I have a confession to make – I’m a bit of a food truck snob. Maybe snob isn’t the right word. Maybe it would be better to say I have a bit of a phobia of food trucks. On one hand they intrigue me, on the other…. I wonder about food safety and hygiene. After all, how big can their water tank really be? I like hand washing.
Regardless, Sig is away this week and I didn’t feel like cooking, so we went to check out the food truck court in Central Kihei. It’s a neat place. It’s set up on an empty lot behind Azeka mauka, near Fork and Salad, Roasted Chilies, Coconuts Fish Cafe etc. I figured, these food trucks have been here for at least a year or more, surely they’d have been shut down if there were a problem. Right?
I was pleasantly surprised. We picked up a few items from a few food trucks. I think the best part was the variety of choices. Fish, burgers, local food, vegetarian, shave ice and deserts, and of course coffee.
Local Kine Grindz menu
desert?
Da Nani Pirates menu
my niece’s favorite coffee place
of course there are chickens. There are always chickens
a customer?
What did we order?
We ended up picking up pulled pork and a fish taco from Da Nani Pirates and hurricane fries from Vidad’s Local Kine Grindz. They were delicious. Okay, maybe that wasn’t so scary after all. And I did see a lot of other items I want to try.
High school paddling season is coming to an end on Maui. In fact, today is the state championship regatta on Big Island. The winning teams from Maui, Oahu, Kauai and Big Island all compete for the state title.
This was my family’s first experience with outrigger canoe paddling. Turns out, it’s quite the sport.
outrigger canoe
outrigger canoe paddling
Maui Interscholastic League championship paddling at Sugar Beach near our condo
Our high school’s team had 50+ kids participating, boys, girls, mixed, JV (junior varsity) and Varsity teams. They practiced daily after school, either at Kahului Harbor where the cruise ships dock (the water is kinda nasty, definitely not a swimming beach) or in the school’s weight room. Then Saturdays they had paddling regattas. The actual event would start around 8:45AM with an opening ceremony. This would include Hawaiian chanting and always the singing of Hawaii’s anthem Hawai’i Pono’i. The regatta (and ensuing meal) would usually be over by 1PM.
While our kids have participated in a variety of high school sports, this has definitely been the most Hawaiian experience. Students and parents arrived at each regatta at 7AM to prepare and serve breakfast to the team. Sometimes it consisted of muffins and fruit, other times parents went all out with fried rice. After the regatta was completed, we’d serve lunch also – the two times I was involved it was shoyu (soy sauce) chicken and then sweet and sour pork, cooked in a campfire setting. I must say, in a way it reminded me of our German heritage – keep everyone well fed at all times 🙂
must make food
sweet and sour pork for 50 paddlers
preparing fried rice
fried rice for breakfast
breakfast is served
Most importantly – keeping the team well fed!
Did you know?
Canoes weigh about 400 lbs. This means everyone pitches in whenever a canoe needs to be moved. Canoes can be connected with two beams to create a double canoe (you take off the outrigger for this) – which then weighs 800 lbs.
They are teams of six. The rear member is the steersman. The first three paddlers are the strongest with the best form.
Transporting a 400 lb canoe across the road to the water. All hands on deck
Want to give paddling a try?
Curious to give outrigger paddling a try? Both the Kihei Canoe Club across from the North Kihei ABC store and also the Maui Canoe Club just North of Sugar Beach Resort have visitor paddling opportunities. Check out their websites for more information. Disclaimer, I don’t think they feed you, but you could head over to the Sugar Beach Bake Shop after your morning paddle for a second breakfast.
Hawai’i Pono’i
Did you know – Hawai’i used to be a monarchy? You can still tour the palace – Iolani Palace – in downtown Honolulu. Compared to European palaces, it is a small affair, but nonetheless, it is the only royal palace in the United States.
The lyrics to Hawai’i Pono’i were written by King David Kalakaua in 1874, the music by Henri Berger, the king’s royal bandmaster at the time. It served as the national anthem and now is the state anthem and is sung in the Hawaiian language. Even now, after annexation, becoming a US territory and then obtaining statehood in 1959, Hawai’i Pono’i is sung at many events throughout the islands. For much more information on the controversial overthrow of the monarchy, check this link.
Celebrating the ‘seniors’ (12th grade paddlers on the team) with many lei – floral, plastic, candy and yes, floaties
One of our sons has been playing hockey for… well, forever. He started playing as a 10 year old because, after all, it’s the Canadian thing to do. When he first started, I knew nothing about the sport. In all truthfulness, I still don’t understand much of it. But it’s fun to watch.
Did you know that Kihei has a hockey rink? No, it’s not an ice rink. It’s inline. Maui Hockey has a youth league with kids ages 5-16 and an adult elite, adult rec and 35+over league.
At last night’s adult elite game. Such a fun game to watch!
The rink is located at Kalama Park in Kihei, right along the ocean-front bike path. Games and practices are evenings (it’s just too hot to wear all your gear in the hot Kihei sun).
When are the games?
If you are in the mood to watch a little, here’s the schedule:
Monday night: 8:15-9:45 PM rec league (2 games)
Tuesday night: 7:45-9:45 PM adult league (2 games)
Thursday night: kids games start at 5:30, 35+over league begins 8:30-9:45 PM
Lights out is a hard 10PM per County rules.
Did you know, last season the 16U team kicked the adult rec league’s butts? It was an awesome season, but to keep things competitive and fun, they’ve been split up for this season. They are practicing as a team (together with the rest of the leagues) for an Oahu tournament this April at Kapolei’s indoor hockey rinks (what a treat!)
Pickup hockey
If you love hockey, come down to the rink on Sunday nights for a round of pick-up, starting at 7:30PM. Sign a waiver, pay $10, borrow some gear and play ! It’s a fun crowd! What else do you have going on on a Monday night? And – what could be better than playing hockey on Maui? Inline hockey, that is!
Open skate
Yes, for those who want to just skate for fun, there are three open skate nights, Wednesday 6-8 PM, Friday 6-9 PM and Saturday 6-9 PM. Admission is free, skate rental is $5 (bring your own socks!). Skate night is run by volunteer hockey parents/skaters.
Our family likes to celebrate special days with freshly made warm malasadas. One of us recently celebrated a birthday, so I got up early to pick up a dozen from a local diner.
My kid didn’t want a birthday cake, so I stuck a candle in one of the cream-filled malasadas. A good compromise, though I still would have liked chocolate cake.
What are malasadas?
Malasadas are a Portuguese donut – essentially they are large donut-holes: deep-fried yeast balls, coated with sugar, sometimes cinnamon, and sometimes filled with custard or guava jam.
In Kihei there are two places to pick up malasadas. Our go-to place is the Home Maid Cafe in Azeka Plaza. They open at 6AM and will make either ‘sugar’ or ‘cream-filled’ malasadas to order before 10AM. The Sugar Beach Bakery in North Kihei also sell them, but I believe they stop making them at 9AM.
Early morning malasadas pick up at the Home Maid Cafe in Kihei. There are always several roosters to entertain in the parking lot.
Our family always gets a dozen (for about $15), half and half (half cream-filled and half sugar). It used to be the kids preferred the sugar ones, now it seems they prefer the cream (custard really) malasadas. There’s motivation to come get them!
Note: best to eat these fresh and warm. Once they cool they just aren’t as good.
What’s the Portuguese connection?
Did you know, in the 1800s sugar cane plantations on Hawaii were in need of workers. Plantation owners started bringing immigrants from around the world to Hawaii to work. Some of these immigrants came from Portugal, while others came from China, Japan and the Philippines. Here is an interesting article about this sugar cane immigration. These immigrants brought many of their own cultural traditions, beliefs, foods to Maui.
On Maui, you can check out the Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens at the beginning of Iao Valley (before you get to the State Park). While the gardens themselves are in disrepair, the signs tell the interesting Maui-specific story.
A few months ago I came across a special edition beer from the Maui Brewing Company – Black Pearl. The other day they had a picture of it on their facebook page – it’s back! I had to go pick it up. Check this article for more information on Black Pearl.
the special edition Black Pearl
I admit – I am not a beer drinker. In fact, I know very little about beer, except that I like dark beer. My go-to drink is usually a glass of merlot. But this beer is delicious.
I picked up a bottle of Black Pearl yesterday. It comes in a 750 ml bottle for $30, you can pick it up right in their pub. In fact, you can sample it before buying it right at the bar. As she was ringing up my bottle, the bar tender asked if I wanted to sample it vs the Coconut Porter. She said the Black Pearl was made from the Coconut Porter, which is then aged in a number of different barrels. Again, if you know more about beer, I apologize. But go check it out!
Maui Brewing Company
Have you been to the Maui Brewing Company? There are two locations on Maui. The original location in Kahana and the ‘new’ brewery with restaurant here in Kihei. If you haven’t been to the Kihei location, go. It is a really neat building that won an architectural design award. You can take brewery tours, sample any one of their 30+ beers on tap, play games on their outdoor patio and dine in their restaurant.
a glass of Coconut PorterSpecial pizza of the day – brussel sprout bacon. Different and delicious
A week ago we had a pretty bad brush fire here on Maui. It started on Wednesday July 10th near Waikapu and spread rapidly across the Central Valley coming very close to North Kihei (and our Sugar Beach condo). The fire ended up burning 9000 acres of brush land. This is mostly former sugar cane land.
As you may recall, A&B finished their sugar cane operations on Maui with their final harvest in December 2016. Since then the land has mostly been fallow, with sugar cane regrowth, weeds and of course kiawe trees growing wild. During their sugar cane operation A&B would irrigate the fields regularly, keeping them nice and green until about 2 years in, when they would have controlled burns and then harvest the sugar cane. These controlled burns would of course generate their fair share of ash particularly in North Kihei. Locals called it ‘Maui Snow’, black ash on cars and roads in the morning. However, A&B would then work up the fields within a few days and things would settle down again.
Last year A&B sold 41,000 acres of sugar cane land to Mahi Pono, a joint venture between a California agricultural group and ironically one of Canada’s largest pension funds. They have very slowly been starting to work up some acres and planting. Unfortunately it’s been an incredibly slow process. We were so used to the green central valley. It’s been brown and dry ever since cessation of the sugar cane operation now. In fact, there have been brush fires the past few summers, prompting the landowners to work up or disk buffer zones near roads as a form of fire break.
On July 10 the fire came so close to North Kihei, our guests at our Sugar Beach condo were evacuated. The Mokulele Hwy (now known as Veterans Hwy) and North Kihei Road to Ma’alaea were both closed due to the fire and heavy smoke and people missed their flights (including me – we had an inter-island flight to Oahu for a hockey tournament). The community pulled together, opened shelters and eventually everyone got to where they needed to go.
Driving from North Kihei towards Kahului on the Mokulele Hwy (also known as Veterans Hwy)
In wonderful news, there was no damage to inhabited buildings at all. To our knowledge, noone died in the fire. The police have an ongoing arson investigation for both this fire and a smaller fire which was started between the new Kahului Safeway and Target and the Sugar Cane factory on July 11.
What to expect when you come to Maui?
You’ll noticed the burned area in the central valley as you fly in – in fact, I would love to see your pictures! You’ll see the burned area as you drive across the central valley. You will see the dust blowing badly in the central valley and into North Kihei during certain times of the day. Here in South Kihei we are still getting some ash on our lanai.
However, fire fighters brought the fire under control within two days and are working to put out any flare ups that occur. We are so thankful for these men and women!
Our Sugar Beach condo is fine – no damage. There is still a lot of dust, we apologize. Join us in praying for rain. I’m not sure what else to do to help calm the dust down.
Do you love hockey? Let’s be honest, you probably didn’t come to Maui for the hockey. You probably don’t even think Maui has hockey (besides on TV screens in bars). However, Maui has its own group of hockey playing enthusiasts. Yes, we have a rink, but it’s not necessarily what you’d expect.
Maui’s own (and only) inline hockey rink in Kihei’s Kalama Park.
Kihei has its very own oceanfront sports area located at Kalama Park. Free and open to the public to use, we have tennis and basketball courts, multi-purpose fields used for baseball, kids soccer and kids football practice, a skate park and – yes – an inline skating rink. This is all Maui County owned property, however the County has an agreement with the Maui Inline Hockey Association (MIHA) regarding use of the skating rink. Volunteers run 3 free public skate nights/week (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings) and in return MIHA has inline hockey practices and games the remaining nights.
This weekend (April 26-28 2019) MIHA is hosting their first (in quite a while) inter-island hockey tournament, the Maui Outdoor Classic. Maui’s own hockey leagues are just finishing their winter season this week (rec league has their championship games Thursday night). Then Friday evening the fun begins. Since this is the only rink on Maui, players are excited that there are a number of kid and adult teams flying over from Oahu (look for the KIHA Warriors – Kapolei Inline Hockey, and HI Old School teams on the schedule)!
Admission to the Maui Classic is FREE. Come on down, enjoy some hockey, cheer on the teams! Here is the schedule. Note there are different divisions – kids games are 9U, 12U, 14U. Then for adult leagues there are rec league, 35O (35 and over) and ‘adult’ (elite).
Hockey Season
Love hockey but missing the tournament? No worries. Monday nights are pick-up nights (for older teens and adults), come around 7:30, sign a waiver, borrow some gear and join them. I believe there is a fee ($5 or $10, I can’t remember). We are heading into summer, the adults will play a summer season, details have yet to be announced. Fall season typically runs late September through early December, winter season late January through April. Adult games typically begin around 8PM, the rink closes with lights off by 10PM.
If you’ve driven upcountry Maui, you probably will know what I’m referring to: those beautiful purple flowering jacaranda trees.
Jacaranda trees are actually not endemic to Hawaii but are native to South America. If you go for an upcountry drive, they are just starting to bloom. They are so beautiful.
Maui’s only paint party place, Island Art Party, is located here in Azeka Shopping Center in Kihei. Yesterday’s paint theme was ‘upcountry drive’ which included some of the beautiful purple blooms. I’ve been eyeing up this painting for some time now and lucky me, my friend suggested we go painting.
If you’ve never gone to one of these paint parties, no worries. It is a fun social event, where they give you step by step instructions on how to paint the painting (everyone paints the same thing). Worst case, you throw out the painting when you’re done. Best case, you have an amazing souvenir of your stay on Maui.
Here are a few pictures of my painting. I’m about 90% happy with it. But I had a fantastic evening!
Do check out their website for their event calendar. Island Art Party has new owners and is currently waiting for their liquor license (no alcoholic beverages available at this time). They are hoping it’s a matter of weeks. On the walls and unused tables you can admire upcoming art projects.
Upcoming art projects – isn’t that sunset sail one (3rd from right on bottom) amazing?
Seabury Craft Fair
If you are on Maui around Mother’s Day, do check out Seabury Hall’s annual Craft Fair on Saturday, May 11th (the day before Mother’s Day). It’s a fantastic craft fair with juried crafts, a wonderful food section, kids games etc. But in my opinion the best thing about this craft fair – it’s the setting: beautiful bicoastal views, white tents under purple blooming jacaranda trees on a beautiful college prep campus. Don’t miss it! Parking across the road at the rodeo grounds is free, admission is $5.
For the past few weeks we’ve been hearing about winter stories on the US mainland and Canada. My cousin in Edmonton looked up the temperature in Antarctica and told me Edmonton had matching temperatures the other day (one day I would love to go on a cruise to Antarctica – not for the temperature, but just to SEE it, even just from a distance).
I’m wearing a hoodie – it’s cool-ish!
Kihei cold
Here on Maui we heard about your suffering and decided to join the club. Well, not that we had anything to do with it. There is some sort of low pressure system to the north of us bringing cool temperatures and strong winds. This morning the temperature was a frosty 60F (roughly 15.5 Celsius). Those of you who know me know that I hate heat (I know, I live on Maui – what am I doing?). I am cold. I am actually wearing a hoody and have closed the windows in an effort to preserve heat.
Maui County has closed the South Maui (Kihei) beach parks because of danger of large swell. North Shore beach parks have also been closed. Apparently we are expecting waves up to 60 ft (that would be on the North shore, not in Kihei). Today is a good day to stay inside or go shopping.
Haleakala National Park is closed due to high gusts of wind (up to 80 mph). Also apparently it’s snowing with a forecast of up to 3 inches. Remember your rental car does NOT have decent tires, please don’t drive up there. There are no emergency services, snow plows, salt/sand trucks. Plus there will be local families eager to see snow – some for the first time 🙂
my poor cold cactus
snow in the forecast for Haleakala
We aren’t going to die.
Yes, this is unusual, even for Maui winter. But we aren’t going to die. We aren’t even going to freeze. Since we don’t have a furnace, we’ll just dress a little warmer. If you are on Maui, please stay out of the ocean until the storm dies down and waters have stopped churning. Remember, stay out of the ocean if it is brown or murky. This is particularly when sharks come out to feed. Plus you could get a nasty infection from run-off in the water.
I’m sure the weather will go back to normal and warm up soon. At least that’s what we’re hoping for!
It’s the beginning of a new school year and Kamalii Elementary School has issued their new Pueo Premier Card for the year. We have one of these at each of our four condos, so please do use the card to get discounts (similar or better to kama’aina) at local restaurants and stores. If you are not staying at our condos, swing by the school office at Kamalii Elementary School. They sell them as a school fundraiser for $10 cash. Mahalo for supporting local schools.
What’s on this year’s cards? Here are some of the restaurants/stores represented. Check out the picture of the cards to see them all.
5 Palms Restaurant
Amigo’s
Cold Stone Creamery
Cow Pig Bun
Dina’s Sandwitch (sandwich store at Sugar Beach Resort)
Duo Steak & Seafood
Fat Daddy’s Smokehouse
Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods
Matteo’s Osteria
Maui Brick Oven
Maui Taco
Roasted Chiles
Round Table Pizza
Ruby Tuesday
Scuba Shack
Shearwater Tavern
Three’s Bar & Grill
Wailea Pharmacy
Cards are good for 1 use per day per offer and must be presented at time of purchase/order. Only 1 free item (unless specified) may be received on each visit. 2 for 1s are for equal or lesser value. Offers cannot be combined with any other offer or discount. Discounts at participating locations only.
picture of this year’s Pueo card – lots of discounts at local stores and restaurants
Kama’aina discounts
Speaking of discounts – what does ‘kama’aina’ discount mean? Kama’aina is the Hawaiian word for native born or ‘child of the land’. Here is an article about the meaning of kama’aina. Businesses in Hawaii are much more liberal with the application of the term when they offer kama’aina discounts to residents. Typically you need to show your Hawaii State ID or driver’s license to get the discount.
Note that though I have lived on Maui for 8+ years now, I am not considered a local. To be local, I would need to have lived here much longer.
The specials offered on this Pueo Premier Card are similar to these stores’ kama’aina discounts. In some cases these are instead of kama’aina discounts.
