We're having what passes for winter here. The wind blows pretty hard (20-30MPH) and there are intermittent showers, some very heavy, some lighter. On the tin roof it can sound like all hell is breaking loose at times. But the temperature remains in the 60-70 degree range. Showers can last a few seconds to a few minutes.
Went to the Farmers Market yesterday. Also had coffee with Warren and then went to see if we could see some whales. The water was full of white caps and the whales weren't really showing themselves, except for a few spouts on the horizon.
Also went to the Kava bar. Kava is a root, also referred to as Ava by the Hawaiians. It is ground and made into a drink by adding water. It makes the mouth and tongue feel numb and is supposed to be relaxing and clear the mind. I've tried it twice and it definitely made my mouth numb. It may be relaxing too. Hard to tell. Then we went for pizza. Warren, being originally from the East coast and of Italian heritage doesn't appreciate pizza with pineapple and barbecued chicken and all sorts of other stuff on it. so we had a plain cheese pizza. We had to explain to the server what a plain cheese pizza was.
I haven't told you the strange story of Warren. I was looking through an advertising magazine and came across his name, Warren Vignato, which I didn't think was all that common. He was advertising his business as an aroborist. It happens that Bayport school, on Long Island, where I grew up, had a coach Vignato who had a son named Warren. I called him up and sure enough it's the very same one. Now we all have to say, "isn't it a small world?" Yes. Warren has been here in Hawaii for at least 20 years. He brought his high school year book and we looked through it. Comments like "I dated her" and "he's dead now" ran through the discussion.
Now let me mention Pua. (Pua means flower in Hawaiian. Her other name is Fleur.) She is a neighbor, two doors down from Alex. Pua loves birds, especially chickens, and has written a children's book about them. The book is funny and charming and full of chicken love. Pua bakes great pies and is very generous, and brought down a lemon meringue pie this morning. She also autographed two copies of her book for me.
I made lilikoi (passion fruit) custard on Friday. It's quite a job, as the good tasting part of the lilikoi is the gelatinous center which is full of little seeds. So you need to seperate the seeds from the jelly. Eventually you get juice. I combined it with eggs and made custard. I need to bring home some lilikoi jelly, which is sold at the farmer;s market. There's also lilikoi pie, and lots of other versions of lilikoi. The lilikoi itself looks like a lemon, but the outside is much harder.
I went to my nut cracking volunteer job the other day. Crystalena is the gal in charge of the Macadamia nuts. Nuts are dumped into a machine which cracks them open and then someone needs to seperate the nuts from the shells. So that's what I did. She hasn't called me since then, so maybe my days as a nut cracker/ separator are over. The nuts need to be husked to get off the outer shell. That's done at another location as Crystalena's husker is broken. After seperation the nuts are soaked in salt water for 24 hours. Then they are dehydrated. There's a lot to the process, explaining why Mac. nuts are so expensive. And I didn't mention that someone needs to pick the nuts up off the ground to begin with. Labor intensive.
Hope this isn't toooo long winded and boring, but I want to mention that Chinese New Year is being celebrated here. It's the year of the Snake. A parade went to all the stores on Saturday drumming and generally created havoc. The store keepers are required to hang a cabbage over the entrance. Yes a cabbage. No one seemed to be able to explain the significance of the cabbage. As the paraders leave, I think they take the cabbage with them.
Chinese New Year at Carol's coffee shop in Capa'au.
Went to the Farmers Market yesterday. Also had coffee with Warren and then went to see if we could see some whales. The water was full of white caps and the whales weren't really showing themselves, except for a few spouts on the horizon.
Also went to the Kava bar. Kava is a root, also referred to as Ava by the Hawaiians. It is ground and made into a drink by adding water. It makes the mouth and tongue feel numb and is supposed to be relaxing and clear the mind. I've tried it twice and it definitely made my mouth numb. It may be relaxing too. Hard to tell. Then we went for pizza. Warren, being originally from the East coast and of Italian heritage doesn't appreciate pizza with pineapple and barbecued chicken and all sorts of other stuff on it. so we had a plain cheese pizza. We had to explain to the server what a plain cheese pizza was.
I haven't told you the strange story of Warren. I was looking through an advertising magazine and came across his name, Warren Vignato, which I didn't think was all that common. He was advertising his business as an aroborist. It happens that Bayport school, on Long Island, where I grew up, had a coach Vignato who had a son named Warren. I called him up and sure enough it's the very same one. Now we all have to say, "isn't it a small world?" Yes. Warren has been here in Hawaii for at least 20 years. He brought his high school year book and we looked through it. Comments like "I dated her" and "he's dead now" ran through the discussion.
Now let me mention Pua. (Pua means flower in Hawaiian. Her other name is Fleur.) She is a neighbor, two doors down from Alex. Pua loves birds, especially chickens, and has written a children's book about them. The book is funny and charming and full of chicken love. Pua bakes great pies and is very generous, and brought down a lemon meringue pie this morning. She also autographed two copies of her book for me.
I made lilikoi (passion fruit) custard on Friday. It's quite a job, as the good tasting part of the lilikoi is the gelatinous center which is full of little seeds. So you need to seperate the seeds from the jelly. Eventually you get juice. I combined it with eggs and made custard. I need to bring home some lilikoi jelly, which is sold at the farmer;s market. There's also lilikoi pie, and lots of other versions of lilikoi. The lilikoi itself looks like a lemon, but the outside is much harder.
I went to my nut cracking volunteer job the other day. Crystalena is the gal in charge of the Macadamia nuts. Nuts are dumped into a machine which cracks them open and then someone needs to seperate the nuts from the shells. So that's what I did. She hasn't called me since then, so maybe my days as a nut cracker/ separator are over. The nuts need to be husked to get off the outer shell. That's done at another location as Crystalena's husker is broken. After seperation the nuts are soaked in salt water for 24 hours. Then they are dehydrated. There's a lot to the process, explaining why Mac. nuts are so expensive. And I didn't mention that someone needs to pick the nuts up off the ground to begin with. Labor intensive.
Hope this isn't toooo long winded and boring, but I want to mention that Chinese New Year is being celebrated here. It's the year of the Snake. A parade went to all the stores on Saturday drumming and generally created havoc. The store keepers are required to hang a cabbage over the entrance. Yes a cabbage. No one seemed to be able to explain the significance of the cabbage. As the paraders leave, I think they take the cabbage with them.
 |
| Pua, lover of chickens, author and pie maker par excellence. |
 |
| Warren, a fellow graduate of Bayport HS, Long Island, NY. |
No comments:
Post a Comment