Shopping Hawaiian Style

Our first stop after checking into the hotel was the shopping mall. The Ala Moana Mall is the place to eat, in my humble opinion. It has an enormous food court. And we were starving. Hawaiian Airlines was great but their food was a little less to be desired. But it was free so I'm not complaining too much. Other airlines make you pay for food now.

Hawaiian Air's lunch box: turkey sandwich with brownie

Entrance to the Great Food Court

At the food court, Matthew got poke/beef combo plate, I got Korean BBQ short ribs, Emily got hibachi chicken and Hannah got Panda Express. The girls were not ready to venture out of their comfort foods.

Hannah's Panda Express and Emily's Hibachi-San Chicken

Matthews' poke and beef combo plate

My kalbi short ribs

The food court also has a Paradise Cafe where they make the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And there is a stand that makes fresh mochi just like in Japantown back home.

Mango and honeydew mochi

At the mall, we stumbled on a great find: a Japanese department store called Shirokiya which also has it's own food court in it. Matthew was in awe of all variety of Japanese take-out foods available. All cooked right in front of you and packaged to go.

This booth made all sorts of flavorful rices

Sample box of 5 different rices

This booth made octopus balls: way over rated.. lots of dough and tiny bit of octopus

Shumai, gyoza and buns to go

Garlic shrimp musubi - very yummy!

Hannah loved this combo box of rice musubi, fried chicken, and hot dog.

Emily's favorite ... fried rice.

But the store we actually spent the most time in was Barnes and Nobles. You ask.... A bookstore? You go all the way to Hawaii to go to a bookstore? Well back home we don't have any bookstores. A used bookstore, yes, but no regular bookstores. Borders went out of business and our B&N closed down. I have to drive 30 minutes to the closest B&N. Being an avid reader, bookstores are places of refuge and joy for me. Remember I wanted to be a librarian when i was little. I just love the smell of new books!

Of course we could not not visit the International Marketplace. It's filled with many stalls selling Hawaiian souvenirs and trinkets and yet another great food court.

We even found some very friendly birds that would just climb right on to your arm and feed from your hand.

That's my arm and Hannah's hand feeding the bird.

Emily enjoyed the bird but was hesitant to have it on her hand or arm. She said that it's feet felt funny on her skin. She'll much prefer to keep her distant and enjoy them from afar. A true wild birder fan!

Lots more to come.. stay tuned!