Holoholo Weekend 2: Hilo Farmer's Market

This weekend's holoholo trip was to the Farmer's Market located in historic downtown Hilo. It's open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Again, like the Kinoole Market, we found that timing is everything, and the earlier the better. It seems like the vegetables at this Farmer's market are all the same, perhaps from the same source, and similarly priced. I think the locals just have certain vendors that they always flock to for their veggies.

Besides the usual vegetables and flowers are the food vendors from bentos, Filipino desserts, tamale, honey, coffee, breads and Thai food.

We actually got here before 9, so we missed the early morning rush and found parking near the market. We have a routine. Bring our own bags, keep an open mind, look for the common veggies sold and walk all the way around before talking it out and deciding what we're going to need and what we'll make.

Since we're on a $10 budget, we weren't able to get any flowers, but when there's some extra money, flowers seem like a worthy luxury.

Our $10 this week got us a bag of pumpkin and a bunch of thai basil (for thai curry attempt #4), one bunch of apple bananas, one bunch of long eggplants (thai curry), and 3 bunches of Italian basil to make pesto for our homemade pizzas.

On another note, we went back to Kinoole Farmer's Market to go off budget and pick up some bread. We heard from some friends that the bread vendor was really friendly and could give us great suggestions on kinds of bread. We ended up picking up some walnut  English mufins and a foccacia type of flatbread. Both were heated up and oh so yummy with the chewy texture on the inside and the crispy edges. Yum! If you're in Hilo, go to Kinoole Market and see the bread people.