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GREAT RESTAURANTS IN KAUAI

May 2, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

There’s one single key to enjoying eating out in Hawaii. Make sure your hotel has a kitchen and a BBQ! Honestly, food is so expensive in Hawaii you can’t afford to eat out three meals a day every day for a week. We recently stayed at the Marriott Beach Club in Lihue… complete with full kitchen and community BBQs where the men hang out, smoke cigars, drink beer and discuss meat. And now that you’ve saved some money by eating “in” you can really splurge when you eat out. And here are my recommendations starting from the north side of the island and working clockwise around it until we end up at Poipu.

Hanalei is a cute little town on the north shore. It feels like Hawaii 30 years ago. And smack dab in the middle of it is Tropical Taco.

It’s a taco truck turned brick and mortar restaurant. Darrin and I had the fish tacos.

But the kids were the real winners. They each had not one but two orders of the ground beef burritos. Eat out on the porch, but watch for little Tweedy. He will snatch a bite if you’re not paying constant attention.

On the east shore is a little town call Kapa’a. We were told by our friend, Lori, as well as everyone else while on the island to eat at Bull Shed’s. There’s just a tiny sign off the main road so you have to look for it. We caught it at the last minute, drove down the long driveway… to this sign on the door.

Super bummed, but a good reason to return to Kauai someday.

In Lihue, there’s the famous Duke’s. Duke was a stud. Not only because he was an Olympic swimmer and is the father of modern day surfing… but because the dude made a helluva pie!

Hula pie was the perfect ending to our fabulous meal. And did you know Duke’s is owned by the same company that owns Sunnyside up at Lake Tahoe. I mention this because guess what’s on the Sunnyside menu? Hula Pie!!!

Also in Lihue, in fact right next door to Duke’s, is Portofino. We had mixed reviews about this legit Italian restaurant. The owner, the harpist and the waiter are all from Italy. The porch overlooks the ocean. And one night a week it turns into a disco for 21 and ups. The only nightlife in Lihue. Maybe even all of Kauai. Darrin and I both ordered the house specialty lasagna. It tasted as good as it looks.

Poipu is the main town on the south shore. And as you come into it, there’s a food truck that’s worth a stop. The Kauai Food Truck has great fish tacos and you pluck your own bottles of water from an Igloo cooler by the front tire.

There’s a pleasant grassy picnic area. We actually hung out here for a bit. I loved all the colors in this little corner of Poipu. Bonus suggestion! In the Poipu Shopping Village is Puka Dogs as seen on Food Network. Totally worth it and the kids will love it!

I’ve saved the best for last! Beach House in Poipu has an amazing location nestled into the best snorkeling cove on the island. That means you can send the kids snorkeling while you enjoy a coconut martini. The glass rim is an appetizer!

You can hear the waves while dining in any of their oceanfront booths. And when chef Marshall Blanchard plates his food he takes as much care with his presentation as he does the quality of the food. I got the grilled Hawaiian catch with coconut black Thai rice, green papaya salad and coconut red curry sauce.

Darrin got something fabulous too…. but ate it before I could snap a photo! And I was so impressed with the vanilla bean brown butter vinaigrette I called Marshall and asked for the recipe. Luckily he’s one of those cool chefs who doesn’t mind sharing his secrets. So here you go! Compliments of Chef Blanchard:

Vanilla Bean Brown Butter Vinaigrette: 6 oz. Heinz gourmet malt vinegar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons Dijon, 1 1/2 vanilla beans split lengthwise, 1 pound butter (yes that says 1 POUND!). Melt the butter in a pan until it browns. Set aside to cool. Mix all other ingredients together and allow vanilla beans to soak for a while. When they are soft, scrape the seeds back into the mixture and discard the stalks. Finally, slowly whisk the butter into the mixture. Marshall says he thins the vinaigrette with 1/2 cup water. I’m going full throttle, no water for me!

And maybe that’s why my next post is titled DETOX! The scale was quite an eye opener upon our return to reality…. but it was so worth it!

Filed Under: Live, Wendy Tagged With: family, TRAVEL, wendy's family

KAUAI WITH KIDS

April 30, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

For spring break, we splurged and took the kids to Kauai, Hawaii. I was nervous. All I’ve ever heard about the garden island is how quiet it is and slow and relaxing. Quiet, Slow and Relaxing are not adjectives that describe my children! So what in the world were we going to do in such a place? Scream, Run and Be Adventurous of course. Because those are words that nail the personalities of Eva and Domi. And to be honest, Kauai has a false reputation. We LOVED IT! I’ve never been to Costa Rica, but Kauai is how I picture that country. Zip lining, surfing, hiking, boating exercusions… you name it… and we did it. Well, except for the boating. We simply ran out of time! Here’s my list of must do’s with Kids in Kauai!

Marriott Beach Club in Lihue: We stayed here because we got a great deal on the room. So I didn’t really look around. But this is a great spot for kids! For someone who is terrified of sharks (have I told you my parents took me to see Jaws at age 3 IN THE MOVIE THEATRE!) the ocean here is manageable. The resort sits on a cove. And the cove has a pier at the end of it, making the opening of the cove much smaller. Here’s my thinking. Sharks would never come into such a small opening to swim in a cove they know has only one exit. Right? I had to constantly remind myself of this while Domi and I took surf lessons. The pool is huge. Circular in shape with 5 hot tubs right inside the pool. No slides (except in the baby pool) or any of the fancy stuff pools have now a days but the kids didn’t mind at all. There are several great restaurants at the resort including the world famous Duke’s (which btw is owned by the same company that owns Sunnyside at Lake Tahoe. And yes Sunnyside has hula pie… Same as Duke’s!)

Tubing the irrigation ditches: This did not sound that great to me when we signed up. Then again Kauai didn’t sound that fun to me either! This trip has you floating on an innertube through an 1800′s sugar cane plantation. You ride the alow current of the actual irriation ditches that fed 17,000 acres of crops. What I didn’t realize is there are tunnels. 5 of them. They are so totally pitch black you have to wear a head lamp. The longest is half a mile! In one of them, the guide stopped us, told us to turn our headlamps off while he told the history of the ditches. I literally had to count slowly in my head to stop me from screaming “SPIDER!!!” which is what I’m sure was about to land on my head. Apparently I don’t care much for small spaces in pitch black. Weird I highly recommend this activity! Like child birth, you only remember the good parts.

Hiking: For a GREAT hike, seriously one of my top 10 of all time, drive up the east coast of the island literally until the road ends. Ke’e beach is there. It’s also the trailhead for the Kalalu trail. It’s a cool, rocky, mossy, jungly trail that takes you to a lookout of the Napali coast.

You can’t get to these amazing beaches by car. You can hike this trail and look down on them, or boat to them. That means they are prestine, empty beaches you only see on Survivor. And make sure you come prepared… Unlike me. I thought it was a beach day. This is no trail for flip flops!

There are also really cool caves right near the trailhead so make sure you want into them. Scary, but worth it!

Snorkeling: In the town of Poipu, there’s an amazing restaurant called Beach House. Not only should you go there for their incredible cocktails, food and vanilla bean viniagrette, you should also get there a few hours early and bring your snorkel gear. The beach to the right of the restaurant (if you’re back is to the Beach House and you’re looking out at the ocean) is GREAT for snorkeling! In fact, the local guys from the tubing trip even said it’s the best spot in the island. And yes, turtles like this spot too! And try this. While snorkeling, grab some sand and throw it in the water in front of you. The fish think it’s food and they come swarming! (If you have really young children, I recommend going to Lydgate State Beach Park on the east side of the island. There’s a snorkeling area there that’s completely surrounded by a sea wall. Super safe for babies)

A week on Kauai wasn’t enough! 10 days would be better if you can swing it. Tomorrow I’ll write about the food on Kauai. Amazing! And then later this week will be a post called DETOX!!!! I’m sure you can figure out why! Aloha!

Filed Under: Live, Wendy Tagged With: family, KIDS, TRAVEL, wendy's family

KID FRIENDLY DINNERS… WHEN THEY MAKE THEM

January 22, 2013 By Wendy D 6 Comments

My phone rang at 4:45 pm. I rarely pick up at that hour since I have to be on set 5 minutes later. But I did today and heard Eva on the other end of the line.

“Hello Mom. This is Palm.”

“Hello Darling. How are you?”

You should know “Palm” is my daughter’s alter ego. She’s called herself this for about a year now. Oh ya, and she’s British. So now re-read the conversation using your best British accent.

“Hello Mum. This is Palm.”

“Hello Darling. How are you?”

“I’d like to know what’s for dinner. Because I certainly don’t want what happened last night to happen again tonight.”

WHOA!!!!!!!!! Back up 24 hours. I rushed home from work, went straight to the kitchen and made Szechuan Beef. I attempted Szechuan Beef!! And it actually tasted like Chinese food!! Darrin and I had extra helpings it was that good. The kids however, went into their typical rants I’ve heard the past 6 months.

“Is this Paleo???”

“Mom, you know we HATE Paleo!!!”

No you little bastards, IT’S CHINESE FOOD! So what if it happens to qualify as Paleo. So what if I tried to slip a Paleo dinner in under the guise of Chinese and got caught. So what if I never ever cook dinner again!

And then she said this:

“So since I don’t want what happened last night to happen again, I was thinking I could cook dinner tonight.” And she had dropped the British accent so I knew she was entirely serious.

Well, hell yes you can I thought to myself. “Absolutely Palm! Knock yourself out!”

After work that night, I walked into the house and actually smelled food cooking. And I hadn’t even stepped in the kitchen!! This is Christmas morning for me. This is the greatest present of all to a working mom! Dinner ready the moment you walk in the door!

I sat at the dinner table and Eva and Domi proudly served me their meal. Chicken breasts, asparagus and edamame. Yep, two greens and a protein! I couldn’t have been prouder. Maybe underneath all their surly talk about how my dinners suck, the kids are learning a few things about good nutrition. And may I point out that, minus the edamame, this dinner IS TOTALLY PALEO!!

Filed Under: Eat, Live, Wendy Tagged With: eat healthy, family, KIDS, paleo, paleo diet, paleo recipes, wendy's family

GETTING OLDER

January 15, 2013 By Wendy D 4 Comments

So you know I recently turned 41. THANK YOU for all your birthday wishes. I really look at my birthday as a national holiday. I take the day off. I do whatever I want. I eat dessert during breakfast and dinner. You catch the drift. I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY. So the fact you guys thought of me on January 11th means a lot! So I thought I would give you my take on getting older.

I begin with the 20′s.

Take a look at those cheeks! Yep, I’m sitting in the same newsroom I currently work in. Winning! Are we all still using that exclamation? Back to the 20′s. They were hard. They were really hard. Why? Because in your 20′s you work hard at everything. You work hard at getting out of college. Then you get your first real job and you have to work hard to prove yourself. But at the same time, you’re also working hard on your personal life and trying to find the right mate. Don’t get me wrong. The 20′s were a load of fun, but they were hard because you’re trying to figure out who you are during that transition from being a college kid to a career woman. Do you think I was eating in that picture? Or maybe that’s another reason the 20′s were so hard. You’re trying to lose the baby fat!

The 3o’s.

Ok, the 30′s SUCKED! I am not going to water this decade down. That’s because you are now married and having kids. Only problem is neither one comes with a manual to help you out. Plus, you’re still not exactly where you want to be in your career. So not only are you learning to be a wife, figuring out how to be a parent, you’re still trying to prove yourself at work. So while there were a lot of bright moments in the 30′s, the decade as a whole SUCKED! At least the chipmunk cheeks are gone. Oh ya, that’s because in the 30′s your babies are sucking every ounce of nutrition out of you while you’re pregnant and then breastfeeding. Plus, you’re sleeping much Much MUCH less than the recommended 8 hours a night. But hey! Women actually look better in their 30′s than in their 20′s… just my opinion.

And now the 40′s.

This is my decade! This is where we’re smarter, better, happier, more confident. The kids are now a little more on auto pilot… At least they can wipe their own ass. You’ve figured out the marriage… Well, half have and the other half divorced and hopefully will figure it out on spouse number 2. And work is what it is… Either you hate it and will until the day you retire or you’re lucky like me and you love your job and the job loves you right back. Of course staying in the same newsroom since your 20′s probably helps with that. In fact, I chose this final picture for two reasons. 1) See that desk behind me? On the right side of the picture? That’s where my 20 year picture was taken. Boy I’ve come far! And see the feather I’m holding? That’s from a PIGEON that flew out from that closet right behind me and flew over my head, right at Kristen, down the hallway, and out the newsroom door. This happened about a month ago. I meant to write a blog post about it, but what the hell do you say about a pigeon coming out of nowhere, dropping a feather on your desk, and flying away? I guess new things can happen in a room you’ve worked at for almost 20 years. And that’s the joy of getting older.

Filed Under: Live, Wendy Tagged With: aging, HOLIDAY, Holidays

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY AND I’M NOT BOWLING

January 10, 2013 By Wendy 4 Comments

Following Christmas, the attention (ok my attention) goes to the next big thing. My birthday! I was actually due in December of 1971 but I was 2 weeks late!! My poor Mom! So January 11th is a big day… At least for me. I LOVE my birthday. It’s the one day I get to decide exactly what I want to do. (Traditionally I call my out of town friends at 5am so they can wish me a happy birthday. Yes it’s an asshole thing to do. No I don’t care it’s before sunrise when their phones ring! It’s my birthday!!) And this year I’m going bowling. Well, I was going bowling until this conversation happened.
I was talking to my friend Megan and we were making plans to bowl at the National Bowling Stadium (yes, Reno has a National Bowling Stadium. And no, locals can’t bowl in it. It’s just for professionals. I’m not kidding. But once a year members of a group called the Prospectors get to play there and this year it’s on my birthday!) So we are sitting at my bar talking about our plans when suddenly Eva says to me, “but mom, if you go bowling I won’t get to spend your birthday with you.” I gazed down at those mournful hazel eyes and nearly cried. My 9 year old wanted to be with me and she felt excluded from one of my favorite days of the year. I was making plans right in front of her that didn’t include her. I was heartbroken and humbled at the same time. How much longer will my kids actually want to be with me on my birthday? How much longer will they even realize the importance of January 11th? People always say time goes so quickly with your kids and it suddenly hit home with me at that very moment. That moment I will never forget when my daughter truly wanted to share my birthday with me. And right then I turned to Megan and said, “It’s my birthday and I’m not bowling.” Instead I will be with my kids and my husband. And that’s exactly where I want to be.

Filed Under: Live, Wendy Tagged With: Holidays

SNOW ON THE RANCH

December 26, 2012 By Wendy 2 Comments

I came home tonight to two glaring headlights flying across the field in front of our house. This usually isn’t a good thing. It means Darrin is on the quad. And that means a cow is sick or a bull got loose or a beaver dammed up the creek and flooded our road. Either way, I’m coming home to a grumpy husband and a late dinner. But tonight was different.

Tonight there were two flashing headlamps about 20 yards behind the quad. Aaaahhhhh!!!! Sledding season at the Damontes!

The field that surrounds our house has been laser leveled so there’s 50 sections that are perfectly level. Each section is divided by burms called checks. In the sumertime these checks keep the water flowing within that section. But in the wintertime that watering system means sweet jumps on a sled! Even when there’s just a dusting of snow the kids beg to go quad sledding. Finally, Reno got dumped on enough the new non chloric silicon base kitchen lubricant was brought out (I assume you’ve all watched Christmas Vacation as many times as we have this past week!!) They had a BLAST! It still meant a late dinner but every family member was happy. Well, all but one. Donner was running along side the sled and Darrin forgot to put her snow boots on. Ha! Just kidding! She doesn’t have snow boots!! So when she came inside she was a covered mess of snow dingleberries. And there is only one way to get those off.

So I dragged her to the shower and melted them off with hot water. Needless to say, everyone will be sleeping soundly at the Damonte household tonight… Including me. While they all played in the snow, I enjoyed a quiet glass of wine to myself.

(personal note: I would like to personally thank all of you for your amazing messages and prayers following my mom’s story. And most importantly, I would like to thank those of you who took action and made an appointment for a mammogram or linked my mom’s story onto your Facebook pages and emails. My mom and I truly believe the more people who see it, the more lives will be saved. If you haven’t seen it, here’s my mom’s story.)

Filed Under: Live, On The Ranch, Wendy Tagged With: family, KIDS, PETS

MY MOM’S STORY, HER BATTLE WITH BREAST CANCER

December 20, 2012 By Wendy D 34 Comments

If just ONE of you who watches this 23 minute video goes and gets screened for breast cancer, then my mom’s death won’t have been in vain. My photographers at my TV station and I shot this story over the course of a year (2011). And it took me another year to find the courage to put it together (2012). This is My Mom’s Story, Her Battle With Cancer.

Filed Under: Live, Wendy, Wendy's Work Tagged With: breast cancer, breast density, DENSE BREAST TISSUE, MY MOM'S STORY

CHRISTMAS TREE HUNTING

December 17, 2012 By Wendy D 5 Comments

This post was supposed to be posted two weeks ago. But I wanted it to have a happy ending and it’s taken this long to get one. You know I love family traditions. My poor kids are dragged through each holiday, each one with their specific tradition that HAS TO BE DONE. “Yes, you are making Nevada Day cookies. I don’t care if you hate cookies,” was my last attempt at a cheerful holiday tradition. No, I don’t do these things for the kids… although I do believe one day, probably once I’m dead, my kids will appreciate them. But for now, these holiday traditions are for me. Tough. Deal with them kids! So on the day after Thanksgiving, like every other year, we headed out to cut down our family Christmas tree. We always go with friends, but the location we cut is always different. This year, we headed into Dog Valley which is on the easter slope of the Sierra outside Reno. What’s funny (to me!) is I always do a 178 mile relay race during the summer and the hardest leg is Dog Valley. We always make my Little Friend Lynn run it, but never give her credit for doing anything impressive. Well… that might have been a little unsupportive. My CAR had a hard time getting up Dog Valley. I can’t imagine getting up that hill on my legs! Anyway, back to the tree hunt. We bounced along for about an hour on old logging roads and finally came to a stop thick within the forest. As we always do when out in the wild, we went over forest safety with the kids. We told them if they get lost, to hug a tree and yell so we can find you. Our son, Dominic, says, “Oh, should I scream ‘Caw Caw, Caw Caw?’” Um… yes, Dominic, sound like a natural bird in the forest, so while I’m frantically running up and down mountains looking for you, I go the OTHER WAY because I think you’re A DAMN BIRD! Must be Darrin’s side of the family! So after adding a kid leash to Domi (not really, but I wanted to) we headed out and found the perfect tree.

It only took about 20 minutes which is REALLY good for us. However, since it’s been such a wet fall, the tree weighed 10-thousand pounds. I’m not exagerating. I could barely lift the top end. Fortunately, we had a young buck with us and I made him do it!

Him being our friend Ryan who had nothing better to do than drag all of our trees up the mountainside and back to the cars. Hey, when you’re the single dude who doesn’t have kids bitching at you every holiday because they hate your annual traditions, that’s what you get.

After tying down the trees, we had a forest picnic of homemade chili that I opened from cans (hey! It was made in someone’s home… or factory), corn bread and homemade chocolate caramel pecan pie (I really made that one! It was left over from yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner… And no one ate it… That’s why I open cans when I can, people!!).

With everyone fully fed, we piled back into our cars, strapped EVERYONE in, and headed back to Reno.

After keeping the tree outside for about 10 days, we finally brought all 12 feet of her inside to our entry way. I like to call it the Christmas Tree Room… because that’s all it’s good for. And then THE task began. Yes, the task of hanging the lights. I HATE putting on Christmas tree lights. Literally, I would rather free fall from outer space back down to Earth than hang Christmas tree lights. But after a few glasses of wine, and some peppy Christmas music on the radio, I’m done and the kids and I begin hanging the ornaments we’ve collected from all over the world during our travels.

We all went to bed that night feeling like Christmas was offically here. And then it happened. Without us hearing a thing. We awoke the next morning to this.

Now, I’m not one to point fingers, but I’m pretty sure this little bastard is to blame. It was as if he’s saying, “Hey man, I tried everything to make you stop snoring and nothing worked. So I turned it up a notch and brought down your 12 feet of Christmas joy. Suck it.”

We lost a few ornaments that apparently could survive a journey from South America, but couldn’t survive our cat Max. And yes, I re-hung those damn lights. But by the end of the day, my San Francisco self was pretty pleased with the fix.

And my rancher husband was rather pleased with his fix as well.

(please note, I’m writing this post with a heavy heart still from the tragedy in Connecticut. But I truly believe we have to return to normal and I’m hoping this post will add a smile to your faces, even if tears of saddness are still staining your cheeks.)

Filed Under: Live Tagged With: CHRISTMAS, HOLIDAY TRADITIONS, Holidays

A GOOD CRY

November 29, 2012 By Wendy 10 Comments

My parents at my Dad’s surprise 80th birthday

I’m an orphan. At least that’s how I think of myself on my weepy days. Yes pathetic. I lost both my parents before age 40. Tough shit. Some people lose theirs at birth. Or worse, get to know them and love them and depend on them only to lose them as children. I’m blessed. I know that. But it still hurts sometimes to not have parents. My wounds are still raw from losing my mom on December 21st of 2011. My dad went two years before that. Both died of cancer. Both shitty deals. I got through Thanksgiving this year. You didn’t hear much from me during that time. I had my head down, focusing on survival. I’ve become a pro at navigating conversations away from, “How are you doing, Wendy?” I answer quickly enough to satiate the person while not letting them dig any deeper into my outter crust which protects a bucket of tears and raw emotion. No one wants to see that. Trust me. So with one of the big holidays behind me, I’ve got one more to get through. And it’s starting to get more difficult. “How do you deal with the pain of losing someone so close to you?” is a question I get all the time. I don’t know the answer. But I know what I do. I train. It keeps my mind off the pain. And after today I realized how important training is to me. My last triathlon was back in June. I have nothing in the pipe so my long therapy runs have lessened to nil. And today I broke. The tears started as soon as I left the house. I ended up driving around town pulling up to red lights back far enough the driver next to me couldn’t see the tears. I didn’t want them to wonder, “What’s wrong with that poor woman?” Because the reason I’m crying doesn’t seem legit. There are so many other people out there with real reasons to cry. I feel like a kid who didn’t get ENOUGH Christmas presents because I didn’t get enough time with my parents. So what do you do? How do you get over these periods of sadness so they don’t grab hold and become full fledged depression?? For me, I’m signing up for another race. I’m giving myself something to look forward to instead of longing for what was in the past. This is how I grieve. I hope it works. Because at the end of the day this is my new reality. Nothing is bringing my parents back. And even with the sadness I’m still so blessed. I have two amazing kids and a great husband to live for. They are my true north. They are why I’m getting back on the bike. Why I’m putting on my Asics once again. My kids need me just like I needed my mom when I was 9. And even though we all still need a mom at any age, sometimes, heaven simply needs her more. And so we fill those shoes left by them… at least we try.

So, now that I’m a total wreck again…. what’s your favorite race? Please comment on this story with a race you suggest. Any length is fine. The longer the better. Cheers.

Filed Under: Live Tagged With: Grief, Grieving

PARENTCLICK.COM

November 15, 2012 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

Are you new to this area? Or are you a new mom? Neither? Well how about just interested in cool websites??? There’s a free family resource website called ParentClick.com and there’s a local chapter. It’s great for finding cool camps for kids, activites to do as a family, ways to volunteer and get involved with the community… there’s even a classified ad section to sell your stuff!! Oh ya, and this week there’s even an article about ME!! Thank you Julie Jensen (local editor of ParentClick.com) for thinking I’m cool enough to be spotlighted!! Check it out at the link below:

http://reno-tahoe-carson-nv.parentclick.com/Local-Scene/137/Individual.xml

Filed Under: Live, Wendy