Hidden Hikes

Why is there a picture of musubi, albeit my favorite cucumber, egg, spam musubi from Iyasume? Well, that’s because I wished I had one while we were hiking. Not that it was a difficult hike. It didn’t even take half an hour to get to the top. No, I simply was dreaming of this stuff. And you may not know, but I was looking for the best musubi in town. I tried the ABC stores. Not bad, I’d say their the benchmark norm. The whopper of the burger world. Not bad, but you you know there are better burgers and bad ones like McDonald’s. Fortunately, I didn’t have the McDonald’s of the musubi world. Mana Bu’s seasoned their rice. Not bad either. Definitely better than ABC’s which does the bare minimum. And maybe they had really good ones too. We got their in the afternoon one day and the selection was small. Plus I had no idea which was their best. But it didn’t matter, no matter what place I tried (I even had one at Waiola’s) they didn’t haunt you like the one at Iyasume, a small little place tucked in an shallow alley behind the Hyatt. Something about their creation leaves you wanting more. I believe it’s called balance. Not too salty. Not too small. Priced just right. It was perfect. Ahh, how the smallest things bring back wonderful memories.

Oh yeah, the hike. Doug, my buddy living the life in Honolulu, took us to this place in Kalahuu. Not a known hiking trail that takes you to a secluded waterfall. It’s ot totally void of people, but most of the people on the trail are locals. And the most attractive thing about this hike is both the pond and the waterfall aren’t off limits. Yes, no signs second guessing you from getting a little wet. Don’t worry, I didn’t post pictures you can’t unsee of me under the falls in my under wear.

Food:

It was had a refreshing meal at Matsugen before the hike. Soba was good, but as far as noodles go in this town, Marukame would be the place I’d go back to on the next trip. The beef tongue was good though. And the place was really nice. Kinda all I got to say about the place.

At night we detoxed at Home Sweet Cafe with an herbal hot pot. So not really. But really. We needed to change things up with some Taiwanese hot pot. This place did hot pot a different way. Like you know hot pot is basically self serve. I mean you’re cooking the foods yourself, right? So why not have the ingredients self served too. All the vegetables, meat balls, seafood, and sauces were all up to you to pick up. Things are priced by the color of plates you’ve taken. That makes ordering from the menu a simple choice of broth and sliced meats. Yeah, the sliced meats aren’t self served for some reason. Still, I’m not complaining. The soup base was great. I drank bowls of it and forgot to cook my one plate of beef. One plate!