Oahu Part III, Fun Places We Ate

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We were blown away by how good everything we ate on this trip was!  Hawaiian chefs are absolutely killing it.  The next time we go back to Hawaii I would strongly consider returning to Oahu just to revisit some of these spots!

I really tried to limit my picture taking and this post will be a million pages long if I list out every single thing we ate so this will just be the highlights of the highlights…

** Kona Coffee Purveyors.

Nitro Kona coffee with a black sesame kougan amann (not shown).  Affogato.

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** Leonard’s Bakery.

This malasada (Portuguese doughnut) stuffed with guava cream was my favorite bite of the entire trip.

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** Matsumoto Shave Ice.

This was my favorite shave ice of the trip; the flavors were spot on and the ice cream was wonderfully chewy and a great foil to the ice.  Guava, passion fruit, and strawberry on top of vanilla ice cream and topped with condensed milk.

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** O’Kims.

Dumplings stuffed with king oyster mushroom, button ear wood, yellow squash, zucchini, and truffle paste, topped shoyu jelly and pickled dikon.

 

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Korean fried chicken with gochujang, housemade gnocchi, brussel sprouts, purple rice, and kimchi.

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** The Pig and the Lady.

Midday Run – mezcal, passion fruit, vanilla, habanero, and lemon (not shown).  Le Swoon – Kohana rum agricole, Okinawan sweet potato, pandan, coconut milk, cinnamon, lime, and aphrodite bitters.

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Chocolate banana tart with Valrhona dark chocolate cremeux, chocolate cookie crust, fresh banana and banana marmalade, toasted hazelnuts, and tamarind caramel.

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** Piggy Smalls.

This was hands down our best meal of the trip!  We ordered all the things.  Brussel sprouts with makrut lime, peanut, fried shallots, cabbage slaw, and pickled red onions.

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Stir-fried ramen noodles with aged garlic shoyu, Chinese chives, pickled fresno chile, and shrimp.

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Lychee infused milk cake with blueberry compote, lychee chantilly cream, and lemon citrus streusel.

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Hanoi egg coffee, Kona dark roast poured on whipped egg yolk and vanilla bean.

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** The Surfing Pig.

Best cocktails of the trip.  I drank way too much prior to our 10 hour red-eye flight.  The bartender was crazy talented and also maybe my new favorite person – she hugged us on our way out.  Smoked rosemary mezcal margarita.  I also had a spicy paloma with mezcal (not shown).

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** Waiola Shave Ice.

Guava and passion fruit with vanilla ice cream, condensed milk, and housemade mochi.

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Oahu Part II, Fun Things We Did

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** Stayed at the Hotel La Croix.

We could not have been happier with our choice of lodging.  The hotel was in a super walkable spot, both to the beach and downtown.  Our balcony was giant and had a great view – one of our favorite afternoons was spent napping on it!  The staff was lovely, plus our stay came with a ton of local goodies, including leis!20191231_072235IMG-20191229-WA000220191231_163147** Visited several Japanese food halls.

** Hiked Diamond Head.IMG_20191230_092323_21120191230_10113220191230_092435IMG-20191230-WA0014** Hiked Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail.IMG_20200101_120500_814IMG_20200101_120552_061IMG_20200101_120700_823** Drove along the North Shore.

** Walked up and down Waikiki.

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Oahu Part I, Fun Things We Ate

Adam and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary(!!!) with a trip to Hawaii and had an absolutely fantastic time.  We chose to spend our entire trip in Oahu – versus island hopping – and ended up being very happy with that decision.  We walked a ton, stuck our toes in the ocean, ate a million delicious things, and saw a billion beautiful things.  I did not even take as many photographs as I usually do but I still need to split my recap into multiple posts!

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I’ll share more about the amazing restaurants we visited in a later post, for now, here were some of the best Hawaiian bites…

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** Chicken katsu musubi – seasoned rice with seaweed and fried chicken.

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** Shrimp okonomiyaki – a savory Japanese pancake.

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** Garlic butter shrimp plates from the food trucks out on the North Shore.

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** The cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company are all 10/10 buttery and delicious.

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** Butter mochi – cake made with glutenous rice flour.

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** Dole Whip – blended frozen pineapple.

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** We ate shave ice practically every single day of the trip!  The standouts are in a later post but these were still pretty darn good!  Both of these were Japanese kakagori style versus the more traditional Hawaiian style.  From Ice Monster – coffee ice with brown sugar jelly, panna cotta, and cookies and cream gelato.

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From Snow Factory – cookie butter ice and butterscotch ice with mochi, coffee jelly, and condensed milk.

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Waffley Glad

We had a really amazing time in Hawaii (several posts are coming soon!) but I am awfully glad to be back home with Webster!

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I didn’t make it the grocery until Sunday afternoon but we still managed to eat some yummy things this weekend.  Highlights include…

My new favorite yogurt bowl = Trader Joe’s plain Skyr yogurt with maple syrup, blueberries, banana, and blistered peanuts.

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Extra spicy, extra veggies hand-pulled noodles from our mall’s fancy food court.

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A perfect snack.

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Costa Nova made me a fantastic quad iced latte!  Plus a waffle with marshmallow and cookie butter!

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We thought this frozen kunefe from Trader Joe’s was fantastic.  Highly recommend buying if you spot it.

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Waffle flavored chicken bites with baby carrots and maple sriracha aioli.

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My new favorite veggies bowl = a base of cauliflower rice with soft scrambled eggs, sauteed baby tomatoes, and avocado (topped with Cholula).

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The night before we left for Hawaii we celebrated our anniversary at Bowery Meat Company and the night we returned we feasted on leftover duck lasagna.

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Aloha, 17 Years

I hope that all my readers who celebrate had a merry Christmas!

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Three fun things from this week –

I bought chestnut paste – which basically tastes like Christmas! – and used it in amazing yogurt bowls.

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With cocoa granola and fresh strawberries.

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These bougie almond butter cups were surprisingly delicious.

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We made easy but great pasta bowls: boxed macaroni and cheese / canned smoked trout and anchovies / roasted broccoli and baby zucchini / topped with Kewpie and Sriracha.  Plus a side of sauteed baby cauliflower.

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Current excitement?  It is our 12 year wedding anniversary today!  And since we got married on our 5 year dating anniversary, that means we’ve been together for 17 years (aka half our lives!)!!  To celebrate, we are heading to Hawaii tomorrow!!!

Coffee Shops And Christmas Pop Ups

Adam and I had such a fun weekend!  We ate all of the things and saw a million twinkly lights.  Sooooooo many holiday pop up bars and holiday themed coffees!!

Holiday things – – –

Ample Hills‘ chocolate peppermint ice cream with white chocolate peppermint bark.  It was insane topped with marshmallow fluff!

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Maman‘s holiday cookie latte with eggnog ganache.

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Stumptown‘s rum raisin latte.  <– most exciting latte of the weekend

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Leyenda‘s Sleyenda pop up.  They have by far the most exciting and intentional pop up menu but unfortunately it was slammed while we were there and we only wanted to hang for one drink.  I had a delicious coquito with espolon reposado tequila, oloroso sherry, Braulio, coconut liqueur, coconut, cinnamon, and egg.

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Loreley Beer Garden‘s Winter Wonderland pop up.  Spiked eggnog with Captain Morgan, whipped cream, nutmeg, and caramel + boozy black and white hot chocolate with bourbon and toasted marshmallows.  <– best holiday cocktails of the weekend

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The Springs‘ Ho Ho Holiday Lounge pop up.  Nog Yourself Out – Mt Gay black barrel aged rum, eggnog, oregeat, and nutmeg + Hot Springs – Cruzan blackstrap rum, hot chocolate, malt, and mini marshmallows.

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The lights in Dyker Heights were so wonderful!

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But the decorations at Chelsea Market remain my favorite New York holiday thing!

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Things that aren’t festive but were still fun – – –

A trip to White Noise‘s Brooklyn location.  We had a scrambled egg sandwich on brioche with cheddar, sun-dried tomato, and plum mayo.

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Rose Wolf in Williamsburg is the cutest newish coffee shop.  And we had the best cake and coffee.  An extremely caffeinated and sugared cold brew with espresso, maple, caramel, cinnamon, and foamed milk + a chocolate funfetti cake.

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A cute and yummy sparkling lime hibiscus tea.

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Cookies and cream cookie with caramelized white chocolate from Mah Ze Dahr.

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Sour cream and brown sugar strawberry ice cream with lemon jam and black walnuts from Morganstern’s.

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Ramona is our favorite cocktail bar at the moment!  Vivian Darkbloom – charcoal mezcal, pineapple, mint, lime, Falernum, and lime bitters + Cloudbursting Daiquiri – Flor de Caña 4 year rum, passionfruit, lime, and grated cinnamon.

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New Yorkers, Chuko makes the best ramen in the city!  And their chili oil is amazing.

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The veggie dumplings at East Wind Snack Shop are next level delicious.  Crispy, chewy, plump, and topped with a ginger scallion sauce.

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I love NY – – – 

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Warm To Cold

St. Thomas was amazing, vacation was amazing.  My friends and I all had a really good time and want to go back immediately!

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I guess if I have to be back in the cold I’m glad it’s when New York is at its most glittery and beautiful!

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It was a short week with travel on Monday, but we have eaten some yummy stuff.

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Five highlights are –

{1} Mint Vietnamese coffee.  The pour over system was super easy and mint in coffee is delicious.

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{2} Lunch at Gramercy Tavern.  I met up with a girlfriend who suggested this spot and now I need to go back with Adam ASAP.  I had a Tower Bridge cocktail with gin, earl grey, almond grappa, and egg white.  And duck andouille sausage with grits and roasted pears.

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{3} After lunch I introduced her to Caffe Panna!  The affogato special sundae was peppermint mocha ice cream with junior mints, oreo crumble, nocciolata drizzle, mocha dusted whipped cream, and espresso.

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{4} Sushi!  I don’t crave/eat sushi all that often but we had it when we were in St. Thomas and ever since I’ve been obsessed.  It helps that Kaiyo is walking distance from our apartment and amazing.  I’ve gone there more than once this week!  This is spicy salmon // tuna and avocado topped with salmon, seaweed salad, and tobiko // spicy crab salad and avocado topped with tempura flakes, tuna, avocado, and special sauce.

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{5} Dinner at Atoboy, a shareable plates Korean restaurant in NoMad.  The style of the menu meant we got to try a ton.  Top highlights were charred cabbage with yuba (tofu skin) and smoked trout roe // chrysanthemum salad with leeks, plum, and cheddar // *sunchokes with oyster mushrooms, black truffle, and orange // sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) granita with burrata soft serve and walnut.

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Hot Sauce And Cinnamon Gum

Flavor themes from this week include – hot sauce, coffee, chocolate.

Highlights…

Fun in coffee.  Iced with fancy egg nog.

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I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a milk frother!

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This bottled New Orleans coffee was delicious and contained 10 grams of protein.

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Seasonal fun at Doughnut Plant – a marzipan star and a mint tree filled with chocolate pudding.

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Still obsessed with these cookie dough Perfect Bars.

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Plain2% Greek yogurt bowl with chocolate sunflower seed butter and fresh blueberries.

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Just before I left VA one of my officemates got me hooked on cinnamon gum and lately I have been loving this version from Mentos.

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It was Adam’s birthday this week!  He got multiple cakes at work and brought me home a delicious slice of s’mores cheesecake.

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Amy’s tortilla casserole with black beans frozen meal.  Topped with copious amounts of Cholula.

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Shredded potatoes with smoked mackerel salad and soft scrambled eggs.  Topped with furikake.

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Breakfast cheese fries.  Sweet potato waffle fries with cheddar, eggs, maple chicken sausage, broccoli, and shishito peppers.  Topped later with Kewpie and Sriracha.

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My current favorite sheet-pan hash is Japanese sweet potato + bok choy + green onions.  Plus salmon candy and cashews on top.  Topped with furikake, Kewpie, and Sriracha.

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I made a yummy version of this baked Spanish rice recipe.  I added fish sauce and green olives and subbed in vegan soyrizo for chorizo.  Topped later with Cholula.

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FYI – there will be no post this weekend for the best reason ever: I am going home for a few days with a couple of NY friends!  Ocean, rum, and warm weather, here we come!