"I Just Wanna Feel Some Sunshine" - Aulani May 2024 - Updated 6/27 Pool Time, Umi Dinner, & Going Home

Mimosas & Macarons - Part 1

When I strolled towards Makahiki’s check in desk to see if I could get in for Mimosas & Macarons. Dale was out greeting guests.

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The check in lady was very hesitant as usually its completely sold out but I had to wait until everyone was checked in. Luckily for me, the large party had 1 person decide not to attend and thus, I had a seat!

Mimosas & Macarons is a DVC member exclusive offering, along with the Poke & Sake and Mixology classes that occur on different days. I had signed up for the Poke & Sake that was supposed to occur on Friday but it ended up being cancelled due to lack of interest (I was one of two people signed up)

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We were all sat by our parties and given a recipe book where the demonstration started. It was led by the pastry chef of the resort where she gave us her history at the company and began to show us how to make macarons while we were served our first mimosa & macaron.

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The first mimosa was POG which was very refreshing along with a simple macaron.

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As she continued her demonstration, she made sure we understood the type of peaks needed and gloss.


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The second macaron given was a tropical one.

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Mimosas & Macarons - Part 2

She continued with the demonstration to show us how to pipe the cookies.

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We were given trays to pipe our own cookies as well both normal shaped and mickey shaped as well as a pineapple mimosa.

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During this part, we also ended up with two more macarons and another mimosa.

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At the end of the demonstration, she showed how she makes the vegan chocolate mousse along with giving us a sample to try. It’s made by whipping up the liquid from chickpea beans cans (aquafaba) and mixing it in with melted vegan chocolate. I was surprised with how good it was.

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We were given our final macaron boxed up as a memento for the event as well as being able to keep the apron we had on.

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Overall, we got 3 mimosas and 5 macarons of various flavors included in the seminar along with the vegan chocolate mousse. I felt this was a nice value for the event and was very thankful to be able to get in!​
 
Orchids at Halekulani

Afterwards, I headed back to the room to clean up and get ready for us to head into Waikiki for dinner. I was really excited for this meal based off the menu and the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel being in Waikiki in the midst of the constant rain made for an interesting drive. I was glad we were in a larger vehicle at least as we went through flooded roads. We were eating at Orchids at the Halekulani. Because of the rain, half the restaurant was closed along with the ocean view covered up to avoid water intrusion in their open-air concept.

My husband still wasn’t feeling 100% so I got to pick the wine as I would be the one drinking the majority of it. We just went with a sauvignon blanc.

The bread was fresh with the option of lovely salted butter or olive oil.

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The amuse bouche was a fish mousse that I really enjoyed. Not overly fishy and I was able to steal my husband’s.

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To start, I went for the beef tartare again and oh it was divine. The parmesan cheese really paired nicely with the truffle sauce and beef.

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Prime Beef Filet Tartare - 24-month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, Lemon Zest, Truffle Aioli, Shaved Seasonal Truffle Crostini

My husband went with the short rib ravioli I was debating on. Each of the raviolis were filled with short rib in addition to the tender meat on top.

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Short Rib Ravioli - Jus Reduction

My entrée I think was just a wrong order for me. I love Uni and I love squid in pasta but this sauce was so tomato heavy with a spice I couldn’t quite place that I didn’t really enjoy it. I didn’t send it back as it felt like a me issue than a restaurant issue. I ate as much of the pasta I could avoiding the sauce as I could.


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Sea Urchin Tagliolini - Black Squid Ink Spaghettini, Sea Urchin Sauce

So not enjoying my dinner meant I went all in for dessert and had espresso and tiramisu.

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Kona Espresso Tiramisu - Pistachio Anglaise, Candied Lemon

Overall, I really enjoyed this meal despite the atmosphere not being what I know it should have been. We headed back to Aulani to go to bed.​
 


The macaron class looks like fun! Putting it on my list! Your husbands dish looks much better than yours. Glad you could make up for it with dessert. :)

Jill in CO
 
Wow, that makes for a fun and unique Aulani souvenir!

It does! We close on our house tomorrow so I'll actually will be able to use it sometime soon as I'll be able to cook again. Our rental has a terrible kitchen with zero prep work space which has made cooking such a drag.

The macaron class looks like fun! Putting it on my list! Your husbands dish looks much better than yours. Glad you could make up for it with dessert. :)

Jill in CO

It was a lot of fun. It is only offered on Thursdays currently. The Poke one is Fridays & Mixology is Saturdays. You can't book until you are on site and you must be a DVC member.
 
Pool Day
This morning we woke up to more rain. We had planned on going to the beach/pool early but that got delayed by the weather.

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I went to the ‘Olelo Room for breakfast getting a POG mimosa and 3 malasadas. My husband left to run in the gym since he didn’t the day before with the seasickness.

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Eventually around 10AM, it stopped raining so we headed down to the pool. Once we claimed our loungers (there were lots of options this morning still), I headed to the bar to get drinks as if you are going to lay poolside, you must have a cocktail.



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We relaxed, swam, watched some very brave birds.

When we got hungry, I headed to Mama’s Snack Shack and got some mozzarella sticks for me and fries for my husband.

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Eventually we were over being pool people as the crowds were building up and the people watching wasn’t very entertaining. My husband went straight back to the room while I headed over to the quick service place to pick up some snacks. I enjoyed my ice cream on my stroll back to the room and we shared the cheese and nut plate back in the room. Well, more so I enjoyed some while I soaked in the tub and then let my husband have what was left over.


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Umi by Vikram Garg

After an afternoon nap, we got ready to drive back over to Waikiki for tonight’s dinner. It was located across the street from where we ate the night prior but at least the roads had drained a fair amount.

The restaurant is very seafood focused with using seasonal ingredients.

I started with a cocktail, Shochu Times (Iichigo Seitan Sochu, Yuzu, Kaffir Lime Syrup, Shishito Salt) that I found really balanced.

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My first course was the tuna. I figured I had enough beef tartare that I needed to make sure I got some fresh tuna in. This was very good. There was just enough lemon to cut through the richness of the sauce used.

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Tuna – Crudo, Daikon, Cured Lemon, Tobiko

My husband surprised me by ordered the beetroot risotto. He said it was amazing and made me take a bite and I agreed. It was rich without being too overpowering.

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Beetroot Risotto – Carnaroli Rice, Gobo Cream

I also ordered a soup course as this dish sounded interesting to me. The popcorn soup had just the right amount of popcorn flavor to it that it wasn’t strange. I did wish the puffed lotus seeds were crispier though.

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Popcorn Soup – Spiced Lotus Seeds

My husband had the lobster for his main. He said the best part was the sauce on the plate. The lobster was well cooked but that sauce was like a nice lobster bisque. The black forbidden rice was nice but he left much of that behind before of the risotto he had earlier.

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Lobster – Shellfish Essence, Togarashi, Lemon

For my main, I went with the monchong. Monchong is a local Hawaiian fish that gets caught during tuna fishing. I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t too heavy either after having enjoyed two prior courses.

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Monchong – Miso Crust, Watercress, Lotus Root

For dessert, I ordered an espresso martini and my husband and I shared the sundae. This was a nice ending to the meal. I really liked that brown butter ice cream.

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Sundae – Brown Butter Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge, Toffee

Back at the hotel, I began the not so fun part of vacation – packing as we would be leaving the next day.​
 
Final Day

When we woke up this morning, my husband wanted to enjoy one last run outside. When he was back, I started the last load of laundry so I could finish our packing. I also went downstairs to the swim shop as I wanted to get one of the wet/dry spirit jersey like shirts that I had seen the day before. I also watched the fish in rainbow reef for a little bit.

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Besides that, we watched tv and soaked up the last bit of our room until we checked out around 10:30AM. We headed to Kapolei to have a lighter healthy lunch at Aloha Salads. You can select from their pre-set menu or custom build one. My husband went with the Chicken Caesar while I did a mix of spring mix, cheese, wontons, onions and carrots. It was really good!

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As we knew we had time to kill before we needed to be at the airport, we headed over to Regal to see The Strangers: Chapter 1 as my husband wanted to see it. We got some candy and enjoyed our junk horror movie before heading to the airport.

I realized at the airport I never got the dogs anything so I fixed that at one of the giftshops.

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Our flight home was ok. We witnessed multiple people flip out that the chicken option for the meal ran out and instead had to have the tofu pasta. The tofu was one large cold piece – it was easy enough to remove if you didn’t want it. It wasn’t the best airplane food but it did its job of filling us up enough to not be hangry. Neither of us slept well either but we managed to navigate the airport just fine back to our car and drive the hour home where we immediately went to sleep for a few hours before going to look at the progress made on our house.

We close on the house now tomorrow and then I can figure out the rest of our 2024/2025 adventures once the dust settles from all that.​
 
I'm sad your trip report is over, I really enjoyed reading along. Thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on your new home!
 
Thanks for sharing you trip… hoping you do more in the future! Congrats on your new home!
 
That sub museum sounds very interesting! I can't believe that they used viewfinders as a Naval training tool....I had one of those as a kid!

Sorry about your ankle, that sucks. The aviation museum sounds interesting. I'm not a huge airplane buff, but it could be interesting.

I'm way behind and still need to catch up on the your dinner at the Lei Stand and the Shark cage experience!
 
We were heading to The Lei Stand which is a small tiki bar with appetizers for dinner.
I'm going to have to remember this place, I love a good Tiki Bar!
For our first appetizer, we did the happy hour version of chicken karaage. This reminded me of Cane’s Chicken fingers honestly. While it was tasty, I’m not sure I would get it a second time.
Well I will remember that! I'm not the biggest fan of Cane's! :laughing:
Now this was the real star of the place. The cheezy bread. That honey truffle drizzle should have been named the crack sauce as I wanted to lick the plate when we were done.
Noted!
What were we doing? Shark Cage Diving!
You are braver than me. This is not an activity that I will be putting on the list!
After about 45 minutes, we loaded back onto the boat to head back to shore. I was very glad I remembered to bring along a towel from the room as we needed it! Both of us were cold; however, once the boat started moving again, my husband left the seat to just hang out by the side of the boat. He got hit hard with seasickness. I felt really bad for him.
I'm sorry your husband felt bad, it sounded like he didn't get much better all day.
I did go downstairs to see if I could get signed up for the Mimosas & Macaron workshop that they have for DVC members.
I will have to remember this for when we do a full on Hawaii trip! If they still offer it!
I did sign up for the Sake & Sushi seminar that was the next day.
Did you show pictures of that? Did I miss it?
Eventually we got back up and headed to the car to drive the 30 minutes over to Ko Hana Distillery. It was still raining some. We checked in and I decided to upgrade to the Aged Rum Flight while my husband decided to pick the Cocktail Flight instead of the classic flight that we would enjoy at the end of our tour.
This is definitely something I would enjoy!
Luckily for me, the large party had 1 person decide not to attend and thus, I had a seat!
Yay!
She continued with the demonstration to show us how to pipe the cookies.
There's no way I'd be doing this without someone providing me a bag like they must have for you. I seem to be afraid of piping, or at least preparing the bag.
During this part, we also ended up with two more macarons and another mimosa.
I would work with that!
Overall, we got 3 mimosas and 5 macarons of various flavors included in the seminar along with the vegan chocolate mousse. I felt this was a nice value for the event and was very thankful to be able to get in!
How much was it?
To start, I went for the beef tartare again and oh it was divine. The parmesan cheese really paired nicely with the truffle sauce and beef.
That beef tartare looks super good!
Overall, I really enjoyed this meal despite the atmosphere not being what I know it should have been. We headed back to Aulani to go to bed.
I'm sorry the weather messed up the ambience of the restaurant.
It was a lot of fun. It is only offered on Thursdays currently. The Poke one is Fridays & Mixology is Saturdays. You can't book until you are on site and you must be a DVC member.
Well this next trip, the only one we have a hope of doing is Mixology. We don't arrive until Friday afternoon.
This morning we woke up to more rain. We had planned on going to the beach/pool early but that got delayed by the weather.
Ugh, so much rain!
I went to the ‘Olelo Room for breakfast getting a POG mimosa and 3 malasadas. My husband left to run in the gym since he didn’t the day before with the seasickness.
Those look delicious! and POG Mimosa doesn't sound bad either!
My first course was the tuna. I figured I had enough beef tartare that I needed to make sure I got some fresh tuna in. This was very good. There was just enough lemon to cut through the richness of the sauce used.
Tuna is an equally delicious alternative to the beef.
For my main, I went with the monchong. Monchong is a local Hawaiian fish that gets caught during tuna fishing. I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t too heavy either after having enjoyed two prior courses.
I will have to remember that fish.
For dessert, I ordered an espresso martini and my husband and I shared the sundae. This was a nice ending to the meal. I really liked that brown butter ice cream.
I love a good espresso martini for dessert!
Back at the hotel, I began the not so fun part of vacation – packing as we would be leaving the next day.
Ugh, it seems like you all just got there, but I know it was a week long trip.
My husband went with the Chicken Caesar
Shocked, I tell you! I'm shocked! :rotfl2:
We witnessed multiple people flip out that the chicken option for the meal ran out and instead had to have the tofu pasta. The tofu was one large cold piece – it was easy enough to remove if you didn’t want it. It wasn’t the best airplane food but it did its job of filling us up enough to not be hangry.
It's amazing how people flip out like that. Granted the airlines never seems to make enough chicken, and they are now erring on the whole vegan plant based side, but it's not like you can't get good once you get off the plane. It's not like it's your last meal.
We close on the house now tomorrow and then I can figure out the rest of our 2024/2025 adventures once the dust settles from all that.

Yay for closing on the house. I saw that somewhere online a few days ago. I'm sure you're busy getting moved in and everything how you want it. Enjoy!
 
Congratulations on your new house!

Thank you!

I'm sad your trip report is over, I really enjoyed reading along. Thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on your new home!

Thank you for reading along!

Thanks for sharing you trip… hoping you do more in the future! Congrats on your new home!

I have a DCL cruise set for October I will probably do a report for. I'm solo but I'm joining along with a friend's 40th & 50th birthdays

That sub museum sounds very interesting! I can't believe that they used viewfinders as a Naval training tool....I had one of those as a kid!

Sorry about your ankle, that sucks. The aviation museum sounds interesting. I'm not a huge airplane buff, but it could be interesting.

Yeah - the viewfinders are really cool! It makes sense why they got used especially in that time before portable computers but I had fun getting to look through that view.

I'm going to have to remember this place, I love a good Tiki Bar!

It was! There are so many around the island but I was glad to go to a smaller spot than one of the main ones in Waikiki.

Well I will remember that! I'm not the biggest fan of Cane's! :laughing:
Yeah - that is something you either like or hate.

You are braver than me. This is not an activity that I will be putting on the list!
:laughing: I know it is not something for everyone. I'm glad we did it though!

I'm sorry your husband felt bad, it sounded like he didn't get much better all day.

Thanks! We should have remembered and gotten him Dramamine but lessons to be learned!

I will have to remember this for when we do a full on Hawaii trip! If they still offer it!

I hope they do! It was popular even with only being for DVC guests on points.

Did you show pictures of that? Did I miss it?

There are no photos as it ended up cancelled as only 2 people signed up. Disappointing but money saved I guess!

There's no way I'd be doing this without someone providing me a bag like they must have for you. I seem to be afraid of piping, or at least preparing the bag.

They did provide us a bag which made it was easier. I also fail at prepping the bags.

How much was it?

I think it was either $75 or $85 - overall felt like a nice price for what was given.

Well this next trip, the only one we have a hope of doing is Mixology. We don't arrive until Friday afternoon.

That one sounded fun but the timing didn't work out well for us because of our arrival/departure dates being on Saturday. It was offered to me as a replacement for the Sake & Poke but the timing just didn't work.

It's amazing how people flip out like that. Granted the airlines never seems to make enough chicken, and they are now erring on the whole vegan plant based side, but it's not like you can't get good once you get off the plane. It's not like it's your last meal.

Exactly. It did its job of holding off Hanger which is all I care about for plane food.

Yay for closing on the house. I saw that somewhere online a few days ago. I'm sure you're busy getting moved in and everything how you want it. Enjoy!

Thanks! We have been busy doing all that along with spending more money getting furniture and such. Even got to go through our first hurricane in it but at least all went well with that. No internet but in the scheme of things, meh.
 
Just found your trip report—thanks so much for sharing! That last dinner looked amazing.
 
Mimosas & Macarons - Part 2

She continued with the demonstration to show us how to pipe the cookies.

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We were given trays to pipe our own cookies as well both normal shaped and mickey shaped as well as a pineapple mimosa.

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During this part, we also ended up with two more macarons and another mimosa.

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At the end of the demonstration, she showed how she makes the vegan chocolate mousse along with giving us a sample to try. It’s made by whipping up the liquid from chickpea beans cans (aquafaba) and mixing it in with melted vegan chocolate. I was surprised with how good it was.

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We were given our final macaron boxed up as a memento for the event as well as being able to keep the apron we had on.

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Overall, we got 3 mimosas and 5 macarons of various flavors included in the seminar along with the vegan chocolate mousse. I felt this was a nice value for the event and was very thankful to be able to get in!​

I've been thinking of doing the macaron class, but wasn't sure if it's more demo than hands on class. Do they bake the cookies you piped? Or is that just for practice (but they don't end up making them)?
 
I've been thinking of doing the macaron class, but wasn't sure if it's more demo than hands on class. Do they bake the cookies you piped? Or is that just for practice (but they don't end up making them)?

Its more a demo. They did not bake the cookies we piped but it felt like a nice mix of hands on and demostration plus lots of cookies and cocktails.
 
















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