Round Top Loop Drive

On Saturday, Joe and I took a scenic drive on the Tantalus Drive/Round Top Loop. This route goes around the Round Top Forest Reserve and includes the Puu Ualakaa State Park.

The route

And now for the views:

I just loved how the clouds looked floating over Honolulu

This is our required happy/sad picture

We do this on all our vacations

From the side of the road

Another angle

Manoa Valley- over that ridge lies Palolo Valley, where we live

You can see the UH campus in this shot

Diamond Head in the distance

This series was shot from the lookout point at Puu Ualakaa State Park

Park entry

My favorite picture from this drive. Also from the lookout point at the park

We live here!

Shot with Joe's phone

Grilled Cheese!

I don't have any photos to back this up, but we had an epic grilled cheese experience on Sunday evening. When I show you the menu you will understand why this was so exciting. After a day of sunning poolside (thanks, Maria!) we negotiated with Ray an exchange of his grilled cheese ingredients for ours. That's where it all began.

Here is what the options were on the menu:

Bread Choices
Wheat
Sourdough


Meat Choices
Chicken
Ham
BACON


Cheese Selection
Sharp Cheddar
Goat cheese
Colby jack
Mozzarella
Brie

Also available: tomato slices, macaroni salad (though not on the sandwich)

After taking orders, I had them clipped to the hood of the stove, short-order cook style, and the cooking began! Here are what a couple of the creations consisted of:

• Sourdough, bacon, goat cheese, sharp cheddar, tomato
• Wheat, sharp cheddar, tomato, bacon
• Sourdough, tomato, brie
• Wheat, chicken, bacon, goat cheese, mozzarella
• Sourdough, sharp cheddar, mozzarella

That's not a complete list, but the four of us (Joe, Meg, Ray and me) had a great time building our creations. Go ahead, try one for yourself.

Light Summer Salads

Not every night in Hawaii is as temperate as I'd like it to be, especially if down in our little valley we aren't getting a breeze though our apartment. Last night was one of those nights, and we were having company (Hi, Elise!) so I decided that a sampling of cool summer salads would be a good idea. I haven't done a recipe post in a while, so I thought I'd share some of the goodies with you over my next few posts (don't worry, I'll get a hiking post in there somewhere, too, for you view junkies out there).

Here is what our dinner and dessert spread looked like:

Mmm...cheesecake and cookies for dessert with iced coffee!

The menu was Caesar salad, potato salad and garlic bread from Elise, and I made edamame salad, macaroni salad (my Grandma's recipe), cucumber goat cheese salad, and a pear and mango salad. I'm back on a new recipe kick, so I'll try to share as I find or create fun new food combinations. Happy cooking!