Ah. Gotcha. That is the best/worst thing ever. Many in Hawaii are getting hosed with the rapidly rising home prices, as its causing their property taxes to soar! But, of course, the C&C of Honolulu also decided to calculate workforce housing property tax (sold at below-market rate) using the current market value of…

My quick internet search tells me that you guys pay about 1%? Honolulu is at 0.28%, though I’m not familiar with all the nuances of either system, tbh.

Ouch. SoCal, eh? I got family out there. I looked at moving up but your home prices are similar to ours while your property tax is far higher. Income tax too. And, yeah, your gas prices make me cry lol

In my neighborhood, single-wall 40+ year-old homes are going for $800k to well over $1 million, depending on condition. 20-30-year-old town homes 2 bed + 2 bath + 1-2 parking (less than 1,500 sq/ft) are $600-800k with $500-700/month maintenance fees. But I don’t live in downtown Honolulu area. Out there you looking…

Labor/time is definitely a factor. Many of the more traditional ingredients in Hawaii aren’t commercially available. Pipipi sea snails, for example, aren’t commercially harvested. Opihi often isn’t, either. Pohole (edible ferns), Ohelo Berries, and Akala (endemic Hawaiian raspberries) aren’t commercially grown and…

Nice write up, but a couple of corrections. Laulau is pork wrapped in taro (luau) leaves, which are then wrapped in ti leaves and steamed. Coconut milk is only used in Squid Luau in which squid is cooked with taro leaves and the coconut milk.

If you haven’t already, I suggest checking out KoHana Rum produced here on Oahu. It’s an agricole-style rum produced with endemic Hawaiian sugar cane grown on the distillery’s own land. It’s really great stuff that comes in white or aged varieties. They have rum barrel aged Big Island honey available. 

I almost always have a polarizer on my camera because of the benefits you’ve outlined here. But, sometimes they ruin my shots by making the sky uneven. So just be careful if you’re image has lots of blue sky in it! 

Hey Mr. Bigg! Fellow island resident here... Do you remember the time the US Army decided to knock down a pedestrian overpass on the H1?  Fun times too! 

Nothing hurts more than losing a childhood favorite. For me, it was the loss of Heights Drive Inn, which, oddly enough, was a greasy spoon in a medical center. The go-to dish for me and most visiting Heights was the fried noodles. No, they weren’t Chinese or Japanese style, but Hawaii’s own fried saimin. And by far,…

Oahu resident here. The number one thing people need to realize when visiting Oahu is that Honolulu is one of the largest cities in the U.S. with a population approaching 1 million. And, guess what, it’s going to feel like a big city with all the problems (like horrific traffic) that comes with it.

I love Chobani’s Flip line. Never tried the carrot cake version, but the Key Lime One is good, as is the version with chocolate, almond, and coconut. But the Peach Cobbler is my favorite. Stay away from the hazelnut one... it’s nasty. And the mint chip one is just plain weird.

We do have quite a bit of dim sum in Hawaii, too. Most of the Chinese population here is Cantonese. So you can dream of living here as well!

• What’s the most expensive piece of equipment in your kitchen? Has it made your life better? Vitamix blender. Yes, it has! Soups, purees, and even a surprisingly good non-dairy cream from ChefSteps are all possible because of it.