…nā manaʻo ulu wale…

Maybe it’s because I was sick all last week and barely had an appetite, or maybe it’s because I spent most of this week at my sister’s house, and they always eat out, but I’ve been obsessing about food lately. I get these strong cravings for a certain type of food, and I seem to be constantly thinking of what things would taste like! Weird!

On Sunday, we went to the zoo, which was across the street of Teddy’s, which I wanted to try. So the whole time we were walking around the zoo, all I could think about was how good a hamburger would taste. I hadn’t eaten anything greasy or cheesy in a while because of the illness I had earlier, so I was ready! My mouth was watering so much in anticipation of having a lovely, juicy burger that I didn’t even need to take a sip of my water bottle, like I normally do when walking around. I felt so bad about only thinking of hamburgers instead of appreciating the animals there, that I apologized profusely to the cow there! I was just so ‘ono for a hamburger, especially since Teddy’s has good reviews. I could just taste the warm meat that gushes forth with juice when you bite into it, with that lovely charbroiled smell you inhale as you eat, and how the goodness just fills your mouth and goes down and you feel sooooo satisfied. I was so weak. I totally rushed us along the last 1/3 of the zoo because I couldn’t stand it any more. It was right there! Come on! Let’s go! I felt like a drooling caveman (sorry, Geico reps) who could only grunt “meat, meat, meat, MEAT!” Hamburger! YUM!

I did not get to satisfy that craving, though. I drove sadly to my sister’s home, where we were going to stay for a while. She was going to Maui Tacos and wanted to know if we wanted anything. *sigh* I really wanted that hamburger, but just chose a steak quesadilla. It wasn’t bad, but you know when you’re craving one thing…nothing else seems to taste as good.

The next day, we were planning on stopping by Times to get some steak. They hibachi it right there, in front of the store, for you. Sooooooooooo delicious. So we were planning on getting that for lunch, and again, all I could think of was yummy steak. My sister was going to leave at noon to get some, but her husband told her that the neighbor was going to Times to get steak, too, so we put in an order with her. We waited. I drooled. We waited some more. My other sister showed up, dropping off some goodies from Liliha Bakery, but I couldn’t eat anything. I just wanted steak! STEAK! We waited until 5:50 before my sister decided she wasn’t going to wait for the neighbor any more, and ran out to get steak herself (they stop serving it at 6). I thought, just my luck, she gets there too late!

But, luckily, she got there in time, and we got our steak. Soooooo yummy.

On Tuesday, we were at Kamehameha Shopping Center. Strangely, I did not want hamburger, but I wanted something stewy. So while my sister shopped, I went to McDonalds to get some yummy haupia pies, then I walked over to Jamba Juice for a lovely Coldbuster. On the way, I spied the bowling alley and thought STEW!!!! YUMMMMM!!!! Should I chance it and run across the street to get some stew? Would I make it back by the time my sister finished shopping? I stood on the curb for 3 minutes, deciding whether or not to run across. When I finally decided to do it, my phone rings. My sister said she was done, and wanted to meet at the curry ramen place by Jamba Juice, since I was supposed to be buying all of our Jamba Juices. whoops. I hurried over and bought them and then my sister was there, and even though I tried to get her to go to the bowling alley, she said her husband called and wanted something from the curry ramen place, so she had to go there. She told me to go to the bowling alley, but by then, I didn’t want to make humbug. So I just ordered a beef curry there. Not as good as the bowling alley’s curry would’ve been but…I guess it did help the craving a little bit. It would’ve been nice if my curry had more meat and potatoes in it, though!

On Wednesday, there wasn’t much craving, though we did stop at Quiznos, because my sister told me the prime rib sandwich was to die for (it was okay, but I doubt I’d eat it again for its price!). Then I had to take my son to practice. After that was done, I asked what he felt like eating for dinner, and he said he wanted to go to Ruby Tuesday. Neither of us had been there before, and I wondered how he knew about it? But I figured, well, this might be the only time to do it, because of vacation–once we get back to school, we’re not going to have the time or energy to eat there, so I relented, and we went. I had no idea what kind of food they served there, but was pleased to find out there was a whole page in the menu dedicated to hamburgers! YUM! It took a while to decide, though, because I didn’t want to spend $11 for just a regular cheeseburger. I don’t like bacon, either, which is what most of them had. I was looking for something with mushrooms or bleu cheese, but I couldn’t find anything. I finally saw one that had sauteed portabello and NO bacon, so I was going to order that, even though it was almost $13, when I looked across the page and saw the triple prime burger. This one was $12 but it had 3 prime cuts of meat. Oooooo. So I ordered that. It was pretty good, but again, not something I would eat again for that price…unless someone else was treating

So I got my hamburger craving out of the way. Or so I thought…

This morning, I must’ve still had the taste of the hamburger still in my mouth, even though I use red cinnamon toothpaste. And I still could not get the idea out of my head to try a hamburger at Teddy’s. I even found their website and stared at their menu for a long, long time. The mouth began to water again. I tried to distract myself by watching the Disney Channel with my boy for while, but that just made me an irritated drooler. I told my boy we were going to Waikiki! We have to get a burger!

We didn’t. We just got what we needed from Home Depot, K-mart, and the library. We stopped by Zippys, but they didn’t have the tripe stew I was hungry for, so we left. But I tell ya, we’ll get there! Hopefully soon, before my brain gets tired from working overtime to produce all this saliva. I’m just sad that it might be like a certain other thing–you build it all up in your mind to be good, and then … it’s not. It’s such a letdown. Just like those that said Kua’aina is the best, but it was just ordinary, to me. Or how my sister said the prime rib sandwich is to die for, but it was just okay. Well, we’ll see, I guess. Probably all I should eat is a nice crisp salad with salmon flakes after all the eating out I did this week!