1. Adverbs
It might seem like a silly part of the English language, but I care whether or not someone answers the question, “How are you doing?” correctly (the answer is “well,” if you actually are).  It also grates on my nerves when someone drops the “ly” ending of an adverb. For example: “If you look real close, you will see…” A double whammy of grammatical errors!

2. Coffee
I can trace this snobbery to the day I was made to taste Folgers coffee alongside Starbucks Kenya. I realized that some coffee tastes like cardboard and some like, well, coffee. This was in 2002. Since then I have continued to learn about coffee roasting, milk steaming, correct espresso temperature and crema, coffee oils in a french press, and the importance of the correct bean grind. I was reminded that I have become a snob about this because we are getting close to buying a new espresso machine and grinder, thanks to a decent tax return. I was intent on doing an absurd amount of research to find the right machine for us, and I have arrived at the LeLit PL041. Can’t wait for our return to materialize so I can order it!

3. The Martini
This snobbery began a few years ago when we began watching Mad Men. The advertising execs of that show drink hard liquor throughout the entire show. It is such a core part of the show that the website has a section for drink recipes. We were also living in Hawaii which has lower taxes on liquor so we could get a good deal on gin. We came to realize that a real martini is gin and vermouth. That’s it. None of this vodka mess. So when we go to restaurants with a martini menu and are presented with only vodka martinis it seems ridiculous.

4. Arrowheads
It’s not an arrowhead. It’s a projectile point.

I swear, there really is ice under all that.

1. Sweet Home Cafe
The name makes me think it will be Southern cuisine, but actually they serve Taiwanese hot pot. This is a pot of steaming broth that they place on a burner on your table. You choose and add veggies, meat, dumplings, and many more things (kind of like a fondu). As a bonus, at the end of the meal you receive a large bowl of Taiwanese shave ice for free. Yes, free! What makes this “Taiwanese” is that the focus is on the toppings rather than the ice and syrup. And, oh my goodness, they pile it on.

Ice
I know there was technically ice under there, but who cares.

Syrups
They don’t use them.

Ice Cream
None

Price/Size Optimization
Free. That’s pretty awesome.

Utensils
Big bowl and metal spoons.

Atmosphere
Because this place is so slammed with loyal customers, everyone is asked to finish their meal in 90 minutes. This means you might have to rush through the shave ice at the end. We didn’t have this problem though.

Service
Attentive and friendly

Bonus Features
Toppings, toppings, toppings! We had chocolate pudding, tapioca pearls, fruit jellies, and some white stuff.

I don't mind being cheesy if it's for shave ice.

2. Haleiwa General Store
Our friends Steve and Mary have been telling us this is their favorite shave ice on the island ever since we moved here. But because we normally hit up Aoki’s in this town, we hadn’t tried it until yesterday. Upon learning that it was our first time there, the one guy manning the shaving machine informed us of the reasons for their quality product. They change the blade frequently to ensure fine shavings, use Dave’s Ice Cream (a local company), and their syrups are made by a local couple.

Ice
Smooth

Syrups
Cane sugar based. I thought my 3 flavors tasted basically the same, sugary. Not the best.

Ice Cream
Dave’s vanilla ice cream. They give you a good amount in the cup.

Pile of shave ice ready to be served.

Price/Size Optimization
A little pricey. However they do give free snow caps (condensed milk topping) and li hing mui.

Utensils
They serve the shave ice straight in the catch cup, so you don’t pay extra for the holder. You also get a spoon-straw, which I hate, but also give you a regular spoon to make up for this deficiency.

Atmosphere
Good ‘ole North Shore. They have a couple tables outside with umbrellas that also makes it nice. This place isn’t crowded like Aoki’s and Matsumotu, so there is no waiting in line.

Service
Friendly and relaxed.

Bonus Features
Free snow caps and li hing. They also don’t mind giving you extra spoons.

A new favorite.

3. Jojo’s Shave Ice
This is the only shave ice place we went to on Kauai, but it was awesome. I’m not sure if it was just that I loved my combination, but it was really good. I’m not ranking these, but if I were it would be right at the top of all the places we’ve tried so far. I had the Haupia combo (Combo #4 on their menu): Mac Nut ice cream topped with coconut flakes, coconut shave ice, and coconut cream.

Ice
Smooth

Syrups
Full-bodied (can I steal that word?)

Ice Cream
In addition to vanilla, you also had macadamia nut as an option. A very tasty option as it turned out.

Price/Size Optimization
A little more expensive, as is everything on Kauai.

Utensils
Plastic spoons, and the loathed spoon-straw.

Atmosphere
This place is definitely hole-in-the-wall, but with the bright yellow sign it is also cheery. It is located in Waimea so is perfectly positioned to be a desirable post-Waimea-Canyon-hiking-trip stop.

Service
Friendly.

Bonus Features
You can get your own spoons and napkins so you aren’t jipped. It is also right next to the public library which has a free bathroom, a must for the potty training days.

I was first introduced to this Japanese tradition by my friends Karen and Adam Lauer. Karen’s family on the Big Island makes mochi in the traditional way (pounding the rice down to a paste, and then filling and shaping into a ball). It’s popular for Christmas and New Years, and Boys Day and Girls Day too. Clayton and I have had mochi before, both plain and filled with ice cream. We’ve had it as a topping, on frozen yogurt and snow ice. But we’ve never made it ourselves.

I decided that this year was the year. This year I was going to have mochi for New Years. I was originally going to buy some from Nisshodo Candy Store, but because the stuff is so popular in Hawaii right now I only got a busy signal when I called to reserve some. So I switched the plan and decided to try to make it myself. I opted for a version of mochi called “chi chi dango” because it is a non-filled dumpling version and, let’s be honest, has an awesome name. Of course, I’m cheating by buying the ingredients from the store instead of making the mochi fresh. But it’s a good start. I found a recipe online and decided to go for it.

The special ingredients you need are mochiko (glutinous rice flour) and katakuriko (potato starch). These are easy to find in our grocery stores, but may not be readily available on the mainland. I made the mochi on New Years Eve, let it cool completely overnight, then cut it today. I was shocked at how easy it was to make, and it’s really tasty too! Very sticky and soft. Yum!

For our church, it’s also Free Malasada Day. 12 years ago people at the church decided that instead of riding a float in the parade, they would make and give out TONS of malasadas. The parade goes directly by the church, and this was an easy way to do something nice for the community.

If you don’t know what a malasada is, let me explain. Clayton and I mistakenly thought, when we first moved here, that they were nothing more than just donuts. They are actually Portuguese donuts.  The difference is that malasadas are yeastier, chewier, sugar-coated, and piping hot. Our favorite non-traditional variety is custard-filled. Portuguese people came to Hawaii in 1878 to work in the plantation fields. Malasadas came with them, and Hawaii is a better place for it.

Folks at the church making malasadas (Clayton and Autumn discuss the dough in the background)

Click here to view the embedded video.

The parade was really fun, and really long. One of my favorite moments was when the Kahuku high school football players chanted their haka. For some reason my camera didn’t work when I tried to video it, but fortunately it’s online here with the whole story behind it. They just won the state championship, so everyone in the crowd was really excited. Another cool moment was seeing performers from the Christmas in Polynesia show do some dancing in the streets:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Autumn enjoyed the fire trucks, horses, puppets on a float, the other children sitting near her, and the free candy when Santa came through.

It began with a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant: coffee, papaya, asian pear, fried potatoes, a little ham, and a roll sitting in rice pudding (actually very tasty).

For lunch we took advice on a place to get local food and ended up at Roco’s. The menu was all over the place (spaghetti to Hungarian goulash), so I asked the waitress what dish was local. She recommended the Samoan Oka. Having no idea what this was, Brad and I enthusiastically ordered two. Turns out it is a way that Samoans prepare raw fish, by marinating small pieces in coconut milk, lime juice, onion, and bell pepper. It was served cold topped with some kind of seaweed (“limu fofo”, in the local language), and a side of steamed taro. This is not a pregnant friendly dish (both raw fish and tuna), but I didn’t know that when I ordered so I ate heartily and didn’t look back. Normally I’m not a huge fan of taro, as it is basically a flavorless, pasty starch root. But the dish came with a wedge of lime and it turns out that slices of steamed taro are very good with fresh lime on top!

On the way back from lunch we stopped at Mari’s Mini Mart to take a look at the snacks. There were a lot of Australian and New Zealand snacks, such as UFOs (Burger Flavored chip rounds) and Corn bars from Indonesia. Brad got a bag of UFOs and I got Roasted corn and Tutti frutti corn bars for Autumn. The UFOs tasted basically like Fun-Yuns with more spices. The corn bars… we’ll have to wait till Autumn tries it to know!

Originally the dinner plan was to head to the fancy restaurant in the hotel for their 3-course lobster dinner (for $25). As we were walking to dinner we passed the regular hotel restaurant, which was having a seafood buffet with a live band playing for the same price. I thought this would be much more fun, so we ended up there instead. I’m really glad we deviated because we got some awesome local food at the buffet. You know it’s going to be awesome when you’re slightly afraid of what they are serving, and completely unsure if it is animal or vegetable. After loading up our first plates, Brad got the idea to just ask the waiter what some of the items were. Smart! So here we go. In addition to eating lobster, head-on shrimp, and white fish, we also ate marinated octopus, oysters in coconut milk, mini-samosas, sea urchin, palusami, and fausi.

The marinated octopus was tasty. I ate a little, then poked at it a bit and eventually saw tentacles. Normally I’m not a fan of octopus because it is quite rubbery, but this was tender and not bad! I still didn’t eat a lot of it, because come on, it’s octopus.

After having the Oka (raw tuna) for lunch I was unwilling to risk having sea urchin with dinner. This is too bad, as Brad informs me it is pretty rare to find. It was served raw, in its half shell. It was orange and had a pudding quality to it. I would have tried it, but alas, the fetus.

Palusami is a local dish made by wrapping coconut cream inside baby taro leaves and steaming it in an earth oven (see photo to the left). Let me just say, Wow! Very good. The whole time I ate it I was hoping it wasn’t meat. When I found out what it was, I ate another helping.

Fausi was served for dessert. This is chunks of taro in caramelized coconut cream. It tasted like very dense bread chunks in a fresh caramel sauce that had a smoky, campfire quality to it.

I hope to eat more local food while here, and seek out the palusami and fausi for another round!