This update is what we did on Saturday in Honolulu. We're now six days and one island removed from that, but this is what is called "running on Island Time."
We went on a hole in the wall food tour and ate things we normally wouldn't eat. Usually, we are not the tour-taking types. But this involved being driven around in a van with four other couples our age and eating weird stuff, so it was good fun. We also got to hear about the interesting life of newlyweds that live in the Netherlands (she's from South Africa, he's from New Zealand) and work on some rich dude's yacht.
Our sweet, sweet ride for the day.
One of my favorite things we ate was manapua--specifically purple sweet potato inside of a baked bun at Royal Kitchen.
Up next was the Liliha Bakery for a Magic Puff. I'm not sure what was in the frosting (crack, maybe?) but I could eat one every hour of every day. This place has the ovens running from 2 a.m. until 10 p.m. and always has a line out the door.
Yum.....
Once we were full of pastries, it was time for the "weird fruit" category. The first item up for bids wasRambutan, which loosely translates from the word "hairy" in Malaysian. Despite the terrifying exterior, it is seriously good. It's a cross between a pear and a grape in flavor.
Here it is before peeling:
Here is is after:
And here is Chris posing with the Rambutans.
This was followed by Longan, aka Dragon Eye Fruit. Wonder how that got its name? At any rate, it looked cool but tasted like weird cantaloupe, so no thanks.
Then we had three different types of hand made rice noodles and pork barbeque.
We got to see the noodles being made by hand, and here they are, still all rolled up. All of the workers that make them are elderly, and one of the owners passed away this year, so once there is no one to make them anymore, that'll be it for the homemade noodles. :(
Next it was time for Chinese pot pies and pot stickers, with the best burn-your-face-off mustard ever.
And one of my faves--poke! Everyone loves a good raw fish salad, right?
It's pronounced po-KAY, and not po-KEE.
Then we had one of my other favorite things: a musubi. I like musubi so much that I have a beach towel with a picture of one. It's sushi rice, seaweed, and spam, with a little soy sauce. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, people.
After that, we had lumpias, which are fried sweet spring rolls, with apple bananas in them. Note that I did not say "apples and bananas," but rather apple bananas. They're little and sweet and yummy. Those are on the left. On the right, we have pineapple, and... more pineapple. Nope, that's not mango or papaya, but rather, pineapple with li hing powder on it. More on that in a sec. First, take a look at these delicious lumpias.
Okay, so back to the li hing powder. It's actually made of crack seed (not making this up), plum powder, and licorice. Chris (and most everyone on the tour) LOVED it. I hated it. It also turns everything orange and stains. Just like the medicine they give you if you have a UTI. Yum?
We also had smoothies with li hing powder, which is a perfectly good way to ruin a smoothie if you ask me.
Finishing off our time in Chinatown, we had five layer pork belly (hint: 2 of the layers are fat) and crispy pork, which honestly were a little too on the "eating a bunch of fat" side for me.
We finished with malasadas at Leonard's, which is THE place to go for malasadas. If you've never had one, it's like a doughnut, but without the hole. Hawaiians don't do doughnuts--they do malasadas. In fact, Dunkin Donuts came to the islands, and then promptly left after no one bought their doughnuts.
So, do we like malasadas better than doughnuts? We do not, so Dunkin Donuts is safe. There are LOTS of Hawaiian-esque foods we do love though--chicken katsu (fried chicken with a barbeque-esque sauce), kaluha pork, poke (raw seafood salad), manapua, plate lunch (a protein plus macaroni salad and two scoops rice), acai bowls, etc.
After our morning of eating, we went to one of the restaurants recommended by the food tour people, which included this dish, which is beef four ways, including a foie gras burger. So I guess that makes it beef 3 ways, plus a duck.
So I guess I ate all of the calories that I burned off hiking up all those stairs? Anyway, if this made you hungry, feel free to head down to your local Asian market for some rambutan, li hing powder, or malasadas. Or you can cook up a Hawaiian breakfast tomorrow morning of scrambled eggs, Portuguese sausage, and rice.
Up next: famous people that stayed at our Oahu hotel, plus a waterfall hike and Hindu Temple visit on Kauai.
We went on a hole in the wall food tour and ate things we normally wouldn't eat. Usually, we are not the tour-taking types. But this involved being driven around in a van with four other couples our age and eating weird stuff, so it was good fun. We also got to hear about the interesting life of newlyweds that live in the Netherlands (she's from South Africa, he's from New Zealand) and work on some rich dude's yacht.
Our sweet, sweet ride for the day.
One of my favorite things we ate was manapua--specifically purple sweet potato inside of a baked bun at Royal Kitchen.
Up next was the Liliha Bakery for a Magic Puff. I'm not sure what was in the frosting (crack, maybe?) but I could eat one every hour of every day. This place has the ovens running from 2 a.m. until 10 p.m. and always has a line out the door.
Yum.....
Once we were full of pastries, it was time for the "weird fruit" category. The first item up for bids wasRambutan, which loosely translates from the word "hairy" in Malaysian. Despite the terrifying exterior, it is seriously good. It's a cross between a pear and a grape in flavor.
Here it is before peeling:
Here is is after:
And here is Chris posing with the Rambutans.
This was followed by Longan, aka Dragon Eye Fruit. Wonder how that got its name? At any rate, it looked cool but tasted like weird cantaloupe, so no thanks.
Then we had three different types of hand made rice noodles and pork barbeque.
We got to see the noodles being made by hand, and here they are, still all rolled up. All of the workers that make them are elderly, and one of the owners passed away this year, so once there is no one to make them anymore, that'll be it for the homemade noodles. :(
Next it was time for Chinese pot pies and pot stickers, with the best burn-your-face-off mustard ever.
And one of my faves--poke! Everyone loves a good raw fish salad, right?
It's pronounced po-KAY, and not po-KEE.
Then we had one of my other favorite things: a musubi. I like musubi so much that I have a beach towel with a picture of one. It's sushi rice, seaweed, and spam, with a little soy sauce. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, people.
After that, we had lumpias, which are fried sweet spring rolls, with apple bananas in them. Note that I did not say "apples and bananas," but rather apple bananas. They're little and sweet and yummy. Those are on the left. On the right, we have pineapple, and... more pineapple. Nope, that's not mango or papaya, but rather, pineapple with li hing powder on it. More on that in a sec. First, take a look at these delicious lumpias.
Okay, so back to the li hing powder. It's actually made of crack seed (not making this up), plum powder, and licorice. Chris (and most everyone on the tour) LOVED it. I hated it. It also turns everything orange and stains. Just like the medicine they give you if you have a UTI. Yum?
We also had smoothies with li hing powder, which is a perfectly good way to ruin a smoothie if you ask me.
Finishing off our time in Chinatown, we had five layer pork belly (hint: 2 of the layers are fat) and crispy pork, which honestly were a little too on the "eating a bunch of fat" side for me.
We finished with malasadas at Leonard's, which is THE place to go for malasadas. If you've never had one, it's like a doughnut, but without the hole. Hawaiians don't do doughnuts--they do malasadas. In fact, Dunkin Donuts came to the islands, and then promptly left after no one bought their doughnuts.
So, do we like malasadas better than doughnuts? We do not, so Dunkin Donuts is safe. There are LOTS of Hawaiian-esque foods we do love though--chicken katsu (fried chicken with a barbeque-esque sauce), kaluha pork, poke (raw seafood salad), manapua, plate lunch (a protein plus macaroni salad and two scoops rice), acai bowls, etc.
After our morning of eating, we went to one of the restaurants recommended by the food tour people, which included this dish, which is beef four ways, including a foie gras burger. So I guess that makes it beef 3 ways, plus a duck.
So I guess I ate all of the calories that I burned off hiking up all those stairs? Anyway, if this made you hungry, feel free to head down to your local Asian market for some rambutan, li hing powder, or malasadas. Or you can cook up a Hawaiian breakfast tomorrow morning of scrambled eggs, Portuguese sausage, and rice.
Up next: famous people that stayed at our Oahu hotel, plus a waterfall hike and Hindu Temple visit on Kauai.