Hawaii 2019: Legends of Hawaii Luau

Our hotel, the Hilton Waikoloa Village, just happened to host one of the highest rated luaus on the Kona coast: Legends of Hawaii Luau. We decided to splurge on the VIP “Ali’i seating,” which included a table right in front/center of the stage, table service with drinks and desserts, plus extra appetizers. It was well-worth the upgrade, especially as we didn’t have to drive and could float back to our hotel room after all of the mai tais.

The doors opened about an hour before the festivities began and we were greeted with orchid leis.

To the side of the arena, they have pre-show games and kid’s crafts. My step kids were a bit too old to be interested, but younger children were really enjoying this aspect of the event. There was also a small local crafts market for souvenirs.

We sat down and started in on the cocktails! (or mocktails and soda for the kids)

The Ali’i upgrade was worth it for the drinks alone. We had unlimited beverages and they were brought by a very attentive server. We barely finished a cocktail before it was refreshed. If we hadn’t upgraded, we would have faced very long lines at the bars. An open bar is included with all ticket levels, but certainly having the Ali’i tickets saved us time and allowed us to enjoy the experience. Mai Tai’s are my favorite tropical cocktail and the ones at the luau were strong!

Here are some shots of the appetizers =. edamame and a type of dried plant, similar to a plantain- perhaps even a plantain? There were other appetizers too. To be honest, the appetizers were the least necessary and enjoyed part of the Ali’i seating. We nibbled at them, but we didn’t want to spoil our appetites for the buffet.

Our attention was called as they trotted the roasted pig through the arena. Pork is a mainstay of Hawaiian cuisine and is usually served for special occasions, such as a luau. If we had been interested, we could have watched the pig being prepared and placed into the pit early in the morning.

The buffet was broken into multiple stations, including a section for the kids. My stepson was thrilled to discover that they had his favorite meal, Mac and cheese. With the Ali’i tickets, were were called up first to the buffet, although there was an abundance of food for everyone and double-trips was encouraged. The meal was one of my favorites for the entire vacation.

I feasted on pork, roasted chicken, green salad ( with a tropical dressing), macaroni salad ( which is also quite popular in Hawaii), fruit, et….so many things that I can’t even remember them all, but it was delicious. I also forced everyone try a tiny bite of taro root. Taro root is a traditional Hawaiian side, but it is also quite a strange experience if you’ve never tried it. I can’t say that I enjoy it, but I always feel compelled to take a taste when offered.

There was a dessert and coffee station, but with the Ali’i tickets, these items were brought to our table. As with the bar, this was a great time saver and made our experience better.

As soon as dinner was served, the entertainment got underway. Our master of ceremonies had been hosting the Legends of Hawaii Luau for decades. He was on hand to explain various Hawaiian traditions and the significance of the dances/songs. I know that many people would consider this type of Luau to be a tourist-trap, but it was quite interesting and I was happy to have my step kids learn about a culture that is so different from their own in Sweden. During my childhood trips to Hawaii, we stayed on a less-touristy side of the island, where more of the locals lived and we didn’t attend the big hotel luaus, so although I’m quite familiar with Hawaiian culture, this experience was new for me as well.

All small children, no matter what ticket level, were invited to sit on mats directly in front of the stage. I thought this was a nice touch. It’s a very family friendly experience.

Our M.C.

We were given a demonstration of how to cut open a coconut. Do not try this at home!

A fashion show, including different ways to tie a sarong.

The luau continues with traditional songs, hula dancing, fire spinning, and a nod to Hawaii’s cowboy culture…

The show was part history/part culture and all together very entertaining. We even got to join in with the singing and we were taught some hula moves.

I highly recommend the Legends of Hawaii Luau and I’m sure if we return to the big island, we will experience this again. It was one of the highlights of our vacation.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week 33

I’m writing this post at 6:15 on the evening of Wednesday, November 4th, and we still don’t have a winner in the presidential election. This was expected. The race is heated and so very close. It’s actually more worrisome to have yet another confirmation of the deep divisions in our country. I’m cautiously optimistic that Biden will prevail, but I’m nervous and won’t be surprised, if Trump is victorious. I dread the contention and possible violence that will occur when Trump fights to overturn the results, should he lose. Based on his statements, I don’t expect him to graciously concede.

The election has dominated everything this week, yet we also made some great memories.

Due to covid concerns, we decided not to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Next year, we will definitely participate. Instead, we went for drinks and Italian food with our friend’s Julie and Ryan. We watched “The Hunt,” and ate Nigella Lawson’s coffee layer cake.

After initial success the previous week, I tried to make Lawson’s layer cake two more times. I attempted a smaller, triple layer cake which was a disaster. I should apply to “Nailed It" after this epic failure.

Luckily, I succeeded with the cake for Halloween. Dan decorated it.

Monday was our 7th wedding anniversary and we celebrated it at the Denver Zoo. I will write a more extensive review for a future post, but we had a great time. I was thrilled to discover that the zoo sells Dole Whip. This was my first Dole Whip outside of Hawaii and Disney parks.

Rather than having a big anniversary dinner, we opted for lunch at a new-to-us curry spot called “Spice Table.” Dan thought the curry was the most English-style he as found in America. It was great and definitely a new go-to spot in Denver. It had pretty, colorful lamps too.

We started watching “Lovecraft Country.” We are three episodes in and it is a completely overwhelming experience. It’s timely, emotional, and quite bizarre. I love the blending of genres and the cast is great. So much has happened that I can’t even imagine where it will head next. We are hooked.

Dan took a pretty picture of our neighborhood during one of our walks. Autumn is a lovely time of the year in Colorado. It has been warm all week.

And the obligatory cute cat pictures. Slinky is showing his Halloween vampire cat fangs! I call him count catula.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week 32

The big news this week has been the Colorado wildfires. Even though the election is less than a week away, the wildfires have been at the top of the news and it is devastating. We are not close enough to be evacuated or to really worry, but the clouds of smoke that we could see from our neighborhood were apocalyptic.

Luckily, a heavy snow storm came a few days later, which really helped the fire fighting efforts.

It was a cozy Sunday, as we stayed inside and watched the falling snow. I baked my first layer cake with homemade icing. It was Nigella Lawson’s Coffee Layer Cake and I was thrilled when Nigella commented on my Instagram picture!

Dan made a Dutch Baby pancake. He loves the Dutch Babies from The Original Pancake House, so it was great that he figured out how to recreate it at home. His were even better than the restaurant. It looks like our weekend tradition of breakfast at the pancake house will end. We now need to figure out how to make their tropical syrup that I love!

We watched the latest Borat film :”Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” I’m exhausted from typing that title! Sacha Baron Cohen certainly knows how to push buttons and this will not be everyone’s taste, but as with the first film, the reactions of the unsuspecting American public are the most shocking. Thankfully there are a few really good people in the film, but that doesn’t make up for the genuine racist/sexist/lack of humanity responses that some people gave. The film is timely with stunts involving Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani. It was of course, released to tie-in with the election. I enjoyed it and I was impressed that Baron Cohen put himself in risky situations to pull this off. Maria Bakalova who plays his daughter, absolutely steals every scene. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the first Borat, but I don’t feel that it was supposed to be. These are seriously times and the film reflects the tone of the United States. It’s the type of film that I’ve continued to think about five days later, so to that end, it was very effective.

We also finally broke down and paid to see “Bill and Ted Face the Music.” OMG…this might just be the worst film that I’ve ever seen. Not only was it bad, it was boring. BORING!!! I love Keanu Reeves, but it hurt to watch this. I had high hopes from a nostalgia perspective, but it missed the mark in every way.

We played Top Golf with our friends on Saturday night. I played worse than my first time, but I still had fun. I’d love to go again. I did notice that the employees at Top Golf seemed to be less rigid about the covid protocols. For example, there were more than six people in some of the bays, and there were a few big parties happening. This made me nervous. The covid cases are really on the rise, and I think we will need to revert to being even more cautious. I’m anticipating locking down like last spring.

The field near our house was full of cows and we saw a gorgeous hawk.

To end, a few cute pictures of Tom. He enjoyed the snow too, and wondered why he couldn’t catch the snowflakes. The window glass is full of paw prints from his furious attempts to catch snowflakes.