Aloha! [Maui Part One]

Written by on in Dinner, Tidbits and Treats, Trips

Aloha from Maui, blog world!

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Thank you all for your well wishes about the trip. It has been amazing so far! My mom and I have really been enjoying our time together. Since I will be living in Chicago, we want to make the most of it.

This post will be the first of several installments about our trip. I hope you enjoy!

We arrived in Maui on Sunday afternoon. I was fortunate enough to have the window seat, so I was able to snap some pictures of the greenery from the plane.

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It is so green here! Absolutely gorgeous. After we landed, we picked up our bags and headed to our first destination on the island, a little town called Paia (also known as “Maui’s Coolest Little Town”). We got to our room at the Paia Inn and were greeted with a cute basket of chocolates on the bed.

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Not just any chocolate. This chocolate was organic, and I have found that the longer I stay here, the more I have realized that the island of Maui is very committed to serving the freshest, most organic ingredients possible. Let’s just say that the land isn’t the only thing that’s green around here 😉

Keeping with the green theme, my mom and I headed out to explore the little town and find a place to eat dinner. Papa Bender had provided us with a travel guide he found online that discussed some of the best eateries in Paia. We eventually settled on the Flatbread Company.

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This restaurant features pizza that is wood-fired and uses all natural and organic ingredients. My mom and I started the trip off right by ordering a pair of margaritas 😉 These were made with squeezes of fresh orange juice, lemon and lime. In other words, they were the perfect fruity cocktail!

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My mom and I then split the restaurant’s Organic Salad, which consisted of sweet leaf lettuces tossed with organic celery and carrots, toasted sesame seeds, arame seaweed, blue cheese and a homemade berry viniagrette dressing. It was excellent!

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For our main course, we decided to split our pizza in half so that each of us could get what we wanted most. For my mom, that meant the homemade sausage, which came with maple fennel sausage, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese and herbs. For me, that meant the vegan pizza, a cheeseless delight with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and tomato sauce.

Yes, it was quite the combination. 1/2 sausage, 1/2 vegan please 🙂 But both sides were delicious!

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(Sorry for the bluriness, but the lighting wasn’t the best!)

Here’s one of my vegan slices:

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This pizza was so good! The crust was homemade and so doughy – you know I was a big fan 😉 We ate as much as we could until we were full. It was a great meal, and I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who ever visits Paia.

We spent the rest of the night walking around the town and seeing what else it had to offer. It had a health foods store that rivaled Whole Foods in terms of what it had in stock, as well as plenty of cute little shops and restaurants. And so ended our first night in Maui!

I will be back soon with another installment. Here’s a preview:

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I hope all of you are having a great week so far! Please know that I am still reading all of your comments, but I won’t be able to answer any specific questions or emails until I return from my trip. I’m trying to catch up on your blogs where I can, but won’t have much time to comment until I return, either!

Mahalo (Thank you),

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68 Comments

  1. Oh Jenn, how amazing! I’m so glad you got there safely and that you are enjoying yourself! I can’t wait for another update! I’d love to see more scenery pics (if you are taking requests! 😉 )

  2. Hey Jen
    I love your blog and your trip looks amazing! Maui is definatly a dream destination. Flatbread Co. is sooo good. They have a location in Burlington,Ma and I can imagine in several locations countrywide.

  7. i was hoping for some hawaii pictures this week 🙂 It looks beautiful and looks like you and your mom started the trip off right with those awesome margaritas + pizza! That’s great that you can get some healthy and local food there.

    I can’t wait to see more! Enjoy it!

  11. The water, plants, landscape is amazingly gorgeous in that last picture. Mmmm the pizza looks and sounds fabulous! Good to hear you are having so much fun 😀

  12. Jenn, it looks like you are having an absolutely wonderful time! Super vacation 🙂 Enjoy and cherish the time with your moms!

  13. dang mustang — i though you were going to Maui, not HEAVEN! organic chocolate, flatbread pizza– you are livin’ the life!

  14. Amazing trip Jenn! I know that you and your mom are enjoying everything to the fullest! And oh man, I love margaritas 😉

    Looking forward to part two!

  18. wow, looks amazing! I’m so glad that you’re having such a great time. I can’t wait for the next installments and to hear more about the trip—we DEFINITELY have some catching up to do when you get back from your awesome vacation 😉 good thing my chicago trip is soon!

  20. Doughy crust?! YUM! I love the half vegan/half sausage! Haha!!

    What gorgeous views!! Enjoy paradise – don’t worry about blogging you crazy lady!!

  25. That last picture is not real. You must have gotten it from a postcard or something. I refuse to believe you went somewhere so gorgeous and did not take me with you. No way.

  27. It looks as though you and mama bender are having a lovely time. And who knew Maui was so green, not me! That’s awesome. Have a lovely time the rest of your trip Jenn.

  29. ahhhhhh AMAZING! i’m so happy you’re living it up in maui 😀 keep having a blasty and i will keep living vicariously through you 😉

  30. Wow, it looks so gorgeous there! It’s been my dream to go to Maui since 5th grade, haha. I’m jealous, but so happy for you 😀 I can’t wait for part 2 🙂

  31. What an amazing trip so far! I’m so glad you’re having such a good time, it truly looks beautiful and so much fun. Can’t wait to see more of the Maui installments!

  32. Jenn! Hawaii looks absolutely beautiful! I would love to visit (and maybe even live there). 🙂

    Glad you and your mom are having such a good time.

  35. Wow, it sounds like you and your mama are having a fabulous time! That vegan pizza looks so tasty.

  37. Check out Anthony’s coffee in Paia!! It’s quite yummy…so are the sandwiches. I spent last July and January working on Maui (doing tree research) and loved the coffee there. And I highly recommend hiking in the Haleakala crater (still can’t say it right!! or spell it!!). It is like being on the moon and there are some really cool plants (but then again I am a plant nerd!!).

    Mangoes should be falling off the trees right now. I ate so many I am surprised I didn’t turn into one.

    Hope you have a great time…lots to see and do!!

  40. I ate there after driving the Road to Hana all day and LOVE IT!!! That is such a great restaurant. I also have the same type of pictures clinging to bamboo. We were trying to find hidden waterfalls!! Love love love reliving my last summer trip to Hawaii by reading your blog.

  42. Sounds amazing Jenn!!!! I’ve been to Waikiki but never Maui and my friends seriously RAVE about it- my bf always reminisces about the SMELL of Maui and how it’s the best thing in the world 😀 Have fun with momma!!! Can’t wait to see more.

  44. Hey girly! Glad you’re having fun in Maui so far!!!! Fabulous that the island is so dedicated to organic food- must make food decisions that much easier. That salad AND the pizza look fantastic. Enjoy every minute

  45. Wow! I’m so jealous! Glad you’re enjoying your trip and I look forward to reading your future posts.

  46. hahaha, oh my god its like re-reading about the vacay i JUST took! we nearly overlapped. looks like you went on the hike off the hana highway?

    i went to the flatbread place too! have you been to merriman’s? you should definitely go!!

  47. is that last picture from the Garden of Eden on the Road to Hana? we went there and had a picnic lunch with some wild peacocks! 🙂

  49. It sounds like you are having an absolutely amazing time. The pizza looks so delicous and the whole island looks like paradise with all the greenery plus the organic and natural foods…. heaven 🙂

    Take care ad have a great trip!

  52. Man, I love Hawaii. My parents loved it so much they visited 15 times and I was fortunate enough to accompany them a few of those times. It is truly a beautiful place and the people there love and take very good care of their land. Hope you are having a fab time!!

    ~Justine

  54. Bender,
    That last picture is amazing. Looks like you and your mom are having a wonderful time. I totally would have split a vegan pizza with you – looked delicious!

    Eat some macadamia nuts for me.

    Einstein Bender thanks you for his b-day wishes. 🙂

  55. Oh Jenn, it looks BEAUTIFUL there! I’m so thrilled you guys got to get away! That salad looks lovely! I hope you literally stuffed your face with the pizza – looks amazing 🙂

  56. Looks like you’re having a fabulous trip! I just watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall (ha, forgive that movie drop) and Hawaii looked BEAUTIFUL.

  57. Yummmm, we have Flatbread here in Portsmouth, NH too…. I can go to freakin’ town on their crust. I found it amusing that their locations are in New England aaaaand Hawaii… hahaa

  58. Jenn it looks beautiful! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Have a fantastic vacation in every which (green) way 😉

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