Entries Tagged as 'Hawaii'

Hawaiian Thanksgiving with Billy and Ging Ging

November 28th, 2011 · 4 Comments


Billy & Dallas


Dallas

Two Hawaiian guys, slippers, Hawaiian t-shirts, hibachi, kalbi. Yep, looks like a Hawaiian-themed Thanksgiving!


Hawaiian-Themed Thanksgiving Dinner

For the holiday we went to visit Billy and Ging Ging in the East Bay. We’d originally planned on skipping all the traditional Thanksgiving food and just ordering Hawaiian platters from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, but whattaya know? L&L is closed on Thanksgiving. So we ended up making Thanksgiving dinner, but still tried for Hawaiian style instead of the American classics.


Hawaiian-Themed Thanksgiving Dinner

Dallas and Billy took care of the meats: Kalbi Korean short ribs and chicken katsu. Ging and I made the rest. Mostly Ging, ok at least under her supervision. We made a chinese salad with ramen crunchies, a warmed spinach/cranberry/pecan salad, tofu, mac salad (with and without wahoo/ono), mashed sweet potato, and fresh pineapple with li hing powder. For dessert we made haupia and a pumpkin mochi.


Damien & Matt

Matt and Amy joined us for dinner. Made made lemon meringue pie and they brought a couple bottles of wine as well.


Damien & Billy


Matt, Amy, Billy


Ging Ging, Damien, Dallas, Rachelle

Amy wasn’t sure what Billy and Ging meant when they said we were having Hawaiian foods for Thanksgiving but when we told her the menu she told us she was looking forward to all of that more than turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes!


Matt’s beautiful lemon meringue pie.


Lemon meringue pie, haupia, pumpkin mochi.

Ging and I prepared dessert plates for everyone. Each got a slice of Matt’s lemon meringue pie, a piece of haupia topped with chocolate pudding and freshly-whipped cream (kind of like haupia pie with no crust), and a piece of pumpkin mochi. The mochi didn’t really stand up to the sweetness of the pie or haupia, but when we ate it the next day on it’s own it was much better. The lemon mirengue pie was so delicious. I ate it for breakfast the next day too! And the haupia reminded me of Hawaii. I made it the night before. It was simple with a mix that Ging had from Lihue.


Ging (talking to her family & rubbing baby #2 due in April!), Matt, Amy, Billy, Damien, Dallas

After dinner and after Damien went to bed we watched a couple of movies: Super 8 and 50/50. I saw 50/50 in the theater and really liked it. I thought Super 8 was pretty good too.

I love turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and pecan pie, but this was a good alternative dinner and I was glad we did it! Also, remind us to tell you the story about how Billy and Ging don’t have a TV but borrowed one (+Direct TV). And then Dallas and Billy had to configure it so we could watch the football games on Thanksgiving. Craziness!

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Tuberose, Fragrance of Hawaii

October 14th, 2011 · 3 Comments

How could I resist these tuberose when I saw them at the small farmers market outside my work building in August? The scent of the tuberose reminded me so much of the islands. I had one stem on my desk at work and the rest at home. The smell was really strong, especially at night. Dallas said they were giving him a headache, but I kept them as long as I could!

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Hilo Hattie: A Legend in Our Time by Milly Singletary

September 7th, 2011 · No Comments


finished 09.06.11

I read almost all of this book in one night. The type is large and there are many photos, so even though there are 188 pages, it goes fast. Interesting look into the entertainment industry in the 30′s – 60′s in Hawaii. And into a kind and gracious soul, Hilo Hattie.

If you’re wondering how Hilo Hattie, the person, and Hilo Hattie, the store, are related then read this. In the book it also talked about how she licensed her name to products because she was so famous.

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Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

August 17th, 2011 · 2 Comments

Over the weekend Dallas and I drove up to Wisconsin to visit my parents. They moved from their house in Waupaca to a new house in Greenville shortly before our wedding in February, but we just have not gotten a chance to get up and see it until now. The area where they live is very nice. The house is newer, the yard is bigger than a city lot, but not too big to keep up. I realized when I got home that I had not even one photo from their house!

When we arrived, we hung around and barbecued. My cousins Dawn and Kelly visited. Kelly brought Mark along and it was nice to finally meet him. We ate tons of food. I can’t even think of it all: Spinach dip, fruit salad, homemade salsa, Kelly brought pasta salad, turkey burgers, salmon, brats, cheddarwurst… We brought down Chicago-brewed Finch’s beer, my dad had some Wisconsin-brewed Central Waters, and there was also the local classic, Miller Lite.


Rachelle & Fang


Fox Cities Stadium Beer


Dad, Dawn, Rachelle, Dallas, Kelly, Mark, Mom

After dinner, my mom and dad treated us to a baseball game at Fox Cities Stadium. This is where the minor league Wisconsin Timber Rattlers play. The stadium was just opened right before I moved away from Wisconsin. I’d been to a game there maybe once or twice, but it had been 10+ years ago.

It was a fun time. Something different to do. The crowd there was really into the game. The Wisconsin Timbler Rattlers were playing the Quad Cities River Bandits. Before the game my dad made me get my photo taken with the Timber Rattler’s mascot, Fang. So, I stood in line behind the 8-year-olds and got my photo taken. I think it turned out cute, though.

From concessions, we drank beer specially made for the Timber Rattlers: Snaketail Ale and Rattler Brau Scottish Ale. Both are locally made in Appleton by the Stone Cellar Brew Pub. The Snaketail Ale was pretty good.


The Sweet Adelines sang the Star Spangled Banner.


Play Ball Kid, sponsored by the Post Crescent


Our seats were right behind Home Plate. At $10, they were the most expensive seats in the park!


Game highlights via TimberRattlerTV on YouTube


Strange bachelorette party in front of us.


Post-game fireworks.

The game itself was pretty interesting. The Timber Rattlers did not get even one run, but it was still fun. Dallas wasn’t cheering for them anyway! We were looking through the program before the game started and he noticed that the opposing team had a player, Kolten Wong, from Hilo who went to Dallas’s old school, Kamehameha, so he decided to cheer for them!

Minor League games are a lot different than Major League. Most notably, everything has a sponsor. Everything. Even the lighting was sponsored by a local lighting company. And in between batting and innings, there were all kinds of promos. Tons of promos. And they, of course, were all sponsored. Dallas said maybe this is to off set the cost of the stadium?

After the game we stayed in our seats for a fireworks show. It was pretty good. We didn’t see fireworks on the Fourth of July, so this made up for that. Mark and Kelly headed home and Dawn came over to my parents to visit just a bit longer, while Dallas attempted to polish off the last of her spinach dip. (He didn’t succeed but we took it home and he finished it the next night!)


Blueberry Hill Pancake House, Appleton, WI

In the morning we got up and went to breakfast at Blueberry Hill Pancake House, a place Dawn recommended to us. She mentioned it was the old Country Kitchen, but it wasn’t until I was inside sitting down that I realized how many times I’d been there before. Late night and for breakfasts and dinners. Total flashback!

Overall a great trip to Wisconsin. Short, but still good. It was nice to finally see where my parents are living. I’m a little envious of their yard and patio off the dining room. I wish we had a bit more grass. Anyway, their place is nice and they seem to really enjoy it and that’s what counts.

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Hawaiian Banana Bread

May 27th, 2011 · 2 Comments

I made Hawaiian Banana Bread for my brunch clothing swap. I think what makes this bread Hawaiian is the story that came with the recipe. And also, that it has macademia nuts and coconut. I was just happy someone didn’t throw pineapple in it and call it Hawaiian (Dallas’s biggest pet peeve)! The toasted nuts in the bread are definitely tastey. The coconut kind of gets absorbed up in there, so if you’re not a big coconut fan, you might still give this bread a try. I made mini loaves for the party and at the end sent some of the girls home with the leftover loaves. I think I’m on to something with these mini loaves!

Hawaiian Banana Bread
From: One Perfect Bite

My homey’s call this lovely banana loaf King Kamehameha bread. We first had it in Hawaii several years ago. It is a lovely loaf whose taste has been enhanced by some very pleasant memories. When we returned from the islands, I began to search for a banana bread recipe that had the same plantation flavors as the bread we so enjoyed. Some find it strange that my quest for new foods begins with a search rather than an experiment. The work I did before retirement taught me not to reinvent the wheel, and, for better or worse, I’ve carried that belief into my kitchen. I don’t create or develop recipes unless I absolutely have to, or I have a truly original idea. That I ever began to enter cooking contests is a mystery to those who know me, and that I actually began to win some is a miracle to me. So, it should come as no surprise, that rather than parse taste memories, I began a search for a recipe I suspected already existed. The search brought me to this lovely bread from Gourmet Magazine. It is very close to the one we sampled on the islands. There are some tricks to making a great banana bread and if you want full banana flavor you have to start with really nasty bananas. The best bananas, from a cook’s perspective, are the ones that have huge leopard spots on their exteriors. Beautiful bananas look lovely in a fruit bowl but they make anemic breads, cakes or puddings. I also find it important to toast nuts and other dry additions that are folded into quick breads. Toasting will enhance their flavors as well. This bread is very moist and, if well-wrapped, will stay fresh for several days. It is easy to make and, in the great scheme of things, fairly inexpensive to make. If you can’t find macadamia nuts in your area, almonds or pine nuts can be substituted. This is a wonderful bread and I think you’ll enjoy it. The aroma as it bakes has been known to make grown men weep. Here’s the recipe.

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1-1/3 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large)
3 tablespoons sour cream
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts, lightly toasted and cooled
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease two 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pans.
Dust with flour. Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In another large bowl, cream butter with sugars with an electric mixer. When mixture is light and fluffy beat in vanilla, eggs, one at a time, zest, banana, and sour cream. Add flour mixture, beating batter until it is just combined. Stir in macadamia nuts and coconut.

Divide the batter between loaf pans and smooth tops. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Remove bread from pans. Complete cooling on racks.

Yield: 2 loaves.

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