Molokai - Hawaii with Kids - page 328

8 Shopping with Your Kids
Molokai is not a shopping mecca. In fact, shopping here consists mainly of get-
ting the basics—food, clothing—though a handful of shops offer some specialty
items. Below are my picks.
FOOD
Friendly Market Center Friendly's has an especially good selection of pro-
duce and healthy foods—from local poi to Glenlivet. Blue-corn tortilla chips,
soy milk, organic brown rice, a good selection of pasta sauces, and Kumu Farms
macadamia-nut pesto (the island's stellar gourmet food) are among the items
that surpass standard grocery-store fare. In Kaunakakai. & 808/553-5595.
Misaki's Grocery and Dry Goods Established in 1922, this third-genera-
tion local legend is one of Kaunakakai's two grocery stores. Some of its notable
items: chopped garlic from Gilroy, California; fresh luau leaves (taro greens);
fresh okra; Boca Burgers; large Korean chestnuts in season; gorgeous bananas;
and an ATM. The fish section includes akule and ahi, fresh and dried, but the
stock consists mostly of meats, produce, baking products, and a humongous
array of soft drinks. Liquor, stationery, candies, and paper products round out
the selection of this full-service grocery. In Kaunakakai. & 808/553-5505.
GIFTS & SOUVENIRS
Big Wind Kite Factory & the Plantation Gallery Jonathan and Daphne
Socher, kite designers and inveterate Bali-philes, have combined their interests in
a kite factory/import shop that dominates the commercial landscape of Maunaloa,
the reconstituted plantation town. Maunaloa's naturally windy conditions make it
ideal for kite-flying classes, which are offered free for all ages when conditions are
right. The adjoining Plantation Gallery features local handicrafts such as milo-
wood bowls, locally made T-shirts, Hawaii-themed sandblasted glassware, baskets
of lauhala and other fibers, and Hawaiian-music CDs. There are also many Bali-
nese handicrafts, from jewelry to clothing and fabrics. In Maunaloa. & 808/552-2364.

The Hot Bread Run Moments

For years, local residents have lined up waiting for Molokai Bread to
be taken from the oven. Molokai's well-known and well-loved export,
Molokai Bread—developed in 1935 in a cast-iron, kiawe-fired oven—is
the signature product at Kanemitsu Bakery's, 79 Ala Malama St.
( & 808/553-5855 ). Flavors range from apricot-pineapple to mango (in
season), but the classics remain the regular white, wheat, cheese, sweet,
and onion-cheese breads. Kanemitsu's is part of Molokai's nightlife, too.
Whenever anyone on Molokai mentions “hot bread,” he's talking about
the hot-bread run at Kanemitsu's, the surreal late-night ritual for die-
hard bread lovers. Those in the know line up at the bakery's back door
beginning at 10:30pm, when the bread is whisked hot out of the oven
and into waiting hands. You can order your fresh bread with butter, jelly,
cinnamon, or cream cheese, and the bakers will cut the hot loaves down
the middle and slather on the works so it melts in the bread. The cream
cheese and jelly bread makes a fine substitute for dessert.