We are, of course, up far before sunrise. But, we spend the time drinking coffee and just hanging out on the beautiful patio – with the cool tile outdoor shower and fountain!
This will for certain be our hang out for the next 2 weeks. Once the sunrises, we head off on our morning walk, through Kalama park, along the water, then circling back through the neighborhood/street where we first stayed – across from the library – and to Foodland for the newspaper and whatever stickered/discount meats we can find. We have decided today will be an errands day – we have nothing planned and figured we’d go back into Kahului to Costco, stopping on the way at a great little restaurant we’ve read about called Tin Roof.
The restaurant gets rave reviews for traditional Hawaiian food with a culinary twist. It is counter service with very few (very, very few) seats and mostly has a take-out clientele with lines stretching out the door. For that reason, we decide to go early – and really, we are already starving so it’s not that big a deal to show up there before 11 for lunch. It’s hard to say it’s a charming little place – I mean it’s only the counter, the open kitchen behind it and the refrigerator with drinks and kitchen supplies in the corner – but the girl at the register is friendly and helpful, the 8 or so seats at the counter attached to the front window are perfect for waiting and eating your orders – and well, it’s just got a great vibe.
We end up with garlic shrimp (a food truck staple on the island), pork belly (traditional style) and a beet box – which I had my eye on, but thought it would be too much until the register girl told me it wasn’t that big (good sales job – and even better order move! It was by far my favorite!).
The food was fantastic. Everything was cooked exactly right – the pork belly tender and flavorful, the shrimps big and garlicky, and oh, that beet box! Kale on top (and I don’t even like Kale), that was fried maybe? Or just crispy enough to have a nice crunch, with this awesome sweetly spiced sauce and the warm beets on the bottom. I could have just had that and been quite happy. The biggest disappointment we have is that they are not open on Sunday, so we can’t come here for breakfast/lunch before we fly out in 2 weeks. Darn!
Our next stop is Costco, which is, as always, a complete zoo. But, that’s what we are here for, so we take our time, wandering around, picking up all sorts of snacks for our stay here on the island. We are quite surprised at the macadamia nut prices though They are really high – we do not remember the nuts being this expensive last year. So, we end up not buying much there, but we do graze our way through the food samples, finally taking our leave with far more crap than we truly need – but that was the plan!
Next stop is Long’s drugs in town – because we are there. It’s been sort of hit hard – lots of empty shelves, guess they haven’t restocked yet, but we still manage to pick up lots of coffee on sale and the macadamia nuts we wanted, not because they are all that much cheaper (they are still pricey) but because they are a little less (pennies) than Costco and we really don’t want to have to go back to Costco to stock up.
Then its back to the cottage to organize and since it is Monday afternoon now, and it is Football time (gotta love watching MNF at 3:30 in the afternoon), we head over to the Triangle where all the bars and restaurants are located, to watch a bit of the game.
We are heading to What Ales You? a new bar we had read about, but somehow end up at the Dog and Duck pub right next door. That place is a one drink and done, for sure. The bartender is a little surly and abrupt, but that’s just us, she’s great with all the locals, so we get that. But the atmosphere is just not what we wanted, so we quickly drink our beer and icky wine, and find What Ales You? right next door, and settle in. (It’s a little confusing until you figure out which sign goes with which entrance!)
We immediately fall in love – the bartender is friendly and fun, the beers on tap are great, tons of different things from which to choose, the customers are all nice, we end up talking to a lady originally from Delaware who has been here 17 years or so, teaches school, and is a big Eagles fan (Ok, so we’ll overlook that little personality glitch, LOL). Anyway, we end staying there through most of the game, and even ordering an appetizer called Toothpick Grindz, which is an assortment of sausages with different sauces. Awesome.
On the walk home, we navigate by the Christmas lights – which are very elaborate in many homes and very reminiscent of Sanibel…
…then spend the rest of the night on the patio soaking up the cool evening air and breeze.
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