Christmas in Hawaii 2023 (dedicated to “Mommy and the Troops”)

I wouldn’t call spending Christmas in Honolulu a tradition for us, exactly, but it is certainly lovely when the calendar for the 4 of us align and make it possible. And so it was thisyear, when we spent 11 glorious days in paradise, enjoying the sun, ocean, and surf.

The theme for this year’s stay in Hawaii was that all good things were dedicated to “Mommy and the troops.” (Don’t ask because I don’t have a good explanation.)

It was amusing when the hotel staff continually apologized for the poor weather we had to suffer through. (And by “suffer through,” I mean cloudy days with occasional rain and in the low 70s. Terrible for December. :)) Although I am forced to admit that there was one morning when the rain was coming down pretty hard. Three of us were already in the water surfing, so getting wet was a somewhat irrelevant issue.

Highlights included surfing lessons (always!), walks around Diamondhead, family time, and great food. The island aloha vibe is real and welcoming. And the Pacific Ocean (especially when it’s warm) makes all other oceans look inferior.

Jim and Jade tied for Mario Party champion, but every championship won by any member of the family was dedicated to me and the troops. Such an honor!

This is a short post because anything I can say about the loveliness of Hawaii I have already said in previous posts. So I will leave you with an assortment of photos of Christmas and of Christmas in Hawaii.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!! Belated best wishes for the New Year!!

surfing on Christmas morning
Waikiki
Christmas Eve brunch

Rainbows and Shave Ice (plus Lawyers, Guns & Money!)

We returned earlier this month from a fabulous vacation in Hawaii! Highlights include:

— Visits from all of our children: Jade could only stay for a week but managed to spend a dinner explaining her research in combinatorics (which was summarized by us mere mortals as “counting triangles”). Yinan stayed for 2 weeks, and Jim was happy to have his tennis partner back. Marcus is working remotely for the summer so stayed the entire time with us.

— Visits from family and friends: we had visitors for much of the time we were there—some repeat and some first-time. We introduced them not only to the glories of Honolulu but also to Scattergories (a family favorite) and Exploding Kittens (a new family favorite). We did learn through Exploding Kittens who can and cannot be trusted, so beware!

— Surfing! No trip to Honolulu could be complete without surfing lessons. Marcus and I surfed three times a week while others surfed or didn’t surf in accordance to their preferences. The waves were lovely, and even when it’s not an optimal day for waves, there’s something about being on a surfboard in the ocean that is especially magical. The addiction continues!

— Food! And, of course, no trip to Honolulu is complete without a commentary on food. (I’ll be updating the Honolulu travel tome soon to include these new discoveries.) We returned to old favorites—The Pig & the Lady (nouvelle Vietnamese), Doraku (sushi), Sushi-sho (omakase), Uncle Clay’s (shave ice), and Goma Tei (ramen)—and discovered new favorites—Umi (seafood), Senia (nouvelle American), Scratch (Hawaiian), Honolulu Noodle (Taiwanese beef noodle soup), and Koko Head Cafe (Hawaiian brunch). We will definitely be back to all of them! Because, as the Samoans say, “Eat til you’re dizzy.”

— Beautiful scenery: and, of course, let’s not forget the reason people love Hawaii, which is the beautiful ocean and mountain views. It is a state with indescribable beauty and a true spirit of aloha. While the state’s soul and resilience will be tested in the aftermath of the tragic fire on Maui, we have no doubts that it will emerge more beautiful and stronger than before.

And, of course, our trips often have a theme song. This time it is Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.” I’ll leave it to you determine if there is a particular reason for the choice of song.

courtesy of Ty Gurney surfing school and 83 East video

Holiday 2022

While many people think of the holiday season as consisting of snow and hot chocolate and other winter festivities, we much prefer sun and ocean and warmth for the holidays. And so off we went to Hawaii for Christmas!
Honolulu never disappoints. (Nor does the Halekulani where we were staying.). We enjoyed warmth and ocean views.

Diamondhead
pool time!

And beautiful sunrises.

sunrise

And equally beautiful sunsets.

sunset

Marcus and I took surfing lessons (and I graduated to an 11’ hardtop at his insistence). (Jade would have joined us, but, you know, a broken leg is a bit of an impediment…)

getting ready to surf!

We even went to see “Hamilton,” which was playing at the Blaisdell Center. It, too, never disappoints!

Don’t throw away your shot!

Oh, and a session on how to make a pahi kauna, a traditional Hawaiian war dagger.

shaping the dagger
a pahi kauna (Hawaiian war dagger)

And, as always, there was delicious food—a wonderful dinner at tbd…, a Christmas dinner at Roy’s, and a lavish Christmas Eve brunch at Orchid’s.

Christmas Eve brunch at Orchid’s

New Year’s Eve was a casual dinner cooked at home with some close friends (family, really).

New Year’s Eve menu

But we’re getting old so we celebrated New Year’s Eve on London time and allowed the kids to scatter to their own celebrations.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season!! Here’s to a fabulous 2023!!

Happy New Year!

Summer 2022

The summer was a whirlwind, and I have not enough space to bore everyone with our activities. Highlights include the following:

A joint birthday celebration at the Inn at Little Washington

May Liang & Jim Lintott Birthday Party Shot on 20220522 in Washington, VA Photographer Laurence L. Levin www.LLLevin.com

Jade’s master’s degree (in theoretical computer science) graduation ceremony at Stanford. She is now at Georgia Tech getting her PhD in combinatorics (or theoretical computer science for those of us who don’t understand what combinatorics is).

Jim’s mom’s 90th birthday celebration in Chehalis, Washington. (Shhh, her age is a secret, as she doesn’t want people to think she’s old.) 🙂 There were over 100 people who attended, including family and friends from all over. It was a tremendously festive occasion.

Jim and I rented a house and spent 3 weeks in Hawaii. I am not sure how to start since I have run out of words to describe Hawaii (“earthly paradise” does not seem to do the place justice). The only cloud was that Jade was unable to join us (curse graduate school and its class schedule!). However, Marcus and Yinan were both able to join us for a week. It worked out well as Jim and Yinan played tennis while Marcus and I took surfing lessons.
We also had some guests join us for various weeks. I think (hope!) that a good time was had by all.
Highlights (in addition to the company of our guests) include:

Beautiful sunrises and sunsets

A visit to the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor

A visit to the Punchbowl (aka National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific)

Scenic vistas at Pali Lookout

Delicious meals, including at tbd…, The Pig and the Lady, and Piggy Smalls

and, of course, surfing lessons. Marcus (and Jade) are quite good–I have finished lesson #9 and am a work in progress… 🙂 (the video is from lesson #5)

Hawaii is definitely our zen place. We miss it already!

Graduation 2021 and Hawaii

Two joyous events, especially in a year like this one.

In mid-June, we celebrated our daughter’s graduation from Stanford (total brag: she graduated with a degree in math, with distinction, and phi beta kappa). The graduation was a limited in-person event (two fully vaccinated guests per student). Issa Rae was the graduation speaker, and she did an excellent job. In addition, we had two VERY lovely friends who opened their home for a reception after the ceremony for Jade and her friends and their families. It was a truly celebratory day, and I think everyone appreciated the moment even more than they usually would.

Graduation 2021

Our summer trip was to Honolulu a few weeks later. We rented a house and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. There was a beautiful ocean, there were many beautiful rainbows (Hawaii isn’t called the rainbow state for no reason), there was fabulous food (fancy and not fancy), and there were wonderful guests who stayed with us. It really was a perfect time to relax, eat, and have fun.

I cannot tell you how wonderful Hawaii is. I can feel my blood pressure going down after landing at the Honolulu airport. My east coast friends wonder why we don’t go to the Caribbean for sun and ocean since it’s so much closer. I’ve concluded that it’s best to smile and keep the magical island paradise of Hawaii as a west coast secret. 🙂

sunrise over Koko Head
Moon over Koko Head
Pali Lookout

Hawaii: July 2019 version

By now, there isn’t much more that I can say about this little bit of paradise than I haven’t already said.

sunrise in o’ahu

So let me just mention the highlights of this trip, which include the following:

  • Continuing our 4th of July tradition of spending it with Dianne, John, Benjamin and Isabelle (this time in Honolulu)
Dinner at Chef Mavro
  • Getting to spend the 4th of July holiday with our former exchange student, Yinan
deep sea fishing
  • Unsuccessfully going deep sea fishing (not a nibble!) and having the entire group overdosing on Bonine, much to the dismay of the non-deep sea fishing group who discovered the Bonine-overdosed group was useless for the rest of the day
  • Parasailing, which was a really fun experience (it is eerily quiet 400 feet up in the air and, of course, incomparably beautiful)
getting ready to parasail
  • Meals at our favorite Honolulu restaurants—Chef Mavro and The Pig & the Lady (let the record reflect that I am the “lady”)

We look forward to our next trip to paradise!

sunset in o’ahu

Honolulu January 2019

I expect that everyone is tired of hearing of our trips to Honolulu and how glorious of a paradise it is. If so, then this is an easy blog post to skip. I just wanted to commemorate our annual 2019 trip-without-the-kids (to Honolulu, of course).
And also to point out without (much) gloating, of course, that Hawaii is truly a beautiful place.

The weather wasn’t ideal this trip with some rain and (relative) cool temperatures, but when Washington, DC suffers from a little bit of snow and a lot of cold (temperatures hit 4 degrees overnight once), a little bit of rain and mid-70s is to be appreciated.
We had our routine of walking around Diamondhead early every morning (about 7 miles) and going to the Bishop and Honolulu Art Museums. We also ate gloriously at some of our favorite restaurants, including Town, Chef Mavro (twice!), The Pig and the Lady, and Nobu, as well as at some more hole-in-the-wall restaurants like Doraku, Goma Tei, and Steak Shack.
But, most importantly, we spent time together (and it’s the only place where I am a morning person). We become empty nesters in about a year and a half, and it will be interesting to see how the adjustment goes. It seems like a good idea to us to periodically remind ourselves who the other person is across the breakfast table before that’s the only other person in the house. Just sayin…

sunrise over waikiki

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (2018 version)

Dear Teacher—

What we did on our summer vacation:

  • Our 16 year old son went to rural China for 6 weeks and came back with better Chinese, 2 beautifully handmade (by him) silver bracelets, new friends, and a newfound maturity.

new friends!

shiny metal, fire, hammer, and sharp tools–what’s not to like?

  • Our former exchange student spent part of the summer with us while she worked for a renewable energy company in Bethesda. We loved having her with us.
  • Our 19 year old daughter came back for the summer and worked at a decision analytics software company. Even more importantly, she *drove* to work (celebratory drum roll). (Oh, and by the way, she loved being an only child!)
  • Jim and I attended the US-Japan Leadership alumni weekend in Seattle, caught up with some old friends and made new ones (despite the fact that the new delegates and fellows all look like they are 12 years old).

USJLP 2018

  • The 16 year old son spent 5 days at home before embarking on an east coast college tour.
  • Our family vacation consisted of a week in Honolulu with some friends renting a house and an additional few days in Honolulu with just the 4 of us. Zip lining, surfing, shopping, and eating were the focus of our visit. We left right before Hurricane Lane arrived (fortunately, Oahu emerged relatively unscathed, unlike Maui and the Big Island).

at Ty Gurney Surf Shop

zip lining at the North Shore

sunrise over Koko Head

Hurricane Lane is coming!

  • The son and I visited my parents and saw a couple of west coast universities.

a visit to the zoo or a college campus? (is there a difference?)

  • The family attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for an elementary school in Chehalis, Washington named after Jim. The James W. Lintott Elementary School opened on Tuesday for K-2 students.

tee hee!

  • School started.

And that’s what we did during our summer vacation.

Your friend,
May

Spring Break 2018: Honolulu, where else?

If it seems like we go to Honolulu quite a bit, it may be because we have. However, this was our first trip there as a family in 2018. (Note how I carefully defined the parameters just now.) We were fortunate that the kids shared a spring break this year, and they decided to opt for Hawaii as the spring break destination.
This trip was probably the most mellow family trip to Hawaii that we’ve ever had. The kids had surfing lessons every day, and we did visit Shangri-la, the residence of Doris Duke that she decorated throughout with Islamic art. (Jim and I must keep up our reputation as killjoy parents and do something educational on every trip.). But other than that, it was a pretty zen vacation. We shopped a little, we pampered ourselves at the spa some, and we ate a lot (temporarily adopting the Samoan saying “Eat til you’re dizzy.”). And, of course, we enjoyed the warmth and the sunshine and the ocean.
The best part, of course, are the memories of yet another fun family vacation, knowing that each year brings fewer opportunities for us to all be together. To paraphrase Rick from the movie Casablanca, “We’ll always have Hawaii.” (And Disneyworld.).

returning from a visit to Leonard’s Malasadas

orchids from the farmer’s market

Shangri-la (Doris Duke’s residence)

the view from Shangri-la

at the Halekulani

Waikiki

Waikiki at sunset

A Long-Time Favorite: Chef Mavro (Honolulu)

It has been a while since I last posted photos of a dinner at Chef Mavro, one of our favorite restaurants. The restaurant has redone its menu a bit, allowing guests to choose from a selection of small plates or to embark on a 9 course Bataan death march of a tasting menu. We’ve done the tasting menu before—it’s fabulous and not to be missed!—but wanted to focus on our most recent meal, where we selected from the small plates.
We started with a foie gras parfait that included hibiscus, asian pear, yuzu, and malasadas. (Actually, we started with two of them because our party of four included a 16 year old velociraptor.) Our family loves foie gras, and this version was one of the best we’ve ever had. The inclusion of the citrus/sweet flavors set off the richness of the foie gras perfectly.

foie gras parfait

Next up was the ahi poke, served with ogo, chives, Aleppo pepper, and taro crisps. Poke has become the “in” thing these days with poke restaurants popping up everywhere from California to DC, but it is originally a Hawaiian dish (hopefully, the New York Times food writers will not “discover” it the way they discovered bubble tea, as a New York invention). The taro crisps were light and fresh, and the poke with the sauce had a lovely rich taste to it.

ahi poke

The third course was the egg “poutargue” with an egg, Yukon potato, San Danielle prosciutto, and sun-dried fish roe. The saltiness of the prosciutto gave the dish a nice flavor to go with the egg and fish roe. Yum!

egg poutargue

To our shock, our velociraptor asked for the keahole lobster (liking lobster is a recent thing for him). The lobster was served with kale, ginger, okra, and soursop. While excellent (because everything here is excellent), it was probably the weakest of the dishes.

keahole lobster

The next dish was the island free range chicken, served with a tarragon mousse, island cream corn, Swiss chard, and foie gras jus. Chef Mavro used to do a chicken multi-course dinner that Jim and I still talk about. This is a microcosm of that dinner and delectable. I am generally not a fan of white meat because it is more often than not dry and flavorless. This, however, was neither, and if more people could serve chicken like this, I would no longer be a white meat hater. Enough said.

island free range chicken

The final entree dish was a Miyazaki wagyu fricassee with chimichurri, breadfruit, warabi, and mustard seeds. You have to be a ham-handed chef to ruin wagyu, and there are no ham-handed chefs here. On the other hand, you have to be a gifted chef to make the most out of the wagyu and that certainly was the case here. The meat was perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful, and the accompanying ingredients provided additional flavor and texture.

miyazaki wagyu fricassee

Dessert was a citrus dessert—light, flavorful, and a perfect end to the dinner—and a chocolate dessert—rich, bold, and also a perfect end to the dinner.

citrus dessert

chocolate dessert

We have fond memories of Chef Mavro over the years, and each meal has been delicious and memorable. We look forward to many more years of dining there!
www.chefmavro.com