Liliha Bakery

The wedding visitors have begun to arrive and the celebrations are officially underway. I'll try my best to make quick updates throughout the week(s) full of activities!

Bryce's Mom was first to arrive yesterday. After a quick lunch and running lots of errands, we had a low-key evening at our place complete with a Marky Mark movie (We Own the Night, which I HIGHLY recommend) and take out from one of our favorites, Liliha Bakery.

Liliha Bakery is an awesome and historic bakery in Honolulu near, but not on, Liliha Street. It's most famous for the signature cocoa puffs and the store front is open 24 hours a day! This photo was taken on a Saturday morning and the bakery was a ZOO.

In addition to the bakery shop it also includes a belly-up counter with about 20 seats and delicious (most especially breakfast) foods. Both photos were taken from the very long and slow line for these coveted seats.

Wedding, Wedding, Wedding

You might be wondering where I've been and what I've been doing lately, since I've been absent on the blog-front for weeks...

 

Planning for the wedding. Deciding on marriage-related things. Answering the questions surrounding the nuptuals "How much longer? Are you getting excited? What's your theme?" Honestly, it's all anybody wants to talk to me about! I'm still a real human with other interests, although those are no longer acceptable topics of conversation, I suppose. We can hardly wait for next year month when everyone switches gears and begins pressuring us to have kids!

 

Even Bagheera gives me a guilt trip when I take a break from planning.

 

Christine's Colorful Potato Salad + July 4th BBQ

It's the 4th of July week, HOORAY! It's only appropriate to celebrate America by BBQing and spending quality time with family and friends.

This recipe is one of my favorites from a very good friend of mine, Christine. At first glance you think it's your everyday potato salad, although after just a bite the tangy flavor and crunch of the Granny Smith apples combined with the potent zing of the blue cheese create a perfect surprise. 

For each and every holiday I'd request that she make this, her specialty, and she would always oblige. She no longer lives in Hawaii and when she left she passed her ever famous recipe on to me. I'd return the recipe to have her back here in a heartbeat, although I'm honoring her by recreating her infamous BBQ side dish.

Chinatown Field Trip

Each and every Saturday morning, my friend Cassie and I visit our local Farmer's Market at the nearby Kapiolani Community College. We load up on veggies, fruit, and freshly baked bread. This ritual is one we cherish and we leave the market feeling productive, inspired to cook with our fresh ingredients, and highly caffeinated! Some weeks that inspiration holds strong and our kitchens are bare by the next Saturday, others leave plenty of grub still remaining the following Saturday. This was one of those plenty-of-leftovers weeks so we decided to try something new and visit Chinatown's markets on our Saturday morning, rather than the FM.

I'd perused the Maunakea Marketplace before, although typically just to kill time on my lunch hour when I worked downtown and not for actual shopping. Poor Cassie had never been before and I think she may have been a little traumatized by the experience!

Our first couple stops were the tiny little stores on the edge of Chinatown that sold a small variety of fruits, veggies, snacks, canned and dried foods.

Pesto Chicken

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I'm always mentally planning my next trip, the international one we'll take much later on with vacation time that hasn't yet been accrued, and scheming ways to squeeze in additional stops to Pittsburgh and Disneyland. Travel is one of life's greatest pleasures, although returning to your own home can be, too! My own bed, pillow, shower, pet, and kitchen are all things I find myself missing after just a few days away.

After our vacation to California [which I still owe you several posts from] Bryce and I needed to get back in the habit of eating just 3 meals a day - ha! - and return to a real food eating plan. After a Saturday morning trip to my favorite Farmer's Market, a $200 haul at Sam's Club, and one more stop at a "regular" store, we were enjoying a home made meal in the comfort of our own apartment.

This pesto chicken was made with basil and parsley that I actually planted, grew, and kept alive for a short period of time! The tomatoes are from the Farmer's Market, the spinach is surprisingly organic and from Sam's Club (which you can't say about many things), and the pasta is whole wheat.