I was sitting there munching on some generic/store brand 'woven wheat crackers' and a popular storebought blend of chickpeas and other ingredients that could possibly be considered hummus in the most general terms.

As I was eyeballing proportions so that I didn't end up with either a half box of crackers or a half tub of 'dip' left over I started wondering if the dip was a condiment to accentuate the taste and texture of the chip, if the chip was a delivery vehicle for the dip, or if the two were a well balanced combination to be enjoyed as a single entity.

Now part of that depends on the chip and the dip involved. I tend to lean slightly toward the 'dip delivery vehicle' as I normally would not eat trisc... er... woven wheat crackers by themselves, but i was wondering which side other chowhounds came down on. (I have been known to down a large number of other type of crackers without dip,)

the last time i did a google search with the okina was some years ago and it turned up very little information that I was looking for. Without the okina I had much better results. Haven't tried it again, but maybe things have changed.

being born as one of those without breath I may be biased, but I'm thinking most people searching Chowhound have probably not encountered the 'culturally appropriate' spelling.

yes, coco puffs are a great idea.

we are not suggesting you bring a box of cereal advertised by a crazy bird in the 1970s. coco puffs here are a chocolate custard filled "cream puff" with chantilly icing on top. they are only available at liliha bakery in kalihi.

and couldn't agree more with macsak about beer, 'heinies' is the way to go for most "locals" unless you bring real planny bud light.

It isn't. And frankly - at least the KFC's I've been to in the last year or two, the quality has really really gone down.

If you wanna bring fried chicken, then bring Zippy's, at least its crispy instead of that limp greasy soggy KFC crap. If this is just a pot-luck bbq then almost anything you bring that will serve 20 people is good, although the suggestion of beer (and or soda) is a good one. Pick up a tray of noodles (chow main) from Chun Wa Kam or a bucket or two of zippy's chili. Two or three dozen Malasadas from Leonards or Champion, a tray of KimChee fried rice from Big City Diner, A tray of bbq meat from Gina's, a couple of pounds of poke from Alicias, Poke Stop, Fresh Catch; or ask the conceirge at your hotel for a suggestion.

If this is a true Luau, then it should be Hawaiian food, and you might be better off sticking to beer and soda. Once you know some specifics about what you are doing, where you are going then let us know.

BC: a lot of places have added a spicy shrimp option in the last few months. Most of them are just "hot" and not terribly flavorful.

I thought about asking for the okina, but in this English Language dominated world it can really foul up a search.

For those of you confused, an "okina" is a reverse apostrophe that indicates a glottal stop.

and you have to have 'little old ladies' walking around forcing you to eat more because they don't want to take home leftovers. ". . . here, have some more potato salad, have you tried Mrs. F's jello ring? It has lima beans and bac-o's! . . ."

" . . . if you gotta go, thats the way to go . . ."

I think a lot of people are really surprised to find out that of the approximately 1.4 million people living in Hawaii 950 thousand of them live on Oahu and only about 150 thousand live on an island almost the size of the state of Connecticut.

and three drops of mennen skin bracer.

actually i was thinking of the ancient roman strigil

I'm not clear on your expectations Jerseygirl, but living someplace always gives one a distorted perspective. Much of what you ask about has been covered somewhat in the last few months, and extensively over the last couple of years. Im sure some of the Hawaii Chowhounds and regular visitors can identify links to threads for your questions. The Hawaii room might be a better place to discuss them, hope to see a posting from you soon in the Hawaii room.

Thanks for the reply Jacquiynne. How about this?

Restaurants and food in Hawaii (Honolulu/Oahu, Maui, etc.)

I, the above named, while retaining a small shred of sanity, do hereby solemnly pledge that I will never-ever read another thread on tipping. Respectfully submitted this 15th day of June, 2013.

wow, i divide by 10 and then double. lets argue about that for about 15 rounds chowder. but I agree. and to me 'fiddle' almost always means adjust upwards to a round number.

Indelible, I'm usually the first to rise up and criticize L&L but even I have to agree that they do a decent job on shrimp. It's frozen of course, not fresh, and I still think there is too much salt and msg, but also a lot of garlic (a good thing.) Its not a bad dish, and they include lots of butter sauce. Probably one of the best things on their menu. And like their other dishes, the portions aren't skimpy.

As a side note, I made a posting about the description of the Hawaii board on Site Talk, if you or others want to chime in, feel free. Thanks for letting me slightly hijack your posting.

The subtitle says:

Restaurants and food in Hawaii (inc. Honolulu, Oahu, and Maui)

To someone who lives here it looks kinda ridiculous, to visitors it is probably confusing. Maybe something more like:

Restaurants and food in the Aloha State including the islands of Kauai, Maui, Hawaii, and Oahu (with Honolulu and Waikiki)

I think you can get away with leaving off Molokai, Lanai, and the lesser islands. No one here is likely to be asking about food on Kahoolawe or Niihau. The Aloha State is our official nickname so thats ok too.

If thats too long maybe you could get away with:

Restaurants and food in Hawaii (inc. Honolulu/Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii)

my folks are divorced as well, after 25 years, so I take no responsibility for that.

mom liked scotch, dad was a bourbon drinker, so me liking bourbon . . . well you get it. Send me a bill for an hour with your shrink. I wont pay it, but I'll feel appropriately guilty.

there is a larger crop in the summer months, but yes, it grows year round to some extent.

http://www.windwardmall.com/event/farmers-market-every-wednesday/

as honu2 said, mostly for fruits and vegetables, sometimes there is seafood, sometimes not.

also think about some of these:

http://hfbf.org/markets/

or if you really want to get into it read this article, but be sure to re-verify the times and locations, the article is from 2008, some things have changed since then

http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honol...

look great, but not what an American would call a sandwich. Of course you weren't in America.

I've only tried the Hot once. Meh, kinda hard to appreciate the shrimp with that much hot sauce. And no, I didn't think it was that spicy, i think its more of a marketing gimmick. You have to remember that a lot of the Japanese tourists don't have much of a tolerance for spicy food (except wassabi.)

Giovanni's used to be willing to sell fresh shrimp if you asked for it, I don't know if they still do or not.

One thing to look for is if any of the fresh corn stands are open when you are up there. Nothing like an ear of fresh picked corn with the fresh shrimp. I'm surprised one of them hasn't opened up right next to Giovanni's or one of the other shrimp trucks. Now that I've let that cat out of the bag watch the lines start growing for fresh corn, like the corn line at the KCC market. Sigh.

As for fish, almost any supermarket on Oahu will have a fish/seafood counter that would shame a mainland market. People in Hawaii know fish, so they don't get away with selling bad stuff. Tamashiro mentioned by honu is a local institution. You might also check out the open markets in chinatown, for fish and for fresh meats. In addition to Tamashiro and Oahu and other open markets you might check out Monarch Seafood, Young's Fishmarket, Alicia's Market, and Fresh Catch, but most of those are in town (Honolulu). There is a Fresh Catch on the windward side, which would also be a good source for poke. In general Whole Foods has a good seafood counter, but I haven't been to the Windward Whole Foods. The Foodland fish counter in Kaneohe has a very good reputation. And again as honu2 mentioned the farmer's market at Windward Mall on wednesdays always gets good reviews.

Aside from what you find in Chinatown you won't find a real meat market here except for a place in Kalihi called Aala Meat Market. I've never been and it gets VERY mixed reviews on Yelp.

A donut with body, texture and depth of flavor. Like you said, it is so light - so light that there is no bite, no texture. It is so sweet - so sweet that it has only a single flavor note. So yeasty that again it has no body, no flavor of dough. Sweetened air. Nothing more. (and like you said on another board, I expect to get flamed for this. krispy kreme is like a sacred thing here - but mostly because we don't have them.) I do agree that we do have great malasadas. And a good donut is much more like a Leonards or Champion malasada - not like a Tex's from the big island, than it is like a krispy kreme

They are blessed with short memories so that each experience is new and wonderful (having kids can do that to you.) And yes, a lot of people aren't as particular as they should be/could be and it was great to them. Keep in mind that the people you are with make a big difference to most people on how the food was experienced, so consider it a compliment and move on.

I try to plan. I usually only travel for vacation. I tell the people I'm going to be seeing the places Ive heard about or would like to try. About 80% of the time they have "other" agendas other ideas. Hey, its their city, go with the flow.

If most of it is as awful as the one I tried then its pretty obvious why its disappearing.

I don't know what is done on the east coast. out west an open face sandwich means it is probably meant to be eaten that way and is probably covered in mashed potatoes and gravy.

Hamburgers in "better" establishments are almost always served with the top bun and main condiments on the side, as mentioned by others to allow people to add their own minor condiments such as mayo, ketchup, mustard, relish, etc. This does not 'imply' that the burger is to be eaten with a knife and fork. So in my mind at least it is a very different thing, yes. No assumption, it is common practice.

so what were the rest of the people eating? i know they had bread, the bible is pretty clear on that point. I'm pretty sure wonder bread didn't have a franchise in the area.

Yep, in Kailua Agnes Bakery and - I hate to say it because it has become over-popular - cinnamon's for breakfast or lunch.

1. I said a good donut. Crispy creme is many things, none of them good. A donut it is not. Mostly it is grease and sugar somehow suspended in air.
2. I could be wrong but last time I drove by Pyramids it was an empty storefront. I will double check.