Working the "Lifestyle" into Vacation

While my parents were being blanketed under 2 feet of snow and our Atlanta friends were shivering in unseasonably cold temperatures, Michael and I were toughing it out in Kauai supporting our friends who were married on a beautiful beach at sunset. But don't worry, we thought of you all often (and might have had a laugh or two about our good fortune).

Among the numerous things Hawaii is well known for, one is astronomical food costs (it obviously costs a lot shipping anything to Hawaii). We spent every last dime just getting to Hawaii; so food was going to be an issue.

The friends we shared a condo with are a little less concerned about how their food is sourced. On the first day, they went off to Costco and bought $300 worth of groceries. Since Michael and I don't support pre-processed foods, bulk meats and out of season produce we certainly didn't join them.

Instead we hit the guide book from the rental car place. Do you know on the third page was a list of where all the farmers' markets were? One for each day of the week except Sunday. Guess where we went on our first day? Check it:

There were probably about 15 cars pulled up on the field selling the most amazing produce I have ever seen. Meyer lemons the size of my face, papayas, tangerines, fresh-from-the-tree bananas (bananas!!!), and of course pineapples. Not mention every herb available, peppers, tomatoes and various things I couldn't identify.

Heaven.

Here's the haul we came home with:

I think we spent at most $20. If you buy local...it's cheap! Our produce lasted us the whole week (OK, maybe a little less because we couldn't stop eating it).

We stopped at the fish market on the way home and grabbed a beautiful grey snapper for some ridiculously cheap price since you just need to walk a minute to the water and wait for one to bite you. Then we hit up a taco stand where the woman was making fresh tortillas. From there it was easy to see we were having fish tacos for dinner.

If I do say so myself, it was delicious. I marinated the snapper with the lemon and a ton of tangerine juice to sweeten it up. Added a CRAZY HOT chile pepper they grow in Hawaii and some cilantro. I sauteed it all in some butter with garlic, kumquats (my newest addiction: you have to eat it with the skin on, who knew?) and spring onions. Served it with a grilled pineapple salsa I whipped up and papaya lime salad. Um....yum.

I forgot to take a picture of the final product since I was too busy devouring obscene amounts of food.

It definitely beat out the Costco meal. And we stuck to our convictions which felt really good.

Next post: all the amazing food people we met in Kauai and their commitment to sustainability...and cheap, delicious eats. Yea!