Monday, March 9, 2020?
Aloha,
We are now in Princeville, Kauai. We flew from the Big Island yesterday, with a quick stop on Maui. (The flight from the Big Island to Maui is 20 minutes, and we flew LOW over the water and saw the Maui volcano nearby – it was just about as good as a helicopter tour, without the upset stomach!) After settling in, we saw Hanalei Bay and explored the north and east coasts of Kauai.
Today’s update was written by Dave:
We’re just back from eating at Hanalei Bay resort’s restaurant in Princeville, Kauai where the views over the landscaped grounds, ocean, and mountains were amazing. So was Erin in her flowered dress. Had Puff the magic dragon been around he’d have made his way over to our table. I’ve noticed that she hasn’t been writing much about the food so I’m going to make a few, quick comments.
First of all, we’ve eaten fresh papaya and raw fish, usually ahi, just about every day. The raw fish isn’t sushi (though similar) but called poke and is a common dish in Hawaiian cuisine. Even convenience stores carry it. It’s incredibly delicious.
Another common dish is the box lunch or plate lunch. This isn’t so unlike a southern dish like “meat and three” except the Hawaiian‘s usually don’t eat vegetables in it. Essentially, it’s one scoop of macaroni salad mixed heavily with mayonaise, one scoop of white rice, and then the main course also served over rice. My “Moco Loco”, for example, came from local chain L&L Barbecue and contained one runny egg overlaying a small hamburger patty, a small bit of pork barbecue, and some brown gravy. Washed down with some grass jelly soda, naturally. The ingredient label was in Japanese so there’s no saying what was really in there.
Spam is a staple here and has been for three quarters of a century. So I tried some spam sushi. Cut thin, fried, then strapped with seaweed to some white rice. No ham-fisted cholesterol jokes please. We’ve also eaten yellow passionfruit called lilikoi nearly every day in nearly every way. Today we ate it atop cream cheese on a croissant from an impromptu stop at a farmer’s market overlooked by stunning abrupt, verdant craggy mountains.
Everywhere you look you can see and hear roosters, plus a few hens and their fluffy chick brood. They crow at all hours and form a nice backdrop of familiar sounds. The island’s plumeria, hibiscus, and many others are in full bloom just like back in Kona. But we’ve been most knocked out by the trees, especially the monkeypod and banyan.
Tomorrow we hike the world famous Kalalua Trail.
Dave & Erin
