Mini vacation- and first farmer's market!

We went to Columbus (OH) this past weekend to send my brother off to an international leadership camp sort of thing in D.C., spend some time with my dad who was taking seminary classes there, and celebrate my parents' 24th anniversary. While we were there, my dad suggested that we go to a Japanese restaurant. Apparently, it's the oldest Japanese restaurant in Columbus. It's located in an old building and honestly doesn't look like much. The food is better than it's environment, I believe. Here is the vegetarian delight from Otani.
While looking up veg-friendly places on vegohio.com, I came across the North Market. It seemed intriguing enough, so I decided that, if we had enough time, I would try to convince my mom to make a stop. Fortunately, we did, and with our handy dandy GPS, we made it!

This was the first time that I had ever seen a lavender eggplant, so for novelty's sake, I had to buy some. Ironically, I never really liked eggplant until yesterday. Perhaps it's because the last time I had it, I was an ignorant 6 year old omni saying "yuck" to every vegetable alive. Oh, how I've spent these past 8 years in depravity! Not really, but you get my point. I like eggplant.

Awesome looking okra, no? Having never really liked the way okra looks in my grocery store(brown and shriveled-ish), I was rather excited when my mom picked up these fellas at a stand. Unfortunately, when we cooked them, we found that the outside was much too hard, almost woodsy, to eat. boohoo. So anyways, we all had a great time on our mini vacation, and I had a fabulous weekend of mom-daughter time.

P.S. On a vacation related note, does anyone know of any good vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants in Hawaii? We will be leaving soon, and I am super excited! I have found a couple already; the Blossoming Lotus for one, but other than that, I haven't. Any suggestions? We will be going to all islands sans Maui .