I Survived Costco

February 10, 2019 life on Maui

Let me preface this post by saying this – nearly everyone on Maui has a Costco card. Our store is considered one of the busiest in the US, with both locals and tourists stocking up on groceries, liquor and gas at this discount warehouse store.

Maui Costco my spot in the Costco gas line

Yesterday afternoon was my Costco-time. I’d been running errands all morning, and now it was finally time to hit Costco. When I got there just after 2pm, there was not a parking spot to be had. None. I don’t actually remember that happening before. Usually at least the unpopular stalls on the other side of the drainage area or in back by the gas station entrance are at least still open. But not yesterday. Everyone and their dog and their neighbors’ dogs was at Costco. I kid, I don’t recall seeing a single dog in Costco, but it was just a little nuts. I do suspect, based on the groups of adults shopping in the store, that a few airplanes’ worth of tourists were in the store. But who knows.

I decided to hit the gas station first. At $2.79/gallon this is the cheapest place to fill up on island. After putting in my time in line, I did find a spot close to old Kmart. My list wasn’t long. I needed a new blender for one of our condos plus a few groceries.

Considering all the cars in the parking lot, it wasn’t too horrible. The main traffic jams were caused around the sample ladies and of course by tourists not familiar with our store’s layout. And then ‘those’ people who insist on going against the flow of traffic (you know who you are).

I do have to give Costco employees credit. No matter how crazy the parking lot, how bad the jam-ups in the grocery department, they always have the right number of stalls open (usually ALL) and the lines move quickly and smoothly. All the check-out stalls were open, with no more than 2 or 3 shoppers per line. Thanks Cos

What are my favorite things to buy at Costco?

I love my Costco coffee – more specifically Kauai Coffee. Sig has been to this coffee farm several times on the island of Kauai. And did you know, often you can get this coffee in Western Canada Costco stores also.

Pineapples. They used to carry Maui Gold (which are amazing). A year or two ago they switched to Dole. Hint – yes you do judge a pineapple by its color (yellow) and smell (if it doesn’t smell ripe, find one that does).

Chocolate Mac Nuts – my favorites are the Mauna Loa brand macadamia nuts (we visited their factory on Big Island a few years ago).

This is also a great place for dairy, meat, some seafood, alcohol…

What is Costco

Costco is a members-only discount warehouse store. You do need to be a member to shop and buy gas at Costco. The membership cost is $35 annually. If you do not have a membership and there is no store near where you live, just skip this. I don’t know that I would bother. Also, please note that everything sold at Costco is in HUGE sizes. If you are just here for a week, shopping at Costco will leave you with many leftovers and a lot of waste.

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A few craft fairs coming up

October 17, 2018 Made in Maui

Confession – I love craft fairs. I remember a few decades ago going to a huge Christmas craft fair in Calgary. It was amazing. I did all my Christmas shopping there that year, and must confess I hold craft fairs up to this high standard.

Having said that, there are two craft fairs coming up that have caught my eye.

Moonlight Mele

This event is being hosted October 20th from 5-8pm by the Maui Historical Society at the Bailey House Museum in Wailuku. Okay, it will be small – the advertising itself says ‘intimate’. But, the setting for this craft fair in itself is neat. And… they will have live music by Uncle George Kahumoku. One of my favorite local photographers will be selling her amazing cards there. Do check out Shelley’s cards at Alohi Images – she just announced she has new designs coming soon, just in time for Christmas card season! Admission is $5.

Made in Maui County Festival

The second craft fair I cannot wait for is the 5th annual Made in Maui County Festival. This is Maui’s largest (and best) craft fair – okay, very close to the annual Seabury Hall Craft fair just before Mother’s Day. This year it takes place Saturday November 3rd, on the big lawn at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. 15 food trucks, over 140 vendors, live music…. Admission is only $5. Be sure to bring your reusable shopping bags. Some of my favorites are…

Maui Fruit Jewels
HI Spice – amazing locally made hot sauce
Alohi Images (Shelley’s beautiful cards)
Sparrow Seas and Jonerz Art (husband and wife team, jewelry and wall art)

All products offered for sale must be made, manufactured, grown and/or created in Maui County. Although products may include source materials made/found in the State of Hawaii. Absolutely no ‘made in a third world country and sold as a local product’.

Admission is $5. Be there! What a perfect place to buy your Maui souvenir – or start your Christmas shopping!

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A few Maui things to do in September 2018

September 17, 2018 Maui to-do

Coming up on Maui this weekend and in the weeks beyond….

The Maui Lilikoi Festival

Have you had lilikoi? It’s a passion fruit – I’ve written about it in the past, see here. This weekend Saturday September 22, the Napili Farmer’s Market is hosting the Maui Lilikoi Festival from 8AM to 2PM. I have it on good authority that my new favorite bread bakery will be selling their bread there also…

Kula Festival

On the same day, Saturday September 22 from 9AM to 4PM St John’s Episcopalian Church hosts their 36th Annual Kula Festival. We went last year to cheer on a few musicians in the Chop Suey Jazz Orchestra. Not sure if they will be performing this year again, but it is a cute upcountry local festival to check out.

Maui Ukulele Festival

Sunday September 28th between 1-6PM come for a free Maui Ukulele Festival of concerts at the MACC. Bring a blanket/chairs to sit, ukuleles, a game or two and your wallet for some ono grinds (good food from the food trucks) and relax to the ukulele music. Note this festival usually takes place in October – this year it’s end of September instead.

Oktoberfest in paradise

Yes, Oktoberfest reaches even to Maui. There are several Oktoberfest happenings here.

On Friday September 28th the Rotary Club is hosting their 7th annual Oktoberfest at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina (see here for tickets).
On September 29th the Maui Brewing Company in Kihei hosts their Oktoberfest from 2:30-7:30PM.
Brigit & Bernard’s, the Swiss/German restaurant in Kahului, always hosts Oktoberfest four weekends in October complete with German beer, good food and oompah-band. I am not finding their information off hand, but give them a call for details.

Maui Sunday Market

Sunday evenings in Kahului from 4-8pm check out the Maui Sunday Market. This is a new event, just started this July.

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Pueo Premier Card

August 29, 2018 Maui to-do

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.

kamaaina rate — 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.

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Blue Door Bread

August 29, 2018 Made in Maui

I’ve noticed a sign on my way to the Kalama Park hockey rink lately. Truth is, it may have been there for years, I’m not sure. But I have noticed it lately. It says Blue Door Bakery. Having grown up in Austria the word ‘bakery’ is quick to catch my eye. I love most baked goods and especially a good loaf of bread.

After a few weeks of seeing the sign, I stopped in one afternoon – but sadly the bakery was closed. So I went online and saw that the Blue Door Bakery is open Monday-Fridays 8am to 2pm (or until they sell out). I haven’t been able to make it there during those times, so I did the next best thing – I went to Hawaiian Moons, the Kihei organic food store, one of several local stores that sells Blue Door Bakery bread.

I picked up a loaf of sesame semolina – all they had left by the time I got there. It was delicious! According to their website this bread is all natural organic and uses old-fashioned natural-rise methods (instead of yeast). The semolina tasted like sourdough bread to me. I don’t know if sourdough is the correct term, but …. hey, I love EATING bread, I don’t know much about baking bread.

Today I needed more – so back to Hawaiian Moons I headed for another loaf. This time I picked up a loaf of Levain. This one doesn’t have the sourdough taste. Absolutely delicious. If you like bread and like me do not care for toast bread, give this local bakery a try.

Hawaiian Moons

Hawaiian Moons is a small organic grocery store on South Kihei Road across from Kamaole 1 beach (near Cafe o Lei). If you are staying at one of our condos, be sure to take the Pueo Premier Card which should be on the counter near the keys or by any restaurant menus. It gives you a 10% discount off anything in the store. Besides introducing you to organic/natural food loving locals and visitors, the store also has a good section of healthy (natural) take out foods. Please do RETURN the Pueo discount card to the condo so the next guest can use it.

If you aren’t staying at one of our condos, stop in at the Kamalii Elementary School office – they sell these Pueo Premier Card for $10 cash as a school fundraiser. Help the local elementary school out and get loads of restaurant and store discounts around the island.

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Sunset picnic

June 19, 2018 Maui to-do

It was another beautiful day today. After a day at the office I headed over to our Kihei Surfside condo to prepare it for tomorrow’s guests’ check-in. It was much too beautiful a day to go home, so I headed over to the Island Market at the Shops at Wailea to pick up some dinner.

I sampled some of the poke and picked up two types of poke and an ocean salad. Poke is raw marinated fish – often ahi (tuna). Ocean salad is strips of kelp and sea weed with a slightly sweet salad dressing. This may not be your idea of a picnic dinner – but if not, they have a great deli section with many take-out options.

sunset picnic — The Island Gourmet Market is an ABC store with a great deli section.

I then headed back to our Kihei Surfside condo and had an ocean-front picnic.

You honestly can’t beat this view.

My picnic dinner was delicious.

And sunset was beautiful.

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Pineapples on Maui

April 23, 2018 Made in Maui

Hawaii used to be known for its pineapple plantations. These days they are now mostly gone – replaced by cheaper imports from other places. However, there are still fields to be found on Maui and it seems more fields have been planted recently. Drive upcountry to Hailemaile and if you look carefully, you will see some pineapple fields. Plants are close together, creating a dense pineapple plant field. Note, please do not trespass on these fields, even if just to take pictures.

From my experience growing pineapples from pineapple tops in my flower bed, it takes roughly 1 1/2 years to grow one fruit per plant – if you’re lucky.

My favorite growing stage is when they bloom. Each of those little notches on the hard skin represents where a tiny purple flower bloomed. Soooo beautiful.

Costco stopped selling Maui Gold Pineapples this past year – replaced by fruit that is supposedly grown on Oahu (though I’m suspicious). However, there are a few local businesses that still grow and use Maui pineapples.

The Hailemaile Distilling Company produces Pau Vodka. Check them out in Hailemaile, go for a tour and see their tasting room. They also offer tours of their fields.

The Maui Winery also uses local pineapple for their three pineapple wines ~ Splash, Maui Blanc and Hula. These are available at your Maui grocery stores or for sampling at the Maui Winery at the Ulupalakua Ranch.

If on Maui, look to buy a Maui Gold pineapple. Farmer’s markets should still have them available, even if Costco does not. They are unbelievably sweet and juicy.

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Sig’s favorite upcountry drive

June 10, 2017 Maui to-do

My hunny loves to go for an upcountry drive. In fact, we used to go about four times a year – every time we had company visiting us. Finally I stopped going – it’s a beautiful day trip. It’s just – well, it takes up a good chunk of my day 🙂

Today we went for his favorite upcountry drive as a family. It was drizzling as we left our house – that seemed a bit ominous since our ultimate destination, Ulupalakua Ranch is just 3 or 4 miles above Kihei/Wailea. And sure enough, it rained lightly for the majority of our day. But it was still a beautiful drive and fun family day!

We drove from Kihei to Kahului, taking Hansen Road by the old Sugar Cane Factory to Hana Hwy and then continuing up Haleakala Hwy (which becomes Kula Hwy). We drove all the way to Grandma’s Coffee House where we took a little detour to a side road to drive by Oprah’s house (well, one of them I’m sure). Then back down to Grandma’s Coffee, a little detour to where Oprah’s private road down to Kihei starts (no, you can’t drive it – there are several locked gates). Then we continued to Ulupalakua Ranch

Our destinations….

Ulupalakua Ranch‘s General Store is one of our favorite places to eat. They grill burgers to order made from their own meat. There’s something about eating fresh burgers at Ulupalakua.

Then we walked across the street to Maui Winery. Two reasons – the bathrooms are over there (the burgers were a little juicy) and a wine tasting. I picked up a case of their Mele red wine. They have a brand new wine – the Kula which according to their website is a rose white wine. It was really good. Be sure to check out ‘The King’s Room’ in the tasting house which tells some of the 150+ year history of this famous Maui ranch.

Next we headed back to Grandma’s Coffee House for some coffees and carrot cake. They roast their own coffee, make great sandwiches and have delicious baking.

This time we passed Kula Field’s farm stand, turned left on Oma’opio Road (a VERY winding road) and slowly followed it down to the Surfing Goat Dairy and Ocean Vodka (right next door).

Curious – go for a drive! See a part of Maui you didn’t think you’d find!

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The Amazing Maui Bread Company in Kihei

February 24, 2017 Made in Maui

I just found out we have a new bakery in Kihei! Actually, not so new anymore. The owners of the Fish n Chips place in Dolphin Plaza (across from Kamaole 1 park) opened the Maui Bread Company 4 1/2 months ago. With my love of bread and baked goods, I am surprised that my nose hadn’t sniffed this place out yet.

Maui bread — a small selection of Maui Bread Company’s baked goods

Everything is baked in house and from scratch. In fact, this morning when I went into the store, the two bakers were working the retail end of the store. They can tell you exactly what’s in everything.

What do they sell? Besides the really good stuff (okay, cinnamon buns and danishes), they also sell cookies and a variety of breads. They also have a selection of gluten-free items.

Their only advertising is done by word-of-mouth. The prices are reasonable compared to the grocery stores. I picked up a nice loaf of sourdough bread for my hunny (his favorite) for $5. The cinnamon bun I got for myself didn’t make it home. It was really good.

Where to find Maui Bread Company? It is located in the Dolphin Plaza strip mall which is along South Kihei Road, across from Kamaole 1 beach park. This is close to Honolua Surf Company, Hawaiian Moons, Cafe o Lei and the ABC store.

Dolphin Plaza

Check out the Maui Fish’n Chips place, the Koiso sushi restaurant, Maui Gelato (yum), Cafe a la Plague (great sandwiches and internet)., Pizza Hut etc,

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World Whale Day 2017

February 10, 2017 Events

Next weekend, Saturday February 18th, is World Whale Day. It takes place right here in Kihei.

The Parade of Whales starts at 9AM at the Alanui Ke Alii/South Kihei Road intersection and ends at Kalama Park. It’s not a big one, though last year was a lot of fun (it lasted about 45 minutes or so). Hint, sit or stand facing the ocean, that way you get a great view in addition to entertainment AND you don’t have the sun in your eyes!

Also, you guessed it, South Kihei Road is blocked off for the duration of the parade.

Following the parade there is a festival at the Kalama Park ball field across the street from Foodland. There are kids games, food, live music, a silent auction, local Made in Maui vendors and also a whale information gallery. As far as I can tell, the festival runs from 9:30AM – 6PM.

Admission to the festival is $5 (the parade is free, of course).

seabury hall — a local middle school marching band bringing up the rear

Where to park? You can park for free at both Azeka Mall and Hope Chapel, and yes, there is a free shuttle.

The Pacific Whale Foundation is the main sponsor of this event.

It’s Whale Season

January-March are of course humpback whale season here on Maui. Have you been watching the whales? Do you prefer to watch from shore or by boat?

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Tag: shopping

What are my favorite things to buy at Costco?

What is Costco

The Maui Lilikoi Festival

Kula Festival

Maui Ukulele Festival

Oktoberfest in paradise

Maui Sunday Market

Kama’aina discounts

Our destinations….

Dolphin Plaza

It’s Whale Season