly and Danna didn’t really want to go into a submarine, so YAWN, we headed back into Honolulu.

Heading back into Honolulu, Danna suggested we go and check out Diamond Head crater. We arrive shortly after 4 PM, not really knowing what to expect. Turns out, you pay $5 to park, and then there is a 0.8 mile hike to the top of the crater. 0.8 miles! HAH! “WARNING: PLEASE BE ADEQUATELY PREPARED BEFORE HIKING”. Oh what-ever! Young, strapping dudes and dudettes like ourselves, we could handle it. We started up.

The first bit is a windy section up the inside of the crater, and with some mildly steep paths. A couple of stops up the way offered nice look-outs and minor rests. Then you get to the staircases (and a mining tunnel). The first staircase is 79 steep steps, the second staircase 99 steps (yet steeper), and the third a spiral staircase! Wow! Halfway up the 99 step staircase (attempting to keep up with and maintain appearances with Kelly), my brain had shut down to the point of basic survival instincts — one foot in front of the other. The only sentient thought I could think of was “lean forward, lest you faint and fall backwards, surely killing a number of also tired Japanese and German tourists, causing a minor international flap”. Finally, I reached the top and the medium-grade abandoned tunnel (dimly lit). Holy-moley. Lots and LOTS of altitude in that last run. Finally, the TOP! A quick glance at the watch marked the 0.8 miles and 700 feet were hiked/scaled in 20 minutes! Woo-hoo. 20 minutes that surely took twice that off my life. But – BUT – I kept face with Kelly. She told me I didn’t have to do that, but I know good and well, my failure to keep pace would have registered a black mark in some book of hers.

The hike, though tough was COMPLETELY worth it. Wow! Amazing view, with a rainbow to boot! Many photos taken. Much rejoicing had upon the return back down to the base.

We returned back to Chuck and Danna’s hotel to attempt contact with Gary, and it seemed that he had left a voice message. A couple of calls later, and apparently Gary and Mayumi where out and about as well. We headed back to our hotel and had a quick dip in the pool and then headed to dinner a Keoni’s — a Thai/American joint across the street. The service was abyssmal, but my “Evil Jungle Prince” curry was FAN-tastic, as was Chuck’s mahi-mahi with ginger-soy sauce. Nummy!

Tommorrow, we eat breakfast as Duke’s on Waikiki Beach, and then plan on spending most of the day on the beach until we go to San Sei for the big pre-game meal!

Hey hey! I’m uploading some photos as we speak. When they go up, they will be in the Hawaii Gallery! Keep an eye out. Off to some big-assed mall. Kelly is chomping at the bit!

Update: it should please the gentry that photos from our “Day Two” here in Honolulu are now uploaded into the Hawaii Day Two gallery. Nothing exciting yet, as the rest of the crew has not yet arrived.

The big-assed mall — the Ala Moana Center was indeed big, and filled to the brim with stylish and not-so-stylish Japanese girls. The Von Dutch trucker hat is lame in America, girls, so get with it! Gonna catch some sushi at this joint down by the beach.

Update, night edition: Kelly and I ate at Furusato (not Futosako, or whatever I told Gary earlier and he translated into “Old Sugar”) tonight. Wow. Man — such excellent fish at decent prices. Tuna sashimi, yellow tail sashimi, barbecued eel, poke (a tuna/seaweed/tomato/onion/sesame salad), Philadelphia and cucumber rolls were all had and delivered graciously and with an attention to detail that made me question the sanity of the waitstaff. I also had a double-deuce of Asahi which was fantastic. Really, all this is just a run-up — a test of my sushi mettle until we get to SanSei on Monday for the “pre-game dinner” (as Gary is calling it). Tomorrow, we intend on meeting up with the Pearsalls, and quite possibly hitting a luau.

he said “I need some ribs.“.

On Saturday, Hunter, Katy, Joe, Kelly, Cherie and I made our Annual Trip to Huber’s.

Later in the day, we went to Holly’s 30th Birthday party.

On Sunday, we carved pumpkins.

(a while back, I took some pictures of Kelly and our cat Karen)

update: yeah, so it was Katy who went with us to Huber’s. Jamie was around later for the pumpkin carving. Note time of posting: 8:30AM. I am not legally liable for misspellings or misrepresentation of fact until after 3:30PM EST.