Family, Jungle Hippies, Papayas

I'm just back from my trip to Hawaii. I'm pretty sure I ran around the rim of a volcanic crater early this morning in Volcanoes National Park, but then Harper reminds me that must have been yesterday morning. No matter, I haven't slept in a bed since, so it feels like it was earlier today.

It was a good and varied trip. I got to spend some QT with my godson, Luca, and his parents, who let me call him my godson, even though I'm not sure any of us know what that really means. Luca is an amazing, cheerful, easy-going little guy, made all the more precious by the fact that he had a rough start in life. One of my favorite things he does is looks deeply into your eyes for a long time with this wise, loving gaze. It makes my eyes well up with tears. I love him.

His daddy, Andi, made us delicious dinners each night and fabulous double espressos each morning and his mamma, Nicole, took me on a circle island tour of Oahu and a 48-hour adventure to The Big Island. I won't try to recount all we did, but some highlights for me included sitting at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, watching the surfers:
(and the lifegaurds hollering in the idiots who had no business being out in that surf; "swim IN Buddy, straight IN"):
eating a "shrimp plate" from Macky's Shrimp Truck:


hiking down into and back out of a volcanic crater, soaking in a natural, salt-water hot pond and taking a trail run (just this morning!) on a portion of the Crater Rim Trail.

I enjoyed the Puna region of The Big Island, known for it's farms and, um, sweet green bud, if you know what I mean. I found the Jungle Hippies to be quite dear and loved their little town of Pahoa, which looks like something out of a Clint Eastwood movie (except with Jungle Hippies!) and has an incredible northern Italian restaurant (BYOB), and a pretty rowdy bar across the street.

On our last night together, Nicole and I made a dinner of fresh Ahi on the grill, pan roasted green beans, and, most importantly, fresh papaya. As I was cooking the fish I asked Nic to prepare the papaya as a side dish. I have never particularly liked papaya, but something told me it would be good with the Ahi. And Nicole squeezed lime onto it! It was the most perfect combination of flavors!

Had I only discovered sooner the joy of papaya a la lime served with a savory dish! As we left Hilo this morning (or was that yesterday?) I saw vendors selling the lovely green/yellow, orange-fleshed papayas, 5 for one dollar! Alas, the Dept. of Ag. would not let me bring any home (I knew better than to try).

As I drifted in and out of sleep on my long flight from Honolulu to Chicago, I kept thinking about the papaya and how my old friend taught me something new about how to eat them. I remembered that incredibly simple, relaxed and delectable dinner at our lazy lahua in the jungle. And I thought about how happy I was to have visited my friends in Hawaii and to be going home to my family in Vermont. And 30,000 feet up, everything already seemed so long ago; Hawaii, so far away, and the space between, truly vast.


I captioned this one: What Happens In Honolulu...