FOODLAND EXPANDS MAIKA’I LINEUP
Red Dragon Fruit Chips, Crab Curry Kaki Mochi, Mac Nut and Hawaiian Honey Peanut Butter — these are just a few of the more unusual flavors among 250 exclusive items being launched at Foodland and Sack N Save stores.
“Maika‘i” is the label for a new collection of ready-to-eat snacks, drinks, dressings, marinades and more at the Foodland chain, totaling 250 items. Many are processed outside Hawaii, but have been selected and sometimes modified to appeal to local tastes.
About 130 are already on shelves, for example, Hamajang Trail Mix, Matcha Coconut Bites, Kona Coffee Butter and Salmon Ochazuke Dip. Expect the rest in the next two months, including alluring combinations like the Crab Curry Kaki Mochi and Passion Orange Guava Sparkling Coconut Water.
“We tasted hundreds of foods — sauces and salsas, snacks, dips, beverages and more — focusing on the right combination of ingredients and flavors to appeal to our customers,” said Foodland Corporate Chef Keoni Chang, who helped develop some of the recipes. “Sometimes we made adjustments to the product until it was just right for Hawaii – like when we turned up the heat on our roasted wasabi peas so they’d be spicy like we like them here in Hawaii.”
Lauren Moder, director of Maika‘i, and her team developed the new line after traveling worldwide to select products.
Foodland customers are familiar with “maika‘i,” a Hawaiian word meaning “excellent,” from using their Maika‘i cards for discounts and rewards. The new products bear the distinctive Maika‘i M-shaped logo representing the mountains, the ocean and a shaka sign. Visit Foodland.com.
— Pat Gee, Star-Advertiser
FUSION COOKING GOES VEGAN
Crave columnist Lynette Lo Tom presents a cooking demonstration, “Asian Fusion Fun,” as part of the Eat Well for Life series at Adventist Health Castle.
The session, 6 to 7:15 p.m. Feb. 28 in Castle’s Wellness & Lifestyle Medicine Center Auditorium, will feature four vegan recipes from Lo Tom’s cookbooks, “A Chinese Kitchen” and “Back in the Day.”
Cost is $12, which includes samples of the foods and recipes. Payment and reservations are required at least one week in advance. Call 263-5050.
EAT LOCAL TO DA MAX AT D.K.
Enjoy the bounty of local farmers and ranchers, along with wine selected by two local sommeliers, Micah Suderman and Christopher Ramelb, at d.k Steak House’s Locally Grown to the Max dinner at 6 p.m. Feb. 27.
The five-course wine-pairing dinner features beef from Kunoa Cattle Co. presented in a beef tartare, beer-braised short rib and a 20-day dry-aged rib-eye steak with Small Kine Farms cremini mushroom gremolata.
Other dishes: a pan-seared scallop with Ewa sweet corn, and an Orange Creamsicle Semifreddo dessert served with local oranges. Wines include Bottex Bugey-Cerdon La Cueille Rose and 2016 Domaine Faury St. Joseph.
The meal is $89 including four 3-ounce wine pairings. Seating is limited. For reservations, call 931-6280.
TRUFFLES AND A MOVIE
Mark Valentine’s eve with a special screening of “The Princess Bride” and a truffle treat — both available only at Consolidated Theatres Ward and only tonight. Miracle Max’s “Twu Wuv” Oreo Truffle — chocolate and Oreo crumbs wrapped around a cream cheese filling and an Oreo core — will be sold after 6 p.m. “Princess Bride” starts at 7 p.m. The treat is named for the film’s famed wedding-ceremony quote about true love, as in “twu wuv will fowow you fowever …”
BEER AND BANH MI
A banh mi sandwich with thick-cut slices of roast pork is new on the menu at Yard House, one of six dishes and five cocktails introduced last week by the national chain known for its 100-plus beers on tap. The bahn mi, with pickled vegetables, cilantro, serranos and Sriracha aioli sells for $15.45. Hawaii’s Yard House is at Waikiki Beach Walk. Call 923-9273
