the food

WARNING: this post is long and you may gain weight after reading it…

Checked out the “new” Foodland Farms in Pearl City…during the 3 weeks I tried their salads, the burrito station, mediterranean snack, turkey cranberry sandwich and kalua pig bowl

Uncle’s Ice Cream Sandwich, 1 sandwich is 2 servings!

So good though!

We also checked out the new H Mart which opened in July in Pearl City, the fresh fruit & veggie area was impressive, but they need to invest in a scale! 

Other than that, everything seemed overpriced and their food court was so teeny! meh!

Kamehameha Bakery…glazed croissant, malasada and HUGE apple fritter

Down to Earth…bird bars and carob bar

Used to be able to wrap your own bird bars with a parchment from their showcase, now they are already wrapped

Target…snacks 

Was disappointed with Target as you need a valid driver’s license or state ID to write a check, a passport was not acceptable identification…

Rainbow’s Drive In…chili fries and slush

BFF was disappointed with their BBQ meat, it was thicker and not so tender.

Cookie Corner… BFF introduced me to Brownie Cookies at Cookie Corner, so rich and delicious.

La Tour Cafe…food has sadly gone down hill and everything is a la carte now, oh and they are cashless ONLY!

Royal Kitchen…BFF introduced me to their Dim Sum Box, $10.68 tax included.

baked manapua, pork hash, half moon, rice cake and choice of chow fun or chow mein…so good!

I noticed they have a snack box on their menu, everything I just mentioned without the rice cake, so will try that one next time since I will eat rice cake but it isn’t my fave.

Checked out Kim Chee 7 for the first time (I think), so much food! I got the Mixed Plate Special A, $16.50, at least 3 meals!

Meat jun, mandoo, BBQ beef, BBQ chicken 

Even if it was blazing, I bought all sorts of new (to me) chocolate candies and some favorites too.

Big Island’s Tex Drive In’s malasadas were huge, but sadly seemed under cooked…meh!

KTA Supermerket’s soba salad, so ono!

and their chocolate doughnut, super moist!

Not so ono was their sushi which had a live bug walking around on it…ack!

On a trip to the Volcano, I got to try a gravy burger from Volcano Store.

Apparently this is a local favorite, just a patty and some brown gravy in a bun, so simple but so ono!

In Hilo, we had intended to take out for our meals, but ended up having dinner with Aunty M's classmates at their home…they made delicious Hawaiian food

The next day we had brunch with another classmate of Aunty M’s at Kuhio Grille.

They have a shop in Hilo as well as Kaimuki.

I tried their taro corned beef hash, scrambled egg & probably the best hash browns I’ve had in a long time.

For both of these gatherings I masked when not eating.

Our flight was delayed on the way back to Honolulu, the day before my license renewal!

Talk about stress eating!

We also got together at Aunty M1’s and Aunty M’s for a Sunday and a Saturday dinner.

Aunty M1 made banana cream pie, hadn’t had this in ages!

Aunty M made Italian delight, which I’ve written about here.

Appreciate the Aunties inviting BFF too.

Baker Dudes…macadamia sticky buns, so buttery, yum!

Brug Bakery…moo milk bread, so moist and chocolatey, neko pan filled with strawberry butter cream, monkey pull bread and hokkaido frank…everything was ono! 

Aunty M also shared with me Brug’s cranberry cream cheese bread and coconut bread.

The cranberry cream cheese was too sweet, but I loved the coconut bread.

I also bought some local items to take home from Aloha Sunrise Granola, Big Island Coffee Roasters, NOH Foods (char siu mix), Big Island Candies (they do not accept checks!), Big Island Delights (ate this at Hilo airport & brought back Coconut cookies for BFF) and Maui Nui (venison sticks)

We also received many snacks from Aunty M, Aunty M1, BFF W and Cousin C and enjoyed mango from Aunty V and cherry plums from Aunty M...Thank you!

Over the 3 weeks, I had culture shock from seeing everyone with masks in Japan, to not too many with masks in Hawaii.

Though I loved seeing the really big local men in Hawaii wearing Hello Kitty masks!

And as I wrote in this post, I also had culture shock about using cash and checks...

It was sad to see that there were so many businesses that had closed over the past 3 years too.

Overall, it was a delicious 3 weeks, I didn't get to visit all the usual places, many new places, nor did I get to meet up with friends on this trip, but I’m thankful I was able to do what I travelled to Hawaii for.

I'm also thankful for all the support from family and BFF, especially Aunty M and BFF, W for taking time out to drive me to different places.

If you're interested as to what movies I watched on my flights, "F9", "Sing 2", "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and “Encanto”

Still hopeful the pandemic will be over soon, and then maybe we can all travel without having to PCR or mask.

And am thankful I was able to return to Japan safely, it was stressful worrying about “the test”.

Have also been hearing horror stories of Japanese stuck overseas because they tested positive.

If you'd like to check out other photos from this adventure, click here.