Wildflour Life

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Which Hawaiian Island best fits YOU?

This week’s post is all about the tropical Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Maui! Oahu is the most populated island with lots to do!!!

Oahu is so exciting and fun! The city of Honolulu is bustling, and there are plenty of places to eat, drink, shop, play, and party!

Waikiki is a hip and busy neighborhood in Honolulu with lots of high-end shops, restaurants, and a beautiful surf beach! My favorite place to get an iced coffee and an açaí bowl is Honolulu Coffee! They have so many amazing types of açaí bowls to choose from!

Oahu also has The Pearl Harbor Memorial. They did a great job in honoring our fallen soldiers and educating its visitors.

If you want to escape the city and people head to the north shore!!!

My Husband enjoying some Dole Whip! and Hawaiian Gold Pineapple!

Don’t forget to stop at the Dole plantation on your way to the North Shore. We had our first Dole Whip, there and it was mouth watering! It was so delicious and refreshing! Dole Whip is like tasting Hawaiian sunshine in a cup! The plantation itself is a bit touristy, but the Dole Whip and rainbow eucalyptus trees are worth the stop!!

We also learned you can get Dole Whip at all the Walgreens in Honolulu. And we partook every time we saw one!

The North shore is peaceful with less crowded beaches and nature! Ted’s Bakery is a must visit on the north shore for their local and authentic casual bites!

Wailiua is a great place to go for a nice hike! There are lots of birds and wildlife! We went in the afternoon and saw a magical sunset while whales splashed in the ocean!

Now let’s talk about Maui!

Maui is my favorite Hawaiian island I’ve traveled to so far!! It’s so lush and tropical with lots of great beaches!

My top highlight of Maui is the Road to Hana! It’s a long and windy road leading to an epic waterfall hike.

Along the road are great beaches to stop and play! There are fresh fruit and banana bread stands along the way too! My favorite roadside fruit is the passion fruit!!

Right outside of Hana Highway is Mama’s Fish House in the town of Paia! My husband and I are obsessed! Not only is the food amazing, but the view is outstanding!! The bread they serve there is worth every calorie! So ask for the bread before your meal!

My next favorite thing about Maui was the Old Lahaina Luau! Best Luau I’ve ever been, and I highly recommend!! I loved the BBQ pig and purple potatoes!

My husband also got the chance to take a plane lesson while we were on Maui and I got to tag along! It was so incredible to see the landscape from a bird’s eye view! I would recommend taking a helicopter or scenic plane tour if you can!

Get rid of the winter blues with a visit to either of these islands!

Featured

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

How these cookies where invented:

My best friend is vegan and every year she makes us vegan treats for Christmas. One of the cookies this year was thumbprint cookies. They were so delicious! She sent me the recipe, but instead I thought I could modify my favorite thumbprint cookie recipe. She came over to help me bake my few first batches.

I knew I could substitute the regular butter for vegan butter. But, how was I going to replace the eggs? We decided to add applesauce and hope for the best!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 tsp baking powder

• 1 1/2 cups vegan butter, room temperature

• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 3 Tablespoons applesauce

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• Homemade strawberry jam (see additional recipe below)

Instructions:

1) In a medium bowl, stir together flour and baking powder until well blended. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, cream vegan butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3) Add applesauce and vanilla extract. Blend well.

4) Slowly add the flour mixture into the large bowl until fully incorporated.

5) Chill dough for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.

6) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mat.

7) Roll chilled dough into 1 tsp balls. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

8) Make a deep thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Add the thumbprint with 1/2 tsp of homemade jam.

8) Place trays in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.

9) Once dough is chilled and firm bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.

Baking!! — We were watching these cookies bake!

Hubby is a meat and potatoes guys, but he fell in love with these cookies! He even asked me to make these for his birthday this year!

Strawberry Jam Recipe

1 pound strawberries

1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 juice of lemon

1)Combine strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in pot (preferably a dutch oven)

2) Heat on low for 2 hours. Stir occasionally and skim away foam on top.

3) Cool completely before filling cookies.

Homemade jam is so delicious and makes the whole house smell like fresh strawberries! If you are in a pinch for time I like to use Fiordifrutta-
Wild Strawberries!

What to do on a Romantic Weekend in Saint Michaels

We live right outside of Annapolis so Saint Michaels is the perfect place for a quiet romantic getaway! It’s only about an hour drive from Annapolis and even less by boat! This was our first little trip since we had our baby all by ourselves! We were suppose to go by boat but the weather had a turn so we decided it was safer to drive. Starbucks was my driving fuel!

We stayed at the Harbor Inn Marina. It’s a really beautiful waterfront boutique hotel right near downtown Saint Michaels. They have a stunning pool, spa, and a tiny gym. They even have bikes you can use to ride around downtown! We choose to ride their one and only tandem bike! Luckily we didn’t fall!!

The Harbor Inn Marina pool
https://www.harbourinn.com/

Our first stop was Gina’s Cafe! They have the best nachos I’ve ever had in my life! We got their classic nachos off the menu and they are seriously DELICIOUS! I loved them so much that as soon as I got home I decided to up my homemade nacho game! Gina’s cafe also has crazy good and strong margaritas made with fresh squeezed juice!

Gina’s classic margarita!
https://m.facebook.com/ginastacohut/

Gina’s Cafes Classic Nachos!
https://m.facebook.com/ginastacohut/

My other favorite part about Gina’s Cafe is that you can sit and people watch outside while you dine!

After our snack at Gina’s we decided to walk around town! We stumbled upon the St Michaels Classic Motor Museum trying to get to the St Michaels Winery. The Motor Museum is in a beautiful barn stock full of some awesome restored cars and trucks! We ended up taking the tour and learning so much about car history! The museum is a hidden gem that I would recommend checking out!

The Dino!
https://www.classicmotormuseum.org/

After our tour we hit the St Michael’s Winery which is across the street from the Classic Motor Museum. We shared their sweet and dry wine samplers! They have a great outdoor tasting area to hang out and relax while you sample their many wines. I really liked their sparkling vidal balanc! It had a hint of citrus with some bubbles!

For our romantic dinner I booked a table at Talbot 508. It’s in an old historic building with a warm tavern vibe. They had wonderfully friendly service and delicious dinner! I had their special of the night, a miso glazed seared salmon with roasted sesame seeds. It was perfectly cooked and flavored to perfection! My husband had the local soft shell crabs and was in heaven! His soft shell crab where flash fried over a sauté of fresh cut sweet corn and green beans, with roasted fingerling potatoes in a green tomato butter.

Happy and Full after our Romantic Dinner at 208 Talbot.
http://www.208talbot.com/

Of course we had to save room for ice cream!! Justines ice cream is an old school classic ice cream parlor! I felt like we went back in time when we walked in to the parlor! I had one of my favorites…. mint chocolate chip!! and Johnathan had the cinnamon sugar churro ice cream! Both flavors were creamy and smooth! Justines is also just a short walk from Talbot 508!

St Michaels is a quiet town and shuts down pretty early. We ended our night with some drinks and playing Telestrations with our wonderful travel mates!

Thank you for reading my travel blog about St Michaels! I hope you feel inspired to travel and explore too!

Modern Farm House Ideas

Our First Custom House Build!

We met our first clients when they came to look at our rental home in Edgewater and we clicked right away! We shared so many of the same interests and most importantly – CAPS CAPS CAPS.

They liked our Edgewater home so much, they offered to buy it. That is when we started talking about building them a custom home. We had them come see a house we were remodeling at the time, and they decided right away they wanted us to build them a custom dream home. And so our journey began!