FrogPrincesse in the Big Island 2024

[FrogPrincesse]

Hi everyone,

 

I just came back from a trip to the Big Island. It was not my first time there, far from it, but this time I made sure to document everything food-related so I would eventually share here. So here we go. Aloha! 🌺

 

The night before leaving, I made classic Trader Vic Mai Tais to put us in the mood. I used homemade orgeat of course, Denizen rum (which is a mix of Martinique and Jamaican, especially designed for Mai Tais), and Clement creole shrubb for the orange liqueur component. Perfection! 

 

Then I finished packing my carry-on for the week-long trip. We did check one bag for bulky snorkeling equipment and my trusted kitchen knife (a must-have when staying at a rental, actually bought at a kitchen supply store during one of my first trips to the Big Island, many years ago).

 

 

[FauxPas]

3 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

Clement creole shrubb for the orange liqueur component

 

I wasn't familiar with this, had to look it up. Your cocktails really do sound like perfectioni! 

 

The first Hawaiian island I visited was the Big Island. My husband took me there for my birthday one year not long after we were first together and we returned about a year later. Some good memories! But haven't been back since as we acquired a very decent timeshare on Kauai and so spent most of our time there (a leasehold which expired a few years ago). 

 

Looking forward to a vicarious return to the Big Island!  🙂

 

Thanks for bringing us along.  

 

 

 

 

[KennethT]

I'm excited for this.  I visited the Big Island many years ago as a kid back in the 80s when Hawaii was in the process of being purchased by Japan.  If it's not too much of a bother, I'd love to see some non-food related photos too.  It seems to be fine as long as at least 50% of the content is food related.

Edited April 27 by KennethT (log)

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

This should bring back some memories. I was there in the mid 2000s and really enjoyed it.

Great snorkeling and hiking and had a great stay for a few days at the Manago Hotel in Captain Cook.

Looking forward to the photos.

 

[Shelby]

I've never been to Hawaii.  Looking forward to this!

[FrogPrincesse]

On 4/27/2024 at 6:50 AM, KennethT said:

 If it's not too much of a bother, I'd love to see some non-food related photos too.  

Sure, I will see what I can do (although the vast majority of the pictures I took are food related!).

[FrogPrincesse]

We arrived late on a Tuesday night at the Kona airport, which is on the west side (the dry side) of the island. The place we were staying at was in the north, near Honakaa (which is east of Waimea), so we had a bit of a drive to get there (especially when someone inadvertently left their suitcase behind at the car rental place, and we had to turn around to get it 😫). When we were finally able to have dinner, it was already dark and we picked one of the only places that was still open, Big island Brewhaus. This is a very casual small-ish place in Waimea (also known as Kamuela to avoid the confusion with the Waimeas on the other islands). They brew their own beers on the premises and won a ton of awards, which are proudly displayed on the walls. The brewery has been around since 2011 and was founded by the opening brewer of Maui Brewing (which I didn't know at the time, but makes perfect sense because they have at least one beer that is strikingly similar... the discussion about non compete clauses comes to mind! But I digress.). 

 

I had tried their beers during  previous trips to the Big Island (they are sold in the local supermarkets), but it was my first time going to the brewery and eating there. We got some beers of course. I forgot to take pictures of the menu, so I added the descriptions from the website in italics, together with my tasting notes.

 

 

PANIOLO PALE ALE

PALE ALE | 5.7% abv | 40 IBU | Draft & Cans
Our Hawaiian cowboy’s favorite. Refreshing and bold. American Cascade, Cashmere and Citra hops bring tropical fruit and wildflower flavors. A touch of Munich & crystal malt add depth. Quenchworthy.

 

My tasting notes: resin, hay, lemon, malty, metallic, gravel, musty, tropical. I gave it 3.5 / 5

 

RED GIANT IPA

RED IPA | 6.8% abv | 53 IBU| Draft & Cans
Our sun will be a red giant in 5 billion years, this hoppy red ale is a Red Giant now. Brewed with a rich blend of light and dark caramel malts and a full dose of American hops, it finishes with dry hop and toffee flavors. Gold Medal 2014 and 2020 U.S. Open Beer Championships

 

My tasting notes: very hoppy, resin, bitter caramel, sap, resinous, malty. 3.25/5

 

IRIE IRISH STOUT

IRISH STOUT | 5.2% abv | 22 IBU | Draft Only
Named for Jamaica’s all’s good feeling and Ireland’s favorite beer style, it’s a subtly rich, black ale with a light body and coffee-chocolate-like flavors; finishes creamy-dry. Served through a nitrogen faucet that creates a thick, long-lasting head.

 

My tasting notes: creamy, tea, roasted flavors, ash, burnt cocoa, coffee. 3.75/5

 

I had a poke bowl for my dinner. It was not fancy by any means (and oversauced), but the ahi tuna (hiding under the furikake / seaweed) was wonderful. That's one thing about Hawaii, the local fish is always amazing. 

 

DA KINE LOADED POKE BOWL 

Haus-made poke with finely ground macnuts over white rice, with avocado, edamame, wakame, furikake, tomato, cucumber, carrots, wasabi aioli, sriracha aioli, and unagi sauce

 

My favorite thing about the meal, other than the fish and the beers, was the friendly vibe of the place which was packed full of locals. There was a group of beer enthusiasts at the bar (including possibly one of the owners?) that was having a great time, and it was relaxed and unpretentious. 

Edited May 13 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[C. sapidus]

1 hour ago, FrogPrincesse said:

That's one thing about Hawaii, the local fish is always amazing.

 

^ That is one of my strongest memories of our visit many years ago. That, and bodysurfing glass-clear waves at Little Beach on Maui. 😃

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

26 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

 

^ That is one of my strongest memories of our visit many years ago. That, and bodysurfing glass-clear waves at Little Beach on Maui. 😃

 

Agreed. A good memory is after flying into Kona and spending the night camping at a local beach (we spent most of the trip camped at state parks and cooked our own food) we went to get supplies at the Costco in Kona before driving across to Volcanoes National Park. We got the supplies we needed however the plan to pick up a couple of Costco rotisserie chickens quickly bit the dust when we saw the seafood on offer (from the fishing docks about 1.5 km. away). Left with some super fresh tuna, mahimahi, seaweed salad and an extra cooler and enough ice to last 2-3 days.

One other place was a small grocery/market in Pahoa in the SE corner of the island. Again super fresh tuna and my first taste of what I remember as strawberry papayas and apple bananas.

 

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

A touch of Munich & crystal malt add depth

 

For some reason, I read that as 'crystal meth' and thought that would definitely add something! I am looking forward to your trip!

 

[TicTac]

Thanks for taking us along.  Agreed, the fruit and seafood in Hawaii was top notch.  I still recall the unreal (though pricey!) Hayden mangos.  It's been 15 years since we were last in Hawaii and we stuck to Kauai (what I call paradise on earth) because I have an aversion to too many people / concrete!

[FrogPrincesse]

On 4/29/2024 at 4:19 PM, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

 

Agreed. A good memory is after flying into Kona and spending the night camping at a local beach (we spent most of the trip camped at state parks and cooked our own food) we went to get supplies at the Costco in Kona before driving across to Volcanoes National Park. We got the supplies we needed however the plan to pick up a couple of Costco rotisserie chickens quickly bit the dust when we saw the seafood on offer (from the fishing docks about 1.5 km. away). Left with some super fresh tuna, mahimahi, seaweed salad and an extra cooler and enough ice to last 2-3 days.

One other place was a small grocery/market in Pahoa in the SE corner of the island. Again super fresh tuna and my first taste of what I remember as strawberry papayas and apple bananas.

 

A lot of tourists from the mainland make the mistake of going to Costco in Kona as soon as they arrive, and stock up on whatever is available there (familiar things, and the few local items they have). I avoid that place like the plague and shop at the small local shops and markets. There is an abundance of produce etc on the island, and it would be a shame to not take advantage. Also I prefer supporting the small businesses and local economy directly. 

 

About the small grocery store in Pahoa, it may make an appearance here at some point.

 

 

[rotuts]

@FrogPrincesse

 

it would be wonderful to see small local grocery // markets 

 

on your thread.  

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

1 hour ago, FrogPrincesse said:

A lot of tourists from the mainland make the mistake of going to Costco in Kona as soon as they arrive, and stock up on whatever is available there (familiar things, and the few local items they have). I avoid that place like the plague and shop at the small local shops and markets. There is an abundance of produce etc on the island, and it would be a shame to not take advantage. Also I prefer supporting the small businesses and local economy directly. 

 

About the small grocery store in Pahoa, it may make an appearance here at some point.

 

 

 

I have to agree with you however this was our first time there and we were planning on spending the first 3-4 days at Volcanoes N.P. 

Once we got the lay of the land small markets became the norm.

Which brings up going in to one of those places and seeing an array of poke available which became one of our favorite quick lunches.

 

 

[liamsaunt]

I am very interested in following along!  Hawaii is on our short list of potential places to visit, but the long flight has been a deterrent for me so far.  Maybe your report will change my mind 🙂

[gfweb]

21 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

I am very interested in following along!  Hawaii is on our short list of potential places to visit, but the long flight has been a deterrent for me so far.  Maybe your report will change my mind 🙂

That's the thing.

I've been to HI about 40 times for business. Its a long day getting there and the airlines fly some decrepit planes on that route. You seem to fly in First. The front of  the plane to HI is nothing special and not cheap.

Paris is closer by half a day.

 

[lindag]

DH and I were frequent visitors to HI; some on business and many for for just us and a couple of dear friends.  We had a place on Maui where we stayed for vacations and some wonderful hotels other times. We visited the Big Island, Oahu and Kuai.  We were living in Portland at the time and there came a direct flight during the last few years we were there.  Prior to that there was a bit of a layover at AFO.

The ultimate place is Wailea in south Maui...the most beautiful place I've ever been.  Fabulous beaches and luxury hotels abound along with great bars and restaurants.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

41 minutes ago, gfweb said:

That's the thing.

I've been to HI about 40 times for business. Its a long day getting there and the airlines fly some decrepit planes on that route. You seem to fly in First. The front of  the plane to HI is nothing special and not cheap.

Paris is closer by half a day.

 

Yeah, from the east coast, it’s a long haul and more time zones to adjust to. Much easier from the west coast. And even though domestic First isn’t much, upgrades used to be easy to score and I always appreciated the extra space and warm nuts ( <—-food related 🙃)

For those with more money to burn, United's Polaris pods are available on the 11 hour run from Newark to Maui.

[gfweb]

Theres also a single decent flight dfw to ogg on american. 

[ElsieD]

I've only been to Hawaii once but one thing about the flight I'll always remember (direct from Toronto to Honolulu) was flying over Los Angeles.  When that was announced I realized to my dismay that we weren't half way there yet.  If I recall correctly, it was a 13 hour flight.  (Loved Maui, Honolulu not as much.)  Looking forward to reading about your trip @FrogPrincesse.

[FrogPrincesse]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I've only been to Hawaii once but one thing about the flight I'll always remember (direct from Toronto to Honolulu) was flying over Los Angeles.  When that was announced I realized to my dismay that we weren't half way there yet.  If I recall correctly, it was a 13 hour flight.  (Loved Maui, Honolulu not as much.)  Looking forward to reading about your trip @FrogPrincesse.

I am lucky that I live in San Diego so Hawaii is only a 6-hour (direct) flight away!

[FrogPrincesse]

Day 2 (Wednesday)

The day started with a leisurely morning as we were tired and needed the extra sleep. The house we were staying at is on a ranch near Honakaa, surrounded by pastures. We got a friendly visit by a mamma wild pig and her babies, and my daughter managed to capture this video. She couldn't get too close as she is very protective of her babies and will charge anybody who may be a threat. On another day, a curious mongoose came to observe us from outside a window but she left before I could take a snap.

 

 

At some point I mustered the energy to investigate the kitchen equipment – it wasn’t that complicated, but there is always a learning curve. I made coffee and thankfully the owner had made us cashew milk using his fancy Chefwave nut milk maker, so I didn’t have to figure that out while still half asleep. Nice machine by the way.

 

 

 

 

We finally go out of the house in the afternoon, and drove about 30 minutes west to the Waipi’o valley lookout to enjoy the views. It was fairly cloudy, but the good thing with the weather in Hawaii is that it never stays cloudy for very long.

The valley down below has been closed to non-residents for quite some time now due to the land erosion and unstable road conditions in that area. I hope to visit it some day.

 

 

 

Next we headed to the Honoka’a Country Market. It is a small store right outside of town which is packed full of local products, anything from bread (we grabbed a loaf of the turmeric bread fruit sourdough from Sundog bakery), chocolate from Honokaa chocolate company (we got a couple of bars), alcohol, and meat. The meat was very reasonably priced (about $15/lb) and looked great, so we got a few ribeye steaks for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to eat there and had a simple lunch of trip tip sandwiches for some, homemade quiche for others, while a friendly goat was observing us. We liked the little library they had there, so we had reading material while we were enjoying our lunch.

 

 

 

Our next stop was Rebecca’s Farm Fresh market which is one of our favorite shops. This is really the place from produce, as everything is freshly picked and comes from the local farms. She also sells eggs and meats but we didn’t find out until later as it is in a fridge that is tucked in the back of the store. She also makes various little pastries, coconut rice steamed in banana leaves, etc. I find that place incredibly inspiring because I love cooking with seasonal produce and everything they have is top notch. We made a point to come almost every day to get more vegetables and fresh fruit. 😊

 

 

 

Lastly, we headed to Malama Market which is a supermarket. We got breakfast items and poke. This is a smaller supermarket so they sell poke that is prepackaged (larger supermarkets have giant poke counters). They have different varieties. We tried the octopus on a previous trip and weren’t fans (too chewy), so now I just stick with the ahi. This time I got the limu which is a type of seaweed.

 

 

We said hello to a friendly kitty before heading back to the house.

 

 

So for dinner that night, we started with snacks – limu poke with very tasty sesame garlic crackers from ‘Ulu & Kalo bakery, and a Big Wave golden ale from Kona Brewing (tasting notes: malty, lemon hay – 3.25/5).

 

 

 

Then I turned my attention to the steaks. I used a coffee rub from Aloha Spice Company and cooked the steaks on a stove in a cast iron pan. I had forgotten to buy butter so I made do with the vegan “milkadamia” buttery spread that was in the fridge as a finishing touch (delicious stuff by the way). For the veggies, we had local bok choy (delish) with scallions, soy + a touch of local sauerkraut as my source of ginger/garlic and for an extra punch of flavor. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[rotuts]

@FrogPrincesse

 

thank you for putting 

 

so much effort into your above post 

 

appreciated  by so many members 

 

esp.me 

 

cheers

Edited May 3 by rotuts (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Just now, rotuts said:

@FrogPrincesse

 

thank you for putting 

 

so much effort into your above pot 

 

appreciated  by so many members 

 

esp.me 

 

cheers

My pleasure!

[FrogPrincesse]

Day 3 (Thursday)

 

We started the day with a nourishing breakfast of (island) eggs & bacon, supplemented by POG (which tends to be very sweet; we liked Sun Tropics a little better than the classic Meadow Gold, although they are very similar) and toast with lilikoi (passion fruit) butter from Liko Lehua (which is located in Hilo). We also had fresh papaya and apple bananas which are more aromatic and creamy than the (Cavendish) bananas we get on the mainland.

 

 

We decided to go see ‘Akaka Falls that day, which are located north of Hilo and an hour drive from where we were staying at. I didn’t take pictures of the falls but they are spectacular, 300+ foot falls. The trails around the falls are very lush and beautiful, although they were partially closed for renovations during our visit. One of the native fish (o’opu, a type of goby) is apparently able to climb up these very steep and tall falls by using a little  suction cup on their bellies, which is quite a feat!

 

 

After our visit, we drove back to the charming little village of Honomu. On our way, we passed a goat farm, Honomu Goat Dairy, which was unfortunately closed that day. In Honomu, we spent some time with a very friendly blind cat who needed a lot of attention, in a store that had a beautiful selection of vintage glass objects, and finally at Mr Ed’s Bakery which I had never had a chance to visit before, although it’s been in business since 2000. I wasn’t so much interested in the breads; it was the collection of homemade jam that wowed me. As a home jam maker myself, I couldn’t help but marvel at the huge selection of jams (over 150 varieties) made in small batches using the local fruit (you can read more about it here – essentially, he uses whatever fruit his neighbors bring him and isn’t afraid to experiment!). We were handed lots of samples and left with a few jars: the poha berry mentioned in the article, longan for my daughter, and mango lilikoi for my husband. I would have bought more if I didn’t already have a pantry full of jams at home! The creativity of this was inspiring (this is only part of the collection!). 😊

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by FrogPrincesse (log)