Hurricane Prep with an Ethical Will and a Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

Today we awoke to emergency alerts on our phones. I flipped on the TV and immediately saw the emergency alert system broadcasting this about Hurricane Lane:

Yesterday’s hurricane watch had been upgraded to a hurricane warning. I scrambled to the coffee maker…and then across the Googles and Interwebs on my phone to find more news….

We had already done a lot of prepping for the hurricane yesterday before going zip-lining. As our Walking Dead skills started kicking in we decided perhaps we could do better. Tawny and I ran out to see if we could find a portable radio and more wine. No luck. We were met with long lines at Longs Drugs, Safeway, and other locations across Kihei. We decided to head back closer to our condo and top up our fuel at the nearby ABC Store. But it turns out they sell wine! We fueled up, grabbed another bag of ice, a few bottles of red, quarters for the laundry, and a few other miscellaneous food items to top up our already ample supply.

We spent mid-morning enjoying the last of the good weather. The snorkeling was surprisingly good and the water still clear, although choppy. The surf was up so we hit the waves and did some boogie boarding before lunch.

We grabbed lunch across the street at Coconut’s Fish Cafe. We weren’t expecting much but surprisingly this Zagat rated restaurant serves a formidable mixed fish: ono, ahi, and mahi-mahi fish taco.

A single order of fish tacos includes 2 of these sea-beasts!

Mmmm….fis,h tacos

After lunch, we went for more shave ice under the assumption we wouldn’t be able to enjoy any tomorrow.

Our afternoon was spent doing some laundry, and prepping for my mother’s birthday dinner. We had planned on going to dinner on Thursday (during the hurricane) to Ko at the Fairmont Kea Lani for dinner. However, we called the restaurant and they said they’d probably be closed as they are basically an open-air restaurant and it would be impossible to have the restaurant open during the hurricane.

We improvised. I prepared a kalbi-style beef short ribs and grilled Shishito peppers with Hawaiian sea salt as appetizers with chicken, bok choi, and broccoli stir-fry for dinner. Tawny made her famous (made every Hawaiian vacation) old-school time-traveling pineapple upsidedown cake as a birthday cake for my mom. My sister tried to find birthday cake candles but could only find a scented coconut candle. We made it work!

Pineapple perfection!

All the kids!

After dinner, my mother shared her ethical will with us with hopes of imparting her pioneer stock wisdom and values on to her grandkids. She handed each of them a value and had them read it aloud:

Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t sweat and struggle for.

Never give up. You can make it no matter what comes. Nothing worth having is ever achieved without a struggle.

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

And finally my mother read her own:

“Always remember that you are never alone. You are loved unconditionally.  There is nothing you can ever do or say that can ever take away my love for you all.”

I told my mother that the Goddess Pele herself and the God Kanaloa had perhaps sent Hurricane Lane to either help her blow out all her birthday candles or as a guest worthy of such a momentous birthday party. Either way, she is a divine mother and grandmother to us all worthy of a party with the Gods!

We ate our dessert with the sunset as the rain began. It was perhaps our last sunset for a few days to come.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I look forward to braving the hurricane with you tomorrow.