Adele Chong and three good friends have had to give up walking together in their Aina Haina neighborhood, but they keep in touch — carefully distanced— for Sunday dinners on Chong’s backyard deck.
“We’ve just got it down to a science,” said Chong, who started the gatherings in late September. (Not to worry, the foursome hasn’t replaced exercise with food; they still walk on their own.)
“I got my folding tables and chairs, I got my bin of disposable plates and cutlery,” and in case it rains, she’s got a canopy ready to erect.
A nearby laundry room has a wash basin for everyone to wash their hands. Two tables are set apart on the deck, with a married couple sitting at one, and Chong and a friend at another, placed opposite each other at 4-foot tables. Everyone wears masks when they’re not eating or drinking, and they generally stay seated versus intermingling.
“We’ve decided to be our own little bubble,” she said. The friends — Chong, Ronald K. Todd, Laurel Johnston and her husband, Randy Young, — met several years ago as part of a walking group of seven.
Dinner is laid out on a separate table for everyone to serve themselves, the food ordered from the catering branch of Ko‘olau Ballrooms & Conference Center.
Every week they select an entree from a choice of three dishes offered under Koolau’s Ohana Sunday Dinner-to-Go meals. For $69 they get dinner for four, with side dishes and dessert included. A bottle of wine would be an extra $15, but someone in the group always brings a bottle from home.
“The food is good and there’s plenty of it,” said Chong, who praised the mahimahi and mashed potatoes.
She added that she wanted to support Koolau’s efforts to re-hire some staff members laid off due to the pandemic. The property’s Ko‘olau Golf Club recently closed permanently. Chong’s church, First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu, owns the center and held services there before COVID-19 forced a switch to Zoom.
The friends take turns paying for the weekly dinner, and picking up and reheating the food; they’re ready to eat by 5:30 p.m. Microwave instructions are provided, and Chong recommends getting a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature.
The four have grown closer as a result of their weekly gatherings: it gives them all something to look forward to, balancing the isolation required during the pandemic. “We talk about what’s going on in everybody’s lives.”
They’re not nervous about catching COVID-19 from each other, given the precautions they take, but, “it’s always at the back of our mind.”
OHANA SUNDAY DINNER TO-GO
After a Thanksgiving break, Ko‘olau Ballrooms & Conference Center will resume its Sunday dinners on Dec. 6.
Menus are posted at 808ne.ws/sundaydinners. Call 954-7000 to order by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Pick up at the Kaneohe facility.
Cost is $69 for entree, sides and dessert. Also available: Christmas prime-rib dinner for six, $269.
