food diary 14: driving to hawaii

april 1 - april 7

First time on the Big Island, and it was a beautiful and relaxing time (still love Oahu though) enjoying the beach with my mom. We stayed at the Mauna Lani and had a wonderful vacation with memorable sights and bites.

4.1 Upon arrival, we were greeted with fresh leis and a lovely arrangement of fruit in our room, overlooking both the ocean and the surrounding mountains. The drive there was scenic, a straightforward route alongside the water with lava rocks adorning both sides of the road. The occasional goat trotting nearby. The 'ōhi'a lehua trees growing amongst the rocks are beautifully resilient. We spent the afternoon taking a walk down to the fish ponds—they even had eels—and around the beach before grabbing dinner from Foodland Farms. We paired some fresh Hawaiian Style Ahi poké and a California roll inspired pint (with cucumbers and imitation crab) with tortilla chips and a bottle of French Blue rosé. Nothing beats fresh poké. We ate in our open-air lobby, and I later went for a dip in the adults-only pool and the hot tub.

4.2 After sunrise yoga right by the ocean, we had some delicious smoothies from the market and lounged by the beach. There was a monk seal sunbathing on the sand, so I waited until she went back into the water to go paddle-boarding. We drank yummy coconut water from a fresh coconut cracked open just for us.

We made our own pizza from the Surf Shack with garden basil, local goat cheese, sweet Maui onion, Hamakua mushrooms, and local Waimea tomato. It was tasty. We also split a smoked BLT with guava barbecue glazed house bacon, lettuce, heirloom tomato, herb aioli, and avocado. I especially enjoyed the guava bbq glaze. I had a dreamy ube colada to sip as I read and tanned on the beach.

We tried HāLani for dinner, and sat outside by the bar, which had a great view of the ocean. It’s a Mediterranean restaurant with an emphasis on seafood and local ingredients. We started with the refreshing watermelon salad with basil, goat feta, and Kalamata olives alongside the marinated ribeye kebab with a flavorful horseradish yogurt dip. They sadly ran out of branzino, so we got the Kona kanpachi with agrumato and charred citrus as well as a side of grilled broccolini in lemon oil. We really enjoyed it. I also loved my dragonfruit marg with a yuzu citrus black lava salt rim.

4.3 Woke up early for sunrise yoga again and took some photos around with GLIB before getting a decadent breakfast at HāLani. My mom got the lemon ricotta pancakes with a seasonal compote that are to die for, and while I snuck a few bites of it, I had a wonderful shakshuka. I drank some POG (passionfruit, orange, and guava) juice on the side. After some more sun and swimming, we played 9 holes of golf on their WikiWiki Course which was a total blast. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading by the water with a can of sparkling lilikoi lychee soda. We got Hawaiian bbq take-out from a nearby L&L and a fresh spicy ahi poké bowl and ate on our balcony, watching the sunset.

4.4 We got even more decadent after yoga, and my mom tried their breakfast buffet while I got an amazing smoked salmon platter with some of the best house pita I’ve ever had. Their buffet had a lot of interesting options from ube pancakes and mochi doughnuts to an omelette station and crudo. We lounged in the sun afterward and then explored alongside the ocean, coming upon a baby shark circling a large turtle. We got a celebratory bottle of Prosecco rosé to celebrate my Columbia graduation and upcoming book and drank some on our terrace with more poké and tortilla chips.

4.5 We decided to check out some local farmer’s markets and drove to Waimea. It was such a beautiful and scenic drive—driving past the ocean up into the mountains. We first went to the town market at Parker School. It was so cute with a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. We discovered Reed avocados—they’re wondrously huge! We also got dark chocolate Macadamia nuts from Ahualoa Family Farms, papayas, mangos, longans, and star apples. I had a great BLT from Mai Bacon and lilikoi juice. Wish I could take home all of the stunning flowers. I could see myself coming here on Saturday mornings with my friends if I lived here. We then went to the Kamuela farmer’s market at the Pukalani Stables. There were so many hens and chicks roaming around. We looked through all of the stalls and the historic exhibits about Hawaiian cowboys.

My mom and I shared an amazing "Purple Pig” sandwich from Red Barn with Kalua pig, lomi tomato relish, smoked gouda, and meunster on a wonderful Punalu'u taro sweet bread with a side of taro chips. I got salmon onigiri from Pine Village, and we split their lilikoi crepe that I wish I could bite into right now. I also had some iced Kona coffee. We drove back to our resort and enjoyed some of our fresh fruit by the beach after I swam a few laps in the lap pool. Longans are pretty fun to eat. They remind me of lychee. The jelly inside a star apple is so hard to explain, but trust me, it’s sweet.

We had dinner at CanoeHouse, which directly faces the ocean, and caught a magnificent sunset. We tried so many dishes, but what struck us the most were the shokupan pull-apart bread with seaweed butter (so amazingly fluffy) and the radish salad with crispy salmon skin, roasted nori, wasabi aioli, and amazu. The oysters with sweet onion tosazu, Hawaiian chili pepper water, and ogo were fresh and delicious. The Kakuku corn “ribs” with soy, togarashi, and white truffle oil and the beef and foie gras gyoza with chili garlic ponzu were both great but we were so stuffed by the time our main dish came out. We tried another Kona kanpachi dish except this time with big island watercress, herbs, and crispy wontons in a Tom Kha both. It was pretty good, but the garlic fried rice with a side vous egg was a little too fried for our taste.

We saved a little room for dessert and shared the coconut panna cotta with strawberries and mango jelly. I had decaf coffee for the first time, since I hadn’t had coffee in a while and planned on going to bed early. I just love the taste

4.6 We played pickleball after yoga which was fun but a bit exhausting out in the sun. It was a bit too windy the entire day for us to play more golf. I got the special Sunday HāLani buffet while my mom got a blackened fish pita. I wasn’t as hungry as I had wanted to be, but but buffet was luxurious—mochi waffles, oysters, poké bowls, various crudos and salads, shrimp toast, fluffy garlic butter Hawaiian rolls, expansive charcuterie, tropical fruits, and prime rib with au jus, alongside the more traditional breakfast options. Their desserts looked amazing, but I just got a chocolate chip cookie for the road. It was perfect.

Spent our final full day on the beach and then bought some souvenirs to bring back home. We watched the palm trees sway in the distance over our surprisingly irresistible pizza I customized at Knead and Bake, a local pizza shop. I got a ricotta base with arugula, fresh jalapeños, fresh mozzarella, sautéed Hamakua mushrooms, and onions. We also shared a mix of fresh Hawaiian salmon and spicy tuna poké to eat with our creamy Reed avocados. I sipped on a Summer Club pogmosa. A wonderful final balcony dinner.

4.7 I slept in and then went out to catch some final waves. I went snorkeling and saw a lot of yellow tang. We got relaxing massages at their spa and then lounged around on our balcony finishing the rest of our avocados and fruit. I had a white chocolate Macadamia nut cookie from their market that hit the spot. We sat in the cute open-air airport in Kona until our flight that night. Brought back to the sprawl.

Thanks for reading! 9 days until GLIB is officially out. Preorders will be shipped immediately.

xoxo,
ashley

p.s. hope you can make one of my readings in San Francisco next week! 5/1 at Et al., 8 p.m. & 5/2 at Golden Sardine at 6 p.m.