Tropical Dreams Ice Cream. $3.50
Waimea Coffee Company, Waimea HI
Mmm, this ice cream had a wonderful dense and milky texture with great vanilla bean flavor. SO good!
Driving the Mamalahoa Highway.
Catch of the day served over linguine with asparagus and a light cream sauce.
Sansei Seafood Restaurant, Waikoloa HI
Absolut Ruby Red vodka with a splash of soda.
Makalawena Beach, Kekaha Kai State Park.
The three items I chose were homemade hamburger patties, roast pork, and spam. Served on a bed of rice tropped with two eggs over medium and homemade brown gravy. $11.25
Big Island Grill, Kailua-Kona HI
Dear lord! This plate was a monster. I honestly didn’t expect it to be this large when I ordered it, partly because it was only $11.25. But I was amazed and a little queasy when I saw it, lol. It tasted amesome though and I loved the brown gravy! Thank goodness we went on a hike that day.
This is how it arrived to the table, just covered in delicious gravy. Lol!
And this is how it left the table. I tried my best but I couldn’t succeed in eating it all. 🙂
Big Island Grill sign.
Panang curry with beef. Rich, strong, zesty with a touch of coconut milk, peppers, peas, carrots, zucchini, basil leaves and kaffir lime leaves. $13
Original Thai Cuisine, Kailua-Kona HI
This had a lot of great flavor and you can choose the spiciness level. Of course I asked for “Thai hot”! The beef was a little tough and chewy though.
Public telephones with orchid decorations, KOA Airport.
Topped with homemade bbq sauce, served with coleslaw and baked beans.
Big Jake’s Island BBQ, Captain Cook HI
This was ok. I wish they would have at least toasted the bun. Since they didn’t, it got soggy pretty quickly from the bland(ish) bbq sauce. Hmm…
Black sea snails, Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park.
Eggs over medium, ham, and cheese on corn tortillas topped with salsa. $7.85
Rebel Kitchen, Kealakekua HI
Mmm, everything I like served as a breakfast taco! This was delicious and I love the slightly runny eggs!
Table setting. I know it’s a plastic leaf, but it still looks kinda nice, hehe.
Saint Benedict Roman Catholic Church (The Painted Church), Captain Cook.
Garlic demi glace and hamakua shiitake mushrooms, roasted new potatoes, arugula salad dressed with Japanese umeboshi vinaigrette. $28.50
Sansei Seafood Restaurant, Waikoloa HI
Mmm, this was very tasty. I loved the tender steak and all the components were pretty and delicious. I just wished the potatoes could have been crispier and not SO greasy.
Developing noni infructescence (Morinda citrifolia, Rubiaceae), Lololu Valley.
Kona kampachi slices, miso glaze, macnut, scallions, and ogo (seaweed). $12.95
Don the Beachcomber, Kailua-Kona HI
This wasn’t my favorite dish. The miso glaze was really a thick miso sauce and there was A LOT of it. When it was combined with the seaweed, the resulting texture and flavor wasn’t appetizing. It was a salty, briney mess! I ordered this dish because I’d never had kampachi before, but it was nearly impossible to taste it because of all the crap on top. Too bad, perhaps next time…
Kailua Bay.
Thai spicy lemon grass soup with shrimp, mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, Chinese parsley and Thai herbs. Cup $6.50
Original Thai Cuisine, Kailua-Kona HI
We decided to switch it up with food and find out how Hawaiians do Thai! We had mixed reviews. The soups were really good and flavorful. $6.50 is normally a lot for a cup of soup, but they’re actually the size of bowls. We didn’t know this place was BYOB otherwise we would have brought a case, lol!
Mokuaikaua Church, Ali’i Drive.
Served with rice, coleslaw, and baked beans. $18.95
Big Jake’s Island BBQ, Captain Cook HI
This was pretty good. The ribs were tender and juicy, but I wish the bbq sauce had more flavor and punch. It tasted kinda flat. The plate was quite substantial though which I needed after our kayaking adventure. You’ll notice that the pic is kinda foggy – that’s because my iPhone fell into Kealakekus Bay (see story below)!
We spent a wonderful morning kayaking to Captain Cook’s Monument, watching spinner dolphins frolicking near us, and snorkeling around the State Park. On our way back to the pier, we noticed that a rather larger couple had capsized their kayak in the middle of the Bay and were having difficulty getting back in. After some time, the woman was able pull herself back into the kayak only to immediately fall back out. So we paddled to them and noticed they were clearly exhausted from multiple attempts to reboard their vessel. They had lost all their snorkeling gear and were just trying to stay afloat at that point. So we decide to rescue them. David, who was in the rear of our two-seat kayak, grabbed hold of their kayak with the couple in tow, leaving myslef with the only free arms to single-handedly paddle four people and two kayaks back to the pier! Needless to say, this took a LONG time and great amount of effort.
When we finally reached the pier, the couple was helped up by some of the guys working the kayak rentals and I pulled myself back onto the pier. As I did so, my iPhone that I had wedge into my life jacket for easy access to take photos and video of the dolphins, broke loose and dropped straight down into the Bay! Argh! I immediately dove down after it and finally located it at the bottom after multiple attempts. My poor baby! It still turned on, the lens was wet (hence the foggy pics), but I was worried that the damage would slowly reveal itself. When we got back to the hotel, I put my iPhone in a bag of rice that we picked up at Costco and forced myself not to turn it on for an ENTIRE night (this was really hard for me, lol)! The good news is that the iPhone still works and I still have it today. The camera lens eventually dried out. The bad news is that the WiFi connectivity got fried, but thank god I have unlimited data. Lesson learned: No good deed goes unpunished!
Eggs, potato, onion, cheese. Served with wheat toast. $7.85
Rebel Kitchen, Kealakekua HI
This was a random restaurant that we stopped at on our way to kayak in Kealakekua Bay. I’m glad we did because the service was fabulous and the food was simple and delicous. My scramble had SO much flavor! And paired with Kona coffee, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the morning.
100% Kona coffee. $2.50
Captain Cook Monument, Kealakekua Bay. We had a great time kayaking to this thing and the snorkeling in front was amazing!
Lightly seared and served with caramelized sweet onions and ripe mango and rich unagi glaze drizzle. $18.95
Sansei Seafood Restaurant, Waikoloa HI
Omg, I may go to hell for eating this but since California has banned foie gras, I needed a quick foie fix! When I saw it on the Sansei menu, I had to order it – so sue me! Lol. And it was delicious!!! I’ve never had foie gras as nigiri before, but it worked. All the extra components were also tasty.
Chopsticks.
Pololu Valley.
Vittle Monster 