Musubi mania at food expo

The annual Food & New Products Expo will be returning to the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall this weekend.

This year’s highlight is the Musubi Mania Zone, which will feature “all things Spam,” a variety of rice balls, and How to Make Musubi demos where a friendly competition will crown a winning rice ball Hawaii’s Best Musubi.

Among the 200-plus exhibits: a farmers market, live cooking demonstrations and various new foods and products. One such item is Hawaiian Pie Co.’s new Hawaiian Sunrise (mandarin orange and pineapple filling) minipies available for purchase on Friday. Available on Saturday will be the company’s Strawberry Guava, and available on Sunday will be the Passion Orange Guava Pear (POG). Throughout the weekend, find Passion Pear, Caramel Apple and Pear Peach.

Expo hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The box office will be open 15 minutes before doors open. General admission is $5; active military and students, $3; and seniors 60 and older and children 12 and under are free with a paying adult.

Breadshop subscriptions

Chef and bread baker Chris Sy opens the doors to his long-awaited Breadshop in Kaimuki. But before that happens, he’s offering up a one-time deal to bread lovers he hopes will become regular customers.

Sy is opening up subscriptions for a weekly dose of freshly baked bread — a total of 50 loaves over 50 weeks — for $350.

These will include country, city and specialty loaves on rotation, depending on when subscribers pick up their loaf. He defines “country” as breads made of a mix of whole grain and other flours. “City” is a white bread — think deli-type loaf rather than sandwich bread — with a bit of whole-wheat flour, while the “specialty” in specialty breads reflects specific flours such as rye or semolina rather than add-in ingredients or flavors.

Sy will continue to offer bread subscriptions after the shop opens. A monthly subscription of four loaves will be $34.

To subscribe, visit breadsbybreadshop.com. Breadshop will open at 3408 Waialae Ave. To keep an eye on the shop’s progress, follow @BreadshopHNL.

Taste the flavors of Manoa

The University of Hawaii at Manoa is putting a tasty twist on homecoming, hosting a food truck rally and market Friday to mark the annual celebration.

Everyone’s invited to “Na Ono o Manoa — The Flavors of Manoa,” 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, where you’ll find Eat the Street food trucks and Honolulu Night Market vendors.

Oh yeah, and there’s sports involved, too: The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team plays the University of California-Irvine at 7 p.m. And you can sign up to win tickets to Saturday’s homecoming football game against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

UH-Manoa students get a $5 voucher to spend at the event. Information: manoa.hawaii.edu/homecoming.

New farmers market at Kapolei mall

Add farm-loving food shoppers to the list of folks sure to walk through the doors of Ka Makana Ali‘i Shopping Center, now that FarmLovers Market is set to open a weekly farmers market there on Oct. 26.

Market owners Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite have assembled a lineup of more than 40 vendors offering local produce and locally inspired artisan foods. Expect cheese and eggs, honey and coffee, seasonal tropical fruit and, of course, a wide array of vegetables. Get there hungry and peruse prepared food options of fresh poke, crepes, fresh-fruit slushies, Thai cuisine, Middle Eastern shawarma, asparagus and mushroom croissants, plus more. And at FarmLovers’ markets, there’s always live entertainment and a place to sit to enjoy your meal.

Market hours are 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. On opening day, get there early for a 3:15 p.m. blessing and perhaps a free bag, which will be handed out to the first 500 customers.

The center is at 91-5431 Kapolei Parkway. For more on the market, visit farmloversmarkets.com, email farmloverskamakanaalii@gmail.com, or call 388-9696.

FarmLovers Market also runs farmers markets in Waimea Valley, Kakaako, Pearlridge and Kailua.