Sunday, October 24, 2010

Hawaiian Food Feature

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I guess planning a wedding, getting married, and going on a honeymoon will do that to a person. We're back home and finally starting to settle down (despite devoting at least an hour to P90X everyday) so I had a moment to update and figured there was no better place to start that to let you see all the delicious food we had in Hawaii. My mouth is still watering from so much of this food.

First bite of Hawaii was a papaya with lime. So simple yet so good!
Brent had his very first loco moco. For those that don't know, its basically Hawaiian comfort food (also good for hangovers). White rice topped with a hamburger patty topped with an egg and then brown gravy.

We got so lucky and found a sushi place that offers 50% off if you arrive before they open and get in line. We went a little overboard, but it was half the price and sooo good. This was a crab and mango roll. The sauce was a light yet spicy mango/siracha concoction.

Tuna roll with crunch on the outside and a sweet mango sauce underneath.
Our first Hawaiian Poke--very salty and tons of seasame oil, but yummy.
We made breakfast in our condo almost every day. The fruit was amazing. We've been spoiled forever.

Our first "plate lunch." I had the kalua pork and cabbage and Brent had the fried mahi. Every plate lunch comes with white rice and macaroni salad. Yup. Every one.

We stopped at our first Kona coffee plantation and had the best mocha ever. Those are chocolate covered mac nuts on the side.

I made dinner in our condo one night. We bought fresh mahi, which Brent grilled out on our lanai. I made a mango/tomato/avocado/cilantro salsa. On the bottom I made couscous with coconut milk and macadamia nuts. Oh my!

We stopped at the Hamkua Mac Nut processing plant. These are unshelled raw macadamia nuts.

Lunch at Bamboo. We got a sampler platter so we could try it all. Kalua Pork Quesadilla, Potstickers (with peanut butter inside), white rice and Thai Curry Shrimp. I could drink that sauce the shrimp was in.

We went to the tourist trap also know as a luau, but it was fun and I'm glad we did it. Kalua pork, lomi lomi (looks like chopped tomatoes in front), poi (can't see it in the pic), poke and lots more.

Brent loved it all!

Malasada with Bavarian Cream filling. Basically fried dough much like a sugared donut.
This is called Saimin--basically a brothy soup made with egg, spam, seafood and seaweed.

Oh the smoothies! Like you've NEVER had. I chose the peanut butter, banana version. We also had a pineapple muffin which was more like a mini pineapple upside down cake.

Our fancy dinner at Merrimans. Brent had the lamb special with creamy gnocchi.

I couldn't decide so I chose the trio. Ahi Tuna on the left, mini Filet Mignon with beet salad and Mahi with jasmine rice and an interesting corn salad.
We went all out for dessert. I had their flourless chocolate cake with Kona Coffee brittle and ice cream. I wish I could learn to make that brittle!
Brent had the strawberry shortcake. It was stacked shortbread, marscapone cream and strawberries. Hard to eat, but the perfect ending!
Our only breakfast out. I had a combo but only so I could try a pancake with coconut syrup. I wish I could buy the stuff here! WOW. You can also see Portuguese sausage on my plate.
Brent had a second loco moco. This one was more "gourmet" as you can see.
After a day of exploring we had a dinner, which wasn't that great. We stopped at a little Thai place for mango sticky rice and Thai Iced Tea for dessert. It was good!!!

We read about these and had to try them! They're baked fresh everyday in a convenience store near Volcano National Park. On the left is a coconut (gooey) bar and the right was an amazing macadamia nut bar. It was like a shortbread on the bottom with something like pecan pie filling and a crunch mac nut topping.

Cafe Pesto--we HIGHLY recommend this place if you're on the Big Island. This was the flatbread appetizer. Topped with blue cheese, rosemary and a little Parmesan. Sounds weird but the flavors went so well together.

Caesar Salad topped with blue cheese and some flowers for color.

Brent got the mushroom and artichoke pizza...

And I had the pesto BBQ chicken pizza.


I had to try their warm chocolate macadamia nut cookie!

On our way home we stopped at a little Thai place. Green papaya salad...
Brent's chicken and potato yellow curry...

And my pad thai. Some of the best Thai food I've had besides the very first I ever had near "Thai Town" in Denver.

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