John and I gobbled up that $4 chocolate-kava bar splurge we purchased at Island Naturals earlier that day. Delicious! The calmness was slightly noticeable within an hour. The INSANELY peaceful night’s sleep is what we really noticed the following morning. “Oh, my my, what is this kava stuff?” We were on a quest to find out.
It was an easy quest as we entered the Hilo Farmer’s Market on the big island of Hawaii and met Adil Ghiasi and his wife, Christine at their kava and hummus booth. Yum, hummus. Bonus. They run Paradise Kava and sell the best ground kava root from the beautiful Hawaiian Hamakua coast.
Big Island of Hawaii's Hamakua Coast--Birthplace of our Kava
Adil invited us to his home to share with all of us how to prepare this magical ground root that relaxes the body and mind. It was one of those situations where after you see it done you think, “oh, is that all?” He basically put the kava powder in a clean, new stocking, tied it up, and continually squeezed it in cool water. (Check out our video!) After the kava bag had been massaged awhile and the water had transformed into a thick kava soup, we were immediately able to gulp it down.
The earthy, bitter drink numbed the mouth and relaxed us in no time rendering John and I unable to engage in typical marital bickering. Drink some kava, save your marriage. 
After drinking multiple bowls of kava, Adil and John spent the afternoon in a ukelele jam session on good Hawaiian time.
Don’t have ground kava around? Order it from Paradise Kava or pop into your neighborhood health food store and buy it in capsules. Careful, only buy from high-quality, consciencious companies. Poor quality kava has been linked to liver damage. There is nothing relaxing about that! Check out this history of Kava Kava that has been safely consumed in the South Pacific for thousands of years.
Thank you, Adil for sharing your kava and friendship with all the good people of the world. Sweet dreams and sleep tight, folks!
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Makes me want to try some!
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