What I ate in Hawaii

Hawaii was a huge food trip for us. I had been dreaming of spam musubi and kalua pig for a looooong time. It's amazing that I've been on 15-hour flights all over the world, but have never taken the 6-hour flight from the West coast to Hawaii.

When I finally went, my food list was pretty substantial, and my expectations were high:

spam musubi, plate lunch, poke, shaved ice, coconut, fruits, McDonald's, 7-11, Banh mi, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, poi, afternoon tea, puka dog, Zippy's, tiki drinks.

1. Food I wished I had but didn't:  Korean, there is not much in Portland so I have to eat it every chance I get.
2. Food I had but wished I didn't: poi, it was not great
3. What should have been on the list: sushi! It was great in Hawaii, and I only had the cheap stuff. 
4. Biggest surprise: poke, I had no idea how many different kinds there were, and they are all delicious!
5. Most delicious meal:Da Kitchen in Kahului, which was a feast of spam, kalua pig, salmon, rice, and macaroni salad

Some favorite foods:

Awesomely fresh coconut from Honolulu's Chinatown. After drinking the juice, they cut open the coconut and you can use a piece of the shell to scoop out the meat.

Combo meal from a place called Zippy's. I got the fried chicken with a corn and rice. Pretty good for an all-night chain restaurant.

On night in Maui I wanted to have a barbeque. We bought everything at a grocery store and ahd hot dogs, hamburgers, and lemon ice tea.

This fantastic piece of art is the Hawaiian Plate from Da Kitchen in Kahului, Maui. "Pork Lau Lau, Kalua Pork, Chicken Long Rice  and Lomi Salmon."
http://www.da-kitchen.com/

All local produce from a Maui farmer's market. Bananas, lilikoi, papayas, oranges, starfruit, avocado, peaches, and a tomato. Yeah, that was about two day's worth of produce for us. We made three trips there in only one week!

Guava, Mango, and Tamarind (my favorite!) shaved ice from Ululani's Shaved Ice in Maui.

Three different kinds of poke (marinated ahi tuna) from the Foodland supermarket in Maui. Foodland was our go-to place on the island. We must have gone every day and tried about ten different kinds of poke during our stay.

Kalua pig plate lunch from Da Kitchen. Best Kalua pig I have ever had.

Fried Spam Musubi from Da Kitchen. I loved how the spam was wrapped in the middle, instead of on top. It made the musubi much easier to eat. 

McDonald's spam and Portuguese sausage breakfast plate. At this point, I was a little sick of spam, though I loved the Portuguese sausage. read more about McDonald's Hawaii here.

Japanese meal set from a restaurant in Honolulu. This was pretty authentic, but given that there are so many Japanese people in Hawaii, I would imagine competition for Japanese restauratns is fierce. This palce was packed and we waited a long time.

Also at the Japanese restaurant in Honolulu, we ordered poke and agedashi tofu.