Molokai Girl: Hilo Farmer's Market

If you go to the Big Island of Hawaii, make sure you plan a trip or two to the Hilo's Farmers Market. It meets bayside in downtown Hilo every Weds. and Saturday mornings. Come hungry and bring lots of cash. If you are staying at a condo or somewhere where you can prepare your own meals, plan on making all of your produce purchases here. You will not get anything much better than what is here. I thought buying succulent papayas there at two for a dollar was incredible. I guess it goes from four to seven for a dollar!

The month of July is peak mango season. These are called Hayden mangoes. It's like eating candy!

A glassblower's work that I found particularly clever. You can check out more of his work here (and purchase if you so desire). His name is Chris Upp. I liked the little glass octupuses he made too.

Don't adjust your monitor! These are called musubis which are made with different kinds of meats (Iuse the term 'meat' loosely here). These hot doags really are this bringht pink/red color! Ugh! But hey, it's a good beach food since it will last all day without refrigeration. Spam musubis are the local favorite. My son can wolf down a whole bunch of them. Even Anthony Bourdain of the Travel Channel's show, "No Reservations" tried spam and liked it and 'got it' as to why it's so popular in Hawaii(catch his episode on Hawaii). Either that or he is a bold faced liar!

This charming man's name is Alofaitama Meafou who is a master drum maker of Tahitian drums. His card has a website that you can link to here. I loved the drums that he makes and will save up to buy one the next time (or have my sister send it to me since she lives there). He also makes the stinged instruments that the Tahitians use which I always thought was a ukulele, but it really isn't. The fun thing about it is that he uses 30 lb. fishing line to string his insturment; it makes a great sound!