All you have to do is open the menu at Shiro’s and the menu says it all…."The place with a song in its heart and dedicated to the proposition that the hard working people must be taken care of with invigorating, nourishing, soulsifying food that is not too skimpy, plenty tasty and geared to the pocketbook." Shiro’s has been around for over 50 years. The specialty at Shiro’s is saimin (a noodle soup). A little history lesson for those of you unfamiliar with saimin. It is a dish that is unique to Hawaii and was developed during Hawaii’s plantation era (early 1900’s) which was made up, predominantly, of laborers of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Hawaiian and Portuguese descent. Saimin was inspired by the various noodle dishes from these cultures and has become a favorite and popular food in Hawaii. Normally, it’s a simple soup containing soft wheat egg noodles, chopped green onions, eggs and usually some type of meat like char siu (pork) or spam. But, Shiro’s has taken it to a whole new level offering about 60 different variations of saimin. Yes, there are other saimin restaurants around the island. Even McDonalds offers saimin on it’s meu. But, if you’re looking for variety and a new way to indulge your saimin craving, you gotta try Shrio’s in Aiea. There’s two locations - City Square, 1199 Dillingham Blvd, Aiea (808) 842-1742; Ewa Beach Shopping Center, 91-919 Fort Weaver Road, Ewa Beach.

Opened in 1951 by Mamoru and Helen Matsumoto, they’ve perfected shave ice to an art form. Shave ice is similar to a snow cone in that it’s bits of ice covered with a tasty, sweet syrup. But, the similarity ends there. With a snow cone, it’s like eating small flavored ice cubes. With shave ice, Matusmoto’s shaves an ice block into a snow cone cup so fine that the shave ice melts in your mouth instantly. There’s no crunching involved so you get immediate gratification. The shave ice comes in a variety of home made flavors – strawberry, pineapple, Lemon, Coconut, Banana, Vanilla, Root Beer, Grape, Lime, Lilikoi (passion fruit), Orange, Honeydew, Melon, Mango, Raspberry, Coffee, Watermelon, Bubblegum, Cotton Candy, Pinacolada, Banana Cream, Lihing Mui, Lychee, and Cherry. Matsumoto also offers combinations of these flavors as well. For a different taste, you can add a scoop of ice cream or azuki beans to your shave ice treat. There’s always a line when we go and the wait could be 20 minutes or more. But, it’s worth it. Once you eat shave ice, you’ll never want a snow cone again. It’s that good. So, if you’re in the North Shore area of Oahu, take the time to stop by in Haleiwa and get shave ice at Matsumoto’s. 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa (808) 637-4827.

Gotta Try….Great Things To Do

Kualoa Ranch (Ka’a’awa Valley in Oahu)

Kualoa Ranch was established in 1850 and is a family-owned, 4,000 acre working ranch in the beautiful and lush Ka’a’awa Valley on the north-eastern side of O’ahu. It’s about an hour from Honolulu. It’s the home of over 600 head of cattle and more than 100 horses. Kualoa Ranch cultivates flowers and plants for sale to the public thru Kualoa Nursery & Gardens. Kualoa is dedicated to educating people of all ages about aquaculture, Hawaiian culture & history, horsemanship, marine science, the Hawaiian ecosystem, roping and much more thru educational tours. Getting back to the intended purpose….There’s activities for the entire family. There’s enough to keep you busy all day. You can take a tour of the ranch on ATV’s or horseback, enjoy a buffet lunch on a private island called Secret Island and relax in the afternoon on a secluded white-sand beach surrounded by mangroves of hau trees. It doesn’t get any better than this for a fun-filled relaxing day in paradise. Kualoa will take care of everything for you. You don’t have to bring anything other than a change of clothes. If you decide to do the horseback riding, which I highly recommend, you’ll need to bring a pair of jeans and closed toed shoes. Otherwise, all other attire is Hawaiian style. For reservations call (800) 231-7321.

Stairway to Heaven (Haiku Valley in Oahu)

 

WARNING: THIS AREA IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC AND IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.  Originally called the Haiku Stairs, the “Stairway to Heaven” was built in 1942 by the U.S. Navy to stretch antennas across the Haiku Valley during World War II to be able to communicate across the Pacific as far as Australia and the Indian Ocean.  There are 3,922 steps that lead up a 2,800 nearly vertical climb up the Ko’olau mountain range. The original stairs were made of wood.  Then, in 1955, the wood stairs were replaced with galvanized metal. The communications stationed was decommissioned by the Navy in 1957.  In 1972 the Coast Guard took over the communication station.  On April 9, 1981, the stairs became a star attraction on the television series “Magnum P.I.” with several exciting scenes featured action on the stairs.  The stairs were permanently closed in 1987 due to major vandalism to several sections of the stairs. In 2002, repair and reconstruction of the stairs was completed at a cost of $875,000.  However, at this writing, the stairs are fenced off and still remain closed to the public.

 

 

 

 

Gotta Try….Great Places to Shop

 

Aloha Stadium Swap Meet (Aiea in Oahu)

Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, from 6am to 3pm, the best bargains in Oahu are found at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. The entrance fee is only $1.00 per person. Nearly all, if not all, of the merchandise sold at the swap meet are new from local vendors. Many of them own local stores in the area but pool their resources together to give you the best prices on great, new merchandise. You’ll find everything from clothing to jewelry to local art to toys to plants to….  You can find items costing as little as $0.10 to items costing thousands of dollars. If you’re a visitor to the islands, it’s the best place to buy your souvenirs. Many of the vendors will ship your items directly to your home (for a fee, of course). The locals go there as well. You know if the locals go there, it’s gotta be the place to go. The swap meet encircles the stadium with two to three concentric rings (depending upon which section of the stadium ground) of vendors. Make sure you bring comfortable shoes and some water. It could get fairly humid at times especially after it rains. It could take a couple of hours to see all of the vendors….and that’s walking at a fairly good pace. If you’re a window shopper, it could take several hours. But, for some of the best bargain shopping on the island, you gotta try the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. From East Oahu, Waikiki & Honolulu - Take H-1 freeway West, exit 1E – Take the “Stadium” exit. From West Oahu, Koolina, Kapolei - Take H-1 freeway East, exit 13B – Take the “Stadium” exit. You can’t miss it. You’ll see the stadium right off the freeway.

 

Tropix Surf Shops (Maui)

A favorite with the locals, Tropix is Maui’s homegrown surf company. As the story goes, in 1977 at the age of 15, Louie Martin began building Tropix surfboards in his backyard in Kihei on Maui’s south shore.  Today, Tropix Surf Shops and Louie Martin continue to keep it real bringing you authentic, original and exclusive surfboards, surfwear and surfgear. Unique to the islands and, more specifically, only found in Maui, Tropix offers great surf gear and clothing that you won’t find anywhere else in the world…you can’t buy it’s products online and the only stores are located in three locations in Maui.  So, if you want to buy something unique to the islands, you gotta go to the Tropix Surfboard stores in Maui.  You’ll find Tropix in Kahului at 261 Dairy Road (808) 871-8726, in Lahaina at 790 Front Stree (808) 661-9296; and in Kihei at the Piilani Shopping Center (808) 879-6868.