Your Diet's Not Good Here

Most people would eat lightly after stuffing themselves the night before, but not me. Until this month I hadn't traveled to the Islands for three years. I had a pent-up craving for plate lunches and other 2,000-plus calorie meals. It was pot luck at the old homestead. Having a large family meant that there would be plenty of food (if six guests each bring two dishes that will serve 20, well, do the math).

Clockwise from top left: haupia (coconut pudding), chicken with long rice, kalua pork, poi, three kinds of poke(octopus, crab, tuna), lomi salmon.

After dinner my nephew from Seattle passed out samples of home-made brew. The beer was (surprisingly) smooth. So he did pick up some skills while attending U-dub.

But there was still something missing. My younger brother and his lady friend, both living in California, had the answer. It was only a 15-minute stroll from the house to Waiola Shave Ice. WSI shaves the ice the way the natives like it---fine white flakes and not the coarse granules of the hideous snow cones served on the Mainland. Say what you will about him; the President has good taste.