Slices of Hawaii in Manhattan

Ever since we came back from Hawaii I have been obsessed with everything Hawaiian. My biggest obsession has been with the delicious food we enjoyed in Hawaii. The evening before the wedding we went out to Roy's in Poipu and enjoyed some of the best food we've ever had. Our friends, David and Meredith, recommended Roy's as a must go for a tuna and wasabi dish and their melting hot chocolate souffle, which is to-die-for! My husband and I have been dreaming of the souffle and as luck would have it, there is a Roy's in downtown Manhattan at the Marriott Financial Center hotel.

About a month back we headed into the city to visit an event, DigitaLife, at the Javitts center that my brother gave us complimentary tickets to check out. We spent the bulk of the daylight at the Javitts Center playing with various gadgets. In the evening we headed downtown to meet up with hubby's BFF, Chris who now lives Downtown. We had hoped to head to Roy's for dinner but since it was a Sunday the restaurant was closed (who does that?). After some wandering Chris remembered there was another Hawaiian place downtown. Turns out it was more of hole-in-the-wall/fast food joint.

I present to you L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. In Hawaii there's this thing called plate lunch which is like your Hawaiian momma's version of a good filling meal. Hubby and I had the pleasure of enjoying a plate lunch (at a hole-in-the-wall that was not L&L) on a day trip in Maui to Kihei Beach with our cruise friends Charlotte and Roger. The plate lunch was so filling I had to give up to avoid exploding. Going back to NYC ... we decided to have the plate lunch (more like dinner) at L&L and again were stuffed and brimming with delicious Kalua pork, lau lau, rice and yummy Hawaiian style macaroni salad.

So if you have a chance pay visit to L&L in Manhattan (or other states, supposedly there's tons in Hawaii but I honestly don't remember seeing a single one) or Roy's. I highly recommend going to Hawaii just for the amazing food. Now to convince my husband that I need to go back to Hawaii and not bother with any other tropical paradise.

Hawaii or BUST!

Sample Sale

Last week I went to my very first NYC sample sale. I was browsing my InStyle magazine one evening and came across an ad for Accessoiree . The sample sale was right across the street at the Time & Life building. I was able to recruit a couple interested co-workers, paid our $30 fee, that goes to charity, and we were off to shop last Wednesday.

We really had no idea what to expect and were a bit disappointed. Some of the well known vendors like Coach and Cole Haan were big let downs. Coach, on the two occasions we went in the same day, had ZERO handbags. Upon shopping, I learned that most of the girls that were manning the vendor stands had bought up all the Coach handbags! Cole Haan had only one type of handbag and I thought it was ugly - it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I hit the jackpot at the Havaianas table. I got myself a pair of their gold slim on the first visit to the sale and later on visit #2 got a silver pair for myself and another gold pair for my sister-in-law. My sister-in-law loved hers. And I've been wearing mine all weekend because the weather has been unseasonably warm.

The only other item I bought was a necklace from Tracy Matthews Designs that I absolutely love even if it isn't exactly my day-to-day style. The necklace I bought looks like a combination of the two. The coloring and chain is like the top one with the tear-drop and multiple dangling stones. At the sample sale the necklace I got was only $20! Something similar is quite a bit more. I'm kicking myself now for not doing the research and getting more for myself or even for Christmas presents. Another time perhaps. Either way I got some awesome buys that I don't, for a minute, regret.