17.2 Going Down in Maui

Date: March 4, 2017

Author: astottler

I know I said there would only be one more Maui post, but we’ll make it 2. I’m the first one up so I have a little bit of extra time, so why not? This will just be a short recap.

Friday night, I did the Crossfit Open workout 17.2. Which meant I had to actually be a little more careful about what I ate during the day so I didn’t feel like death. Go figure.

Breakfasts have been the same around here: mango, cheerios, yogurt bowls. After breakfast, we spent the morning at the pool (and saw our favorite kitty).

I’m not a big swimmer, but I actually deigned to go in the water this time. There was a very tame water slide that I ever went down a few times.

We cleaned up for lunch, which was Subway. Again, I wanted something familiar before the workout.

I even chose to skip the afternoon ice cream (gasp)!

We had a low key afternoon. Mostly lounging around the hotel.

Then it was Crossfit time! I dropped into Lahaina Crossfit again to do 17.2. They had a 2 hour window on Friday night for people to do it, and when I showed up, I signed up for the first slot! I quickly warmed myself up and was ready to go.

17.2:

12 minute AMRAP:

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 toes to bar

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 toes to bar

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 muscle ups

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 muscle ups

8 dumbbell power cleans

Repeat for 12 minutes.

I obviously cannot do muscle ups, but I did Rx anyways. The weights were 35#. I knew this meant I would have some time left to stare at the bar!

I was worried 35 would feel heavy for dumbbell cleans but it was a non-issue. I honestly don’t have a ton of commentary on this. It killed my grip much more than I was expecting, and my second set of toes to bar had to be more broken up as a result. My tiebreaker time was 6:37 for 78 reps, so I had about 5 minutes to “attempt” muscle ups. In reality, I’m nowhere near a muscle up. But I spent some time doing some really high quality pull ups, so there’s that.

I do appreciate how this workout didn’t have muscle ups right in the first round, so people could still do Rx and have something to do. The atmosphere is always fun, and it’s so cool that this is something I can do thousands of miles from home, because it’s something Crossfits do worldwide. I stayed an extra heat to judge someone else, and it was all a blast!

Right afterwards, we headed to Kohola Brewery in Lahaina. We stumbled upon this tiny local brewery when grabbing lunch, so we figured, why not check it out?

It was a cool vibe. It was out of a warehouse! We got a flight to start.

Apparently beer flights are becoming a post-Open workout thing for me?

Then I got a pint of my favorite, the Lilikoi Saison.

It was a great way to celebrate 17.2!

After our little happy hour, we went down to the water for dinner at Honu. We had originally made reservations for much later, but we were able to snag seats by the bar with no wait.

This place was awesome. They had a whole gluten free menu (including pizza), and the waitresses were super helpful figuring out various dietary restrictions (coming to Hawaii with a coconut allergy stinks). On top of the great service, the food was top notch. To start, we shared a date salad.

For my main dish, I had a taro burger on GF bread with truffle cheese. (How could one pass up TRUFFLE cheese??)

For dessert, my mom and I shared a beet chocolate torte. This was really delicious, and I couldn’t exactly taste the beet! It seemed a tiny bit earthy, which did a grey job counteracting the rich chocolate.

And with that, 17.2 is a wrap!

Pigs, Pastries, CF, Beer: All I Need

Date: March 1, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Aloha (again) from Maui! We’re staying in Ka’anapali this time, which puts us a short 10 minutes from Lahaina, which has pretty much everything I would need or want.

Monday morning, I dropped into Crossfit State of Mind in Lahaina .It’s a pretty small box, but everyone was really friendly. We did Grace, which is 30 clean and jerks. I did it with 85 pounds and finished in 6:08! We had extra time after the workout so we did a difficult cash out, which was a 7min AMRAP of 10 toes to bar and 10 burpee box jumps.

I have to say, I definitely felt more human after a good workout!

For breakfast, I was all about the fresh fruit.

Plus some cheerios and yogurt with sunbutter for a little protein.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning at the beach.

After cleaning up, we went to Leilani’s for lunch in Whaler’s Village. I passed on the alcoholic lunch beverage (I’d be asleep that afternoon) in favor of a pineapple vanilla soda. How pretty!

For my main meal, I had a really unique salad salad with crystalized ginger, pumpkin seeds, cabbage, broccoli, kale, pickled beets, and a miso sesame vinaigrette.

After lunch, we headed into Lahaina to visit the Maui Sugar Shop, and all gluten free bakery that is AMAZING. My parents went to Maui without me on my dad’s business trip in the fall, and they still stopped in there.

For lunch dessert, my mom and I split a cream puff and a chocolate lilikoi doughnut.

The doughnut was absurdly good. I think it was actually baked, not fried! I don’t really liked the fried taste of doughnuts, so that was even better!

Then, we walked down the main road, checking out various future menus, with one destination in mind.

Piglets! Every time we’ve ever been to Maui, since I was little, we’ve come to Dan’s Greenhouse to visit the adorable mini pigs.

These guys are why I stopped eating pork back when I was pretty little. The best part is that you can feed them, and these guys were SO snuggly!

One of them was quite insistent on burrowing into my leg though, and now I have a little snout bruise!

I honestly could have sat there forever.

But alas, it was time to move on.

Back at the hotel, we did our own little happy hour, but I made mine kombucha happy hour. We made another stop at the GF bakery on the way to pick up things for later, and one item was delicious brazilian cheese bread. This was cheesier and denser than the kind we normally have, but equally delicious!

We also had some taro chips and the Surfing Goat Dairy cheese.

For dinner, we were a little burned out on food so we cooked in. Although I use the term “cooked” a little liberally here. I made a salad with local greens, rotisserie chicken soaked in GF teriyaki sauce, fresh papaya, grated carrots, sweet Maui onions sautéed, and papaya seed dressing. YUM.

For dessert, my mom and I split a Lilikoi and chocolate cupcake from the bakery.

Tuesday morning, I went to a spin class at Enjoy the Ride. It’s really cool because they have a big TV screen that shows different terrains and feels like you’re on the road. It was weird though because one of the scenes was from near my area, and I’m sure I’ve driven on that very road before!

For breakfast afterwards, I wasn’t really feeling yogurt so I had a bar and a mango. Have I mentioned how amazing the fruit here is??

Plus papaya for a snack.

That afternoon, we drove over to Kihei for a tour of Maui Brewing Company!

We had some time before the tour started, so we hung out and tried a sample of a dark beer.

The tour was really informative, and taught a lot about the beer making process. We got to see the various ingredients of beer (malt, hops, water, yeast).

After 30 minutes of learning, we finally got to taste!

I think my favorite was the Bikini Blonde, which felt like it would be a great beach beer. Apparently it had a strong malty flavor.

As part of the tour, we got a voucher for one beer out of their almost 30 options in the taproom. Unfortunately for me, some of their best and most popular beers are coconut porters, which sadly I’m allergic to. I was happy with my bikini blonde though!

I absolutely loved the glasses.

After a late breakfast, we were ready for an early dinner after our tour right down the street at Maui Brick Oven, a pizza place that is totally gluten free! This was an absolute gem of a find.

The highlight of course had to be the fried avocado.

We also got a farm salad with avocado, goat cheese, and grilled veggies.

For our pizza, my mom and I split one with grilled vegetables and garlic.

We were pretty full, but managed to find room to split an amazing molten chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Baby goats, cupcakes, Crossfit—what more could I need?

Future Vet Student Goes to Maui and Only Cares About Goats and Cats

Date: February 27, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello from Maui! I’ve been here for a day and a half now, and wanted to share some of the fun food and such I’ve been having!
Our first stop was lunch, because it was 2pm Hawaii time, which is 4pm CA time! We went to a mall and got Hawaiian food at the food court (ironically at a chain we have back home). My mom and I split BBQ chicken with brown rice and salad.

And then mango sorbet and cake batter froyo.

By the time we stopped by the grocery and made it to our condo, it was time for dinner! We went to the hotel restaurant and enjoyed dinner with a view of the pool.

I started out with a local beer: Longboard Lager. For my meal, I had a veggie burger on a GF bun with fennel kraut and sweet potato chips.

After dinner we walked down to the beach to watch the sun set, but I missed the best of it because I saw an adorable kitty. Priorities.

Back in the room, we enjoyed some chocolates we picked up along the way.

Our first full morning, my dad and I ran 3 miles along the beach. The start, of course, was delayed thanks to the same sweet kitty.

My post-run breakfast was tropical juice, and then a yogurt bowl with cheerios, passionfruit jelly, and sunbutter.

Then, it was time to head out!

We headed out for my personal highlight of the trip, Surfing Goat Dairy. They had 1-3 week old goats!

When we went last time, we did the Grand Dairy Tour which included a full tour of everything, including milking goats. This time, we did a 30 minute casual tour where we got to feed some of the December babies and taste the cheese.

I swear, my heart was going to burst!

The cheese of course was phenomenal as well. We ended up getting a chèvre flight.

And some lilikoi (passionfruit) and blueberry goat milk gelato.

For lunch, we went to a natural foods store on the way back to our side of the island. We were trying to go to a place form last time, and this wasn’t it. We’d actually been there a loooong time ago though! I got an avocado wrap and some mashed sweet potatoes.

We also enjoyed some goat cheese truffles. I had lilikoi and blueberry.

We made it back in time for happy hour by the pool. I have never in my life enjoyed a drink poolside, and now I understand how it’s nice!

And of course I went back by the kitty’s favorite spot!

That night, we drove in to Lahaina for a nice dinner right on the beach at sunset at Pacific’O.

I wasn’t super hungry, so I had a salad with goat cheese, sweet Maui onions, and smoked tomato vinaigrette, plus some of my mom’s chicken and potatoes.

More importantly, I had to save room for dessert! We ordered a few things to split, one of which had wheat and nuts. Because of that, my dad ordered two spoons for himself. EXCEPT, he’s always been a 2 spoon dessert eater, so I think we all know that’s just a cover. He was a little excited to dive in.

The entrees I split were creme brûlée and flourless chocolate cake. I liked the creme brûlée a lot; it was more custardy vs. creamy.

Any Maui recommendations?

Hawaii-Final Adventures

Date: September 17, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Thanks for sticking around for all my vacation posts! I promise this is the last one!

Sunday morning began with my 10 mile half marathon training run. With record high temperatures in Maui, I knew this one was going to be a struggle. I scouted out a nice hilly route ahead of time-3 miles out from my hotel until the sidewalk ends, then back, and then I would play it by ear. I was prepared to jump on the treadmill for the last part if it got too hot.

It rained early that morning, so the air was SO thick. I got out the door by 6:30am, and it was nasty out. 1 mile in, I was drenched and felt kind of terrible. It must have been about 90% humidity. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it through half the run out there without dying. Luckily, the weather improved a bit. I ended up turning around at 3.5 miles, then running a mile in the other direction before realizing there was no shade and I was dying. At that point, when I reached the hotel I was at 9 miles so I did the last one in the comfort of the hotel gym.

I was really vigilant about hydration. I officially swear by SmartWater-I filled my bottle with it for the run and didn’t have the problems I’ve had in the past in the heat. I also drank some vitamin water before my final water. I did a really good job with fluids the rest of the day, and it really paid off!

Nothing like wear compression socks while on vacation…

For lunch that day, we stopped by a “healthy fast food” restaurant that we had passed previously. It’s called D’Lish, and it had all kinds of healthy sandwiches and bowls. We shared a beet salad with goat cheese.

And a mix of purple sweet potato and taro chips.

For my main meal, I got a veggie bowl, which was quinoa topped with broccoli, mushroom bisque, tomato, and feta. Yum! Love the idea of making a bowl using soup.

Our next stop was to the movies-we saw the Perfect Guy, which was pretty intense. Then, we stopped by Maui Tropical plantation, which is a nice little place with a gift shop, pineapples growing, and now a zipline that we tried 2 years ago when we went. It’s in a beautiful location.

That night, I made reservations for the Molokai Bistro at the Grand Wailea hotel. We put on our fancy clothes (although the restaurant was fairly casual) and headed out!

We ordered a bottle of rose for the table, and my parents still insist on taking pictures of me any time we drink wine in public. #21

To start, we shared Maui Onion rings (Maui onions are sweeter than regular onions) and sweet potato fries, with lilikoi BBQ sauce.

I got the catch of the day-mahi mahi served over purple mashed sweet potatoes and garlic broccolini.

It was delicious, and it was nice that the portions weren’t giant!

Dessert was also amazing. Butterscotch creme brûlée topped with banana mousse and shaved chocolate. YUM. What a nice dinner!

We saw 2 stray kitties and some frogs on the walk back!

I’ll spare you of Monday’s food pictures because I posted all that for WIAW, but here’s the day!

I was hoping to got to Lahaina Crossfit, but my shoulder wasn’t anywhere near ready. Instead, I took it to the hotel gym for a shoulder friendly strength workout. I started with 100 lunges, 100 squats, and some RDLs with lighter weights than I would normally use to accommodate my shoulder. I then did a 15 minute ab circuit that I am still sore from because I never do abs, and finished with some light shoulder exercises on my bad shoulder and dumbbell snatches/push presses on my good shoulder. It felt good to get some strength work in despite my injury!

I went straight from there to the beach with my family. I lost the gamble of whether or not I would burn without sunscreen in an hour or so. Oops. Later that day a former fireman came up to me and recommended I put aloe on my burn!

It was a beautiful day, but hot. We went to the gluten free bakery again in Lahaina, but decided to keep it indoors with another movie.

This time it was the Transporter-Reloaded. It was pretty good-I don’t watch too many action movies but it was a pleasant experience. We came out to find a rainbow!

We stopped by Barnes and Noble for some reading material, and then Whole Foods for dinner since my stomach was flaring. The rest of the night involved Netflix-does anyone else watch The Good Wife?

Tuesday was our last partial day in Maui. I started off with a treadmill 4 mile interval/speed run and then went out with my family for one last beach trip. I enjoyed yogurt, passionfruit, and papaya beachside and got my fill of tropical fruit!

It was nice out but definitely starting to heat up! We weren’t at the beach for long because packing still needed to happen.

We said goodbye to our hotel and stopped for lunch at a health store near the airport. I had delicious avocado salad and some really interesting soup that had gluten free oats, zucchini, and cauliflower all blended up.

I also enjoyed a couple of bites of chocolate avocado mousse! So delicious, but so chocolatey-unfortunately these days I can’t handle more than a little chocolate.

Then we were homeward bound-overall it was a great trip!

Maui Part 1

Date: September 11, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m blogging from Maui, Hawaii! Lots of delicious food and scenery to share today!

Also-shoulder update-it’s feeling better each day but it’s definitely not near where it needs to be. I can now raise my arm above my head, but I have problems rotating backwards. I’m hoping I’m healed enough for Crossfit on Monday!

The plane ride here was pretty painless. I woke up early and ran 3 miles before leaving for the airport at 7, and had plenty of plane snacks, including my banana bread. I used guava syrup as the sweetener-there wasn’t much so I’m not sure it was noticeable but it felt festive!

When we stepped off the plane, this was the view:

However, it was HOT. 90 degrees and 80% humidity. Yuck. Our first stop was the local mall that we have gone to every time for many years. There was a mini farmer’s market going on on the ground floor and we picked up some tropical fruit and some avocado! Lunch was eaten at the food court-we went to a Korean place and I got BBQ chicken+sides.

After exploring a bit, we were able to check into our hotel.

But then it was time for ice cream. I had banana salted caramel.

Followed by exploring the property. My dad is here for a conference so we’re staying in a much nicer hotel than I’ve stayed in before!

Dinner was at the hotel restaurant. It was tapas style, so we ordered several dishes for the table-highlights for me were mahi mahi with mashed purple sweet potatoes and passion fruit, miso kale salad with dried figs, goat cheese balsamic beet salad, and gooey mozzarella tomato salad.

For dessert, we shared breadfruit lilikoi cake (breadfruit gives it a similar texture to cheesecake!) and a dish that was fruit with caramel sauce and chocolate that was then broiled and topped with ice cream.

The view over the infinity pool at dusk:

The next morning began with a slice of banana bread and a 5 mile treadmill run. Normally 4 is my treadmill limit but it was HOT so I just broke it up and did it. Post run, we ordered room service breakfast, and I got a beautiful fruit platter with maple yogurt. We also split gluten free pancakes, which were so, so good! I can’t remember the last time I had real pancakes!

Then it was beach time!

On the way back to our room, we stopped by the hotel’s water slides (!). When I was younger, we’d always pass the fancy hotels with water slides and wish we could go on them, so this was our chance!

After cleaning up, we headed out to lunch at O’Lei. I had blackened mahi mahi with papaya salsa, served with rice and caesar salad.

After lunch we headed to a nearby ice cream shop for some tropical ice cream. I had mango ice cream with mango sorbet swirls, and in the heat, this hit the spot perfectly!

After a grocery stop and some time to cool off in the room, we headed to the luau hosted by our hotel!

(Do you like my tan line? The sad thing is it’s not from wearing a t-shirt, it’s from only sunscreening my shoulders this morning…cute)

When we arrived, we grabbed drinks (piña colada for me) and got a glance at the pig they were pulling out of the emu pit. To cook the pork, an entire pig is buried underground and cooked all day.

After a bit of a wait, it was time to eat! I was pleasantly surprised at what there was for me to eat given my dietary restrictions!

Salad, pineapple coleslaw, roasted purple potatoes, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, lomi lomi salmon, and poi. The lomi lomi salmon is the salsa looking thing. It’s essentially pico with chunks of salmon (that look a lot like tomatoes!). Poi is a pudding like food that is made from taro. It has a bit of a sour flavor, and is often eaten with lomi lomi salmon. If you’re less legit like I am, you eat it topped with sugar!

For dessert-key lime squares, chocolate cake, a pineapple chunk, and haupia. Haupia is sort of like creamy coconut jello.

Then-the show began!

The fire dancer was especially impressive! I cannot imagine sticking a flaming stick in my mouth.

After a fun start to our trip, we have lots of adventures ahead!