Tokyo Eating by the Clock

This is a guest post from my husband, Michael, who travels the world and promised me a story about one of his many culinary experiences. Future posts will have photos from his trips.

We ventured across the world’s busiest intersection, the rush hour crowd absorbing us as if we weren’t there.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

A mustached smile gleamed back at me, “A Mongolian barbecue where we can eat and drink all we want for 4000 yen (about $28).”

I shook my head in disbelief.

My friend chuckled after reading my expression. “Oh yeah, and we’ve got to finish in ninety minutes.”

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Donuts & More, Our Favorite Donut Shop

Part of our annual trek to the Adirondacks includes a pilgrimage to Donuts & More in Speculator, New York. It’s a tradition for us to have these delicious donuts at least once during the trip, but some years we indulge a few times. The shop has been there for many years and is now owned by Gwen and Mark Crary, who bought it in Fall 2007 and officially reopened in May. The previous owners, Marie and James, ran the shop for a number of years. Sadly, Marie passed away in March, but Gwen and Mark are doing a fine job keeping the tradition going.

I don’t know their secret, but this little place makes the best donuts I’ve ever tasted anywhere. They have a delicious fluffy crumb and aren’t the least bit greasy. The shop sells eight varieties; mostly cake, but they also have a few yeast donuts with cream or jelly filling. My favorite is the cinnamon and sugar cake donuts (in the photo above), though I will happily eat any of the varieties they sell! Mark arrives at 4 am to start the donuts and then continues to make them fresh throughout the morning based on demand, and it’s quite a treat to walk into the shop and see the fresh donuts lined up in the case.

The lines can be quite long in the mornings, especially on the weekends, so plan ahead and get there early. One dozen donuts costs $7.00, and they are absolutely worth it.

Details

Donuts & More

Location: Speculator, New York at the intersection of Routes 30 and 8; The Lane Emporium in the Charlie John’s Store parking lot

Open: Memorial Day to mid-October

Hours: 7 am to 12 pm, Thursday through Monday (Summer), 7 am to 12 pm, Saturday and Sunday (after Labor Day)

More information: Speculator Chamber of Commerce, Town of Lake Pleasant, Wikipedia – Speculator, NY

Central New York Regional Market, Syracuse

We made our traditional trip to the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse on Saturday morning. It’s a large, fun market with several rows of sheds and tents, and I always depart with the wish that we had something of this scale in Northern Virginia. You can find great local organic produce, flowers, plants, fresh maple syrup, wines, honey, eggs, cheese, and butter, as well as crafts and flea market type items. The Amish community brings in lovely baked goods, which seem to go very quickly. The place gets busy early in the day, so arriving close to the 7 am opening time is a good idea.

I wandered around taking photos of some of the produce stands. The boys were very excited by all the fresh fruits and vegetables, especially when they got to help purchase the items and helped Grandma and Papa carry the bags.

I thought these donut peaches had a beautiful color and fun shape.

Corn is now in season, and we bought a bunch of ears of the popular bicolored butter & sugar variety. This is a good variety for home gardens, with just 75 days to harvest.

We’d never seen Ishtar squash before, and had to ask about it. The vendor told us it’s similar to zucchini squash, only sweeter. We’re already scouring online trying to find seeds for next year.

Carrots and beets and other root vegetables are starting to come in. I really liked the colorful varieties in this display.

The flowers were especially pretty this time.

Hawaiian Shave Ice: Which One Is Our Favorite?

For some, sand and surf are the first things that come to mind when thinking about Hawaii, for us it is shave ice.  We’re not talking about snow cones, that’s totally different. With shave ice (not “shaved ice”), the ice comes out in fine flakes which absorbs the syrup flavors better and melts like snow in your mouth. On a hot day, there is nothing better in the world.

We did the research before our trip, so we knew that the North Shore was the place to go for the best shave ice; specifically, Matsumoto Shave Ice or Aoki’s Shave Ice, both in Haleiwa. The directions we got from the hotel were not the best and we went past the turn off for quite a ways before we figured out we had to go back. If you are approaching Haleiwa from the south via 99 coming from Honolulu/Pearl City, watch for the brown sign indicating a left turn into historic Haleiwa. If you are approaching from the north via 83, look for a similar sign indicating a right turn. Both shops are on the main drag on the same side of the road, separated by a church and parking lot.

Because this was vacation and we knew we would have shave ice on multiple occasions, we decided it was vital that we sample from both stores so we could make an informed decision on which one we thought was the best. This is important stuff, you know, and we were as scientific as possible, but in the end we thought weighing the ice and measuring the size of the flakes would be a bit of overkill and probably not endear us to the proprietors or other customers. We just watched closely while they made our ices and sampled several flavors. This is vacation, after all. Read more

Diamond Head and KCC Farmers’ Market

Saturday morning we woke up very early and hiked up Diamond Head. The park opens at 6 am, and I highly recommend going early to beat the heat and the crowds. The early part of the hike is on concrete walkway and very easy, but the last part is like doing a StairMaster workout (271 steps!) and everyone was panting as we hit the top. The only person who didn’t seem bothered by the workout was the female athlete who ran to the top! I felt inspired, but was still trying to catch my breath. I was sweating like a race horse and the breeze felt so good!

Kapiolani Community College is located right on the road to Diamond Head, and we noticed they had a farmers’ market going as we passed by, so after our hike we stopped by to check it out. There was lots of great local produce and food to sample as well as gorgeous flowers.

Our First Day in Hawaii

I’m trying to stay on East Coast time, so we’ve been going to bed early and waking up really early. At 4 am it’s still dark outside and we can’t see the ocean even though we are almost right on the beach, but I can hear it as I’m writing this near the hotel balcony. We’re staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu and have a beautiful view of the ocean from our 11th floor room.

After arriving at the airport, Michael took me to get some lunch at Big Kahuna’s Pizza, which has moved from it’s old location in the shack on Pu’uloa Road to the strip mall at 550 Paiea St. near the airport. We had the barbecued pork sandwich which is served on a huge round bun and cut in half. Good stuff! I forgot to snap a photo, but you can get an idea of what it looks like by viewing the photo of the sub on ‘Ono Kine Grindz.

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