Thoughtful Eating: Luscious Fruit

Showing posts with label Luscious Fruit. Show all posts

Buddha's Hand

I saw these Buddha's Hand fruit at Whole Foods today. I had never seen them before. I looked them up and they are an Asian type of lemon and they are also referred to as fingered citron. Buddha's Hand fruit is more edible than a traditional lemon and the pith isn't as sour. Apparently you can slice up the fingers and sautee them or use them in salad.

Have you ever cooked with a Buddha's Hand?

Honeymoon Eats - Culinary Adventures in Oahu, Hawaii - Part 2

I'm not going to lie. My favorite place in Hawaii was this pool at Turtle Bay Resort in the North Shore of Oahu. It's such a fun pool. It was always warm, there was a fun waterfall and slide, it was never too crowded and it was just terrific! We spent a lot of time here and I wish we could have spent even more.

Turtle Bay has one large swimming pool, one smaller one with waterfall and slide, one kiddy pool and a couple of jacuzzis. So if you love to swim like I do, you had lots of options.

We ate a few times at Hang Ten which was an outdoor bar by the Turtle Bay Resort pools.

Our favorite drinks were their Lava Flows which had Pina Colada Mix, Rum and Strawberry Puree. We also ate their Nachos plates a couple times which were okay and made for a quick lunch after a morning of swimming. Mynah Birds were notorious for stealing food so if you ever eat at the Hang Ten bar make sure you never leave your food unattended!

We found ourselves at nearby Haleiwa, Oahu on various occasions looking for non-Resort eateries. Thanks to Foursquare, we found Luibueno's Restaurant & Bar. It's a Latin restaurant but serves a lot of local fish too.

I had their special which was pricey but worth it. Pan-Seared Fish, Orange Caper Burre Blanc, Sauteed Vegetables, Manchego Cheese and Rice. So delicious! They gave you a choice of three local fishes and I opted for the Opa.

It was as delicious as it looks. A work of art. If it wasn't so pricey (I believe it was over $30 a plate), I would have gone back for more.

Carlos had a burrito and some Mexican beer. Here is taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. Very meta!

One of our tourist stops was at the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa, Oahu. This is where they grow their delicious Pineapples. It was great driving by this place on our way to Honolulu and smelling the pineapples as they ripped under the sun.

We had a coupon for the Pineapple Express at the Dole Plantation so we decided to try it. That's a really good tip if you go to Hawaii. Get as many coupons as you can. Search for them in your Visit Hawaii brochure or ask your hotel concierge. You'll save a lot of money that way.

The train was fun but the music and pre-recorded narration they had for the trip was just plain annoying. I would have preferred to have the train conductor talk to us over the mike.

We saw all sorts of pineapple plants as well as banana, coconut, coffee, sugar cane, ginger, tea, etc. We learned that the soil is very red from volcanic lava and that they use black plastic mulch to retain moisture.

The Dole Plantation had Garden Tours and a Giant Maze but we just stuck to the Pineapple Express.

Carlos is Angry Hula Dancing Pineapple.

If you visit the Dole Plantation, you must have the Dole Whip! It's pineapple flavored soft-served ice cream that you can order plain or topped with crushed pineapple. It was so good. But boy was the line to order one long! Dole Plantation also has a huge gift shop with loads of tchotchkes, souvenirs and treats. Do not be hypnotized by the gift shop! I bought a box of Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts there for $11 which I could have gotten at the local Foodland for $3.99. Go there strictly for the Plantation fun and the Dole Whip and nothing else.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of my Honeymoon Eats series!

Honeymoon Eats - Culinary Adventures in Oahu, Hawaii - Part 1

We had loads of fun on our honeymoon trip to Oahu, Hawaii. For some reason, both of get really ravenous when we travel so we were hungry all the time! Which means we at tons of great food on our trip. However, Hawaii in general was very expensive so eventually we had to start cutting back on our culinary adventures (including several trips to a local Subway sandwich shop just to save money). We did enjoy several restaurants around the island and I'd like to share them with you!

Carlos and I stayed at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The resort has various restaurants including a breakfast placed called the Palm Terrace. This place was a bit overpriced so we only dined here a few times during our 10 night stay. They had continental and hot breakfast buffet options as well as a regular menu. They always had amazing fresh fruit especially their local pineapple and papaya!

See I told you we were hungry!

At first we ordered from the breakfast menu, like this plate above with sausage, eggs, hash brown and fruit. But then we tried the buffets until our wallets hated us. Eventually we stuck with store-bought oatmeal cooked up with hot water or just ate breakfast at the Lobby Lounge. There are not a lot of restaurant options near the hotel, so unless you travel you are stuck with the hotel options.

One morning I had the Belgian waffles with fresh fruit. It came with coconut syrup (not pictured) which was so incredibly amazing. If you are in Hawaii, have the coconut syrup. It's leagues better than maple syrup! We asked for it every time we went.

Believe it or not, Foursquare became an invaluable tool during our trip in Hawaii. I would use it to check out what restaurants and eateries were nearby and I would also read customer tips. A lot of people recommend Matsumoto in Haleiwa, Oahu which is a gift shop famous for serving Shave Ice. It was a reasonably priced and tasty treat. Shave Ice is very popular in Hawaii and Matsumoto has been in the business since the 1950s and is generally considered to be the best on the island.

They have all kinds of tropical fruit flavors and you can get multiple flavors too. You can order your shave ice with ice cream on the bottom or sweetened condensed milk and/or sweet beans on the top. We went simple and Pineapple-Coconut-Lemon with no ice cream or toppings.

It was delicious. They make their famous syrups in-house. The syrup was great but I would have liked less of it on there so I could enjoy the ice. Also, when you get the ice cream on the bottom, the ratio of ice-syrup is even more skewed as there is less ice to put the syrup on. I didn't like that at all. Next time, I would ask for much less syrup. I would still recommend this place. It always has a line out the door!

At Turtle Bay Resort, we stopped by Lei Lei's Bar and Grill which is a restaurant and bar situated next to the Arnold Palmer Golf Course. It was wonderful to eat dinner outside and look out onto the golf course and hills.

I drank quite a few Mai Tai's while in Hawaii and I have to say Lei Lei's Bar and Grill was the best. It had great flavor and it packed a punch with it's three different rums. It was always topped with a fresh pineapple slice and a cherry.

We started off our first dinner at Lei Lei's with Crab and Artichoke dip. It was nice and hot and the bread was good. However, it was a little too filling to be a starter.

Remember I said that this was our first dinner at Lei Lei's. That's because we went there 3 times for dinner. And each time we went it was for these. Their Baby Back Ribs. OH MY GOODNESS! This was the absolute best meal we ate in Hawaii. Nothing else came even close to it. Above you see a full rack of Baby Back Ribs with rice and cole slaw. The next two times we visited we both got Half Racks that came with the most buttery delicious Mashed Potatoes and the most light and refreshing cole slaw I have ever tasted. Wow! I would go back to Hawaii just for this plate (and the weather too!).

My seafood salad, with Mahi Mahi and Shrimp, paled in comparison. I had to help Carlos finish his full rack of Baby Back ribs!

Uh oh. Carlos is full. Perhaps it's nap time now.

We finished our first Lei Lei's dinner with a Macadamia Nut Pie which was pretty much the Macadamia equivalent of a Pecan Pie. It was quite delicious!

If you are in Hawaii, go to Lei Lei's and get the Baby Back Ribs. They are slow cooked for 6 hours and are so tender they fall off the bone. The sauce they used was the perfect blend of sweet and tangy and it just went so well with the sides.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Honeymoon Eats series.