First Friday

Woke up this morning to Greg trying to emulate the rooster’s crow.  “He’s singing,” he swore, “It is an actual song!”  Either the island sun is getting to Greg’s head, or perhaps the beauty and relaxation is just kicking him into creative musician mode. Either way, we were up and moving with plenty of time to try out breakfast at Leodah’s Kitchen and Pie Shop.  You may recall that establishment which provided a chocolate Mac nut pie for our first night’s dessert.  Well, they offer you a 10% discount if you bring your receipt back within a week and we were heading that way today anyhow.  So we skipped the morning snorkeling in an attempt to let the ocean calm down and took a rest day from running to eat a giant breakfast.  Hey, this is a vacation after all!

Greg got the French toast, which is made from the bakery’s coconut crusted bread and served with coconut crème anglaise and seasonal fresh fruit.  It turned out fresh strawberries topped it (Greg is sensitive to strawberries) so I was rewarded with a side of fruit!  On top of that I ordered the veggie patty benedict.  Two poached eggs atop zucchini mushrooms patties on crisp rye bread with tomatoes, sprouts, hollandaise AND breakfast potatoes. Sufficed to say, we were stuffed!  We took a walk to a fruit stand down the way, just to walk of some of that humungous breakfast and found mangoes for sale (haven’t seen any yet at our neighborhood stand) so we stocked up for later. 

Back on the road, we were headed toward our destination, which was Maui College in Kahului.  Those of you who know Greg, know that he works for Scripps College as their concert manager and organizes the Friday Noon Concert series there.  In my pre-trip research I found out that Maui College was hosting a group of expert guitarists and presenting their performances in a Friday Noon Concert setting.  I knew Greg just had to see it.  We found the college and were nearly an hour early, but scoped out the location of the performance, then explored the campus.  We stumbled onto their community garden, which was being tended by a friendly fellow, who invited us to come in to explore and even pick some passion fruit. 

With time left before the concert we drove to the nearby Maui Arts and Cultural Center.  The MACC will be hosting a Reggae fest for the next two evenings, we considered going but tickets are expensive and some locals warned us there are so many acts and they are really rushed through.  But we wanted to check out the venue anyway, it looks like it will be a big deal.  Tons of port-a-potties, tons of EZ ups to house the food trucks, and apparently tons of crowds expected. We got to hear a sound check while we were there, it also seems like it has the potential to be really loud.  Think we’ll opt for the company of our fellow Kulakane guests at the Friday Night PuPu Party instead.   

Back at the college, we got to hear 3 excellent musicians, all studying at Yale’s music school but traveling with their professor as part of a yearly program where he teaches a master class on guitar.  We heard two classical guitarists and ukulele player.  It was a lovely afternoon of free music! 

Later at the condo, I prepared our shared appetizer for the Pupu Party. I wanted something with a Hawaiian theme but a trademark dish that I could prepare with ease. I decided on a variation of my stuffed mushrooms (which are usually filled with sharp cheddar, onions and a secret sauce).  I thought I’d do a Hawaiian pizza twist on them, stuffing them with mozzarella, pineapple, tomato, red onion and peppers.  It ended up being a super easy recipe because I had leftover pineapple salsa, so I just needed to mix it with the grated mozzarella and stuff it into the sautéed mushroom crowns then heat it in the oven to melt the cheese. They were quickly devoured.  Neighbors set out a variety of treats and we visited well past sunset.