Eating Hawaii

Posting from the beautiful, but very wet and stormy island of Kauai.  The weather prohibited helicopter rides, rafting, kayaking, most snorkeling, hiking and more, but it did not prevent DH and I from visiting nearly every farmer's market on the island.

One of the few clear afternoons, at the Hanapepe Farmer's Market.

Farmer's markets here are fairly modest (each stand has just a few items, and most seem like they're from backyard gardens rather than farms) and quick -- if the opening bell (or car horn) sounds at noon, by 1 p.m., most of the items are gone.  There's a real frenzy at the beginning, to get the best fruits and vegetables.

Above is a typical spread from a vegetable farmer, and below is the find of the trip -- an absolutely delicious cinnamon-tasting fruit with the consistency of a kiwi.  Need to figure out its name (and how to get it in New York).

Another mystery fruit, below, tasted similar to a pear.

Farmer's market bounty of fruits and vegetables.  While prices are super-high in supermarkets, the prices at the farmer's markets were very reasonable.  I think I paid $1. for a lot of fiddlehead ferns, and papayas were four for $5.

 

 

 

 

 

The trip wasn't all fruits and vegetables, as you can see below:

Mango lilikoi pie sold by The Right Slice, a start up business on the island.

Fabulous chocolate cake at Icing on the Cake in Kapaa.

You can't leave Kauai without a Shave Ice (a sno-cone-type confection with ice cream on the bottom.)

Another find was a Croisscone, a cross between a croissant and a scone, invented by the  Passion Bakery in Kapaa.  Unbelievably addicting, especially the ham and cheese, above

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Inside the tiny taro chip factory in Hanapepe.

On the way to a waterfall, DH and I took a side trip to Ritchie's Bar & Grill in Lihue, to have the famous Oki pancakes.  Weird sitting in a bar at 11 a.m., eating pancakes, but boy, were they good.

Being total tourists, we attended a luau.  And here's what I ate.  The brownish stuff at about 3 o'clock is the highlight -- meat from a pig that was cooked while buried underground.