{Don't hate! Spam Musubi from the grocery store}
Apparently I was too busying ingesting other delicious goodies that I pushed Spam to the side -- especially since I can get that here.
This was my first trip to Hawaii and we spent the 6 nights in Oahu (3 nights in Waikiki and 3 nights in the North Shore area.
{View of Waikiki Beach from our condo}
I knew going in there was a large Japanese influence in Hawaii, but I didn't realize that some places take Yen.
{Amazing, fresh, and delicious udon at Marukame Udon}
The first three nights were spent in Waikiki. I never got to swim. The weather was confused and thought it was in Texas, spawning hail, tornadoes and floods. The last three nights in the Turtle Bay was better, but still windy and fairly cold. Thankfully, it didn't pour the entire time, so we were still able to check out some sites: Pacific National Monument, Kapiolani Park, shopping area, Chinatown, Punchbowl Cemetery, Waimea Valley, and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
I did finally don a swimsuit, but I literally only spent a total of 3 hours in the water and I only got 1/2 a shade darker (unacceptable!).
As usual, my main mission on any trip is to find out the best places to eat! I ate so.much.poke. Such deliciousness! Living in Austin, I don't get my hands on FRESH seafood that often so it was nice to be able to enjoy all the ahi tuna I can stuff into my face.
{Our favorite poke was the spicy one with rice!}
{Everywhere you turn there is poke. Poke is basically raw ahi tuna cut into chunks and various seasonings are added.}
We ate several plates lunches. Some of our faves were from Nico's Pier 38 (we ate there twice!) and Yama's Fish Market.
{From Nico's Pier: Beef stew with chicken katsu and mac salad. Had to have it with a local brewski}
{From Nico's Pier: Grilled tuna steak with brown rice and mac salad}
{From Yama's Fish Market: laulau plate with a side of poke}
{From Yama's Fish Market: grilled ahi tuna steak}
On the North Shore side, we visited a couple of the ubiquitous shrimp trucks and made sure we got some shaved ice!
{L: Garlic shrimp from Blue Water Shrimp Company; R: Spicy shrimp from Macky's Shrimp Truck}
{Wailoa Shave Ice in Honolulu. We got the Obama flavor!}
{Aoki's Shaved Ice in Haleiwa. So awesome!}
Other items I loved!
1. Mochi Ice Cream from Bubbie's Ice Cream! Micah hates the texture but I love it!
2. Fresh fruit! Check out these avocadoes the size of your head! We ate a lot of pineapple and delicious mango. Hawaii reminds me of Vietnam.
3. Local brews! We made it a point to drink local when we could. We found that the Yard House in Waikiki had the best local beer selection (Maui, Hawaii, Kona Brewing Comapnies).
{Sampler flight at Kona Brewpub}
4. Macadamia nut EVERYTHING. Cookies, cakes, you name it. This breakfast sammy had macadamian nut pesto. Yum!
{Egg sammy from Kono's in Haleiwa}
5. Hawaiian Coffee. We picked up several pounds from Whole Foods and at Coffee Gallery in Haleiwa. The Coffee Gallery has some great roasts and blends plus they make great coffee drinks!
Besides all the rain and lack of beach time, I had a great time visiting and eating Hawaii!
