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Lanikai Juice
Summer has been in full swing the past few weeks here in Southern California and that means hot windless nights and day time temps in the 90s (This week we’ve even been hitting the 100s!). California has turned into an oven and all I can dream about is Lanikai Juice. Sure California has Jamba Juice and Juice It Up! (which I do love) and little local smoothie shops, but since I’ve been back I can honestly say nothing beats Oahu’s Lanikai Juice. Lanikai Juice opened it’s doors back in 1997, serving healthy and fresh smoothies, fruit bowls, freshly squeezed juices, food, and cold pressed juices using local and fresh organic…
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Stairway to Heaven
One of the last hikes I attempted while on Oahu is also one of Oahu's most infamous and talked about hikes. It seems like everyone has heard of, or at least seen pictures of, Oahu's Stairway to Heaven (also known as the Haiku Stairs).
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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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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…
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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 awhile there was even one located in Fullerton, CA, not too far from my home town. (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…
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My Unpopular Opinion – The Pig & The Lady
Years before I even had any inclination that I would ever visit Hawaii let alone live there, I had decided that before I died I needed to try The Pig & The Lady. Known for their amazing Pho, that wasn’t what drew me there. I knew I had to go to The Pig & The Lady because they had a full dessert bar! Now I don’t mean they had a large dessert menu or like a dessert buffet bar, they have a full dessert bar set up just like a traditional bar. You have you’re bar area, with your “bartender”, and stools that you can sit at all along the…
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Mermaid Caves
If you google Oahu Mermaid Caves you will be treated to hundreds if not thousands of photos and tourists (and even some locals) talking about these gorgeous and mysterious caves located on the west side of Oahu. Post after post will tell you how difficult these caves are to find and to get down into, but the pictures convince you that it is well worth the effort and the risk. You will find photo after photo of crystal clear waters and gorgeous caves, exactly like what you would imagine mermaids would hang out in. You will be convinced that if you ever got to Oahu, you will need to find…
