You ask. We answer.

Reader Ken Steller e-mailed: I just received your new state quarters and would love to know the meaning of the phrase UA MAU KE EA O KA AINA I KA PONO. Please help.

The phrase means, “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” It was first uttered by King Kamehameha III in a speech celebrating the return of sovereignty to the Hawaiian monarchy after the monarchy was briefly seized by the British in 1843.

The phrase became part of the Hawaiian monarchy’s official seal, then part of the seal of both the Republic and the Territory of Hawaii. It is now the official state motto: “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.”

For more on Hawaii’s state quarter, see our Nov. 10 post here.
  

Dreaming about something other than a white Christmas this winter? May we suggest stopping by the Islands. Readers from online travel community TripAdvisor seem to agree—they picked Hawaii as this year’s top holiday dream escape. 

Hawaii is a great place to be in the winter. In the latest issue of HAWAII Magazine, we give you 13 reasons why “Winter in Hawaii is Better Than Your Summer.” If you haven’t checked out the issue yet, it's currently available at most national bookstores and newsstands. Or perhaps a print subscription or online edition is more to your liking.

However, the survey is wishful thinking for many travelers: only 13 percent of the 1,800 surveyed by TripAdvisor said they plan on “escaping” by taking a dream trip this holiday season. Likely a reflection of the shaky economic times and traditionally high airfares.

Conversely, a separate poll by TripAdvisor reveals 42 percent of Americans plan to travel this holiday season, up from 39 percent a year ago. This stat is somewhat misleading, however, as many are likely visiting family this holiday season, not whisking themselves off to a faraway locale.

The top ten is comprised of a mix of tropical and urban spots, with travelers selecting Hawaii over London, Paris, Aruba, New York City, Las Vegas, Jamaica, Rome, Bahamas and Tahiti, in that order.

 

It’s been 67 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor took place.

Today, we honor those who lost their lives during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. A memorial ceremony will be held at Pearl Harbor’s Kilo Pier from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. A moment of silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m.—the exact time the first wave of bombs struck Pearl Harbor. Admission is free.

In the November/December 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine, we take you along on a visit I took to the USS Arizona Memorial. A handful of my photos from the trip appeared in the magazine. Here's the rest of the collection, in a slideshow below. (Click on the slideshow frame to enlarge photos.)

I also took a video of my trip. As you can see, many people were truly touched and moved by their time on the memorial as well.

You can read about the rest of my visit in our Pearl Harbor feature story, “Remembering the Battle,” featured in our November/December 2008 issue, which is available at most national bookstores and newsstands, by print subscription and in a digital format you can download today.

Have you visited the USS Arizona Memorial? Was your experience as emotional as mine? Share your thoughts with us and other readers below.

 

There’s Honolulu’s 50-foot official Christmas tree in front of the mayor’s office. Christmas trees and gingerbread houses inside Honolulu Hale—our city hall. An electric light parade. Food booths. Downtown Honolulu’s office buildings charging up their holiday light displays. And a 21-foot “Shaka Santa” dipping his toes in the Honolulu Hale fountain.

What’s not to love about Honolulu City Lights—the city that never snows’ annual display of holiday spirit?

If you’re on Oahu on Saturday, you’ll want to show up for the opening ceremonies of the 24th year of this cool yule treat. You won’t be alone. More than 75,000 Honolulu residents are expected.

Besides all the stuff mentioned above, the Honolulu Hale grounds will be populated by an array of giant holiday character effigies. My favorite? A giant snow globe with a trio of chilled-out faux polar bears. (Forgive me for my enthusiasm here. I’ve never seen a real polar bear. I'm OK on giant snow globes, tho.)

Historic Kawaihao Church will host a sunset Christmas concert. A somewhat more contemporary Christmas show—with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, singer-songwriter-we-dig John Cruz and others—will play under Isamu Noguchi’s Sky Gate sculpture after our mayor officially flips the switch on Honolulu City Lights.

There’s more, of course. Most of us Honoluluans love the holiday season. You’ll find a full schedule of the evening’s events here and here.

Can’t be in Honolulu this weekend? Everything but the Christmas parade and concerts continue at Honolulu Hale and downtown Honolulu through January 1.

Should you find yourself on Kauai this evening, the 12th annual Lihue Festival of Lights will brighten up the town’s civic grounds. Opening night festivities start at 6 p.m. with a Lights on Rice Street parade, live music and the lighting of Lihue town’s Christmas decorations. The lights in Lihue will be on nightly until Dec. 31.

Happy holidays!

 

Thanks to Footnote.com and the National Archives and Records Administration you can now browse through the Internet’s largest interactive World War II collection online for free. But only for this month.

The collection includes the first-ever interactive version of the USS Arizona Memorial, war hero pages, timelines, maps, photos and documents never-before-seen on the Internet. Users can also upload their own photos and share their stories about individuals who fought in World War II.

Footnote.com is a subscription Web site featuring original historical documents on the Internet, but is currently offering free access to these documents through December.

Want more on the USS Arizona? Visit HawaiiMagazine.com this Sunday, Dec. 7. We’ll have a slideshow of photos featuring my recent trip to the USS Arizona Memorial in Oahu's Pearl Harbor.

You can also watch the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau’s “Beyond Pearl Harbor,” a short historical tour about the “Day of Infamy” with park historian Daniel Martinez. Martinez’s grandmother and mother witnessed the attack firsthand. 

  

Nominees for the Best Hawaiian Music Album category were announced last night along with other nominations for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

The nominated discs in the Best Hawaiian Music Album category are:

• Ikena by Tia Carrere & Daniel Ho

• Aumakua by Amy Hanaialii

• Force of Nature by Led Kaapana & Mike Kaawa

• Hawaiian Slack Key Kings Masters Series, Vol. II, a multi-artist compilation produced by Chris Lau and Milton Lau

• The Spirit of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, a multi-artist compilation produced by Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku Jr., Dennis Kamakahi, Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong.

For the first time in the category’s five-year history, all five slots were filled by former Hawaiian album Grammy nominees.

Multi-artist slack key guitar compilations from the production team of Ho, Konwiser and Wong—recorded live at Maui’s long-running Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar concert series—have won the Hawaiian music album Grammy for the last three years.

Spirit of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar—co-produced by the trio with musicians George Kahumoku Jr. and Dennis Kamakahi—was also culled from Masters series performances. Co-founded by slack key guitar master and educator Kahumoku, the concerts are held every Wednesday at the Napili Kai Beach Resort.

Vocalist Amy Hanaialii’s nomination for Aumakua was her third in the category; she received nods in 2004 and 2006. Slack key master Led Kaapana’s nomination for Force of Nature—a vocal and instrumental album—was also his third, after nods in 2004 and 2006. Actor/vocalist Carrere’s Ikena nomination was her second consecutive for the Hawaiian music Grammy. Hawaiian Slack Key Kings producers Chris Lau and Milton Lau were previously nominated in 2006.

This year's bounty of nominations for familiar Hawaiian Grammy names and music styles left little room in the final cut for some of 2008's best Hawaii-made albums. Shut out of the final five were well-received discs by Nathan Aweau (Kaneohe), The Brothers Cazimero (Destiny), Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole (Kaumakaiwa) and Leokane Pryor (Home Malanai).

In other Hawaii-related Grammy nomination news, the cast album for the hit Broadway revival of South Pacific—featuring tracks by Hawaii actor and entertainer Loretta Ables Sayre—got a nod for Best Musical Show Album. A Grammy win for the disc would award the golden gramophone to the album’s producers, lyricists and composers. But we thought Loretta—and her very talented Tony-nominated co-stars—deserved some props nonetheless.

Honolulu born-and-raised songwriter/screenwriter and past Grammy-nominee Dean Pitchford (Footloose, Fame) received a nomination for Best Spoken Word Album For Children for The Big One-Oh.

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will be handed out in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2009, and broadcast on CBS.   

Congratulations to Honolulu chef George Mavrothalassitis. In addition to being named one of the 40 best restaurants in the United States by Gayot, Chef Mavro, his small 60-seat Honolulu restaurant, has won an AAA Five Diamond award.

His is the only independent restaurant in Hawaii to be awarded Five Diamonds, and one of the few nationwide.

That meant we had to drop by the King Street restaurant to renew our acquaintance with Mavro’s farm-to-table Hawaii regional cuisine.

You can order dinner at Chef Mavro in three-, five- and six-course options. But so many people have asked to taste everything on the menu, the restaurant now offers an 11-course menu as well.

We couldn’t resist. We ordered all 11 courses from the Fall menu, each small, each powerful and refined.

The flounder, for instance, came crispy with a rice flake crust, with a tamarind curry sauce so subtle it defied description, and a savory pastry made with pistachios.

It’s impossible to describe every single course—you might die of hunger if we did—but we must mention the dish pictured above, two perfect small slices of stunningly tender Wagyu beef accompanied by a powerful bit of housemade corned beef atop fricassée of swiss chard with mustard crème fraiche.

The dinner is more than 11-courses, really. Mavro, being Mavro, actually includes three desserts—lilikoi malasadas with pineapple-coconut ice cream, a citrus trio and an array of chocolate desserts that includes the world’s best milk chocolate peanut butter bar and chocolate-Coke float.

Each course comes, if you wish, with a specially selected wine to match it. Dinners at Mavro range from $69 for three courses ($108 with wine) to $165 for all 11 courses ($250 with wine). (Click here to see the complete fall menu.)

When the AAA gave Mavro his Five Diamonds, they not only said, “The flavors of each course were amazing,” but they added, “The prices seem quite reasonable given the level of dining.” We agree, we’ve paid much more in New York, Chicago and San Francisco for meals of this caliber.

 

Aloha Airlines may be coming back. Sort of.

In another chapter in the saga of the defunct Hawaii-based air carrier, former rival Mesa Air Group wants to buy the Aloha Airlines name. A hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court began today in Honolulu to decide whether Mesa will be allowed to purchase the presumably valuable name.

If it wins the judgment, Phoenix-based Mesa Air—which operates in Hawaii as interisland service go! Airlines—plans to re-brand go! under the Aloha name.

Aloha Airlines ceased operations on March 31 after 61 years of service in the Islands. The shutdown announcement—which came a week after the company declared bankruptcy—left many Hawaii residents, business owners and travelers stunned and scrambling for alternative travel on other interisland air carriers, including go!

Relations between go! and Aloha had been less than amicable over the two years the carriers operated as competitors.

Aloha executives blamed the company’s growing financial troubles on an aggressive fare war initiated by go!, which began flying interisland in June 2006. Aloha then filed a lawsuit in October 2006 claiming that Mesa misused confidential information from failed Aloha purchase talks to drive the airline out of business. A settlement was finally reached on November 28 of this year to end that suit.

What will the possible name change mean for Hawaii interisland travelers and laid-off Aloha employees? Well, nothing really.

No matter what the U.S. Bankruptcy Court decides on usage of the Aloha Airlines name, go! will continue Hawaii operations and maintain its current flight schedule, according to representatives from the airline.  
  

Walking past Hawaii’s lei stands you may notice something missing.

Orchid lei, prized for their striking purple and green hues, have been in short supply. The reason? A political crisis 6,500 miles away.

Anti-government protesters have shut down Thailand’s Bangkok International Airport for nearly a week now. Political repercussions aside, this is troubling news for Hawaii-based florists. 90 percent of all loose orchids in Hawaii are imported from Thailand. (Hawaii producers tend to focus on potted orchids, though these too face competition from Asian producers.)

Orchid imports from Thailand doubled between 2003 and 2007. More than $4.5 million worth entered Hawaii just last year, according to U.S. Customs. Only $50,000 worth was imported from other countries.  

The orchid market has become so tight that Mainland orchid buyers are now relying heavily on Hawaii’s flowers, depleting an already strained supply.

The lone bright spot is the fact that Hawaii high school graduation season—one of the biggest times in the year for buying lei—is months away. For now, however, you may have to settle on buying a plumeria or ti leaf lei during your next trip to the Islands.

Meanwhile, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that everything across the Pacific and here in the Islands is resolved in the quickest and safest manner.