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Friday in Hawaii

On Friday we stayed close to home. For breakfast we traveled into the city of Hilo to a little resturant named The Royal Hawaiian Cafe and Lounge. Twinkee and Mapo are the very friendly proprietors of this cosy breakfast spot.
We were originally looking for a malasada donuts. This is a type of pastry that originated in Portugal and brought to Hawaii in the 19th century. We thought that The Royal Hawaiian Cafe and Lounge served then but were wrong. But they did serve some delicious alternatives.  I had the eggs and homemade corn-beef hash and the others had donuts. They also had fresh fruit, gotta keep it healthy! We then got talking to the owners about our search for Malasadas. Asking their advice for where to find the best on the Big Island. They tossed around some ideas but then agreed that that Mapo could make the best and that if we came back on Sunday they would make us our own personal batch! Kent was beside himself that eh now has his own personal made to order donut shop in Hawaii! 
All Kinds of Poke
Earrings with a little extra
After breakfast we returned to the hotel and went for a walk. Jan found a little gift shop and I found something I thought she would like. She did not. These little geckos were all around. Usually I saw them on outside on tables licking up drink spills. They were kind of cute and would not run far when I came close. Just far enough  that I never caught one. We then walked on to the Suisan Fish Market. This place was amazing. They had a poke counter with every kind of poke you can think of. Fresh and lots of it. We decided to have lunch from here.
Later on Friday Jan and I went to OK Farms for a tour. I had wanted to see a coffee farm and at OK I got to see that and much much more. The farm grew coffee, purple sweet potatoes, macadamia nuts and spices.
Macadamia nut bloom
The macadamia nut trees were very interesting. The trees were blooming at the time we visited and these caterpillar like blooms were all over the trees. Each of the blooms on this group can produce a nut. So I assume that when the tree bears nuts they look like clumps of brown grapes. At harvest the farmers cleans the ground beneath each tree and picks up the nuts when they fall to the ground. No wonder macadamia nuts cost so much.
Cloves
We also saw many different spice trees like cinnamon, nutmeg and mace (that comes from the same tree) all spice (which is one spice) and cloves. Cloves was interesting because they look just like the cloves you get in the store only instead of being brown they are green and red.
We also got to taste many of the spices, fruits and coffee produced at the farm. Very interesting tour and well worth the time spent there.
After the farm tour Jan took a nap and I rented a bike and went for a ride. The bike rental was at the hotel. New and blue, I may have been the first one to ride this bike.
The banyan tree behind me was planted by Juliette Low in 1937. In Hilo there are many banyan trees planted by famous people.
 After my bike ride we hung out by the pool till sundown and then went to dinner at the hotel restaurant. Hula Hulas is the restaurant attached to our hotel the Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo. It turned out that they were celebrating Chinese New Year and had a dragon visiting. 
Two dragons danced around the restaurant while several drummers drummed. 

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