June and I cruised out to Waimea today for lunch at the house of our friend, the food writer Joan Namkoong. Joan has a new home on a hill in Waimea. It has ‘ohi‘a floors with koa all around. Just the right amount of koa—plenty, but not too much. The kitchen, which I’m sure Joan designed, is very open, efficient and functional yet elegant, as is the rest of the house.

June (not to be confused with Joan) oohed and aahed. She told me, “Remember when I asked you to make sure you design a window at the kitchen sink for our new house? That’s what I meant—a real window!”

I said, “Oh, you wanted a real view?”

Joan has a great, wide view from her kitchen sink. As well as all around the house. We were just so impressed with everything. And we had a great time. The food was unbelievable. There was roasted chicken with panzenella salad, a Greek salad made with Hamakua Springs grape tomatoes and Japanese cucumber, Wailea hearts of palm and feta cheese. Joan baked homemade bread.

Chef Eddie Goto of the Maunalani brought the chicken and panzanella, Joan cooked some of the meal, and some of the ladies brought desserts—a light and flaky lemon torte, chocolate chip cookies and bite-sized pecan pies.

The people were nice: The CEO of Parker Ranch Chris Kanazawa and his wife Mae; Executive Chef of the Maunalani Edwin Goto and his wife Dore Centeio; Lesley Hill and Mike Crowell of Wailea Ag Group, who were our down-the-street farmer neighbors  at Waiakea Uka for more than 20 years; retired Matson captain Norman Pi‘ianaia and his wife Nancy Pi‘ianaia, who is the leader of Slow Food Hawaii; and Pat and Doug Giles. Pat is the daughter of Monte Richards, of Kahua Ranch, who is one of my favorite people. He tells great Pidgin English jokes. We really enjoyed all the company.

As an aside, Norman’s dad, Abraham Pi‘ianaia, was my Hawaiian geography teacher at the UH when I attended back in the 60s. He taught me that being local had value. I really, really liked him and I respected him immensely. He was one of the people who made an impression on me as I passed through. I flunked out of school but I’m pretty sure I got a “B” in his class.

To top off the day, my workout was especially good today, too. My plan was to do my regular four-set workout alternating weights and aerobics. While accomplishing my regular workout, I also set out to do four sets of 30 crunches starting with no weights and adding 5 pounds for each successive set. On the last set, I wanted to do as many reps with 15 pounds behind my head as I could. I was prepared to do 15 or so, instead of the full 30.

By the middle of the second set, I had hit a heart rate of 130. I kept my heart rate around 135 for the 50-minute workout, slowing down a bit when my heart rate went into the 140s. I was saving my energy so I would not be exhausted by the time my last set of crunches came around.

I started the last set of 30 crunches with 15 pounds behind my head and without any unusual strain. I did 10, then 15, and then I realized I could probably do all thirty okay. When I hit 25, it was downhill all the way to 30—no strain no pain. It was great!

I’ll stay around here for the next couple of weeks before I try 20 pounds. No rush. All in all it was a great day!