Since I am still experiencing technical difficulties with the Panasonic, this post will not feature my personal photos (sorry), but I hope to add some pictures that Mom took on her phone and her camera soon.
Yesterday was my family's last full day on the island, and we spent it lounging on the beach at Black Rock in Ka'anapali. Black Rock is the rocky peninsula at the far northern end of Ka'anapali Beach directly under the Sheraton Resort. The lava rock sea cliff is a great snorkeling spot, and many adventurous swimmers climb out of the water and jump off the side.
They are very common in Maui, but I love how unusual they look.
We ate a picnic lunch from Leoda's on the beach. This was our third lunch from this great sandwich shop. Out of all the great places that my family got to sample from, Leoda's and I'o were their favorites.
After getting plenty of sunshine, sand and surf, we headed back home to rest and clean up for dinner at Maui's famous Lahaina Grill.
Lahaina Grill is a swanky bistro attached to Lahaina Inn off Front Street in downtown Lahaina. I've been hearing about the outrageous food ever since I've moved here, but I've never stopped in except to gawk at the menu.
The prices are high, which have stopped me from casually running in and grabbing a bite, but last night I discovered that the food, service and drinks made it well worth the price; however, I would probably only go back on a very special occasion (or maybe for a glass of wine at the bar along with the following salad).
My dad and I split the best Bufala Tomato Salad made from stacked Olowalu tomatoes, bufala mozzarella and dressed with maui onion, fresh basil, truffle oil, aged balsamic vinaigrette, alziari extra virgin olive oil and black kilauea sea salt. It was absolutely delicious. I couldn't get over the freshness of the produce and the lush flavors of the dressing. The secret is in the truffle oil and sea salt. Amazing!
For dinner, I ordered the sauteed Opakapaka (Hawaiian Pink Snapper). Two generous fish filets topped with a Tiger Prawn were layered on top of a heaping portion of sweet Kula corn risotto. The fish was amazing: very tender and rich in flavor. We occasionally serve Opakapaka at the restaurant that I work at, but I don't get many chances to sample it myself. I figured that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it out here. The portion was so huge I couldn't finish all of it, and Bryan happily helped me finish my meal. Of course, to keep things as fair as possible, I managed to steal a few bites of his: homemade meatballs made from all natural veal, pork and angus beef. The meatballs were served over ballerine pasta in a fresh olowalu tomato-basil sauce. Heaven!
Although the food was obviously very good and a standout performer of the evening, I enjoyed being able to share the time with my family and Bryan even more. It was so wonderful seeing my parents enjoy learning more about Bryan, and I got to lean over the table and catch up with my sister. It was a really wonderful night, and even though Lahaina Grill was a wonderful setting, I believe that we could have been anywhere having an equally good time.
Bryan and I met up with Mom, Dad and Hana for one last meal this morning before they left for the airport. We bookended their vacation with another great breakfast at Coolers. Franck, the wonderful gentleman who arranged for my family to rent the Puamana condo, came by to wish them farewell. He also gifted them a book from his business, Vintage European Posters, to accompany their newest purchase of a World War I propaganda poster.
It was hard to watch Hana, Mom and Dad pile into their rental and pull out of their parking spot and finally drive away. The week went by much too fast, and I really wish they could have stayed longer. I had such a great time showing them around the Maui that I know as well as traveling with them to see parts of Maui that I was unfamiliar with. It was wonderful to finally introduce them to Bryan, whom they liked very much.
I hope that they manage to come back very, very soon.
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