hawaiian eats (pt. 1 of 2)

so in my real-life life, i'm definitely not a foodie. 

i eat the exact same thing for breakfast every day. and the exact same thing for lunch every day. and modest, mostly from scratch dinners (that tend to lean towards the "less-than-mature" palate) every night.

i almost never go out to restaurants. my idea of a culinary adventure involves the greatest bagel place of all time, and that's pretty much as wild and crazy as i get around here. well, i suppose that's not entirely true: i *have* been known to stop at a jamba juice or two. but only when i'm feeling real cray. 

HOWEVER, send me away on vacation, and i start obsessing over great places to eat. like my taste buds suddenly wake up and spend all their free time deep-diving on yelp. no meal left behind! 

what we've pictured here in our two part food series is by no means an exhaustive list of all the deliciousness we experienced in hawaii (e.g., one stop not pictured is our trip to ted's bakery for bryan's birthday where we ordered and devoured nearly a dozen different slices of pie; the runaway winner was the macadamia nut cream), but it's a decent sample.

surf and salsa, haleiwa

a delightful mexican food truck on the north shore. mexican sodas served out of coolers at the back made all the kids' beverage dreams come true.

matsumoto shave ice, haleiwa

iconic. delicious. the ultimate fave of the little wheelers.

seven brother's burgers, laie

this little strip mall joint doesn't look like much from the outside, but a hole-in-the-wall burger, fries, and shake is my death row meal, and seven brother's did not disappoint. worth the drive. one of the best burgers bryan and i have had. 

bonus track: can you really say you've been to hawaii if you haven't sipped fresh coconut water by the side of the road? to the utter disappointment of the children, who thought mother nature's coconut tasted nothing like other coconut-flavored goods they've enjoyed.