NEWS:

Tasting Kauai

Koloa Rumtini at Kilohana Plantation. Click image for recipe. Daniel Lane photo

This week, I started posting holiday menus for many of Kauai’s restaurants that will include Kauai Grill, Makana Terrace, Ilima Terrace, Nanea, RumFire, Dondero’s, Merriman’s and Roy’s Poipu. An easy way to see them all at a glance (instead of paging through all the blog posts), is to select “Christmas Menu” in Categories on the right hand side bar. Or, click here.

If you have a chance, consider attending our Dec. 14 Kauai Culinary Tour (the details are listed under events). It will be the last of its kind as we are redesigning the day. Normally, we begin the day with a tour of the home garden of the Kauai Marriott Resort’s executive chef. Most people really enjoy this part because they get to speak with the chef in an intimate setting and ask questions, and the chef usually shares interesting tips. On a previous tour, as we walked the gardens, chef pulled a ti leaf from a nearby plant and showed everyone how to do the wrapping for laulau, a traditional Hawaiian dish of pork wrapped in taro leaves and again in ti leaves.

After that, we usually go to a 26-acre exotic fruit farm that sustainably grows more than 80 varieties of fruit. We sample what’s in season, and walk the farm. The tour guide is very knowledgeable and weaves Hawaiian history and lore into his stories about fruit. They also have a food forest, full of highly nutritious plants that thrive in Kauai’s environment.

We are excited to announce that Tasting Kauai was awarded a grant from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. This means we have to operate within certain guidelines, and have to redesign the first part of the tour. The Jan. 11 tour will still happen, but it will be different. I’m still negotiating with a local farm, and details will be forthcoming. Continue Reading →