Aloha Friends,

We recently tried Hamura's Saimin and loved it! All these years we traveled to Kauai and never tried it. I had the mistaken idea that it would taste like Top Ramen. No, this is totally different. These noodles are amazing! Served with chopped ham, fish cake and green onions in a tasty broth. It was so good! You can also order it with tempura shrimp, or the special saimin which has more veggies, meat and wontons. The menu is simple, they also offer udon, barbeque beef (tender and delicious) and chicken skewers.

Hamura's Saimin is a casual, mom and pop type of restaurant with a nice mix of tourists and locals. The prices are cheap! Cash only. My saimin was $6, the bbq sticks are $2.50, and the special saimin was $9. They make an incredible lilikoi pie which is the perfect way to end your meal. It's a tangy, fluffy chiffon pie with a light flakey crust topped with Cool Whip. Yummy! They also sell the pies frozen. I think I'll buy one for my family next time I fly home to the Mainland. They'll love it.

Hamura's is located at 2956 Kress Street (just off of Rice Street) in Lihue.

Aloha friends!

Even with the craziness of moving I still had my every day housekeeping to do. Laundry stops for no one! :) Especially with 4 kids. Anyway, I found myself nearly out of laundry soap so I made a new batch. I've been making my own laundry soap for about 7 years. I'm sure I've saved hundreds of dollars and saved the Earth from a bunch of plastic. Laundry soap is super easy to make and takes just a few minutes. Here's what you do...

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (don't use baking soda)
Fells Naptha or Zote Soap (both of these bar soaps are made specifically for laundry)
Borax

Grate the soap finely. Measure equal amounts of grated soap, washing soda and Borax. So, if you have 1 cup of grated soap, you'll use 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup Borax. Mix everything together in a bowl. Put into air tight container. Use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry.

For folks who have machines that require liquid detergent you'll need to put the dry mixture into a large pot and add twice as much water. If you have 3 cups laundry soap, add 6 cups water. Heat the mixture and stir with a wisk until dissolved. Once cooled put it into container. Use 1/2 cup liquid soap per load.

Once you wash your clothes in your own laundry soap it's great to use a "solar dryer" when you can. I hung my clothes out often in San Diego. We had a lot of sunny days with low humidity...clothes dried fast there! On Kauai I've noticed items take considerably longer to air dry but, electricity is expensive here so I think it's worth the extra time.

Thanks for reading the coconut diaries!

Aloha Friends!

So, we've been living here on Kauai just over a week. It still feels like a dream and I can't say that it's totally sunk in yet. It just seems amazing to me that we're actually living here.

This past week has been mostly spent trying to get organized in our little home, buying food and supplies and getting the kiddos enrolled in school. We're staying in our condo which is just under 650 square feet until we buy a home. It's cozy but, we're making it work. Nobody has flipped out and lost their aloha yet.

My husband is back to work. He works from home. His schedule is 5am to 1pm. He really likes the hours and doesn't mind waking up early. It's been great to have the rest of the day to enjoy together.

Yesterday we got to see my husband's cousins and auntie who are visiting from the Mainland. They timed their vacation perfectly. Any sooner and we would've missed them. We hung out at the beach for awhile then invited them to our house for pupus and dinner. Pupus (appetizers) was cut up papaya, poi and poke. We kept dinner super simple....ordered take out from L&L Hawaiian. We got chicken katsu and stir fried vegetables with tofu. It was delicious and an incredible value. We got enough food to generously feed 11 people for $45! And we have left overs!

The farmer's market  here on Kauai have a wonderful variety of fresh fruit and veggies at prices comparable and sometimes cheaper than what we used to pay in San Diego. One of our favorite venders has everything for $2 each. Basil, okra, papaya, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, water spinach and more. It's easy to eat healthy here.

Thanks for reading my diary!