eat local challenge journal day 6 + some westside lovin'

eat local challenge day six got off to a late start, literally. i some how managed to sleep through my alarm and was in a rush, so breakfast was on the go. another apple banana from the in-laws' backyard and a piece of maui maid bakery whole wheat toast with up-country guava jam from jeff's jams & jellies in makawao, all local. i had a quick all local lunch at my desk consisting of leftover korean tacos from dinner on eat local challenge day four, with a little twist. shaun turned it into a salad by adding some watercress to the veggie/herb mix of lettuce, cilantro, cabbage and green onions, and topped it with the gochujang marinated beef, avocado and a squirt of lime juice. the delicious dressing was made be blending the marinade sauce with the vinaigrette for the perfect blend of vinegar and spice. i loved this salad so much that we decided to make a variation of it , but with maui tofu, as our "eat local" pupu for a "tweetup" event at `ulalena in the maui theatre. you can read about the event in peter liu's blog post: the power of the tweetup.

sticking with my track record for the day, we were running late for the tweetup. on the drive out to lahaina we witnessed the beautiful sunset pictured above. we ended up making it to maui theatre just in time for the start of 'ulalena's show. while i had seen vignettes of 'ulalena's show at mythical magical maui, a fundraiser for hale makua health services, i had never seen the entire performance since i moved to maui. the show was absolutely amazing with stunning aerial acrobatics, unique props, beautiful vocals, awesome percussion and tantalizing dance, all telling the history of hawaii from the formation of the islands to the impact of western influence on the native population. i would recommend that anyone visiting maui see 'ulalena for themselves. the combination of music and dance is spectacular and authentically pays tribute to its hawaiian roots.

since we were late for the tweetup, we missed the pupu potluck and decided to pay a long overdue visit to star noodle in lahaina. i loved the decor, especially the shepard fairey prints. super clean and contemporary, but not fussy or sterile feeling. we started with two appetizers, the pohole salad of hana fiddle head fern, maui onion, ebi and kombu; and pan roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and kim chee puree. the pahole salad would have been good without the dried shrimp and cuttle fish, which were probably added for a more asian flair, but didn't really appeal to me. the pan roasted brussel sprouts were awesome. perfectly cooked through. nice toasty flavor topped with crisp bacon bits. the kim chee puree was a nice, unexpected accompaniment to the brussel sprouts. i ordered the kim chee ramen with kim chee, chicken dashi, roast pork, egg and bean sprouts, and was pleasantly surprised. the homemade ramen noodles were delicious, the pork was amazingly tender and moist, and the broth was divine. i've been looking for a good ramen spot on maui, and star noodle is the first ramen restaurant on maui that i'd return to. i'm looking forward to try their other menu items.

pan roasted brussel sprouts | kim chee ramen, yum!