june • 2013 keiki cover model

We want to send our aloha out to this month’s keiki model Absydee Keilana Nyoko.

Mom is Krystel Gervacio, room reservations supervisor at Grand Wailea Resort & Spa. Dad is Cody Soriano, who works in porter services at Kahului Airport.

Five-year-old Absydee attends Kamali‘i Elementary School in Kihei and is finishing up kindergarten. She dances hula and enjoys swimming, fishing and wrestling for the Kihei Maulers.

Mom shares: “Absydee is so full of energy, love, hugs, and kisses! She continue to inspire us every day to achieve nothing but the best. She and her brother, Ethan, are the reason for everything!”

lahaina fish co.: unbeatable location, awesome new menu

It’s one thing to dine at water’s edge. It’s quite another to dine right over the water while listening to waves crashing beneath you. Lahaina Fish Co., where have you been all my life?

After parking in the Lahaina Center parking lot (Lahaina Fish Co. validates for three hours), Janet and I stroll down Front St. to the restaurant. Outside is a wooden statue of a bearded fisherman wearing a bright yellow hooded slicker and slinging a red snapper over his shoulder. A colorful lei around his neck reminds us we’re in Hawai‘i, and that he’s not the Gorton’s fisherman.

george kahumoku jr.’s slack-key show: masters of hawaiian music

Slack-key guitar is nearly as iconic to the Hawaiian Islands as hula, although it’s a much more recent form of expression. No matter where you are, when you hear the dulcet tones of the slack-key guitar you’re instantly transported back to Hawai‘i. Called ki ho‘alu in Hawaiian (“loosen the [tuning] key”), the style originated from Mexican cowboys in the late 19th century. These paniolo taught the Hawaiians the rudiments of playing, and then left, allowing the Hawaiians to develop the style on their own.

Since 2003, George Kahumoku Jr. has been presenting the great slack-key performers of the day in a relaxed venue at the Napili Kai Beach Resort. Dubbed “Masters of Hawaiian Music,” the weekly show has showcased more than 40 different artists since its inception. The kanikapila-style show is hosted by George himself, along with his hanai sons Peter deAquino, Garrett Probst, and Sterling Seaton. Guests can enjoy the show all by itself ($37.99) or combine it with a pre-show dinner at Napili Kai’s Sea House Restaurant ($78.35).

maui film festival heats up wailea again! june 12 – 16, 2013

Maui is buzzing this month in anticipation of the abundance of films, food and fun happening in Wailea June 12-16.

Barry and Stella Rivers founded the Maui Film Festival in 2000 as a jewel box festival committed to the celebration and exploration of cinema at the intersection of smart and heart. Thirteen years later the festival has grown into a spectacular event. Featuring five film-packed days with an amazing and diverse schedule of cinema, food, celebrities (at press time Kirsten Dunst, Brie Larson and Jessica Chastain are to be honored) and more. The festival’s grand outdoor theater “Celestial Cinema” at the Wailea Gold and Emerald Golf Courses shows movies on a 50-foot wide screen while guests sit under the stars in South Maui’s perfect weather. Foodies will drool with the schedule of culinary events including the Opening Night Twilight Reception at Capische? on Wednesday, June 12; The Taste of Chocolate at Four Seasons Resort Maui on Friday, June 14 and the renowned Taste of Wailea at Leadbetter Golf Academy in Wailea on Saturday, June 15.

mama’s fish house & maui’s fishermen working together

Mama’s Fish House Executive Chef Perry Bateman and Chef de Poisson Mike Pascher are proud to announce that Mama’s Fish House, in cooperation with Maui fishermen and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, deployed a new fishing buoy approximately 30 miles off the northeast shore of Maui. The buoy is called a Fish Aggregation Device (FAD) that is anchored to the seafloor at a depth of 15,000 ft.