From Hawaii...

This week our recipe blogger, Shelley Marks, reports from Hawai'i.  (Lucky Shelley!)
Here's what she says:
I've been in Hawaii for about a week now and almost everything I've eaten has come from the islands.  It's so easy to eat locally in Hawaii.  There are farmers markets everywhere.  On Kauai, there's at least one market everyday, and that's on an island of only 60,000 people!
Here's my recent haul from the farmers market in Kapaa:  super sweet mini pineapples, two varieties of papaya, green leaf lettuce, arugula, apple bananas, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, and a bouquet of organic tropical flowers complete with ants from a 90-year old gardener's yard.  A few days ago, I picked up enough locally-grown avocados and tomatoes to last through the week.

When I'm on the islands, I like to start my day with a three-fruit salad consisting of papaya, pineapple, and banana.  The ripe fruit are super sweet and the local papayas give the salad an exotic perfume.

Later in the day, I make my island salad using a mix of locally-grown greens, sliced cucumber, green onions, cilantro, avocado, tomato, and papaya.  There's a locally-produced salad dressing sold throughout the islands made with papaya seeds, canola oil, vinegar, and spices.  It's a tasty complement to this salad.  For a more substantial meal, I'll top this salad with locally-caught ahi tuna coated with pepper and seared on the outside or sliced teriyaki chicken.
Locally-farmed shrimp are available throughout the islands; and shrimp trucks are everywhere serving a plate lunch with garlic or spicy cooked shrimp and two scoops of rice.  The shrimp trucks are great, but I like to make my own garlic butter shrimp from these local beauties.  These fresh shrimp cook up sweet and tender as they have never been frozen.
Time just slips away here in paradise.  I'll be back in LA soon, but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy one last sunset over Hanalei Bay.
Shelley