Sweet Marie's Hawaii in Kauai

[emcqueen222]

My husband took me to Hawaii over the week of Valentine's Day to celebrate our wedding anniversary early. Unbeknownst to me, he also planned a day trip to Kauai where a sweet little ball of energy named Marie Cassel has a tiny little gluten free baked goods shop! We bought half a dozen of her little chocolate cookies that were melt-in-your-mouth heaven, and several giant muffins. When we got back to Waikiki, I put the muffins in the little fridge in the hotel, then ate them all week, smuggling half of one into the buffet to have with my breakfast each morning.

Marie is an absolute doll, and I would highly recommend anyone who's going to be anywhere in Hawaii to go make a pilgrimmage! Her # is 808-823-0227, and she has a website: www.sweetmarieskauai.com.
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Some things I believe: [1] "Most dogs are better people than most people" (Mark Twain), [2] Seeing a half full glass is better than a half empty one, and [3] Anyone not doing what he can to improve a situation forfeits his right to complain about it!

[cruelshoes]

Thanks for the tip, emcqueen222. I'm adding that to my wish list of places to visit. Now I just need to win the lottery.

The link above didn't work for me, so here is another one. http://www.sweetmarieskauai.com/index.htm
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

[ostrich]

Hi there emcqueen222! Welcome! Damn, that's a nice anniversary present. I don't think we have much info about Hawaii, so thanks for sharing. Feel free to post about any other good GF spots in Hawaii.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

Time falls away, but these small hours
These little wonders still remain

[emcqueen222]

Hi, All -

I've been super busy, but just saw that people replied to my original post - cool! (Okay, so I'm kind of new at this whole forum thing...) We also had MOST of our lunches at the Yard House restaurant in Waikiki. They have about 100 different beers (happy hubby!), and plan to add Red Bridge soon. They have an awesome gluten free menu, of which I would most highly recommend the lemongrass-skewered jumbo shrimp on a bed of spicy rice. I wish I could find a dish like that here in the DC area! I actually found, in general, that the restaurants were pretty clued in about celiac, what gluten is, etc., although I was still afraid to go to Benihana and try to explain about soy sauce, cooking surfaces, etc.

Btw, thanks for fixing my link, Colleen, and I STILL sometimes say (to my husband when he asks why I'm wincing:) "...ugh, these are cruel shoes!" (although now I try to avoid them like the plague!)
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Some things I believe: [1] "Most dogs are better people than most people" (Mark Twain), [2] Seeing a half full glass is better than a half empty one, and [3] Anyone not doing what he can to improve a situation forfeits his right to complain about it!

[luvscowznh]

My husband found Sweet Marie's while we were on our honeymoon in August. It was so wonderful! It was hard to find, but once we did, I was so thrilled! I managed to make my muffins last almost a week - we stocked up before we left Kauai. (we spent about a week on Kauai, then about 4 days on Maui and a day in Oahu) I have been tempted to have her ship some muffins to me here in MA, but just can't justify the $75 shipping cost. (She will ship to the states using dry ice...) If a GF bakery, Peaches, hadn't opened up near me, I might have ordered some stuff from her. Her coconut tapioca is to DIE for!! The chocolate macaroons were really great too. All of her stuff is really good. We also had the Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel Topping and the Steamed Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate mousse. It is definitely on the list of places we HAVE to go when we make it back to Hawaii.

--Manda
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[sa2asl]

Hello!

I am finally checking off a big one on my "life list" and going to Hawaii in December, to Kauai. I have only started to research and found Sweet Marie's which we will have to stop in!

Just wanted to see if those of you who did travel to Kauai had any other resources or ideas while I'm there. I will be there over a week, staying in a house, so I'll have access to a kitchen, but no grill. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

[aklap]

[sa2asl]

I'm back! And Kauai was fabulous!!! I made it ten days GF with no problems. I frequented Sweet Maries during that week and brought home some goodies as well. (just had another brownie, mmmm!)

If you ever get the chance to vaca in Hawaii, be sure to take the time to see this beautiful island!

Because Marie (from Sweet Marie's) has been on the island for many years, I think she has educated MANY people there. I was able to say "I have Celiac Disease " at many restaurants and they knew right away. She suggested saying that and it seemed to be more helpful than starting off with my gluten speech. I of course had to add the cc lines and double check on everything, but I was blessed with some great servers and chefs.

IF you do go be sure to try out:

The Eastside in Kapaa- upscale food at an affordable price, the owner came out and talked with us, even made me my own appetizer gf style that the others at the table were having. The fish was great, and the kaffir lime coconut creme brulee, I am still dreaming about!

Sweet Maries- a must! She is a spitfire, big fun! She made some suggestions of places to eat. Her bakery items are the best I've had so far. My family and I tasted- Banana-Choc-Chip muffins, Mango-Macadamia nut muffins, morning glory muffins, and coconut-pineapple muffins. The coffee cake was the best I've had gf or not, still warm (all of her items were) and a big hit with us. On the second day, I asked if she ever did cookies and she asked what kind we'd like...she had Snickerdoodles and choc chip cookies for us the next day. The brownies were very rich, great with ice cream. We also got a small cheese cake on the last day, a bit spendy, but worth it! (after I typed all of this, I realized how much we ate that week, which explains the 5 lbs I think I gained!)

Lappert's Ice Cream (more than one location) - As soon as we mentioned my gf diet, the guy said he'd wash his scoop and let us know what flavors I could have. (I realize there is a big cc issue at places like this, but I had some anyway and the mint-choc-chip was great!)

Papaya Natural Foods in Hanalei- many gf options, some frozen breads, waffles, mixes for cakes/cookies, many BRM items.

Brenneke's @ Poipu Beach- bar/restaurant where the servers and cooks were great! We ate there three times and I did a burger, mushroom caps with jumbo shrimp and parmesan and a yummy salad with skewered shrimp and a balsamic dressing

Boucon's in Hanalei- great sushi! (sadly I forgot my soy sauce that day)

Kalypso in Hanalei- THE best fish tacos I've ever had, on corn tortillas. My server was so great, he was concerned about a few ingredients so hecame back several times to ask questions and show labels. They didn't have to modify much and I just opted for steamed veggies as a side.

We had a kitchen at our condo, so we visited the fish market and made opah, and visited the island's outdoor markets each day and tried some of the best fruits I've ever had.

Of course the flights were long, but I packed a lot of snacks and had no problems. In San Fran, one tea/coffee place was nice enough to give me boiling water to make my Thai Kitchen Single Serve Size instant rice noodles. (they are great for travel and lunches on the go!)

We also did two day-trips for kayaking/hiking and zip lining, both of which included a picnic lunch with the group. Both places accommodated me by providing salads...with toppings, not just lettuce as well as fruit and chips. I just threw in a little container with dressing so I was set!

(of course there are MANY non-food related things you have to see too- Waimea Canyon, Wailua Falls, The Lighthouse, go zip lining, see a sunset at Ke'e Beach, take the lei making class in Waimea, enjoy all of the views!)


It was my first long trip without brining a lot of my own stuff with and it was perfect! I am feeling much more confident about traveling now! YEAH!

Happy New Year to you ALL!

[angelicarjackson]

Sweet Marie's is still there, and still yummy. She made some muffins to order for me (egg free as well as DF and GF); they were pricey, but big and filling. Nice to have some breakfast options and treats for while we were there.

We had a condo with kitchen, so I brought some GF pasta and made pasta and red sauce a few nights, and fish the other nights. The kitchen was even stocked with a rice cooker so I was able to make brown rice on the cheap. We got away with spending about $240 for food for 8 days, not bad.

[AliseJeffries]