Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation

64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

I was stuffed full from shrimp, ice cream and shave ice when we stopped by the Dole Plantation on the way back from the North Shore but I still managed to cram down some fresh pineapple slices and a bowl of Dole whip. We decided just to swing by the Dole Plantation as opposed to spending a day there as originally planned. We met a couple on the Lost tour who told us that the Dole Plantation is a bust with not much to do.

We arrived just an hour before closing, and the plantation really closes right at 5 pm on the dot, even if there are still guests in the pineapple garden outside; the doors to the gift shop lock and you have to walk around the building to get back out to the parking lot.

Dole whip, Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole whip, Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

There are a few fun activities at the plantation though: a train takes you around the whole plantation, there’s a huge maze shaped like a giant pineapple and there’s lots to eat. We don’t have Dole whip in Canada so I had to try that. It’s pineapple soft serve and it’s served with bits of fresh pineapple. The pineapple adds the perfect tropical tang to the soft serve, it’s super refreshing in the tropical weather and really cools you down. The cafeteria style restaurant at the plantation also serves burgers and fries as well as loco moco and other entrees, they even have a kalua pork quesadilla.

Every hour there’s a pineapple demonstration, one of the Dole staff members demos how to properly cut open a pineapple, slice it up and clean and serve the fruit. Since watching the demo, my boyfriend has been slicing up the fruit like a pro.

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

The biggest shocker for me was that I finally found out that pineapples grow on the ground. It sounds naive but I have always envisioned pineapples growing on trees, I thought the spiky stem was the part that attached it to the tree. How silly of me. The pineapple garden behind the Dole plantation gift shop featured different pineapples from all over the world, brilliantly red pineapples, teeny tiny little pineapples and giant, spiky ones.

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

And just like everywhere else on the island, wild chickens are just running all about the gardens and the plantation grounds.

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

We also picked up some goodies to snack on later, some ham jerky flavoured with pineapple as well as some pineapple crunch white chocolates. The pineapple crunch was my favourite, sweet, crunchy and tangy. I’m not sure if you can buy them outside of Hawaii, but there happens to be a special on the Dole plantation website right now. If you buy 3 boxes, you get one free box. The chocolates also come in milk chocolate. Just in time for Christmas.

Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Pineapple crunch, Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Pineapple crunch, Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

Pineapple crunch, Dole Plantation, 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy, Wahiawa, Hawaii

I wouldn’t spend an entire day at the Dole plantation but it’s definitely worth a stop, if only just for that scrumptious Dole whip alone.

Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

Leonard’s

933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

Leonard’s makes these impossibly fluffy poufs of heaven called malasadas. Malasadas are Portuguese doughnuts, deep fried and covered in sugar. The pastries were likely woven into Hawaiian cuisine in the 1800s when Portuguese immigrants moved to Hawaii to work on the islands’ plantations. Malasadas are almost as ubiquitous as spam musubi in Hawaii but I had read about Leonard’s in Lucky Peach and made it a goal to try the place. There’s a recipe for the donuts in Lucky Peach but I can’t imagine duplicating this deep fried goodness at home.

Leonard’s is located near a residential area so we just parked down the block and walked to the shop. I’ll never get used to the tiny geckos scurrying across the sidewalk in and around the concrete cracks.

Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

As soon as we walked into Leonard’s, we were hit in the face by a waft of rich, buttery aroma. I scanned the bakery display cases for malasadas and was disappointed not to see them in the display cases. I was afraid we got to the bakery too late and the donuts were sold out. Then I saw a small menu sign near the entrance and I realized the malasadas were freshly fried to order. So we ordered four donuts to share along with some other pastries.

Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

We sat on the bench outside and gobbled up our other pastries while we waited for our malasadas to be fried up.

We picked the Portuguese sausage bun because it reminded us so much of the hot dog buns we buy from Chinese bakeries back in Canada. We’ve noticed a heavy Portuguese influence on the food in Hawaii, in fact the Portuguese sausage is a staple in traditional Hawaii breakfast plates, they even serve it at McDonald’s. The Portuguese sausage meat is not as fatty as a hot dog, the meat is firmer than the soft canned meat of spam but it’s equally salty with a slight kick of spice.

Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

We also ordered a pineapple and cream cheese strudel that was flaky and light and filled with the sweetest pineapple filling. I’ve never had cream cheese with pineapple and was surprised that the two flavours go so well together.

Malasada, Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

Finally, our malasadas were ready and I couldn’t wait to dig in! We ordered four donuts: original, cinnamon, li hing and a malasada puff which was a filled donut, I chose haupia filling.

Malasada, Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

Malasadas are made of the fluffiest, most eggy dough, the freshly fried doughnut is so soft and pillowy when it was served to us, that I was afraid I was going to crush it with my hand. The inside of the donut was light as air, filled with a web of this light, feathery eggy texture, it is sort of like the inside of a French cruller but even lighter. The outside of the donut was coated in so much sugar that I got it all over my mouth and some on the tip of my nose as I greedily gobbled up malasada after malasada.

The cinnamon sprinkled malasada was just as delicious as the original. The li hing topped malasada had a bit of a salty kick to it. Li hing is a Chinese salted plum. My grandma always had a bag of the stuff in her purse when we were little. They’re little salty snacks that make your lips pucker. The li hing powder sprinkled on the malasadas was sweet as well as salty though. I have noticed that li hing is very popular in Hawaii, many pastries, ice creams and desserts feature the flavour. The fact that li hing powder is being mixed in with a Portuguese pastry is just another example of Hawaii’s diverse culinary landscape.

Malasada, Leonard’s, 933 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, HI

For our filled malasada, I picked the haupia filled malasada. Haupia is a coconut milk pudding. There was so much filling in the soft pastry that some of it squirted right out and onto the floor when I bit in. The sweet coconut was delicious, not too sweet and a great compliment to the sugary doughnut. The malasadas are just as scrumptious on their own though. I can probably eat a dozen in one sitting.

I’m not sure how I can go back to eating regular doughnuts!

Honolulu Night Market, 683 Auahi St., Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu Night Market

683 Auahi St., Honolulu, Hawaii

The Honolulu Night Market happens once a month, every third Saturday in the funky neighbourhood of Kaka’ako. There’s lots of free parking in a nearby lot at 555 South Street.

I found out about the Honolulu Night Market from Yelp Hawaii’s instagram page. The event is hosted by Street Grindz, a Hawaiian company representing the food trucks for the Islands. As my readers know, I absolutely love street food so I made it a point to check out the Honolulu Night Market and made sure to skip dinner to clear my appetite for street eats.

We could see the trucks and hear the music blasting at the Honolulu Night Market from blocks away. The party was already getting underway when we arrived and it was only 7 pm. Our first stop was my newest obsession: spam musubi. Hawaii’s Fried Musubi is the big purple truck that sells deep fried musubi with free sides of fried chicken. How could I resist? There is a full selection of musubi on the menu but I picked my favourite: spam. This was definitely a salty treat, the deep fried crust was crispy and salty and the spam in the middle was salty and mysterious, just the way I like it. What the heck is even in spam, really? The fried chicken drummettes were complimentary but were delicious!

We loved the Pig and the Lady Noodle Bar so much that we stopped here for their award-winning banh mi even though their stand boasted the longest line up and we had already tried their pho in the morning. The Pig and the Lady started out at the KCC Farmers’ Market but will soon be opening their bricks and mortar shop. I can only imagine the lineups at the shop.

The Pig and the Lady’s pho French dip banh mi is on Honolulu Magazine’s list of 100 things to eat. We had to try it. A great twist on the traditional Vietnamese sandwich, the crispy French baguettes were filled with a generous helping of 12 hour slow cooked beef brisket along with sauteed bean sprouts and onions and served with a steaming bowl of pho au jus. It was the best of all worlds, incredible, juicy, beef brisket, packed with explosive flavour and falling apart with tenderness, ready to be dipped in this rich, full-bodied pho broth that only enhanced the flavours of the meat. I have never tasted a sandwich that was so crammed full of flavour, each bite was better than the next.

For some more poke, we ordered some poke nachos that we munched on while we wandered the rest of the market. I love the contrast in textures of the crunchy chips against the silky poke. The mild flavoured chips also helped offset the super salty fish.

Our last food stop was the truck called Whatch Fillin.’ My bargain hunting boyfriend had to try this place. He was so intrigued by the fact that the pies this place was selling were only $3 each. While we were waiting in line, I noticed that Whatcha Fillin’ has been featured numerous times in local Hawaii media. I guess everyone else is also curious about this cheap and popular food truck. The truck offered mini pies filled with savoury and dessert ingredients.

We ordered the Jacobs, which was a chicken pot pie featuring chicken, carrots, potatoes, peas, green beans, onions and gravy. The little pies really were stuffed full of filling. We shared one but I think if I ate a whole one by myself, it would be enough for a small meal. The chicken in the pie was tasty and the gravy was rich and creamy. This was a real comfort food pie. The actual pies – there were two of them that were sandwiching the ingredients- were actually fluffy and not soggy at all.

For dessert we had the baby cakes which was filled with cheesecake and caramel. This totally appealed to my sweet tooth and love of cheesecake. The caramel in the cake were just melted caramel squares though. I could tell since one of them didn’t entirely melt and stuck to my teeth as I gobbled up the rest of the pie.

The Honolulu Night Market is not all about food, we got a strong sense of community and taste of the lively night life amongst locals in Honolulu while we wandered the market. Each monthly night market event features a theme, and this month’s theme was Fashion! To celebrate haute culture and style, a runway was set up and a fashion show featuring Neiman Marcus’ latest looks took place at the back of the market near the barn.

Inside the barn building were more local clothing and accessories vendors selling cool, one-of-a-kind items. I was reminded of the markets on Brick Lane in London, England.

There was also a skateboarding ramp where skaters tried out tricks.

For some tunes at the market, a live DJ was spinning on top of a big truck at one end of the market, break dancers and performance artists were hanging around the truck and interacting with people. There was even a juggler to entertain guests.

The night market takes place in an area on the island known as Kakaako, the hub of urban culture and trendy boutique restaurants. The place even has its own hash tag advertised on the walls of the buildings. The vibe is young, hip and energetic, I would come back to have brunch in the restaurants or just to wander around the boutique stores even if there wasn’t a night market going on. It’s always wonderful to see a community fueled by social media. Honolulu is much more into social media than other cities we have visited. San Diego for example has many cool restaurants but none of which truly engage their customers in social media, at least none of the restaurants we visited.

One useful booth was the hand washing booth, big tables with tanks of soap dispensers came in handy when our hands were sticky from street food.

The other cool thing about the Honolulu Night Market? There’s booze here! A fully stocked bar can be found at the back of the market, it was one of the booths with the biggest lineup.

As for seating, we found a little brick alleyway filled with round tables and chairs that we could lay out our feast on.

We had so much fun at the Honolulu Night Market and were so full afterwards. Check out the next market on November 16, 2013. The theme will be retail therapy, one of my favourite things.

Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

Giovanni’s

66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

Parked amongst a mini pod of food trucks on the side of Kamehameha Highway is Giovanni’s shrimp truck. It’s the white one covered in graffiti. I picked Giovanni’s out of the other shrimp trucks based on the rave reviews I read on Urbanspoon and Yelp. This place has a serious following and I can see why.

The graffiti on the truck is all the signatures from Giovanni’s customers over the years. The truck is covered completely by autographs, you can tell the place has a lot of fans. Giovanni’s fits right in with the laid-back beach culture on the North Shore: casual street food, perfect for eating outside.

Lemon butter shrimp, Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

Lemon butter shrimp, Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

We ordered the lemon butter shrimp plate and the shrimp scampi. The shrimp come with the shells still intact (unfortunately, no heads though), trapping in all the juicy goodness. The shrimp meat is dense like lobster. The lemon butter shrimps came with lots of lemon wedges and melted butter dipping sauce.

Shrimp scampi, Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

The shrimp scampi was doused with lots of tasty roasted garlic and loads of butter and herbs. The dense shrimp meat was not overshadowed by this pile of ingredients though and the fresh shrimp flavour still shone through.

Wild chickens running around near Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

What I will never get used to in Hawaii is the wild chickens running about. The lot where Giovanni’s is parked is filled with lots of squawking roosters and hens. I don’t know what stops people from catching one of these birds and cooking them up for dinner.

Giovanni’s, 66-427 Kamehameha Hwy, Laie, Hawaii

Our shrimp plates also came with (the almost mandatory in Hawaii) two ice cream scoops of rice. The plates were excellent light lunches before more beach lounging and our next food stop.

This truck is Giovanni’s second location. The first location is closer to the beach and is parked on a plot of land that Giovanni bought, making Giovanni’s a mainstay on the North Shore of Oahu. It’s possible to visit both trucks at once, they are only 6 minutes drive away from each other. I know where I’m going the next time I have a massive shrimp craving.

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store

66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

There’s only one place to get shave ice on Oahu: M. Matsumoto Grocery Store on the North Shore. I read about this place in Lucky Peach magazine and found that the shave ice is exactly like how they described. Shaved to a super fine, practically feathery texture, M. Matsumoto’s shave ice is the perfect cold treat in tropical heat. Located in a sleepy surfer town on Hawaii’s North Shore M. Matsumoto Grocery Store didn’t start out serving shave ice, it was originally (like the name suggests) a grocery store owned by a Japanese couple, Mamoru and Helen Matsumoto since the 1950s. Soon the couple decided to diversify their business and serve shave ice and sell souvenirs. Now, people from all over (Hawaii and the world) visit M. Matsumoto for their special shave ice and unique homemade syrup flavours.

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store is now owned by Mamoru and Helen Matsumoto’s son, Stanley and his wife, Noriko. Their store is so popular that it was bustling with customers when we arrived. Other shave ice stores along the same street were empty. There was a Japanese production company interviewing Stanley and his wife on camera when we pushed past the crowd to get into the store.

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

My boyfriend ordered the Matsumoto shave ice, it consisted of the flavours, lemon, pineapple and coconut. He claimed that it didn’t taste like any of those flavours though, it just tasted like sweet syrup. But it still cooled us down from the tropical heat on the island.

Matsumoto shave ice, M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

Matsumoto shave ice, M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

I’m happy to report that my lychee shave ice tasted exactly like the juicy sweet fruit. This might be because I stuck to one flavour instead of mashing together a bunch of flavours – they probably give you less syrup with multiple flavour orders. I did order it with all the fixin’s though, condensed milk, ice cream and azuki beans. The ice cream and condensed milk added a creaminess and thickness to the ice and boosted the sweetness factor tenfold. You can’t see the ice cream and azuki beans in the photo but they were stuffed all in the bottom of the cone.

Lychee shave ice with condensed milk, ice cream and azuki beans, M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

Matsumoto is famed for the texture of its shave ice, it’s shaved to a super fine and delicate texture, nothing like the chunky slurpies back home. The fine texture of the ice seemed to help soak up the syrups more and absorb the melting ice cream and condensed milk.

Lychee shave ice with condensed milk, ice cream and azuki beans, M. Matsumoto Grocery Store, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, HI

Despite the hoards of tourists milling in Matsumoto’s, we loved the vibe in the store. It was a real laid-back, beach bum sort of atmosphere complete with kitschy souvenirs, the floor speckled with sand fresh from the beach and a general relaxed ambiance in and around the store. Matsumoto is only a few minutes walk from the beach and nothing beats a stroll on the North Shore, watching the crashing waves while slurping on neon coloured sweet and frozen shave ice cones. Just another day in paradise.

Bubbies, 1010 University Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii

Bubbies

1010 University Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii

There’s a huge Japanese community in Hawaii. That explains why you can get mochi just about anywhere from the local farmer’s market to a mall food court. I absolutely love mochi: the bouncy, chewy texture of the rice flour and the multitude of flavours it comes in. My all-time favourite type of mochi dessert are mochi ice cream balls. These are delectable little balls formed out of rice flour filled with ice cream. It’s impossible to eat just one.

I found Bubbies on Yelp Hawaii’s Instagram page, stumbling upon a drool-worthy picture of a plump, frozen mochi ball one night right when I had an ice cream craving. Bubbies has been on my list to try ever since. The name Bubbies comes from the Yiddish word for Grandma. The founder and owner of Bubbies, Keith Robbins named his shop after his grandma, who first sparked his love for ice cream.

Bubbies not only serves ice cream mochi balls, they also offer pies, cakes and ice cream with tongue-in-cheek names and unique flavours.

Since my heart was set on mochi balls, we decided just to order a half dozen of those to share. The flavours we picked were: lychee, guava, strawberry, seasonal flavour pumpkin, my favourite flavour, chocolate peanut butter and my staple flavour, vanilla.

My boyfriend claimed that these mochi balls still tasted exactly the same as the frozen, packaged ones we buy from T&T but I thought they tasted a lot better. First off, they’re not smushed like the T&T ones, and the mochi batter was chewier and softer. The strawberry and guava flavours were pure in fruity flavour and not the least artificial and syrupy sweet like the T&T ones. My favourite fruit flavoured one was the lychee, with its refreshingly sharp and tangy lychee flavour cutting through the creamy ice cream texture and bouncy mochi shell.

The pumpkin flavour tasted like pumpkin pie filling: nutty, slightly spicy and sweet. It was the perfect rendition of a Thanksgiving staple in a tropical place.

I loved the vanilla mochi ball too, sweet, classic and simple.

My absolute favourite was the chocolate peanut butter mochi ball, it tasted just like a mochi ball version of Reese Pieces.

Mochi balls are such whimsical little treats, offering just enough ice cream to hit the spot but not induce a brain freeze. We noticed that Bubbies supplies ice cream mochi balls to many of the local restaurants we visited and even some touristy shops along the Waikiki beach walk. We were craving the little round frozen treats so much one afternoon while we were shopping that we bought another half dozen to snack on while we wandered around Waikiki.

We have to go back to try some of their pies and cakes.

KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Every Saturday, 7:30 am to 11 am

Kapiolani Community College Farmers’ Market

Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road)

4303 Diamond Head Road
Honolulu, HI

Every Saturday bright and early, in the shadow of the Diamond Head in parking lot C of the Kapiolani Community College is Honolulu’s biggest farmers’ market. The market opens at 7:30 am and closes at 11 am so get there early! Parking is free.

KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

The KCC Farmers’ Market is hosted by the Hawaii Farm Bureau. It’s a great place to meet local vendors and talk to local farmers. I found out about the market from a great website called Go Hawaii. There’s a complete list of farmers’ markets on the island. I’m not sure how up to date the list is though as we tried to go to a farmers’ market on Tuesday night on the roof of the Royal Hawaiian shopping center only to find the roof empty. A security guard told us that the farmers’ market lost their funding a year ago and hasn’t been back.

Barbecued abalone, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Barbecued abalone, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Barbecued abalone, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

The first booth we saw when we arrived was the one serving up barbecued abalone. It was also one of the booths with the longest line but that didn’t stop us. The scrumptious shellfish was barbecued to order and one of the servers slices the meat up for you after it’s cooked and a large selection of sauces and seasoning were available at the booth. We sprinkled on some soy sauce and gobbled up each abalone in mere seconds, they were so fresh and succulent. Nothing beats seafood on the island.

Barbecued abalone, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

The market was full of local shoppers doing their weekly grocery shopping, most of them were regulars who the vendors knew by name. It was a warm, friendly atmosphere with a huge selection of produce and dining options. I wanted to eat everything there!

Strawberry and red bean paste stuffed mochi, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

We love strawberries and mochi so we couldn’t help but buy a box of strawberry stuffed mochi desserts. The strawberries were juicy and sweet and the mochi was the perfect, chewy vehicle to hold the fruit, it wasn’t too sweet and didn’t upstage the fresh fruit. There was also some delicious red bean paste gluing the entire dessert together. This was a great light treat as we wandered around the market looking for more eats.

Fresh coconuts, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Fresh coconuts, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Fresh coconuts, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

I soon spotted a guy drinking out of a giant coconut from a straw and asked where he bought it. There was a man at a booth in the market just chopping open coconuts at $5 a pop, he sticks a straw in and voila, coconut water. It doesn’t get more fresh than that. As we lugged around our giant coconuts, more than 5 different people asked us where we bought them from. When we were finished drinking the water from the coconut, we brought them back to the coconut man and he chopped each coconut open for us so we could eat the coconut meat. I was snapping so many pictures of him chopping coconuts that when he chopped our coconut in half, he placed each half in my boyfriend’s hands and urged him to pose for my picture before he scooped out the coconut meat for us. I guess he is used to snap-happy tourists!

Fresh coconuts, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Fresh coconuts, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Fresh coconut meat, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

When our arms were tired from lugging around coconuts, we decided to sit down for some pho. I had read rave reviews about this new pho place called The Pig and the Lady. They’re opening their brick and mortar shop this month. The queue at this booth rivaled that of the barbecue abalone place. Since we had only rolled out of bed a couple of hours ago, I ordered the breakfast pho, chock full of smoked applewood bacon, a perfectly poached egg, charred green onion, spicy bean sprouts and bouncy, chewy pho noodles. I loved the smoky bacon in this dish.

The Pig and the Lady, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Breakfast pho, The Pig and the Lady, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Breakfast pho, The Pig and the Lady, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Breakfast pho, The Pig and the Lady, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

As far as produce goes, you can buy everything at the market from local squash to mini pineapples. The pineapple juice they were selling wasn’t as sweet as the coconut water though.

KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Aside from the coconuts, the other item we repeatedly saw people carrying around were whole sausages, grilled and skewed with a stick. But by the time I found their booth, they were already sold out. I had my heart set on the pineapple sausage. Next time, this booth will be our first stop.

Hawaiian Happy Cakes, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Next to the sausage booth there is a dessert booth called Happy Cakes. They were also sold out of one of the cakes but their Pineapple Macadamia Nut cake was still available, and we discovered it was delicious! Owen O’Callaghan, the owner of Happy Cakes chatted with us for a bit, after guessing that we weren’t locals (I think the giant coconuts gave us away) and hailed from Vancouver, Canada. I still have no idea how he guessed Vancouver on the first try.

Hawaiian Happy Cakes, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Owen told us that Happy Cakes has been a local dessert for many years, everyone from Ronald Reagan to Frank Sinatra loves it. The cake can be eaten plain, served with ice cream or toasted. The texture is similar to that of a Christmas fruit cake but the cake is full of dried, sweet pineapple and macadamia nuts, dense in texture and not too sweet. The cake keeps for a while, up to a few months so the desserts actually would make good Christmas gifts.

Hawaiian Happy Cakes, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Hawaiian Happy Cakes, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

The other dessert booth we visited sold the tastiest brownies I’ve had in a while. Made from local Hawaiian cocoa, No Ka Oi Cookie Company sold delicious peanut butter brownies that were dense, rich and sweet. I would totally go back for more.

No Ka Oi Cookie Company, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Peanut butter brownies, No Ka Oi Cookie Company, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Peanut butter brownies, No Ka Oi Cookie Company, KCC Farmers’ Market, Parking Lot C (Off of Diamond Head Road), 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

We loved the farmers’ market and talking with some of the local vendors. It was definitely worth waking up early for.

Donut Bar, 631 B St., San Diego, CA

Donut Bar

631 B St., San Diego, CA

As far as gourmet donuts go, my favourites still remain New York City’s Doughnut Plant and Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut. But for a fried dough craving in a pinch, the Donut Bar will do. The small coffee and donut shop is on the edge of downtown San Diego and offers up some pretty cool flavours. We stumbled upon it while we were wandering around downtown sightseeing. The donut bar is a few blocks from San Diego’s Lululemon. The Lululemon here is tucked away on a hidden side street and is only open a few days a week. I guess overpriced yoga wear is not popular here.

Donut Bar, 631 B St., San Diego, CA

At first it was hard to choose flavours at Donut Bar but I had to get my go-to, favourite flavour: red velvet. We picked the other two because they looked so pretty: the peaches and cream and the apple pie donuts.

Red velvet donut, Donut Bar, 631 B St., San Diego, CA

I was surprised to find that the red velvet was the best flavour. Previously, I had a bad experience with a Krispy Kreme red velvet donut. It just goes to show that sometimes chain restaurants aren’t the best food choices when it comes to specialty items.

The red velvet at Donut Bar was a dense and sweet cake donut, the icing was a perfect sweet and slightly salty cream cheese topping with fluffy bits of red velvet crumbs sprinkled all over.I loved it.

Peaches and cream, Donut Bar, 631 B St., San Diego, CA

The peaches and cream wasn’t as fluffy as I had hoped – it was supposed to be a yeast donut but didn’t hold a candle to a freshly fried Lee Doughnut’s yeast donut from Granville Island at all. I barely tasted any peach flavour but I have to admit, it was the prettiest of the 3 donuts we ordered.

I ordered the apple pie donut because it looked unique but it was barely filled with any apple pie filling. There were probably only a few cubes of spiced apple inside, the outside of the donut was pretty dry.

Apple pie, Donut Bar, 631 B St., San Diego, CA

Donut Bar is a fairly new shop but it is quickly climbing the ranks as one of the most popular Urbanspoon restaurants in San Diego. I have no doubt that they’ll work out their kinks to climb higher on the donut chain. I will gladly return for their winning red velvet.

La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

La Creperie Voila

707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

Located in a little stand right outside the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle is a cute little crepe stand. We stopped by for a quick breakfast. When the girl making your crepe is wearing a headband and pearls, it’s hard not to be won over by the charm of the little stand. The set up was like the stands in Paris, you could tell there were regulars as some customers greeted the crepe girl by name, it’s too bad the crepes they used for savoury fillings was more like fluffy pancake batter rather than the traditional French buckwheat crepes used in Europe for savoury fillings.

La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

Nonetheless, we both ordered savoury crepes. The first one we had was the roasted sliced chicken with fresh spinach, Swiss cheese, herb butter and white sauce. Since it was breakfast, we asked for an egg to be added to the crepe. The chicken was tender and flavourful and well seasoned. There were large chunks of it filled in the crepe, each bite smothered in that rich and creamy white sauce.

Roasted Sliced chicken crepe, La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

The thing I also loved about this crepe stand were the neat little boxes that they packaged our crepes in. The strong, rectangular cardboard boxes made the crepes easy and efficient to eat. There’s nothing worse than having the best part of the crepe filling drip all over you out of the bottom of the crepe: this often happens to me when I’m eating crepes as street food, clumsily holding up my wrapped crepe in one hand and taking my instagram picture with my other hand. Thankfully, this was not the case here. I could instagram-away while comfortably seated and neatly munching on forkfuls of delicious crepe.

Roasted Sliced Chicken crepe, La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

Roasted Sliced Chicken crepe, La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

The actual crepe was very fluffy and light. The top layer had a delicate but crisp, thin crust while the bottom layer was softer, having absorbed all the white sauce and moisture from the cheese. The crepe was strong enough to not break though, even though it was stuffed to the max with heavy filling and lots of stretchy, melted cheese!

Smoked Wild Salmon Lox crepe, La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

Our next crepe was the salmon lox crepe filled with giant globs of delicious creme fraiche, spinach, lemon and herb butter. We also added an egg into this crepe (it’s breakfast after all!). Normally, I’m very anti-spinach but since there was so much creme fraiche in this crepe and loads of lox, it completely canceled my hatred for green leafy vegetables.

Smoked Wild Salmon Lox crepe, La Creperie Voila, 707 Pike Street, Seattle, WA

The lox was silky and scrumptious. And the rich and thick creme fraiche glued everything together, literally, the fluffy crepe was held closed by the big dollops of tangy cream. The splash of lemon juice also gave the whole crepe a refreshing, citrus kick.

I totally preferred the salmon lox crepe over the chicken one. I’d love to revisit to try out the sweet crepes too!

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Skillet Food Truck

Downtown Seattle, WA

I’ll confess that we came here for the bacon jam. I saw a clip on the Food Network and I had to try it. Since bacon has risen to the top of the food trend ladder, it’s now found in everything from ice cream to vodka. I had yet to eat the delectable fatty breakfast meat in a jam though so here was my chance!

Parked in a perfect little spot in downtown Seattle near public transit and a few blocks from Pike Place Market, Skillet food truck was a busy little hub at lunch time.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

We each ordered a burger and fries. “The Burger” featured a 6 oz. grass fed painted hills beef patty with blue cheese, brie and a big glob of bacon jam. I favoured this burger over “The Basic,” which we also ordered. The creamy brie and the pungent blue cheese was the perfect accompaniment to that rich bacon jam.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, just as it’s described in the video above is salty, sweet, savoury and extremely fatty. It actually does in fact taste fatty. It’s great! The caramelized onions are sweet and the bacon is extremely salty and that balsamic vinegar just cuts through it all with the perfect sharpness. Bacon jam really is the perfect condiment for almost any snack: brie and crackers, topping for scrambled eggs, I even spread it on my morning toast. I wish I had discovered bacon jam earlier. They sell jars of bacon jam right on the truck. We also saw jars of bacon jam all throughout Pike Place Market and in a few specialty kitchen shops in Seattle. The co-owner of Skillet food truck mentions in the above video that they didn’t set out to sell bacon jam, they set out to serve burgers. But it’s hard to ignore a cash cow when it’s sitting in your own kitchen, I guess. As Hannah McKay on Dexter would say “Do what you gotta do.”

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

“The Basic” burger also featured that tender and flavourful grass fed painted hills beef patty found in ‘The Burger,” along with other classic burger fixings: American cheese and lettuce. Again, the best ingredient in this burger was the bacon jam. Punching up the flavour of the already well-seasoned beef and the sweetness in the brioche bun, bacon jam is almost a magic ingredient. Bacon’s spot in the limelight of the foodie scene has really shown how versatile of an ingredient it is. Granted, it’s hinging on cliche at this point, the frequency that bacon appears on dessert and cocktail menus, I will still however, eat bacon jam by the spoonful and find new ways to incorporate it in as many foods as possible.

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Although, I loved the soft brioche buns at Skillet food truck, I thought they were too delicate for such jam (no pun intended) packed burgers.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

I can’t wait to visit Skillet food truck again for my next bacon jam fix! I might even trek out of downtown to visit the famous Skillet diner for one of their hearty brunches.