It seems cold and uncaring for me to muse about food when Laura could be in dire need of my help. I seriously thought about scrapping the blog until I could get some news on Laura's whereabouts, but if Laura were here right now, she'd tell me to get my act together and do what I do. She's that kind of strong person who would commend me for keeping up with my life - like this blog - and admonish me if I were to slip when she gets back in touch with me...
So with that... back to regular programming...
It just occurred to me that I'd forgotten to put in the prices for our Cheap Eats breakfast...
$1.25 per manapua ($2.50 day total) and the $3.50 hot dog ($6 day total) left me with $34 to spend on lunch.
We decided to stop at a local brewery for lunch this time around, since the first day was completely dry (aside from the free beers - those don't count since they were free...).
We headed over to the Brew Moon Brewery for a daytime treat. It's always a treat to have a beer at lunch! Brew Moon Brewery is located on the second floor of in a shopping center with a gorgeous-looking patio. Gorgeous-looking, I say, because I didn't get to check it out. Although I really wanted to sit outside, I was vetoed by my traveling companions and stuffed inside on a gorgeous summer afternoon. Oh well.
The menu at Brew Moon consists of sandwiches, pizzas, and several bigger 'entrees' with a Hawaii-twist. They emphasize 'Fresh Island' ingredients and offer sandwiches like the Kalua Pig sandwich.
No, this is not a pulled pork Southern BBQ sandwich. This is a Kalua Pig sandwich.
Although the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear 'ka-lu-a' is that thick, sweet, rich, blah liqueur, but that drink is of course spelled differently. Turns out kalua is 'ka lua' in Hawaiian and translates to 'the pit'. Traditional kalua pork is made by roasting a whole pig in an earthen oven-style hole in the ground. Sounds familiar? Yes, many Southern BBQ pits are holes in the ground too. Interesting, huh?
The flavor of this kalua pig is nothing like the Southern BBQ. My Kalua Pig tasted sweet with some kind of herb-y, aromatic afternote that reminded me of Taiwanese food. The texture and consistency were similar, but this pork had unmistakably Asian influences. The sweetness was entirely different without a trace of vinegar, which is a main component for Southern BBQ sauces I like best. My only compliant was that the buns were too soggy and this sandwich quickly deteriorated into a knife-and-fork affair.
With a glass of beer ($4) and the sandwich ($9.50), that brings our day total to $19.50.
Since my travel companions are such avid fans of Waiola Shaved Ice, we landed there again. This time, I'm featuring the Papa Bear's favorite: the Azuki Bowl with Mochi.
The Azuki bowl consists of a mountain of shaved ice topped with enough azuki (sweet red beans) to be 'good for your heart' and more as the rhyme implies. The Mochi is what we call Shiratama (white balls) in Japan, but I suppose white balls doesn't sound so appetizing for English speaking folks... This bowl (3.50) is almost a meal in itself with enough carbohydrates and protein but barely making a dent on our budget ($23 Day Total).
After a full day of eatin' like this, what would you be able to eat for dinner?
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