Diet to Go: Tropical Feast - not Famine

Okay, the truth is, we've never lost weight on one of our extended trips. . .until now.

Our culinary journey, our 'Diet to Go' (DTG), kicked off in Kirkland's safe confines.  A quick trip here or there and not of the length that would throw a monkey-wrench into the efforts. Truthfully, our hopes for Hawaii were to not gain as much as previous years. (Four pounds each last year and --oink --about six the year before).

So the fact that I am telling you we are each down 1 - 1.5 pounds from when we arrived, is amazing.

Remember, we were following the Glycemic Load Diet (the book's on the Amazon carousel on our homepage) by Dr. Rob Thompson, who also wrote a guest post about travel and dieting for us. We've not spent time 'thinking diet' but what we've done differently is:

• Maui potato chips gave way to Kim Chee,  home-made Korean spicy cucumber chunks that we discovered at a local farmer's market.
• Baked potatoes of previous years were history with many green salads taking their place; locally-grown Manoa Valley lettuce melts in the mouth.
• We've not had any crackers or corn chips or cookies.

What we have had: 

• a milk shake, a couple Starbucks frozen mochas dripping in chocolate and whipped cream, macaroni salad (in small portions),chocolate covered macadamia nuts every night along with quantities of wine far in excess of what we would have at home. 
• We've also eaten lau lau, the Hawaiian pork and fish wrapped in taro leaves and steamed in tea leaves, steak, fish, and  Hawaiian 'plate lunch' (substituted green salad for the usual scoops of rice and mac salad).
• We've eaten more than a dozen papayas and nine pineapples.

For a number of reasons, but primarily the view from our deck and the cost-savings, we've eaten every meal 'at home' since arriving at Ko Olina. We've been inspired by the discovery of a nearby farmer's market and helped by a new grocery/deli at Ko Olina.

The local fare at our nearby farmers market has been a culinary journey.  Farm fresh eggs, lettuce, fresh fish, homemade goodies have all tempted. We  sampled dark chocolate covered fresh strawberries last week at our Waianae Farmers Market and they gave me the recipe.  I think it fits in with our Diet to Go, so here it is:

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
5 oz.dark semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb. fresh strawberries - with or without leaves (room temp)

Instructions:
Wash strawberries under cool running water.  Dry thoroughly on paper towels (water prevents the chocolate from sticking).
Insert toothpicks into the tops of the strawberries.
In a double boiler, melt butter, then chocolate, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Holding them by the toothpicks, dip the strawberries into the chocolate mixture.
Turn strawberries upside down and insert the toothpick into Styrofoam or cardboard box for the chocolate to cool.