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?

Our first stop off the plane was a farmer’s market. I had a chicken taco, and we shared flour less chocolate cake in a jar for dessert.

The fun thing about Kauai is that there are wild chickens EVERYWHERE; they have chickens like we have squirrels.

While there, we stayed at a condo with this view:

Our first full day there I started off the morning with a hot and humid 3 mile run with my dad. Then, we visited a coffee plantation and took a tour, learning about the coffee growing and making process.

There were 22 types of coffee to sample after the tour. I had a few sips of the caffeinated coffees before retreating to the safety of decaf. I could actually tell the difference between blends! Hawaiian coffee seems to be a little bit lighter than some of the other high quality coffee’s I’ve had (read: less strong). I ordered an iced decaf latte for the full experience.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but we took this trip with my sister’s fiancé’s family, as a joint vacation. Her fiancé and his brother are crazy athletic—they ran down the side of the road from the coffee place to lunch just for fun.

For lunch, I had a basic chicken salad with parmesan and papaya seed dressing.

After lunch we stopped at Auntie Lilikoi for some passion fruit products, and I had a Lilikoi (passionfruit) cheesecake ice cream bar.

Outside we found this family of wild chickens:

Our final stop of the day was Waimea Canyon. It is truly incredible. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, so I can’t compare, but I can’t imagine anything grander than what I saw.

Dinner was vegetable pho on the way back.

The next day was my little WIAW post.

At this point, the days are blurring together so I’ll just share some noteworthy moments.

Nike Training Club app workout with my father.

Friendly geese.

Homemade dinner: chicken and my new fav salad: papaya, papaya seed dressing, parmesan.

Horseback riding. I had a naughty horse with lots of personality who kept trying to eat the bushes! Highlights of this ride: the scenery, the baby wild hogs, and the kitty in the barn.

We went out for a nice dinner that night with everyone.

Many of us started out with a cocktail. Mine had champagne, lemon, and pineapple puree. This wasn’t mine, but look how pretty!

For my entree I got an avocado salad and split roasted vegetables with my mom. Both were excellent.

There were lots of cool desserts—you can’t really see it here but our chocolate torte is on fire!

New Year’s Eve morning started with a Crossfit workout at Kilauea Crossfit again. It was Fran: 21-15-9 thrusters and pull ups. We started out with PVC Fran to warm up, which is Fran with a PVC pipe (presses in place of pull ups). The strength was back squats, working to a heavy set of 5. I guess I haven’t done that much equating lately because my legs are still sore!

Afterwards, we made a final trip to the beach. I read my book—I have a nice book shaped sunburn on my legs.

For lunch, we stopped at a roadside food truck that advertised local fare. My mom and I split a chicken lau lau (chicken wrap in taro and banana leaves. Normally lau lau is pork, so it was cool to try!

The purple stuff is loin. It’s made from taro leaf. I like to eat it topped with sugar (which is NOT traditional), but they didn’t have any. Normally it is eaten with Lomi Lomi salmon, which is on the right. That’s sort of like salsa or pico de gallo with chunks of salmon added.

For the night, we ordered a bunch of pizzas from the pizza place essentially right outside our door. They had a gluten free crust which was exciting!

After eating, we broke out the fireworks are firecrackers. This was a new to me experience because they were always illegal where I’ve lived.

We then toasted the new year (at 10pm—midnight in CA) with blubbery champagne (the blueberry was super subtle).

January 1st was ROSE BOWL DAY!!!! It was also the day we were leaving which created some complications.We found a sports bar near the airport that supposedly had 9 TVs, and we arrived 10 minutes before kickoff only to find that that sports bar was out of business. Luckily we spotted a cafe across the street with TVs, and they kindly turned on the game for us. A bonus? The food was really good too!

My mom and I both had caprese salads and split the most amazing sweet potato fries.

For dessert, we all shared a flour less chocolate cake.

The game was AMAZING. We started out right away with a touchdown, and before we knew it it was 35-0. Stanford is so freaking underrated so this was fantastic to see. Because no one bothers to watch us, McCaffrey (our insane runningback) didn’t get a much deserved Heisman. Hopefully this dominant performance will give us some more attention!

At halftime, we raced to the airport and got through security as fast as possible. As it turns out, we were able to watch the game from our ESPN apps on our phones will going through security and checking in. Once through, we settled at a restaurant to watch until nearly the end.

SO MUCH STANFORD PRIDE RIGHT NOW. A Rosebowl win to start my Stanford career and a Rosebowl win to end it. Here are some throwbacks from Rosebowl 2013:

Ok, now I ACTUALLY need to go to bed!

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!

Friday morning began with a visit to the beachside juice stand. My fresh squeezed orange pineapple juice was enjoyed beachside, with some yogurt and fruit.

First kitty spotting of the trip by the beach!

After we cleaned up, we headed to Lahaina. Folks-it was a scorcher that day! Upper 90s and humid.

My dad is constantly in search for the best lau lau (pork wrapped in taro and banana leaves), so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant with local fare.

Teriyaki chicken for me!

Dessert was much anticipated-a gluten free bakery! We shared a cream puff and then I had a chocolate cupcake with lilikoi (passionfruit) icing.

It was impossible to tell the cream puff was gluten free, and the cupcake was phenomenal. The cake was moist and dense, and the frosting was the perfect tart counterbalance.

We walked through downtown Wailea, burning up the whole time as we stopped in and out of shops. Finally, we reached our destination: Dan’s Greenhouse. This is a little hidden treasure-we’ve actually been coming to this little shop every time since I was a child. This is also where I got my beloved plumeria plant that has lived in my dorm the past 2 years! But the best part??

Miniature pot belly pigs! I’ve mentioned before that I don’t eat red meat, and these guys are partly why. I think I stopped eating pork around 5th grade, after absolutely falling in love with these guys. This little guy was just a ball of energy. I believe he was 6 months old-he was 8 pounds but will grow to about 15. They eat a vegan diet-similar to what they eat in the wild. If you overfeed them or feed them a too protein rich diet, they can grow to up to 70 pounds! You can pay to feed them, which is more than worth the money. I got to sit on the ground with him in my lap, as he gobbled up berries, kale, and oats from my hand.

I think the photo quality reflects just how wiggly he was!

On the way to the car, we stopped for a dole whip for my dad and iced lattes for my mom and me-plus some much needed time in air conditioning!

My final stop in Lahaina was Enjoy the Ride-a spin studio! They had a big screen in front that displayed a real terrain which was cool. The class was fun but not the hardest I’ve ever taken-it was perfect for the vacation!

Scenes form the drive back to Wailea/Kihei.

Dinner was at Three’s Bar and Grill. We started with a miso kale salad-I’ve had a couple of these while here and I’ve really loved them! For my entree, I had fish lau lau, which also included purple sweet potatoes and kale.

Dessert was gluten free lilikoi cheesecake. Gluten free cheesecake is something I’ve seen pop up on several menus around here!

Saturday morning was another highlight. We began with a trip to Starbucks for a quick breakfast (I had a smoothie plus sliced pineapple from Starbucks!)

On the agenda was the Grand Dairy Tour at the Surfing Goat Dairy. This tour allowed us to see the production process of the small, humane certified dairy. We got to feed the goat, milk the goats (!!!-so excited), herd the goats, and finally-taste all the cheese! I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Their cheeses were top of the line. We bought some to et during the rest of the trip, and are planning on ordering more online to send home! The blueberry and the lime goat cheese truffles I tried were delicious as well!

Next stop-higher upcountry for lunch and pineapple wine tasting!

Lunch was at the ranch burger place across from the winery. I had a taro burger on a gluten free bun.

At the winery, we did the complimentary tasting where we got to choose 3 types of wine to try. I tried the sparking pineapple wine, the rose sparking, and the sweet raspberry dessert wine.

I was really torn about taking home a bottle of the sparkling pineapple or the sparkling rose. I liked the rose more, but the pineapple was really unique!

We took a complimentary tour-and I learned that they produce a really small amount of their award winning sparkling rose-it’s made with grapes grown on their property, and because they produce so little, they only sell their award winning rose on the property, so I felt good about my decision to get that! Scenes from the tour:

The rest of the day included a decaf Kona cappuccino, exploring some shops in Wailea, goat cheese, and room service.

Um-check out this cheesecake. Lilikoi cheesecake with a gluten free brownie base. YUM.

So-can you tell I kind of like animals?

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!

First, I want to catch up a little bit. On food. On fitness. Life. Etc.

First of all-my sister is engaged! How crazy is that?? I’m the maid of honor and I’m so happy for the couple! We even broke out the good champagne to celebrate!

It happened on a hot air balloon in Napa-hwo perfect is that? They stopped by for congratulations and to partake in our grilled nectarine salad (because we got nectarines from Costco with only a few days to eat them…)

Recipe here.

Another meal I’ve been meaning to post were these beautiful parmesan and spinach soufflés.

Plus a delicious side salad with herbs, meyer lemon infused olive oil, and aged white balsamic vinegar.

In workout news, I messed up my shoulder today. I was weight lifting with my trainer. We did heavy snatches and I did pretty well-didn’t hit my max but made the lifts I should have made. Then, heavy deadlifts. After working my way up to heavy weights, I did a set of 5 at 210, a set of 3 at 220, and a set of 1 at 230, followed by max reps at 230 (I got 2-apparently my form was going and I wasn’t allowed to try a 3rd with my ‘cat back’). Then,I worked on behind the neck snatch grip presses and snatch balances. It was fine. So basically I spent a lot of time stabilizing heavy weights with my shoulders with no issues. Then since there was a bit of extra time, we did some core work-roll outs. You may have seen those ab wheels before, but I used a barbell with circular plates to roll out. I got a little too ambitious on the first one and roll out to far, and then got kind of stuck and ended up sort of face-planting and felt a pop in my shoulder. I was worried at first, but everything seems to be in the right place and it feels much better than it did initially. The pain is in the same area that my shoulders get creaky, especially this one, so I think it’s just a bit of a sprain/strain. I’m hoping it feels better soon!

In life news, I’m jetting off to Hawaii with my family! My dad has a conference so we’re tagging along and making a vacation of it. To be perfectly honest, I’m a bit worried about what I can eat but I’m sure we’ll make it work. Hawaii is full of nuts and coconut, and the last time I was there I ate both and ended up with a pretty bad allergic reaction to macadamia nuts (this is before I completely avoided them and was still in denial).

It’s actually looking to be a pretty active vacation for me. I have a 10 mile run scheduled this weekend, which will feel great in the heat and humidity I’m sure…Plus some other shorter runs. I’m also hoping my shoulder is ok to visit some of the Crossfit boxes I visited last time I was there! Other excitement includes another visit to see the piggies.

The biggest thing I’m excited about it visiting a goat dairy farm! We went many years ago and I remember trying delicious goat cheese. Plus-RUMINANTS. I think as part of the tour we get to milk them? So pumped!

In terms of my health-my stomach is mostly healed but not 100%. There are still times were I feel super dizzy and nauseous, and tums/pepto still has to come everywhere with me just in case. Luckily, at this point it seems these episodes are mostly linked to certain foods. Which can be frustrating, but I’m trying to be better about figuring out what foods and how to better avoid them The list of things that makes me sick includes dark chocolate, onions, mexican food, tortilla chips, wheat, too much sun butter, too much fatty food. The list goes on. I really do feel like some of this is temporary and won’t affect me in time when I’m fully healed, but we’ll see. In the meantime, I’m sticking to gluten free-all of these breads I make with gluten free flour, and you’d never know it. It seems to be even less noticeable with pumpkin bread than banana bread too.

Which FINALLY brings us to the recipe! I wanted to make sweet potato bread, but couldn’t find the recipe I used in the past so I figured, why not try my own hand at it? Like I’ve said before-I’ve tried very hard to screw up my basic banana bread recipe so I might was well try a little bit harder!

Sweet Potato Bread

Ingredients

1.5 cups mashed, cooked sweet potato or yam

1 c flour

1/3 c milk

2 bananas, mashed

2 T oil (I used avocado)

1 egg

1 T vanilla

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/4 c honey (can add more-to taste)

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

Optional: 1 T orange juice (I wanted to moisten it and in full honesty the only citrus we had was a tangerine so I just used the juice from that)

cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix wet ingredients well, then add dry ingredients.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top (this just makes it pretty!)
4. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This dense bread is the perfect segway between summer and fall. It’s a dense, warm bread but doesn’t quite have the kick of fall spices.

What is your favorite quick bread? What should I experiment with next?

Yesterday morning began with a 3 mile run. I had a pretty good pace going, which made me happy because my runs here have been pretty slow thus far. I rolled my ankle with about a mile left in the run though. As in, I was a mile away from the condo I’m staying at. So that stunk. I’m getting really sick of rolling my ankle on runs! I was able to walk it off a little, and continue the rest of the way VERY carefully. Meh. 

But guess what yesterday’s activity was? 

SEGWAY TOUR.

It was sooo cool to ride a segway! It took a little getting used to, but it was really fun. The segway is pretty sensitive to your movements, and it can make really tight turns (you can turn around in place). It actually can go pretty fast! We started out by practicing in the parking lot with it on “beginner mode” which limits the speed. After some cone drills, we were ready for the open road! 

The tour took us to the Iao Needle, where we parked the segways and hiked around.

The Iao needle is the long and skinny rock. This area was so pretty!

After our tour, we stopped at a small fruit stand. I’ve been dying to have coconut all trip, and the stand had fresh, young coconut. I’ve never had young coconut before-it was way more tender. The guy at the stand split open the husk with an ax and let us drink the water inside, and then chopped it up. We used pieces of husk for “spoons.”

It was delicious! We also bought some passion fruit and guava, which was riper and sweeter than the fruits we had back at the condo. We have a lotttt of fruit to eat in the next 2 days, since none of it can be taken back to the Mainland. 

For lunch, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. My mom and I shared the Make Your Own “Vietnamese burrito.” Which basically meant make your own fresh spring rolls. We were given a plate of fresh veggies, herbs, and tofu, plus rice paper which we dipped in hot water to soften.

We then got to wrap it all up to form this!

Disclaimer: this roll is actually one the server demoed for us. My were much more glob-like, but by the time I wrapped them all up, my hands were covered in food and touching my phone was a no-go.

For dinner that evening, we went to a local health foods grocery, which turned out to be entirely vegetarian. Cool! It was super fun to look around in-I’m guessing you all understand this phenomenon. I ordered a sandwich for dinner which had avocado. Enough said. 

Today was also super awesome. Since I’m a cool food blogger, I wanted to tour a pineapple plantation. The plantation is in Upcountry Maui, sort of off the beaten trail in a tiny town. Since I’m obsessed, I just happened to check local Crossfit box locations, and there was one literally right across the street from where the tour left. I emailed the box last night and heard back within minutes. 

Everyone was soooo friendly. Not that they weren’t friendly in Lahaina, but even more so here. This box definitely had a small town feel, as it’s not necessarily in tourist territory. I mean, check out these pictures of the location.

I was also a big fan of the workout. Why? the warm up included rowing. My box never does rowing since we don’t have enough ergs, but given my background in rowing, I’ve been dying to show off a little. The warm up was a team workout-5 people per team, 6 minutes. Each person would row for a minute, while everyone else held a plank. I was the first rower so I got to go twice. We competed against another team. Sadly, we lost by 12 meters. 

We then went through some other warm ups and stretching, before doing the WOD, which was an 800 meter run and then a sequence of kettle bell swings and pull ups. 

I can’t say enough how great my experience here was. I ended up staying after for a little while talking to other Crossfitters. One couple was visiting from Texas, and they had been to some other boxes on Maui as well. 

Another bonus? The drop in class was free if you bought a t-shirt. T-shirts were $25 and normal drop in was $20. So basically I got a $5 t-shirt. Score!

Before the pineapple tour, we stopped at a little organic restaurant for brunch. My mom and I split French Toast (made with Hawaiian sweet bread, and served with maple syrup and honey butter) and an omelet with goat cheese, mushrooms, and pesto.

Next, it was time for the pineapple plantation tour! Check this view of the sugar cane out.

Pineapples take 2 years to fully grow. Here’s a shot of some babies!

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Then we proceeded to the sea of bigger pineapples.

Then, it was sampling time! This plantation grows Maui Gold pineapples, which are sweeter and less acidic than other varieties. They are only 15% acid, and 85% sugar. They regularly test their crops to make sure this ration stays this way. They’re a pretty small operation-they only ship to the West Coast (sorry to those on the East Coast-believe me, you’re missing out!)

We sampled a few different stages of ripeness. First were the green pineapples. These were still pretty darn tasty! The core wasn’t as tough either-it was fine to eat.

Then, we sampled the green-gold. These are what you’d typically buy in stores. A few pineapple facts-pineapples are as good as they’ll ever be the moment they’re picked-they don’t ripen by sitting around your kitchen like other fruits. Also, the bottom is sweeter than the top (near the crown). We could really taste the difference. A quick tip-you can store your pineapple upside down to better distribute the sweetness. Or don’t tell anyone about this and hog the sweet part for yourself. 

Then we sampled the gold-these are yellow in color and have to be eaten within 2 days; they don’t sell these because they go bad so quickly. They were soooo good and sweet. 

Now, at this point, my tongue was feeling the pineapple burn. The delicious, sweet pain that comes with overconsumption of pineapples. But did you see how many pineapples were in the field?

Pictures were in order.

My family attempted to do a silly shot-which ended with my sister accidentally pulling my mom into the pineapple patch. “Accidentally.”

There it is-a moment preserved on the internet for all to see. 

I thought the pineapple eating was over at that point. But nooo. We each got whole pineapples to eat like giant turkey legs.

They were so juicy too-I managed to stay fairly dignified and keep the juiciness to all over my face and hands. My sister? She was dripping juice from her elbows and down her legs. The pineapple was AMAZING. HOWEVER. I probably ate like 2 whole pineapples. At least 1. Can you imagine the acid burn on my tongue from the much pineapple? Heck, the burn on my lips and chin? Owwww. I pretty much had my fill of pineapple for the next 4 years.

Except that wasn’t all! They gave us each a pineapple to take home with us as well! Luckily, these can be taken home on the plane, so my tongue has some time to recover. 

Have a great Sunday everyone! I’m hoping to get a decent run in. I wanted to do repeaters on a track, but I can’t find any tracks nearby! I think I’ll try doing them on a bike trail while nursing my wounded tongue.

Do you like pineapple? My parents once tried a crazy diet where you eat nothing but pineapple. What. Were. They. Thinking. #pain

Have you ever ridden a segway? If you do Crossfit, have you ever visited a different box?

I’ve been in Maui for almost 4 days now. It’s not all just beaches and palm trees-there’s lots of goof food too! It’s hard, I know. 

This edition of What I Ate Wednesday will focus on all my eats here on vacation.

I know I already discussed this, but my dad is a big fan of authentic Hawaiian food. He loved kalua pig and lau lau-pig wrapped in ti leaves. Since I’m not a pork eater (those pigs are too darn cute!), I used to always order the Loco Moco, which is a beef burger, rice, a fried egg, and gravy. These days I stay away from red meat, so I ordered the teriyaki chicken.

The first night, we went to a Luau, with more traditional (ish) Hawaiian food. It was a buffet. Enough said.

Rice, various veggies, purple sweet potato, teriyaki chicken, macadamia encrusted mahi mahi, a roll and poi (made from taro).

And of course dessert. I had to try a little of everything.

The highlight was probably the guava mousse. Yum!

Since I don’t normally eat out quite this much and restaurant portions are usually large, my mom and I have been making an effort to share meals during this trip. Before going zip lining (!), we stopped in at a local hole in the wall sandwich shop.

The walls were lined with dollar bills which people (probably mostly tourists) left with a message. How quirky!

My mom and I split a turkey sandwich with island avocado. And after zip lining, I had some pineapple ice cream.

Yesterday was a day with a ton of good eats. My sister and her boyfriend are training for a marathon, and yesterday they ran 16 miles. They were kind of ravenous afterwards, so we went somewhere near the run, and appetizers were in order. Nachos with guac? SIgn me up!

For the main course, I split the turkey flatbread with my mom. They even served it up on separate plates- a nice touch!

For dessert, the table shared a slice of hula pie- vanilla macadamia nut ice cream on a Oreo crust, topped with hot and cold fudge.

Dinner last night was also a highlight-we went to a nice dinner at Tommy Bahama since my sister’s boyfriend has to leave today. I ordered Jerk Chicken with mango salsa, Asian slaw, and almond rice. Everything was delicious.

Aaaand some fancy desserts were shared afterwards.

Clockwise from the top left- pineapple creme brulee, butterscotch pudding, 4 layer chocolate cake, and key lime pie.

A few unpictured but other things I’ve enjoyed so far- tropical fruits (mango, papaya, passion fruit) and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Caramacs=the bomb. They’re caramel, macadamia nut, and chocolate. Yum. 

As I’m sure you can tell, a lot of delicious and decadent food was eaten. This morning however, I’m suffering a bit of a sugar hangover and stomachache. I think I need to reign it in a little to survive the rest of this vacation with a smile on my face!

As always, I love talking to you guys! I won’t pop in again for a while, but I have some AWESOME guest posts scheduled so check back in for those!

What do you eat while on vacation? How do you stay healthy?