Home Again Part Four: Lunch With Alli

Sunday, March 2
I ate leftover mini hamburgers for breakfast. Mom and I then drove to Alewa Heights, where we picked up Grandma and went to Ala Moana.

At my grandparents'.

I met my friend Alli at 10:30. We shopped for a bit before making our way to The Pineapple Room, a restaurant that I've written about many times over.

We started with edamame in chili sauce. Messy to eat with your fingers. Use chopsticks.

The plantation iced tea is what dreams are made on.

I departed from my beloved meat loaf and opted for the Special of the Day--a mound of fried rice topped with corned beef hash, two sunny side up eggs, and tomato salsa. A new take on a loco moco-hippo wallowing in a pool of brown gravy. The dish was tasty, but a little too salty for me.

I finally have a shot of the restaurant, but none of Alli.

We walked through the mall for the remainder of the afternoon, with me on the hunt for cosmetics. The impeccably done ladies at Japanese department store counters intimidate me, and I sought assistance from American make-up artists, who have more conservative attitudes toward the amount of paint that should go on one's face.

Alli and my last stop was Kahala Mall, where I visited Michele and the Banana Republic crew. For the first time ever, I could not find anything at BR to buy. The mall closed at 5, of course, as malls in Christian America do, and I said goodbye to Alli.

I watched Top Model for the rest of the day. I thought that returning home, I would watch hours CNN, having the chance to finally be immersed in American news in America, but all I wound up watching was trashy television. Ahh, the essence of kicking back in my country is a tooth-rotting snack paired with a mind-rotting reality show.

For dinner, all four Wadas sat around the dining table and ate leftovers from last night's party. It was nice falling back into family mode, though Scott commented that they never sit together at when I'm not home. Goes to show that I'm the glue that holds this team together.