Kulu Kulu Honolulu, Purple Yam Ice Cream, Playing At Kono's And Other Memorable Food-Related Experiences.

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​​Kulu Kulu Honolulu, Purple Yam Ice Cream, Playing At Kono's And Other Memorable Food-Related Experiences.

...Continued from yesterday:      
     One day while we were in the elevator at the Hale Koa a group of several of our fellow riders were discussing among each other where they would eat dinner that night. One of them then turned to the rest of us on the elevator and quipped, "When we're on vacation all we think about is eating." 
       He was speaking in jest and we all chuckled, but we knew what he meant: When  you're on vacation eating  is part of the experience, often a memorable part.    
​        Like our breakfasts at the incomparable Hale Koa breakfast buffet, which make breakfast the most sublime meal of the day.

       And yet, even on top of a glorious Hale Koa breakfast, when lunch time rolled around, there we were thinking about eating again, often at Happy's, the Fort Derussy short-order take-out eatery, where one time, grabbed by the delicious aroma wafting from behind the counter, I succumbed to the temptation of trying the  fried chicken and French fry combo, to which I developed an immediate lunch time addiction, the French fries being so hot and crispy, and the chicken being equally hot and crispy on the outside, and oh, so juicy on the inside.

       Tom, on the other hand, more prudently developed a lunchtime craving for the seafood salad, a doubtlessly healthier option,

...though I usually gave him a bite of my fried chicken.
       We had some good dinners as well at Happy's, especially the Easter Dinner Special, a platter of steak, potatoes and vegetables that was so generous that we split one meal.

      On Friday, April 11, our daughters Claire and Theresa arrived along with a few other relatives to spend a week with us in Honolulu.

      After their long flights and with their body clocks being six hours later than Honolulu time, they were ready for bed by 7 pm. But then I suggested they join us in going out to the Royal Hawaiian Center for our daily cream puffs from the Kulu Kulu Honolulu bakery,    

...which helped them find their second wind.  
​       So we all walked into downtown Waikiki to the Royal Hawaiian food court and joined the Friday night crowd there.​

          After looking over the wares in the Kulu Kulu Honolulu display case, Tom and I planned on getting our usual cream puffs, and Claire chose a tiramisu pastry.     
​        Theresa, however, decided that, rather than a pastry, she would like a shave ice from the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand on the street in front of the Royal Hawaiian Center. In fact, a shave ice sounded good to me, too, so I decided to go with a shave ice instead of a cream puff.

​         So Theresa and I went out to the shave ice stand and joined the long line of folks who, like us, were also in the mood for a shave ice.

     However, this was quite an efficient operation, and so the line moved fast,

...and soon we had our shave ices,

...and the others their tiramisu and cream puff.

      Then we walked back to the hotel through the enchanting lights of Waikiki.

     However, switching out my usual cream puff for that shave ice was sort of an epiphany that opened my eyes to the other possibilities I could be seeking out at the Kulu Kulu Honolulu instead of staying locked in my cream puff habit.
     And so the next time we went to Kulu Kulu Honolulu I considered trying something new. The bakery sold soft serve ice cream as well, and I found myself  intrigued by a purple-colored flavor called ube. 
          One of my daughters, who had tried ube ice cream on a previous visit to the island, told me that ube was a purple Hawaiian sweet potato, that it made a delicious ice cream flavor, and that I should try it. But I wasn't sure I wanted to try sweet potato ice cream. In fact, I was more sure that I didn't want to try it than did. 
            "Oh, come one, try it," said my daughter. "You'll like it."
           Now, one had the option of buying an ube ice cream cone, or an ube-vanilla twist. This being my first time, I decided to cautiously try the twist.             

      It was delicious, just as my daughter promised, though I couldn't very well distinguish the purple part from the vanilla part, the two flavors rather melding together.
            Still, on our next visit to the Kulu Kulu Honolulu (by which time I was now on familiar terms with the server, who would greet me with, "Hi! You're back!") I decided to jump into the deep end, so to speak, and try the fully ube cone.

       I also decided I would try to figure out exactly what it tasted like. I closed my eyes as I began licking and concentrated on what this taste could be compared to. It was not exactly vanilla, but...butter pecan. That's what ube reminded me of. Butter pecan. And so from now on, if I'm ever again given the opportunity to eat ube ice cream, why I'll do so without fear.
         One night when all the other members of our family group had scattered to do their respective things for dinner, Tom and I decided to seek out some food  at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, an outdoor mall located next to our hotel where there were a variety of shops and restaurants.

     We came across a place called Blue Water Shrimp that we decided to try,

...where one ordered one's food at the counter, which would be brought, when ready, to one's table, 

...in the cute dining area.

     The food turned out to be fantastic, and the portions ginormous. Tom had the grilled salmon,

...while I had the grilled rib eye. Deelish!

     The restaurant also served beautiful pineapple smoothies in a cored out pineapple,

...as well as ice cold coconut milk in the coconut.

        We knew we now had a new go-to dinner place to add to our list of Waikiki go-to dinner places.
        Another night one of my daughters came up with the idea of going to Kono's for dinner, Kono's being a terrific burrito place about a mile from the hotel that we discovered a couple of years ago.
​        And so we walked through town to Kono's.

     There was a courtyard next to the restaurant with tables and chairs,

...and I noticed a piano sitting in the courtyard.

    It looked as if it were there for anyone to play,

...so I did, briefly.

To be continued...