Saturday, July 11, 2009

hawaii foodie thursday

Thursday, I met up with my blog friend, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. We've emailed and commented on each other's blogs but never met up face to face.

I had also received an email to meet up from another blog friend, Alan of Ma'ona and asked if he wanted to join us. Luckily, he didn't have any last minute meetings and took some time out of his busy schedule to join us.

It was the first time for all of us to meet each other.

We met up at Blue Hawaii Lifestyle Cafe at Ala Moana Shopping Center to try their acai bowl (US$7.50 +tax). It was my first time trying this and I really liked it---a tart acai "sorbet" topped with granola, fruit and some honey...delicious.

We chatted about blogging and other topics then Alan had to return to work. It was really nice putting a face to his blog and I think we all had a nice time.

After our acai bowls, Deb and I headed upstairs to the Pacific Place Tea Garden. The owner of this shop is actually a friend of my friend, Audrey. She had told me about this place awhile back but I had never had the chance to check them out.

Deb had been here before and highly recommended the tea floats, but since we had just eaten the acai bowl, we settled on iced teas and macaron instead.

Deb had their tangerine ginger tea (US$2.95) with a chocolate macaron (US$1.75) and I tried their passion for hawaii tea (US$2.95) with a matcha macaron (US$1.75).

The macaron was good but could have used more green tea flavor, it actually reminded me more of a pistachio flavor. I loved the tea, there was a lot of passion fruit flavor.

Besides taking time out of her busy schedule to spend time with me, Deb was also kind to give me some of her favorites...chocolates from Sweet Paradise Chocolatier, a chocolate shop in Kailua.

I tried them and each one was perfectly flavored and the chocolate surrounding them perfectly matched too. They were all so good that I couldn't pick a favorite....(I actually ate half of each one and saved the other half for my mom...if you were wondering.)

Along with the chocolates, she also included her favorite tea from Teavana. The tea is a rooibos tea flavored with blueberries and other herbs, can't wait to try it...

And as though she weren't generous enough, she also included two magazines.."delicious." and "edible hawaiian islands".

"delicious." is also a favorite of mine, Satoshi had brought a copy back for me from one of his business trips to Australia in the past and I try to buy a copy whenever I'm in Hawaii.

The "edible" magazine was something new to me. This magazine promotes local food and apparently there are many other cities that have publications so check out their website to see if your city has one.

I had a great time meeting Alan and Deb. (Thanks for a great day you two! and thanks for all those great foodie items Deb!)

Pacific Place Tea Garden (UPDATE: 2014, this shop is no longer here)
Top Floor
Ala Moana Shopping Center, concourse near Neiman Marcus
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.944.2004

Sweet Paradise Chocolatier
20-A Kainehe Street
Kailua, Hawaii
Phone: 808.230.8228

13 comments:

2kamuela47 said...

Cool stuff! I love Pacific Tea too! It's been awhile since I've been there I think I need to venture to Ala Moana soon!

Deb said...

Fabulous, Kat! It always warms my heart when bloggers meet:)

Ahh, Ala Moana . . .is Shirokiya still there? How I LOVED going to the one on Maui, gazing at all the bento selections. So sad when it closed:( First thing we did when we went Oahu was get our shoyu chicken fix there!

K and S said...

I hope you get a chance to go to AMSC soon Laura :)

Take care.
Kat

K and S said...

Deb, maybe we could meet up one day too :) shirokiya is still there, glad you were able to get your shoyu chicken fix!

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

Such a sweet write-up! i had a great time and enjoyed meeting you finally! I am so glad you like the chocolates--I am partial to the Hawaiian Sea Salt one, it pleases my salt/sweet cravings. (Although the passion fruit hearts are nice too!). Oh, heck, I pretty much just like them all too! ;-)

I can't remember if I mentioned that the tea is one of my very favorites when iced--it is perfect in the summer that way. (If you have them, toss in some frozen blueberries--yum!)

Deb said...

Oh YES! You know there is a little local girl gathering being planned for Paris next Fall. . . .just saying.

K and S said...

Debinhawaii, thanks again for those generous goodies. ooh with frozen blueberries sounds so good, perfect for those awful summer days in Japan.

will have to convince Satoshi that we HAVE to go to Paris next fall, Deb ;)

Take care you two.
Kat

KirkK said...

Nice post Kat! I've found that when I meet other food bloggers they are the nicest folks.....

K and S said...

me too KirkK, me too. We should meet up when I get a chance to go to San Diego :)

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

How fun to meet up with blogging friends!

Paz

P.S. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I like your newest banner a lot. I do. ;-)

K and S said...

Thanks Paz :) I tend to change it every so often!

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

So great that you got to meet up. Would love to have lunch with Nate, especially with his appetite for good food!

K and S said...

yeah I think you two would have a blast, Rowena :)

Take care.
Kat