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Where to get the Best Poke on Oahu?
Poke (pronounced POH-KAY) dates back to the ancient Hawaiians who would feast on freshly caught fish massaged with sea salt, seaweed and crushed inamona or kukui nuts. Since then poke has grown and evolved, in some circumstances, drastically. As immigrants from all around the world, and especially places like China and Japan, began arriving in Hawaii, new flavors began to shape poke. While the more traditional Ahi poke is made with tuna, shoyu (soy sauce), sea salt, green onions, Maui onions and limu, visit any poke shop in Hawaii today and you can find a wide array of flavors and options including kimchee shrimp, furikake salmon, miso tako (octopus), pipikaula…
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10 Years
This Tuesday (6/11) marks the 10 year anniversary of my high school graduation. The ending of one chapter and the start of a new. For everyone, their high school graduation means change and new beginnings. It's one of the many stepping stones into adulthood. For me it marked the beginning of the end in many ways, and that sounds much more dramatic than I intended, but I can't think of a better way to say it. This wasn't just the closing of my childhood chapter and beginning of my adulthood one, it was the first nail in the door to my childhood. Before the calendar year would end my life…
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Eaton Canyon Falls
My husband and I have finally, after over five months in California, started hiking again. In just the past few weeks we have tackled five different trails starting with Eaton Canyon Falls. Located in Altadena, CA, Eaton Canyon Falls Trail is a fairly easy and relatively short trail. Listed at about 3.5 miles, I tracked it at about 4 miles round trip and it took my husband and I about 2.5 hours to complete, including the time we spent at the falls.
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Old LA Zoo
I did a fair amount of hiking in California before moving to Oahu, but it wasn't until I was living on the islands that I first heard of the Old LA Zoo Hike. I'm not exactly sure how I first heard of it, I'm pretty sure I came across it while doing some research on the abandoned zoo on Oahu. However, no matter how I came across it, as soon as I heard about it, and saw the pictures, I knew I had to go.
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7-Eleven in Hawaii
It may sound crazy to anyone that has never been to Hawaii, but on the islands, 7 Eleven is one of the absolute best places to get a quick, cheap meal or snack. From ramen to sushi, hot dogs to sandwiches, Hawaii’s 7-Elevens have something for everyone and it’s not the lowest quality food you might imagine. I am in no way a food snob and I will proudly say certain gas station hot dogs aren’t bad. I on occasion have even purposely chosen to eat a gas station hot dog, whether it was from the ampm up the road from where I grew up or the 7-Eleven across the…
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Moss Slides
I had heard about Oahu’s moss slides since I first moved to Oahu. I saw posts about them on Pinterest and Facebook. I heard different people talk about them. I always had an idea of where they were at, but it wasn’t until my last month on Oahu, that I actually set out to find the moss slides and I am so glad I did. Located not too far off the beaten path, the moss slides are a gorgeous, secluded, fun way to spend an afternoon. Including a few detours and the time we spent at the moss slides out entire hike (out and back) was just over five hours,…
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Mochi Donuts from Modo
Chewy. Fluffy. Sweet. The most amazing, mind-blowing, sweet treat experience of my life. It’s been months and I still have not come up with an accurate, fair way to describe Modo’s mochi donuts. A hybrid of traditional American donuts and Japanese mochi, these sweet delights are made with sweet glutinous rice and, as Glutto Digest so eloquently explains it, “after these donuts are fried, the result is a slightly crispy exterior with a surprisingly chewy interior.” At Modo and other locations that serve mochi donuts, they are then covered with a variety of coatings and toppings adding an extra textural experience. Mochi donuts can be found throughout many countries in…
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H3 Summit Saddle – Preparing for the Stairs
Stairway to Heaven is probably one of the most popular, illegal, hikes on Oahu and from the minute I arrived on Oahu, my husband started harassing me to do this hike. I can’t deny I was drawn to the stairs climbing up the side of the Koolau mountains and would stare at them every time we took the H3 into town, but I heard too many horror stories. To start off, even before I had arrived on Oahu, the neighborhood, where hikers would access the stairs, had hired private security to stop hikers from entering and to report any illegal trespassing. Supposedly the guard is or was easy to bypass…
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Springtime Temperatures Call for Banan
Spring is in full swing here in SoCal and summer is fast approaching and that means the temperature is on the rise. As the days get longer and hotter I find myself craving a sweet treat in the evening, but nothing here seems to hit the spot like Oahu’s Banan. Frozen yogurt, soft serve, I’ve tried it all and yet I still find myself craving the sweet, cool, amazing creation that is Banan. Created by four guys with the idea to turn fruit into ice cream, Banan began selling banana based soft serve out of their roadside food truck December 2014. Based on a simple farm-to-table philosophy Banan has grown…
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Happy Birthday Teddy’s Bigger Burgers
This week Teddy’s Bigger Burgers turned 21! On April 15th, 1998 the first Teddy’s Bigger Burgers opened up at the foot of Diamond Head on Oahu serving fresh ground chuck burgers, fries and shakes. Today Teddy’s can now be found all across Oahu as well as on Maui, in Washington, Iowa, and even internationally. For a while there was even one located in Fullerton, CA, not too far from my hometown. (Although I never ate at this location, it was always on my list to try.) Teddy’s may not have been my #1 burger on Oahu, but it definitely became a big part of my life on Oahu. Burgers are…
