Rest and Relax: Kauai

I guess I created my own quilt getaway by persuading a friend to let me crash at her VRBO condo in Koloa, Kauai.                  

And the views of course on the garden island are spectacular. I especially love trying to live like the locals. With restaurants only slowly reopening after a pandemic and at a reduced capacity, and because I love cooking anyway I’ve been making breakfast and supper for me and the roommate. I also have been trying to support the local economy by bringing back souvenirs like chocolates, rum, and coffee.                         

Most frequent travelers to Hawaii (aka the Asians I know) go to Costco to pick up food to cook from their vacation condos, but since I was only to be in Kauai for a few days, smaller grocery stores were fine plus a chance for me to consciously buy local. Last night I wanted to grill—my favorite cooking method. I shopped at the grocery store, Big Save Market the first night I came here where I bought wasabi ahi AND spicy ahi poke, a bag of jasmine rice, a tomato and a bunch of green onions, a dozen eggs, and a couple of Portuguese sausages. A couple days later at Foodland, I bought Hawaiian bread and chicken drumsticks. And the next day at Safeway, I bought lettuce and the local rum as well as lots of poke.

My friend Julie told me she doesn't like zucchini which she said she had to eat as a kid. I think my method of grilling it changed her mind about the vegetable. And I had been longing for salads after so much rice for breakfast.

I almost forgot to serve the jasmine rice with the grilled chicken. Also I had made additional glaze for the chicken by boiling down soy sauce and lilikoi syrup.

And of course we ate dinners from the balcony after I had shown Julie how to use the propane grill in the shared community space of the condo.

Remember when I said I bought lots of poke? I went a bit nuts at the fish counter, where I told the guy behind it that I was like a kid in a candy store. I was used to only at the most 3 kinds of poke in my home city's Safeway.

I was keen to try EVERY kind of poke there was and wish I were there longer in Kauai to do so. And so I decided on the scallops,

the mussels,

the garlic shrimp,

as well as more wasabi tuna which I consumed though I still had spicy ahi poke at home. Really there was no need to go to a farmers market because I bought enough poke to make rice bowls for lunches or dinners. However, Julie’s not really into poke, so I had also bought a salmon to grill for tonight’s dinner.