Hale'iwa Farmer's Market & Hale'iwa town

Hale'iwa (pronounced ha-lay-eva)... Ahhh yes... one of the purposes of my trip was to go to Hale'iwa's Farmer's Market in the North Shore of Hawaii. I'm glad I was able to go, because it was one of my main objectives to go there!

The market is open from 9am - 1pm on Sundays, so it was perfect timing to go! Since I'm staying at a timeshare, it is equipped with a beautiful kitchen so that I can cook my own food. I love that. It totally beats eating at a restaurant every night and spending tons of money. The market was absolutely beautiful... it is right off Kamehameha Highway, and it is surrounded by the beautiful mountains and palm trees. The breeze is great, as the wind pass through the valley. I walked in the market, and it was what I expected; tents with tons of produce, and some that we don't get here in Canada. I went

Maui variety pineapple

crazy buying produce. I picked up ingredients off the top of my head, thinking of what I could do with them... I ended up getting fresh basil, fresh cilantro,green onions, a big oregano leaf, Singkamas (sweet white radish), green papaya, sweet papaya, purple sweet yams, white sweet yams, a big habanero pepper, sweet baby bananas, avocados , guavas, macadamia nut honey and Hawaiian blossom honey, and very sweet Maui variety Pineapples.The difference between a Maui variety pineapple and a Dole pineapple, is that the Maui variety Pineapple is less acidic and more sweet. It was QUITE amazing I must say. The taste was like a candied pineapple but SO juicy.

The macadamia pesto man

There was all sorts of things at the market. Hand-carved Hawaiian Tikis, Hawaiian Salt, fresh juices, freshly made Popsicles, organic honey, different kinds of freshly made breads, clothing and jewelry stands, entertainment, local Hawaiian food, crepes, and on some specific dates, they have chef demos. I'm actually kind of sad that I'll be missing out on the Cacao day, where there will be chef demos making chocolate desserts... so envious of whoever will go. There was one stand, where I bought my basil from, where a local Hawaiian made a pesto from his grandmother's recipe. In their version of the pesto, they used basil, olive oil, a little bit of garlic, some Hawaiian seasoning (Hawaiian salt, and other seasonings that he won't give away!) and instead of using pine nuts, they used macadamia nuts. They put a Hawaiian twist on a pesto, it was actually pretty good! It tasted so fresh. As you can see from the picture, I of course had to try it with a fresh piece of bread.

After doing my grocery shopping at the market, I wanted to find a fish market where I can get some fresh Hawaiian fish to cook dinner. I asked the locals where I can go, and they said that the only fish market around was Lou Bueno's Restaurant & Fish Market. We drove aside Hale'iwa coast, took pictures, and watched people surf for a bit. Apparently I had a few things to see while in Hale'iwa. A worker at our timeshare, who's name is "Melvin from California, ask him anything and you get the Melvin special!", real friendly guy who's full of information, told me to check out Aoki's shave ice too while I was up there. So, OF COURSE I had too... it's a local hot spot, and there was no way I was going to miss out on this.

On the way down the road to Aoki's, I ended up spotting a shrimp truck (which is really popular on the island) where you can get some fresh shrimp! I love these places, so I coerced my parents into stopping by there for lunch. I ended up ordering the shrimp combo... let me tell you it was AMAZNIG. The garlic sauce that they make for the shrimp is like crack, the shrimp was cooked perfectly, and it was so fresh, and my steak was cooked wonderfully (medium rare... just the way I like!). I'll just show you a picture so you can imagine how scrumptious this was...  

Aoki's Shave Ice

Aoki's Shave Ice was on the way to Lou Bueno's, so I decided to go there first. I looked at the menu, and I decided to get the "Local Mix", which consisted of mango, pineapple and something called Li Hing Mui (I'm not too sure what it was, but it was local, so I decided to take it.. I think it may be some kind of sweet bean).

The "Local Mix "

My dad ended up getting the mango flavor. The picture you see of me eating the shave ice is actually a size small... can you just imagine how big the big one is? It was actually huge, and that's why I decided not to get it! I was SO FULL by eating this one already. It was quite delicious though and WAY better than a slushy!

Alright... enough eating. Now I had to go to Lou Bueno's to get me some fresh fish! We drove up to Lou Bueno's, walked up to the restaurant, I looked in the window and thought to myself... "this is all the fresh fish they have?" Apparently, Hawaii does not really have huge fish markets, maybe in China town near town they would have a fish market, but this was

Lou Bueno's Fish Market in Hale'iwa

the closest one to where we were. I was so surprised that fish markets weren't really popular on the island, since it IS and island and they have fish everywhere. Oh well, I had to make due with what I had, so I went ahead and bought a Mahi-Mahi fillet for $25 US. EXPENSIVE, but worth it. It was caught fresh that day at the harbour just a few minutes away. That is exactly what I wanted. Fresh produce and now fresh fish. I was in local cooking heaven. I was so excited to make my dinner tonight that I had ideas flying around in my head. And so back to Kapolei we go... I had to pick up some more grocery items for my meal, so I decided I should pass by Safeway grocery on the way back to the condo... All day, I went food shopping. Hey.. if you're passionate about something, you'll take it seriously right? I love to eat, and I love to cook... Just check out my creation on my next blog!