Tag Archives: photography

Arriving to Lahaina, Maui


Lahaina Panorama — Lahaina, Puunoa Point (left), and Hanakaoo Point beyond

Lahaina Panorama — Lahaina, Puunoa Point (left), and Hanakaoo Point beyond

One of my favorite places in Hawaii is Lahaina on the island of Maui.  It’s a great place for informal yet fun dining, lots of art galleries and crafts stores, and a very picturesque park almost completely shaded by the largest banyan tree in the entire state of Hawaii.

Lahaina Banyan Court Park — Home to the largest banyan tree in the Hawaiian Islands

Lahaina Banyan Court Park — Home to the largest banyan tree in the Hawaiian Islands

Those may look like individual tree trunks in the photo above, but they are not.  Those are in fact adventitious drop roots all originating from the same 142-year-old tree.  That’s right.  This tree was planted in 1873 to commemorate the arrival to Lahaina of the first American Protestant mission fifty years earlier.

Lahaina Banyan Court Park — Banyan tree planted in 1873

Lahaina Banyan Court Park — Banyan tree planted in 1873

Behind and south of Lahaina we could see the tall peaks of the West Maui Mountains.

The mountains of Western Maui

The mountains of Western Maui

While these mountains may look impressive, they simply do not compare however to the massive Haleakalā on the eastern side of Maui.  Alas the 10,023-foot/3,055-meter Haleakalā is not visible from the Lahaina side of the island.

Mountains overlooking Lahaina

Mountains overlooking Lahaina

Lahaina Harbor is shallow and suitable only for smaller vessels.  So, once again we found ourselves tendering into port.  I find tenders a bit bothersome, but on the upside we did have some spectacular views from offshore.

Lahaina Harbor

Lahaina Harbor

Lahaina

Lahaina

By the way, I mentioned earlier that Lahaina had some fun yet informal dining establishments.  One of these establishments featured prominently in the final scene of my critically acclaimed murder mystery Decisions.  But back when we visited that restaurant in the late 1990s it was a really fun place known as BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria (part of a national chain now known as BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery).  There’s still a pizza place at that second-floor location overlooking Front Street, but now it’s called Lahaina Pizza Company.  We didn’t dine there this trip, but the online reviews indicate that it’s still a great place from which to watch the Lahaina street life passing by — Same owner, similar menu.  The balcony would probably be a great place on which to spend time with a beer, a pizza, and your Kindle or Kindle-enabled device while reading Decisions.

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What We Ate on that Food Tour of Oahu


So now that we’ve tempted you by mentioning all that food we ate on tour, here’s something to really make your mouth water.  We’ll start with those malasadas from Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop:

Malasada

Malasada

But those are not all that Agnes had to offer:

Agnes' other delights

Agnes’ other delights

After our appetizer it was time for a little roast pork and poi from the Waiahole Poi Factory:

Roast pork meal

Roast pork meal

Poi

Poi

Ted’s Bakery was next, where we dined on garlic shrimp (my version of this recipe on Friday) washed down with island beer and finished up with some incredible pies:

Oahu-062

Cream Pie

Cream Pie

As if the pie weren’t enough we then headed for the Paalaa Kai Bakery:

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

And finally one last shot of sugar from the Old Waialua Sugar Mill:

Waialua pastries

Waialua pastries

Waialua Sugar Mill

Waialua Sugar Mill

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A Food Tour of Oahu


When in Hawaii — EAT!

When in Hawaii — EAT!

There is a rather unique tour operator on Oahu.  They tour the island through food stops.  This operator is Hawaii Food Tours, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.  And contrary to what you hear about Hawaii, there wasn’t even one slice of Spam on the myriad food stops.

Our Carriage Awaits

Our Carriage Awaits

Most of the food stops were along Kāneʻohe Bay and the North Shore area, but we saw (and ate) plenty elsewhere.  Our first dining experience was at Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop, where we grabbed our malasadas (Portuguese yeast doughnuts) and headed out to Kāneʻohe Bay to enjoy them and the view of Coconut island.  You wouldn’t recognize the built-up Coconut Island today, but back in the mid ’60s through some skillful camera aiming it looked like this:

Coconut Island back in 1966

Today it looks more like this:

Coconut Island (Moku O Lo‘e) today

But I digress.  Here is Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop:

Our first food stop — Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop

Our first food stop — Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop

Inside Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop

Inside Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop

After that it was north along Kāneʻohe Bay to the Waiahole Poi Factory and some exquisite roast pork.  By the way, in case you’re wondering what all this food looks like, you’ll see those photographs on Wednesday.

Waiahole Poi Factory — The place to go for roasted pork

Waiahole Poi Factory — The place to go for roasted pork

Fresh Poi from Waiahole Poi Factory

Fresh Poi from Waiahole Poi Factory

Off to the North Shore and the amazing Ted’s Bakery.

Ted's Bakery — Some really great eats

Ted’s Bakery — Some really great eats

Don’t let either the name or that sign lead you astray.  There’s a lot more to Ted’s than pie.  There is also an incredible hot menu that for us included Hawaiian garlic shrimp.

Ted's Bakery

Ted’s Bakery

It’s these garlic shrimp that we’ll attempt to duplicate on this week’s special Fun Food Friday.

Eating at Ted's Bakery — Try the garlic shrimp as well as the pies

Eating at Ted’s Bakery — Try the garlic shrimp as well as the pies

Turning southwest from North Shore we stopped and took some photos of Kaiaka Bay Beach Park before hitting Paalaa Kai Bakery.

Paalaa Kai Bakery

Paalaa Kai Bakery

You’d think we would have had enough by now.  But we had one more food stop to make at the Old Sugar Mill run by Waialua Coffee.  Here they serve both coffee and island-grown chocolate.

Old Waialua Sugar Mill — Now selling island coffee and chocolate!

Old Waialua Sugar Mill — Now selling island coffee and chocolate!

Here we loaded up on yet more sweets from the oven before heading back to Honolulu.

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