Only In Hawaii: Dessert Heaven

This is the first entry of a little section I am going to call “Only In Hawaii”. Here in the islands, we live in such a unique place made up of so many different cultures that it is only fitting when people refer to Hawaii as a “melting pot”. So with these particular posts, I want to bring to light some things that I believe to be, uniquely Hawaii and are all the more reason for me to love living here.

With this first post, I want to talk about Hawaii’s love, or rather borderline OBSESSION with desserts. For residents of Hawaii, food is an important part of our culture. We have potlucks and barbeques and gatherings whenever possible, and holidays are a huge deal for lots of families as well. And at the center of all of these things? FOOD!! And a potluck or birthday party or even a night out with friends wouldn’t be complete without a great dessert. The following are of few of my favorites and show why I classify Hawaii as a “food lover’s paradise”.

1. Samurai Ice Cream

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is what we call ice cream. At Samurai Inc locations, you can get this delicious treat any time of day in either soft serve or frozen ice cake form for as little as $1.50. They have over a dozen flavors to choose from, my favorite is the strawberry/vanilla combination (pictured). On a hot, muggy afternoon or even late at night, this treat really hits the spot.

 

2. Poi Malasadas

This my friends, is how you can achieve the feeling of heaven in one simple bite. Hawaii is known for a fried dougnut like creation called the malasada, most famously made at Leonard’s Bakery in the Kalihi section of Honolulu. But the poi malasada, takes things up a notch. With a crispy, glazed outside and soft, flavorful center the poi malasada is something that all who come to Hawaii should experience. Don’t be weary because of the “poi” part of the name. While true poi lacks any real flavor, this malasada is oozing with flavor. I particulary love the ones made by Kamehameha Bakery in Honolulu. Get them when they’re still warm and I tell you, there is nothing sweeter in life.

3. Liliha Bakery Cocoa Puffs

In Hawaii, cocoa puffs is not just a cereal you have for breakfast. Here, it is a puff pastry filled with chocolate pudding and most commonly topped with a sweet chantilly frosting. To some, this dessert can be seen as too rich but if you get it from Liliha Bakery it is just the right amount of sweetness and richness that you’ll have to stop yourself from inhaling it. The dessert can also be made with no topping, a chocolate topping or a green tea flavored topping but my favorite is still the chantilly topped cocoa puff. Regardless of how full I may be from a meal, if someone brings cocoa puffs for dessert….nine times out of ten, I end up eating one.

4. Ted’s Bakery Pies

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Pies? You can find pies anywhere!” But can you find a chocolate haupia cream pie anywhere? Most likely, no. That’s where Ted’s Bakery located on the North Shore of Oahu comes in to play. From this small shop comes some of the best tasting pies I’ve ever had. In particular, the chocolate haupia cream pie is a favorite on mine. A layer of chocolate cream is topped by a layer of haupia (a coconut milk-based dessert with density similar to custard) then a final layer of whipped cream. It’s great eaten with a scoop of ice cream or by itself and will be a sure fire hit with guests when you’re invited to a party but don’t know what to bring. It is pie done Hawaiian style.

Now of course there are a litany of other dessert treats that Hawaii has to offer, but the ones I mentioned are my top faves and ones that I would chose first over anything else. To me, they are a great representation of Hawaii and our love for all things sweet, rich, sugary and chocolatey.

Until inspiration hits again…

~Megan

Let’s go back to the beginning…

Well here it is, my very first blog entry. After years of contemplating about starting a blog (even if it’s solely for my own enjoyment and nobody actually reads this), I decided to create one yesterday on a whim. I’m still learning the ins and outs of how to make this blog exactly how I have envisioned it….which is, as sort of a mashup of things that happen in my every day life, funny and inspirational stories, yummy recipes that I use or want to try, kid-centered news/tips/survival stories (as I am a mother of one and aunty to MANY) and current things I am obsessing over or have been obsessing over for years. We’ll see how things go…but before I start to think about the future, I figure I should give you a little overview about my past.

I was born in Salem, Oregon as the first of three kids to my loving parents; Hawaiian born and bred teachers who had moved away from home for college and then decided to not move back. If you’ve ever met someone from Hawaii, you’ll notice that often times they LOVE the Pacific Northwest and you can actually find a lot of Hawaiians (or just plain “locals” as we refer to born and raised Hawaii residents) in Oregon and Washington. Anywho, I grew up with my parents and younger brother and sister in an upper middle class neighborhood in Salem where I loved school, was active in sports and enjoyed spending time with my friends whenever possible.

I’ve always loved to write and tell stories. From as far back as I can remember, I would dream up stories and tales in my head and then jot them down or write long entries in my journal about schoolgirl crushes, drama with friends or how my parents “just didn’t understand me”. For a time, I even wrote an ever-evolving story with my childhood best friend. There was just always something so appealing and satisfying to me about putting words down on a piece of paper. Seeing a finished piece of work brought me so much happiness.

My relationship with words and expression changed to some degree when I entered high school. Shortly after starting my freshman year, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy then simultaneously went through chemo and radiation therapy. My mom got through all of it like a warrior and was declared “cancer free” by the end of my freshman year. During that time, I started to use words as a way to cope with my feelings about my mom’s diagnosis and cancer fight. I was the oldest of three siblings and felt that it wasn’t my place to verbally voice my fears about all that was going on. So I wrote it all down; and I continued to write about it for the rest of my high school years. In my junior year, I took a creative writing class and for one of my assignments I wrote a short story that was based on my mom’s cancer fight and how our family coped with it. I was real proud of it, and I gave a copy to my mom as part of her Mother’s Day gift that year.

I continued to use words and stories as a way to transverse and get through life. I went on to college at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and was thankful every day of my love for writing when it came to the endless amounts of homework, reports and research projects. The invention of Myspace and Facebook became another way for me to write little blurbs about my daily events or random thoughts that came into my head. When my mom passed away after a reoccurance of cancer in 2008, words again were my savior as I went back to writing in a journal to deal with my feelings.

And now today, words and my love of writing are a part of my every day life when it comes to my career. I work as a social worker for the State of Hawaii and if that job title doesn’t say “paper pusher” and “report writer”, I don’t know what does. It can be tedious at times, but at the end of the day I love what I do and I feel that I am truly helping people.

But still, my need and thirst to write and be creative was not satisfied. That brings me to this blog. I’ve always loved looking at other home grown blogs and knew that I could do that too. I hope that people will stumble upon this blog, wonder what it may contain and then find something useful or inspiring or am able to just get a good laugh out of something I post. I believe that everyone has something (or some things) in life that bring them true happiness and then ultimately, closer to their bliss. While there are already so many things in my life that bring me happiness, I feel that writing this blog, or really, just creating this blog has brought me closer to that bliss. I can’t say how often I might post on here, because really daily life will dictate that. But I have made a promise to myself that I will make this into something spectacular…even if I’m the only one that sees it that way.

So until inspiration hits me once again, I will leave you with a quote: “When writing the story of your life, don’t let somebody else hold the pen.”

~Megan