Hawaii, episode 13. In which it is high time for tea.

We'll get to my wardrobe choices later, I promise, but let us focus on more pressing matters... like tea. While revisiting our London visits in episode 12 of that series, I confessed to being a long-time subscriber of TeaTime magazine. Here's how we met.

It was during our first visit to Hawaii that Mari and I found ourselves on an airport shuttle bus with a good 45-minute ride ahead of us to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. In between admiring the spectacular views (of the Pacific at my right and Mari at my left) I chanced an eavesdropped glance forward at the older couple seated in front of us. The wife was animatedly paging through a magazine and pointing photos out to her travel-weary husband. Fortunately for me I paid a great deal of interest and noticed the colorful publication gripped so excitedly by my fellow mainland traveler and presumed purveyor of tea for she was reading a magazine previously unknown to me, but now decidedly familiar.

Aside from its regular reporting and colorful presentation of seasonal tea celebrations (and temptalicious recipes) each bi-monthly issue of TeaTime highlights one or more local tea rooms that pay proper tribute to the art and everyday luxury of drinking tea. Often "local" means close to mainland homes, but sometimes it is far and away like Brighton's Tea Cosy, the royally royalty-themed shop we visited as we embarked on our grand Olympics adventure in 2012.

On our most recent visit to Waikiki, Mari and I decided it was high time to enjoy high tea Hawaiian style. Last summer's (July/August 2017) issue of TeaTime featured an article highlighting several locations to enjoy afternoon tea in Waikiki. Among them was the Westin Moana Surfrider resort, an easy-breezy just-less-than-a-mile walk from the Hilton. Mari and I enjoyed an awesomely tropical full service tea on the veranda facing the ocean at the century-old historic hotel.

Other than the spectacular views and attentive service, we especially enjoyed the tropically local enhancements (like lilikoi and coconut) to traditional tea treats that we have come to enjoy during our UK travels.

Please visit both sites to learn more and to make a reservation.

teatimemagazine.com/the-tea-experience-afternoon-tea-on-waikiki/2/

The TeaTime site links directly to the Surfrider page, the second page of the article.

marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/hnlwi-moana-surfrider-a-westin-resort-and-spa-waikiki-beach/

Recently, Mari and I revisited a favorite that I highlighted during Mari's 50th birthday revisit to California.

We had first discovered Duke's Waikiki during our 20th anniversary Honolulu revisit in 2010. It is next door to one of my perennial favorites, The Cheesecake Factory, so it took Mari a little persuading to convince me to try something new and local, but I am forever grateful that I did.

You can reread more about Duke's (and Duke) in that earlier post (Rose Bowl, episode 2), but here are perusable pics from our recent visits.

Yes, that's intentionally plural.

A perfect combination of setting, service, and surf beckoned us back to Duke's more than once.

I want to make a special aside to thank my wonderfully supportive and generous former co-workers for treating me to the spectacular fresh seafood buffet at Duke's two days in a row this past June. Other than your years of support and friendship, McAllen ISD librarians, I treasure your kind words and warm wishes shared in my yearbook and I want you to know that I held onto the generous (green) note enclosed in my retirement card so that I could use it to pay for lunch at Duke's and remember you all once more.

Here's the view from our table.

Almost as beautiful as my view of Mari above.

You may still be wondering about that pineappled pose above, correct? That was back on the first day of my favorite shirt's appearance in laundry rotation (you'll see it again in a final post) when I took it for a casual walk down the beach for lunch. While not a recommendation from a magazine article read on the airport shuttle, The Steak Shack was indeed a recommendation from our most recent shuttle bus driver.

Mari and I have had the great pleasure of meeting and greeting so many friendly and knowledgeable tour guides during our travels, but we have also been driven countless times by the capable and well-trained hands of many local men and women on so many routinely mundane cab rides and shuttles to and from airports.

I am always thrilled when a driver goes the extra mile to inform me about a site new to me and I have learned over the miles how valuable a resource local drivers can be.

Our airport shuttle van this past June was driven by an exceptionally entertaining and knowledgeable young man who did his best to entertain his passengers along the traffic-glistened route to Waikiki hotels as he offered warnings against tourist traps as well as a few personal recommendations.

We were delightfully rewarded when trying out one of William's dining recommendations, just a half-mile walk down the beach from the Hilton.

Can you blame me for enrobing myself in tropical pineapple attire for a sandy and leisurely lunch jaunt?

Open daily during prime tanning hours (10:00 AM to 7:00 PM), the Steak Shack offers wonderfully flavorful plates of grilled steak (or chicken) with rice and salad at incredibly reasonable prices for varying appetites. William had promised the Shack offered food just as good as local steakhouses for less than half the price and he was deliciously dead on. You'll find the Steak Shack beachside in front of the Waikiki Shore Outrigger resort. The beachfront atmosphere was a complimentary (and complementary) bonus.

While I don't (never say never) drive a tour bus or airport shuttle, I do enjoy receiving and offering recommendations for local specialties. If you are willing to walk a ways away from your colossally inclusive resort, you are likely to find local specialties as well as a bit of relief for your travel budget.

While at the Hilton, however, Mari and I took daily advantage of the proximity of two ABC store locations on site. From our first visit way back in 2004, we heard frequent jokes from locals about the ubiquity of these very convenient convenience stores. Kind of like seeing a Starbucks or 7/11 on every corner of the mainland, but they are there for good reason (convenience, of course). ABC is also one of the unfortunately few places where you can find kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts. Unless you live near Vegas and Guam locations, you can also shop the site.

abcstores.com

Among my daily provisions were the Meadow Gold tropical yogurts pictured above (yes, those are resort prices for sure). I fell in aloha with the tropical flavors, particularly the pineapple. Who would have guessed I liked pineapple? Imported from tropical Midwestern dairylands, my "local" morning nourishment provided the proper start for which my maturing beach body begged. Other, soul-nourishing cravings were occasionally satisfied at the Honolulu Cookie Company by their famous pineapple-shaped shortbread.

I'm not kidding.
Pineapple-shaped shortbread cookies.

See for yourself.
(Locations in Vegas and Guam as well.)

honolulucookie.com

Next time, I look forward to taking you on a private island tour with the help of a new hoa (friend).