as soon as we got to the big island, i insisted we go to two ladies kitchen in hilo. i wanted to try their mochis i had heard so much about. geoffrey insisted we get the 20 piece variety pack. after ordering i quickly realized they could make some fresh strawberry mochis, which is one of their signature offerings. so, i odered 4 of those in addition to the 20 piece assortment. the strawberry mochis are HUGE and delicious. we ate all but 4 of the assortment.
in kauai i really wanted to go to some local farmer's markets. last time we had been in hawaii, 3 years previously, we had been to one in hilo, on the big island. it was there i had my first bite of mangosteen...mmm, yummy. too bad, the farmer's market we went to in kauai only had 3 vendors (it was raining), but there we discovered the egg fruit. this little, yellow fruit, has the exact consistency of a hard boiled egg yolk. the good news is it doesn't taste like one; that would be a little weird. i thought it tasted like squash and brian thought it tasted like sweet buttery corn.