Presidents’ Day

The new Beauty and the Beast opens with a grand ball and the be-wigged pre-Beast dandy dancing around the room.

“I know who he is!” Exclaimed Eloise. “It’s George Washington!”

This Presidents’ Day we joined friends for fun at Byodo-In Temple, the Tropical Farm Ali’i Tour, and lunch at the Waiahole Poi Factory for lunch.

It feels weird to celebrate Presents’ Day in the only US state that was once a sovereign monarchy… should we be celebrating Presidents’ and Monarchs’ Day?

Happy Presidents’ and Monarchs’ Day!

This is one of my top recommendations for families on Oahu, besides THE BEACH OF COURSE. It’s like the best of the Koolina Ranch and a luau combined into a daytime, one-hour tour, with free coffee and mac nut samples before and afterwards. The 11am tour time is perfect for little kids! I always enjoy it. Mondays are their busiest day, so pick another day if possible.

I’ve found poi mostly meh, but at the Waiahole Poi Factory, a Hawaiian-style place on Kam highway in north Kaneoke, I saw some girls hosing their poi down with soy sauce. That looked pretty delicious, so I ordered some along with my kalua pig, haupia, lomi lomi salmon and rice, and it was the best poi I’ve ever had. I don’t know if the poi factory makes somewhat-above-meh poi, or if salt is just all this mediocre food staple needed for me, but YUM. I’ll never eat poi without soy sauce again. I’m not sure how many more times I’ll eat poi anyway, since it’s not exactly on my weekly shopping list, but you know. If you’re wondering what lomi lomi salmon is, I think it’s usually diced tomatoes that are extremely salty and taste very salmony. It’s more flavorful than poi, but oh man, both lomi lomi salmon and poi pale in comparison with kalua pork. I could eat this every which way: on rice, in a stir fry, mixed into an omelette, topped with poi, in a taco, on a Hawaiian role with BBQ sauce like a slider…YUM.