Mele Kalikimaka - Family, Friends, and Good Food

Emi and I just flew back from spending our Christmas vacation with her family in Hawaii. We weren’t too keen to leave the warm, sunny, t-shirt and shorts weather of Hawaii for the reality of 40 degrees, grey skies, and the rain of Seattle, but at least we have our memories and especially our photos of everything we ate.

Some people come back with souvenirs from Hawaii, we brought back some Island cheer in the form of a few extra pounds. Basically it was an ideal trip; beach time, spending time with family and friends, relaxing, shopping, and most importantly all of the amazing food Hawaii has to offer. Just like previous visits to Hawaii we’ll need to split this trip up into multiple posts. Hope you enjoy some of what we have to share with all of you.

Our first night in Hawaii, we got in pretty late so Emi’s parents picked up food from Shiro’s for us. Shiro’s is famous for their saimin and I tried their yakisoba for the first time. We were exhausted after a day full of travel so the fully loaded yakisoba (Spam, charsiu, green onions, and eggs) really hit the spot.

Shiro's is famous for their saimin and what makes this soup special is the amazing broth. Highly recommended and a Sumida/Nomura family favorite.

We stayed the 2^nd and 3^rd nights of our trip at the historic Royal Hawaiian which has been hosting celebrities and the upper crust of Hawaiian tourists since the 1920s. We snuck in with a discounted rate since we were there for Emi’s cousin’s Christmas Eve wedding. Definitely a fancy spot and something the hotel is well known for is their pink theme. Everything is pink from the walls, to the towels, bathrobes, and they serve you pink lemonade when you arrive.

The Royal Hawaiian’s famous Mai Tai from the Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian. This was really good, sweet, but not as sweet as your standard cheap Mai Tai mix.

The reason we made the trip out to Hawaii was for Emi’s cousin’s Christmas Eve wedding. The venue was amazing and we’ll probably never have another Christmas Eve dinner like the one we enjoyed.

Suckling pig carved up and served as pupus before dinner. The chef carved off pieces of meat for people to enjoy with steamed buns, hoisin and plum sauce.

Octopus/tako pupus

What Hawaiian buffet isn’t complete without some delicious poke?

This was my personal favorite of the desserts, it was made up of coconut tapioca pudding and topped with lychee and fresh mango strips.

The bride and groom’s Mario Brothers themed wedding cake.

Beautiful wedding with a beautiful couple, congratulations to Renan and Trisha, we wish you two the best of luck and many more years of good eating!

- Kyle and Emi