A Celiac eats on the Islands

We still have lots of this white stuff everywhere.  Even though the snow fall has tapered off, we see snow wherever we look. All this snow is causing me to think about

Maui, sunshine, whale watching……warmth… no snow….

The snow dump, cold temperatures, gray skies, and generally yucky conditions have left this little town filled with grumpy, cabin-fevered people. Spring cannot arrive soon enough. In the meantime, I thought I’d cheer myself by reviewing a few of the food highlights from our Hawaii trip. Over the years, I’ve settled into a practice when we travel — if we find a restaurant that works for my diet, we visit that place several times on a trip. That practice cuts down on the fatigue that can set in when each day is a search for safe food.

In reviewing my photos, I learned, not surprisingly, that I ate lots of fish tacos in Hawaii.
Because I try to follow a veganish-pescatarian diet, Mexican food tends to be a good option when items are ordered without dairy. Also, since I consider tacos an actual food group, I always eat lots of tacos.

One of our first adventures on Maui was a visit to the Humpback Whale Sanctuary in Kihei. Happily, Coconut’s Fish Cafe is close by the sanctuary so we stopped for lunch.  Coconut’s serves yummy fish tacos, the first of many I’d eat on this trip. The kitchen is educated about celiac and safe food prep, perhaps because the manager’s daughter is celiac. My tacos, ordered without cheese, were smothered in fresh mango salsa and delicious.

Coconut’s Fish Cafe Tacos.

We also found plenty of tacos closer to the resort. From the Hyatt resort in Kanapali, our home for a week, it was an easy 2 mile walk to Lahaina, where we discovered Frida’s Mexican Beach House. We ate at Frida’s three times; twice I ordered the fabulous fish tacos with avocado and once I mixed it up and ordered a salad with grilled shrimp and black beans. Frida’s serves great, simple Mexican food and the kitchen understands celiac.

Fish tacos at Frida’s……more yum.

Wanting to vary our menu a bit, R researched gluten-free pizza in Maui and found Maui Brick Oven in Kihei. While the restaurant offers a ton of celiac safe, gluten-free options, we came for the pizza. The restaurant serves an excellent gluten-free crust (probably helps that the chef/owner is celiac). The place is family owned, the staff friendly, and the safe food excellent.

Excellent gluten-free pizza at Maui Brick Oven

When we weren’t eating fish tacos or pizza, we hung out at Japengo’s bar, a hub for evening entertainment at the Hyatt. From the bar, we could watch whales breaching off in the distance while we munched on enormous, pricey California rolls.

Off we flew to Kauai where my quest for fish tacos continued. A couple of times, we ate at Verde in Kapaa, an almost exclusively gluten-free restaurant.
I jumped at their ahi tuna fish tacos, a nice change from mahi mahi. Verde has a dedicated fryer so even the chips were safe eating for me.

 Verde’s delicious little ahi tacos. Why are Hawaiian tacos so good?

We also tried Tortilla Republic Kitchen located not far from Kapaa.
Eating safely in Hawaii and maintaining a mostly veganish-pescatarian diet was fairly easy on this trip and would be for any taco fan.

Now back to the snow……

 

 

A winter escape and lessons learned

This is what home looks like right now……

In February, we escaped to Hawaii. When one lives in Central Oregon and it is winter, escaping takes some extra planning.  Our trip to Hawaii was booked in August for travel in February, high season to view the humpback whales in Maui. So far in advance, how can one predict the weather? Or I should say, one can never predict the weather.

Since we planned to drive to Portland, Oregon, our departure airport, we built in the flexibility to leave home early if a winter storm moved into Oregon. Leaving early was necessary since after we drove over the mountain pass, the Cascade Range and Portland were hit with lots of snow. Happily, we flew Alaska Airlines, a line that knows dicey weather, and made it out of Portland easily and to Hawaii happily.

Beautiful Maui. I wish we were still there….

What is our winter travel tip and what have we learned? 

No one can predict the weather! Duh! One can use previous data to plan but nature does what it wants and with climate change what nature’s does is increasingly unpredictable.

While in Maui and Kauai, we frequently abandoned “Plan A” because of the weather.  Snow and ice (in Hawaii!!) closed Haleakala National Park while we were on the island, eliminating some of our planned adventures.  During our visit, Maui and Kauai were hit with monsoon-like rains that resulted in flash floods and brown water which eliminated other activities. 

A mama humpback with her calf, viewed on one of our whale watching excursions. Rain doesn’t bother whales.

Scenic Kauai…….ahhhhhh.

Those who travel know they must be flexible. Things happen, flights are cancelled, activities are cancelled, accidents happen and on and on. Be flexible, have lots of backup plans, and enjoy the moment, really enjoy the moment, especially if it involves 75 degree temperatures, blue sky, and ocean because you might come home to something like this.

Anyone want to shovel some snow?