Perhaps one of the most looked forward to item at the Greek Festival is the Pastry Booth filled with homemade pastries including this bento box of Baklava.  Always in high demand lines form at the Pastry Booth from start to finish much like the malasada booth at the Punahou carnival.   Along with Baklava they also serve kourambiedes, melomakarona and much more.  The dough is rolled the old-fashioned way with broomstick rolling pins and honey, nuts, fruits and creams mixed with love.  Secret recipes have been passed down generation to generation giving the Greek festival product a special unique quality.

One of the most famous food items at the Greek Festival 2010 at McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park is the Gyro.  The Greek dish consists of meat, tomatoes, onions and a tzatziki sauce (yogurt based)  served on a pita bread.  The meat (usually a beef lamb combination is cooked on a tall vertical spit and sliced into thin crispy shavings.

We begin our look at the 2010 Greek Festival at McCoy Pavilion which is a part of Ala Moana Beach Park.  If you haven’t been there yet head out there today (Sunday August 29) as the festival runs from noon to 8pm.  Tons of Greek food, dancing, entertainment and of course the very popular pastries. Click here for more information.

On a hot day nothing beats an ice cold shave ice from the world famous Matsumoto’s on the North Shore of Oahu.  This particular one is a Pineapple, Creamsicle, Lihing Mui blend with what I call the “insurance policy” which is the plastic yellow cone protecting your hands from drippings and also insuring that if your shave ice should “calve” like a glacier it will not fall to the ground.   Started in 1951 by Mamoru Matsumoto the M. Matsumoto Grocery Store is a North Shore staple selling over 1,00 of these daily half to tourists from around the world and half to locals like myself who make this a North Shore must stop.  If you go be sure to sign in their online guestbook.

A lot of people say that no trip to the North Shore of Oahu is complete without stopping at the famous Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck.  Look for the original white shrimp truck covered in graffiti on Kamehameha Highway cross street Burroughs Road (right next to Kahuku High School).  Best to go during non peak times as there are long lines.  This is their famous garlic Shrimp Scampi plate with two scoops rice.  They also have a lemon and butter and a hot and spicy shrimp which they warn is super hot and non refundable.  Your best bet is to get the Shrimp Scampi plate and if you ask they will give you hot sauce in a container which you can use as much or as sparingly as you like.

Here is my burger from “The Counter” the place in Kahala where you can build your own burger.  This concoction started with 1/3 pound beef and added Tilamook Cheddar Cheese, grilled onions, lettuce blend, roasted chilies, honey cured bacon, peppercorn steak sauce on a hamburger bun.  They claim you can make over 312,120 different combinations but I wasn’t hungry enough to try them all   You can find them at 4211 Waialae Avenue which in Kahala Mall right next to Whole Foods.

Here is a picture of the Star of Honolulu loading passengers for its sunset/dinner cruise.  On the far left you can see hula dancers greeting tourists as they board.  Behind you can see the downtown Honolulu skyline including left to right the two Topoa (Formerly AmFac) Towers, the First Hawaiian Bank building the two mirrored Pacific Guardian Towers.  The Star of Honolulu departs from Aloha Tower and is one of the many options for sunset/dinner cruises.  These cruises are a great way to see a lot of Hawaii’s shoreline and generally learn about Hawaii’s culture though the Hawaiian entertainment and food on the boat.

Another hot weekend in Hawaii… the perfect time for some nice cool ice cream.  Today we bring you to Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream and desserts.  This place has been keeping Hawaii cool with super-premium ice cream for over 25 years with their premium mochi ice cream and a wide selection of ice cream and ice cream cakes and pies.  Some of which we have shown here in our blog.  Today though we take a look at their wall of shirts maybe because I ate my ice cream too quickly to photograph is or maybe just because I think it makes a cool pictures.  Especially with that old fashioned telephone.  This one was taken at the 1010 University Avenue location.  They also have a second location in Hawaii Kai at 7192 Kalanianaole Highway.

Continuing our food fun and fashion tweetup we hit Kate Spade which had this plate of Crab Cakes & Sizzling Candian Bacon from Wolfgang’s Steakhouse along with a glass of wine.  In fact all 8 stations had wine or margaritas.  By the way this steakhouse is by famed chef Wolfgang Zwiener not to be confused with Wolfgang Puck.  By the way if you visit WolfGang’s for lunch (11am - 3pm) by June 30th you can get the Wolfgang’s 1/2 pound Classic Prime Sirloin Hamburger, steak fries/onion rings and a soft drink for $10.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Royal Hawaii Center’s  (thanks RHC and Toby!) “Fashion Food Fun Tweetup”.  The concept is pretty simple we all got a stamp card and visited eight boutique’s each with shopping specials and food served from the various restaurants at Royal Hawaian Center.  In this photo is the “New Style Tuna Tataki” served by Doraku Sushi which was served at the Acid Dolls Boutique.  The good things about events like this is that you don’t feel weird taking pictures since everybody is.  I staged this photo using on of their bags, my Tuna Tataki which by the way was very ono and my glass of wine to create the perfect trifecta.