Honolulu Greek Festival

Every August there's a Greek festival in Honolulu.  People from Pittsburgh LOVE gyros and pronounce the word just as it looks, albeit very incorrect: gi-row.  I've only missed this festival once in the 4 Augusts that I've been in Hawaii :)  It's so much fun and the food is amazing!

Behold, course 1: the gyro!

Bryce enjoying our lunch in the shade.

There's live music and lots of dancing.

It's at a pavilion inside a park and gets really crowded, as you can see.

Everywhere you look there are wonderful Grecian things happening, like pitas being grilled!

The Olive Tree Cafe, which I've been to before, had a booth.  Their sign was so clever and ouzo sorbet sounds dangerously delicious!

Always up for an adventure, I tried the lukoumathes.  They're fried dough topped with a honey syrup, yum!

They're fried fresh inside the tent.

Course 2: lukoumathes.  I am a happy girl.

It's not all about food and dancing, there's also shopping!  You can find just about any type of jewelry, decor, religious items, accessories, and so on.

New clothes, anyone?

They have canned foods for sale, too.  I got that big jar of HUGE capers and a jar of tahini (for making hummus) for half the price of what I pay at Whole Foods.  Hooray!

Finally, course 3 and the very best part: dessert!  We wanted to try the chocolate baklava but you could only get it in the "bento box", which was a horrible tragedy.  I'll try to tell you what's in here:

• 2 classic walnut baklava (top and bottom left)
• chocolate baklava (brown triangle)
• kourabiethes - almond butter cookie with powdered sugar (left middle)
• melomacarona - vegas spice cookie (top right)
• kataifi - shredded dough with nuts (right middle)
• pecan queens baklava - (bottom right)

My favorite was the shredded dough with nuts, although all of the cookies were delicious!  Greek pastries are always so delectable and buttery.  We shared a few with our friends and polished off the entire box by sundown that day.

Until next year, Greek Festival!