Life on the Island

Bonjour amigos! I hope you enjoyed the September Music Sizzle. I'll try to keep posting some musical treats for you. In the meantime, let's pick up where we left off. HAWAII. 

We've been having an absolute blast down here. The picture above was taken at Lanikai beach in Kailua, which is absolutely beautiful. You may know it as "Obama's Beach" but we got to know it as , "Um heaven is that you?" 

Adventure #1. 

Fact: I have a little problem with heights. I never used to be afraid of heights, but one fateful day, I was high up and suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to lay flat and hold onto the ground for dear life. Basically, I get a mean case of vertigo. So now you know. 

MainSqueeze and I decided to hike up Koko Head. It's a very steep "mountain" where the "trail" is made up of a railroad track. Sounds easy enough, right? 

We decided to go at 1:30 pm (also known as the hottest part of the day) and I decided that I should wear a black top and black shorts, because obviously. 

Looks harmless. 

We started up the trail and it seemed easy enough. The steps are pretty huge, so my short legs were werrrrkin hard. Then there's a terrifying part. Where you literally have to get on all fours to climb up the railroad tracks because if you don't, you can fall through the middle and....die? break all appendages? Needless to say, I forgot to breathe during that part and had to stop a little ways up and take a breather. 

Once we made it to the top, the huffing and puffing was WORTH the view. You feel like you're on top of the island. Both of our phones were dead so we can't really prove we were there, but if you ever make it up, you'll see that we wrote our names on the concrete block at the top. So there IS proof. 

Now, I have to get to gettin', but tomorrow I promise to wow you with SWINE. Yes. I will be telling you about a hot restaurant here in Honolulu that was recently voted top 50 in the USA and was nominated for a James Bear award. EXCITING. 

Peace out for now amigos, 

Ears Perked.

Bonjour Sizzlahhhs. I'm enjoying my time here in Hawaii, so much so that I'm absolutely dreaddding coming home. I can't wait to share all my island adventures with you! I've been busy in the kitchen too, so plenty of recipes comin' atcha too!

For now, I want to give you a Monday night ear snack. There are some things I think you need to be listening to. I have embedded some videos for you for songs that are live recordings and won't be available on Spotify/iTunes/etc. Then I'll include a link to the playlist I've been spinning the most these days. 

1.) If you know me, you know I'm a FAN of Jack White. I find him terrifyingly talented. By terrifyingly, I mean that I think I would actually be terrified to meet him in person. I'd melt into a puddle of jelly and lose my ability to speak. I'm also fairly certain he is not totally a human. The video below is of a performance in a French Chateau. Does it get any better? As a self-proclaimed francophile, the answer is a resounding 'non'. You can definitely hear the Nashville creeping into his new album Lazaretto, and Mama likey. Enjoy. 

2.) If you still know me, you also know that it doesn't get much better than Iron & Wine. I was lucky enough to see them at Fitzgerald's a few years back and it was just unreal. I also find him wildy talented and will make my children listen to him. Here's a real treat of him singing in Gruene Hall. I love it. You should too. 

And now for TheSizzles September Sizzle playlist.  CLICK HERE and follow it so you can check out what I add in the coming weeks. September is also my birthday month, so it's just special in general, because DUH. 

So there you have it. A #musicalmonday for you folks. I hope you enjoy and I'll be back this week with a recipe and an adventure! 

happybirthdaymonthtome, 

No, You Can't Read My Poker Face.

Bonjour! I hope San Diego part 1 was satisfying to your soul, but if it left you wanting more, then more you shall receive. We really had such a blast in SD, and I was reminded that there are actually parts of the world where cool, arid temperatures reign, and hair does not fall victim to humidity and constant rainstorms (ahem, Houston). Nevertheless, aside from the incredible weather, we packed in a lot of adventuring during our short stay. 

Our group rented a quaint little beach house in Mission Beach. The morning after our steak smorgasbord, MainSqueeze and I ventured out for some breakfast and bicycling. I can honestly say this was one of my favorite days ever. 

We started out walking to breakfast at The Swell Cafe. I was craving something sweet, and MainSqueeze is a fan of Mexican style eggs, so he went the savory route. We sipped on delicious vanilla lattes as we waited on our food. I'm no stranger to a latte, and these were superb, I liked them a ....latte. (I had to. I just had to). 

#nomcity

Strawberry Banana waffle. Yes please. 

Cali Scramble

Now that we had sufficiently re-fueled, we were ready to cycle. We rented some rad cruisers at a local shop and started our day. I haven't ridden on a fixed gear bike since fannypacks were in style, so I had a minor incident on the road which involved me not braking in time, jumping off the bike and darn near zooming into traffic. Phew. Crisis averted. 

Once I got the hang of it, we biked up the coast, all the way up to La Jolla. We stopped to look at the amazing views and walked down to some tide pools where I was delighted to see tiny little crabs scuttling around. 

amazing.

La Jolla should maybe sometimes be called La Hilla, because those hills had our legs screaming on the bikes. We parked it in a little cove and ran into a local "brah" and asked if he had any recommendations on where to whet our whistles. We ended up ducking into a surf shack type spot and ordered some refreshing cocktails. 30 minutes later, we were playing poker. You just never know what to expect around us!

The luck of the draw...

By this time, we had worked up an appetite, so we zoomed across the street to this amazingly awesome spot that also doubles as a catering company, The Promiscuous Fork. We split an appetizer of lamb lollipops and went on our merry way in search of our next adventure. 

We ended up at a beach side bar, dancing and then once again attempting the lift move from Dirty Dancing. It went really well, and ended in hilarity as I fell on the concrete and dissolved into peals of laughter. Needless to say, we had not a care in the world, and we were loving life. 

Our final days in SD were spent cycling, sunning, watching MainSqueeze and #Guau get housed by the waves and we threw in a couple more delectable nomz. 

Breakfast at The  Mission. 

I'll spare more "you had to be there" stories. But the following images will speak for themselves. We had a lovely girl's lunch at La Valencia Hotel while the boys golfed at Torrey Pines, sunset cocktails at George's at the Cove, and a splendid afternoon at Neptune Beach. 

Lobster Bisque at La Valencia

Lunch at La Valencia...with a view!

Cocktails at George's on the Cove

Hamachi Sashimi at George's on the Cove

Neptune Beach, La Jolla

And there you have it amigos. Our San Diego trip in a nutshell. We had a blast, everyone finished the race, we ate ourselves silly and had adventures I'll never forget. 

I actually almost went to college in San Diego but my instincts told me I'd flunk out, become a surfer queen and maybe not have a job. SO I went to Nashville. A decision I'll never ever ever regret! 

Next on TheSizzle, recipes, TV interviews, doggie bags and more! Happy Hump Day!