Sunday Fun Day

Sunday was a fabulous day off.

I went and had lunch with friends at the gorgeous Honua Kai Resort:

Laid out at Airport Beach:

And got wine with girlfriends to celebrate my birthday at The Wine Palette at Kapalua Bay.

{wine flights with pupus}

The manager, Jim, was incredibly warm and welcoming, and took amazing care of us alongside our server, Thomas.

We felt like total VIPs.

The Wine Palette is the only wine bar on the west side (and maybe all of Maui) replete with a fantastic wine list, the ability to order customized flights of wine, and you can order blank canvases or wine glasses to paint while you sip wine.

Thomas sent out clean and polished wine glasses with palettes filled with an array of colors and a fat glass filled with paintbrushes.  I was actually really impressed by how much fun I had painting my wine glass!

{seahorse wine glass}

As you can see, it's been a rather successful week of celebrating my birthday.  I think I may have to actually rest and take it easy on my actual birthday tomorrow to recover!

{girls' night at The Wine Palette}

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Birthday Week Shenanigans

Since I'm actually scheduled to work on my actual birthday, I've been taking every chance I can to celebrate on my days off.

It's been very easy to get into the birthday spirit at my new job:

{birthday balloon and gifts at work}

{birthday banana cream pie from Shaina}

and on the dance floor:

{Jungle Boogie TOLO show at Longhi's}

and at Migrant for a birthday dinner:

{clipboard menu at Chef Sheldon's new restaurant in Wailea}

{pupus: ahi avo poke, fried brussels sprouts, and mini loco moco--which is much better than this photograph}

{hangar steak, french onion ramen, pork tonkatsu}

And randomly: a plethora of plush towel animals made by the extraordinary Housekeeping department.

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Aloha Party for Matt

Bryan and I went down to Kimo's for lunch with our crew up at the house.  When we rolled in, we ran into another group of Kimo's employees that had the day off, so we decided to belly up to the bar and take the place over!

{bartender Coach in the middle of the Kimo's crew all the way around the bar--see Will in the far background with both his arms in the air?  yup, we took over the scene}

After lunch, Bryan and I went to Puamana Beach Park to hang out with our friend Matt before he moves back to the mainland.

Burgers were barbecued, beers were imbibed, and lawn games were played--with a vengeance.

Bryan and I played some bocce and then got involved in some heated games of Washers (played on a homemade setup, no less).

{drinking brewskis and playing bocce}

{Dustin tossing a bocce ball at sunset}

Now Bryan and I are off to get pizza with pals before games at our house.  Gotta love days off!

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Happenings.

Tuesday night was dinner in with a gorgeous sunset:

and pork chops with chimichurri sauce on a bed of mashed cauliflower.

And this morning was spent watching England play Uruguay while eating breakfast at Coolers.

Roger, a Lahaina local from England, parked his Arsenal fan-mobile in front of Coolers during the match.  As you can tell, he went all out with decorations to support England.

It's been an absolutely gorgeous day in Lahaina.  I walked down Front Street after breakfast at Coolers...

...and I got to watch the kids from the Lahaina Yacht Club learn how to sail:

It's been a great start to the day.

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The Plantation House

Last week Bryan and I went to the famous Plantation House for breakfast.  It's crazy that I've been here for four years now and have never been.  And Bryan's only been once.  

I had some a gift certificate for $75, so we went all out.

{we started with sashimi and coconut crusted shrimp}

Overall, I wasn't really impressed by the menu or the dishes that we ordered, but the view really made up for all that:

The Plantation House is perched on the Plantation Golf Course which overlooks the ocean and the island of Lana'i.

Our server called it the ten dollar breakfast with a ten million dollar view.

He wasn't kidding.

The Pineapple Grill on the Bay Course is still my favorite breakfast menu in Kapalua--in fact, it might be my favorite breakfast on Maui, but I wouldn't mind giving Plantation House another go.  Next time, I'll definitely be trying out their dinner menu, which they tend to be more famous for.

I certainly want to go in and try some wine!  They have a gorgeous wine room housed in glass so you can ogle their ridiculous selections (magnums of Twomey, bottles of Silver Oak, Prisoner and my new favorite, Aldeya).

If we make it up that way again, I'll certainly be filling you all in.

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Perfect Pour Maui

I went out to support my good friend Jenna's boutique launch party yesterday.  Granted, I spent the whole time whispering since I had absolutely no voice.  Thankfully, I got some good shopping therapy in at Jenna's shop Wanderlust.  I picked up a darling kimono, neon cropped top and jewelry.

Wanderlust is a mobile store.  Jenna and her store travel to all the best town parties on Maui, but you can also book her for your own private events.  It would be perfect for a girl's night!

TOLO provided some live music at Jenna's backyard boutique shindig, and our friends Ross and Tara from Perfect Pour Maui provided libations.

{Ross hard at work}

Perfect Pour brings the bar to you.  Perfect Pour's bar breaks down into 3 pieces and can be moved and installed at any venue.

{lovely details on the bar}

{"Good Vibes" cocktail was a hit last night}

{Tara shaking up some spicy goodness for the Smooth Criminal cocktail: tequila and spicy hawaiian chile syrup}

Perfect Pour focuses on "garden to glass" cocktails with drinks created by Head Mixologist Ross Steidel.

The drink list features unique and sophisticated cocktails that are downright delicious.

If you're planning a special event and plan on serving up drinks, look no further than Perfect Pour Maui.  Ross and Tara know their drinks and have created a service that no one else does on island.  Check out their site and get thirsty.

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Feeling Under the Weather

I've been battling a cold that's on its way to winning the war (it stripped me of my voice yesterday).  I decided to feed my cold with Italian food.

Sale Pepe is a new Italian joint in town tucked next door to our other favorite restaurant: Thai Chef.  Sale Pepe prides itself on using authentic Italian ingredients flown in from Italy, including the flour that is used in the homemade pasta.

Bryan and I were impressed by the menu, and we had a hard time making our final decisions.  We decided on the eggplant parmesan appetizer and two pasta entrees.  Everything was delicious, well portioned and well-priced.  We were so impressed with everything that we decided to stay for dessert.  We shared a to-die-for tiramisu and Bryan ordered a cappuccino.

I'm just so stoked that there is a good Italian place on the west side that offers authentic food at great prices.

And, then of course, I began the morning after our Italian dinner with some Throat Comfort tea gifted from a coworker with a small tub of honey gifted from the housekeeping team at the hotel.  I have the best coworkers ever!

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Montage Kapalua Bay

The hotel is looking mighty gorgeous these days:

{looking down at the pools and oceans from the front lobby}

{new pool pods}

{waterfalls cascade from one pool to another on the Montage property}

{looking towards the front lobby from the pool}

Sunday night after work, I hung out with my bros.  We had an epic dinner at Kimo's:

{do you want a piece of fish with your lobster tail dinner?}

After we gorged ourselves on fish, lobster and prime rib, we got dessert.  The Strawberry Shortcake Hula Pie at Kimo's is to die for.  I'm usually not a strawberry ice cream fan, but this dessert is delicious and refreshing.  It's a wedge of strawberry nutmeg ice cream on a graham cracker crust topped with strawberry puree made from strawberries grown on island and then as a finishing touch, the dessert is dusted with shortcake cookie crumbles and given a skirt of whipped cream.

I'm surprised none of us went into a coma when we went into the movies.  

We saw X-Men: Days of Future Past.  Epic!  I can't wait for Bryan to watch X-Men First Class so I can take him to see the new one.  Yes, I'm planning on seeing it again.

Has anyone seen anything in the theaters lately that they were really excited about?  We saw Godzilla a couple of weeks ago.  I went in with low expectations, but I enjoyed the spectacle.  I swear, when it comes to movies, I have the taste of a 12 year old boy.  The more monsters, the better!

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