Friday, September 20, 2013

Oahu day 2: Northshore, Giovanni's Shrimp Truck, Matsumoto's Shaved Ice.

I woke up to my brother calling my name. He said there's a duck in the yard. I love ducks. So I rushed out back and there she was. He said she was friendly and was eating out of his hand. Sure enough she was. 

Another great thing about flying west, was that I was normally waking up around 7-8am. Since it would normally be 10-11am back in California. 

I named her Steve



A group of bait fish we found swimming around. We eventually tied a fish tank net to a broom and caught a bunch of them. I tried feeding them to Steve, but all she did was mangle the bait fish and spit them out. I think she prefers the Maui Onion chips.



After building up a sweat from a quick workout it was time to cool off. So Peter and I decided to see how far we could venture out.

Snapped a few pictures of the gorgeous surrounding homes.



A quick video of the surrounding area.

Look at that tree house/balcony. That would be perfect just to chill on a lawn chair under the tree and fall asleep.

We were pretty far out and the water didn't even go past waist deep. A great spot for kids to play in. No waves so it's super safe.

We probably ventured out about 200 yards and there was still a long distance to go just to get to the wave break. We decided to head back.

I borrowed a waterproof camera from a friend. It's an Olympus Tough TG-820. The picture quality was great. It shot better than my non-waterproof Panasonic Lumix camera that I have, but the video quality lacked a bit. It's a bit choppy at high speeds. Which you'll see later when I upload our moped ride videos, but it's waterproof!

How often to do you get to do this. Plop a chair down in the water and just chill out in Hawaii!

Steve later returned for lunch.

After everyone woke up. We headed off to North Shore for some Giovanni's Shrimp Scampi! There are two locations for Giovanni's. One is located in old town Haleiwa and the other a little further up north in Kahuku. More info can be found on there site here

The one in Kahuku is further from Honolulu/Waikiki, but is the original. The new location is closer and is conveniently located near Matsumoto's Shaved ice, if you plan on visiting the Grocery store you can kill two birds with one stone. The first time we had Giovanni's we visited the original location back in 2009. In 2010 I did some yelp reviews and people were speaking very highly of Macky's Sweet Shrimp Truck. So we visited it instead of Giovanni's in 2010. In my opinion Giovanni's is better, but Macky's has some awesome fried Coconut shrimp. Actually Macky's is located nearby Giovanni's second location along with a bunch of other trucks. I still prefer Giovanni's but you can try them all and judge for yourself.


In 2009 we saw a hen with some chicks when we had Giovanni's. Actually the same breed hen and this time there was another. It was kind of a trip to see.

Top picture is from 2009 and bottom is from this recent 2013 trip.

Giovanni's is located in a small plot of land with a bunch of other food trucks surrounding the area.

The shrimp scampi, Marinated in olive oil, fresh chopped garlic, lemon butter, and sauteed in a pan.

Freaking delicious. A must try for every visit to the island.

So good that Peter had 2 whole plates. 2 dozen shrimp, 4 scoops of rice. Carb up!

After Giovanni's we drove down the street to Matsumoto's Grocery Store. More popularly known for their shaved ice. You can tell by the line. In my opinion I think Waiola is hands down way better. For me Waiola's shaved ice is so fine, it's practically a slushie. Where as Matsumoto's is not as fine. Another place that is nearby Matsumoto's is Aoki's shaved ice but it looks like they are closed now as of August 2013. I have tried them in the past and I would rank them 3rd.




After Matsumoto's we stopped off at a random beach in Northshore. I have driven through Northshore many times but have never stopped to check it out. This time we did.





How convenient, there was a turtle hanging out on the beach. It's not dead, but it thought it was if it wasn't for the eyes blinking.






After about an hour or so at Northshore. We headed back home. Grad some groceries and decided to make dinner.

When we got back there were now two ducks in our yard. Looks like Steve brought a friend. I named her Charlie.

Steve would eat from my hand, but not Charlie. She always kept her distance.

Brandon's from Hawaii and what's his best dish? Spam Musubi and I made Totino's pizza from scratch.

We also bought some poke from Foodland.

A few night shots. I was still trying out some things with the camera features. Since I was borrowing it, it was my first time using it.


After everything was said and done. We decided to take it easy and decided to head to Duke's for some nice scenery and drinks.





Duke's has some really nice outdoor beach seating. The last time we were here they had a live performer doing cover songs and they did this time around also, but he was playing a more slower pace song which wasn't really the mood I was looking for, but oh well.


I had the Hawaiian Salt, Which was Ocean vodka with lemonade passion fruit juices and rimmed with Li Hing powder.

I also had the Korean short rib tacos. They are nothing worthy of noting.

After a round of drinks we decided to hit another spot. Jerry suggest Genius Lounge

Genius Lounge closes at 2am and they have some very finely crafted cocktails.

I had the Honey Please: Which was Jack Daniel's Honey Whiskey, a sugar crystal reduction (pretty much simple syrup), lemon juice and mint. I going off the top of my head, could be other ingredients.



Quite an easy night. That's it for day 2.

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