My Mom believes that there is a clear and absolute line between "for company" homemade food, and the more unassuming and humble food that you only make for your family. The latter category definitely includes things that make my California-raised children raise skeptical eyes. This time it was warabi and watercress soup.

Pictured at left is warabi, the Japanese name for an edible fern. The Hawaiian name is pohole. The curly parts are not inchworms. I think of "eats shoots and leaves" now when I see it. I grew up eating and liking it; ferns were no more exotic than spinach. It grows best on the damp Hilo side of the Big Island or Maui. Mom usually gets it from the Peoples' Open Market, which is what the Farmer's Market is called in Hawaii, or from my sister, who lives on the Big Island.

You won't find this at plate lunch places or hotels, and only rarely might you find it in the Hawaii Regional Cuisine restaurants like Alan Wong's or Roy's. 

Warabi is sold in bunches like spinach. Clean, cut and boil it. Mom makes a kind of salad using dried shredded codfish, chopped kamaboko, a little shoyu, sesame oil and shio fuki konbu (dried, salted and shredded konbu). Mom says do not even try using konbu sheets and shredding those  because it is Not The Same Thing. The sheets, she says, are dashi-konbu. There's no recipe to post right now because it's chock-ful of ingredients that are quite difficult to find unless you live in Hawaii. But it's well worth seeking out when you are in Hawaii. 

Watercress Soup
On a 'freezing-cold' day where the temperature slipped to the mid-70s during the day, Mom decided it was watercress soup weather. 

Chicken, beef and vegetable broth, ginger, garlic, sake, bit of dashi powder, pork and watercress. This is a highly requested meal, and can be easily made in non-Hawaii locales. Three phone calls later, I wrangled out a general recipe. Click here for what I did. 

This is cooking, not Cuisine, but it satisfies your soul. If this is served to you, you're part of the family.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Malasadas and shave ice. 

I've searched many a place, and these simply can't be shipped or replicated. Shave ice won't make it past the security line. I've tried, and in case you are wondering, the TSA considers shave ice to be a liquid. And malasadas simply do not travel well or re-heat. So the only solution is to indulge when you can. 

Here's a 'new' shave ice place, even though it's been there for years.

Ice Garden
Othe top part of the Aiea Shopping Center. Go into the office-looking area.

99-080 Kauhale St.
Aiea, HI 96701

(808) 488-5154 
Cash only

Two very sweet-looking mama-sans run this closet of a place. Don't be fooled. These chicks are full of moxie. Go before they retire, and if you can, speak to the shorter one in Japanese. Or Chinese. Or Korean. She likes that. There is no cash register and all the orders are written down with a pencil on a scrap of paper. There are prices, but what you pay is what she calculates. Don't challenge her math skills because she's way sharper than you are. Don't argue with the "suggestions," it's not for you to decide. It sounds like it should be a horrific experience, but the place is quirky/charming and so worth it.

Flan/custard, mochi balls and azuki bean add-ons are just amazingly ono. I'm normally a shave ice purist (no solid mix-ins), but I will go back for the flan and mochi balls. Good consistency on the shave ice and the syrups a bit less sweet to balance out the add-ins. I still like Baldwin's or Waiola for just shave ice only, but this place is definitely in the shave ice rotation.

Mardi Gras in Hawaii--Chinatown and Malasadas
Mardi Gras was celebrated with a street fair of all manner of food booths. In Chinatown. Cajun food mixed in with local food (malasada hamburgers, shrimp tacos and BBQ chicken), soccer, bands and the traditional dancers, beads and general carousing.

More importantly, Tuesdays, and in particular Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is Malasada Day. You just have to love a place where malasadas are the top story of the news cycle (see left). People (me included) were lined up for Mardi Gras malasadas and a few Catholic high schools had malasada fundraisers. As a marketing consultant, it's a brilliant campaign to eat a thoroughly indulgent food before Lent, but why not plate lunches or rice or gasp(!) shave ice? 

By default I'm giving up malasadas, shave ice, Zippy's and Grace's for Lent.

Eat Well. Be Well.

A friend of mine said, "There is no perfect recipe. The good ones always evolve."

Willows Shrimp Curry is a perfect example. 

At a library cast-off sale, I found an out-of-print "Taste of Aloha" cookbook from the Honolulu Junior League. It's a beautiful book with Pegge Hopper illustrations and throwback recipes like Punahou Carnival Malasadas, baked kumu from the old Maile Restaurant at the Kahala Hilton, or opakapaka from Hy's Steakhouse. Honolulu restaurants like Bagwell's and Michel's, circa 1980, that you went to for special occasions: prom, grandma's birthday, family reunions, and the occasional funeral. 

I remember Willows Shrimp Curry as something fancy and special from my childhood, so I was looking forward to re-creating it at home. But one look at the recipe, and it was clear that some serious updates were in order. 6 tablespoons of butter, 9 tablespoons of curry powder and 1/2 gallon of coconut milk to feed 6 people? Perhaps 6 people the size of Rubeus Hagrid. 

General health and time-to-prep parameters also influenced the alterations. When you are trying to get a weekday dinner going, you simply don't have time to let something sit for a few hours nor do you desire to strain a sauce before you can use it.

I streamlined to 1 can of light coconut milk, 3T of plain butter (did not clarify it) and 4T of curry powder. It took about an hour and the end result was pretty good.

It's much thicker, creamier and definitely milder than a Japanese or Thai curry. It's the kind of curry that works best with traditional accessories. We dressed it up with honey-roasted peanuts, cranberries and dried (unsweetened) coconut. Chutney would have been good too, but we didn't have it. Definitely worth repeating.

Click here for what I came up with. 

What restaurants do you remember? Eat Well. Be Well.

In Honolulu, I've wanted to try Shokudo's Honey Toast since seeing it pop up on friend's FB check-ins. The Yelp reviews back up its popularity and inherent goodness. On the Oahu leg of our vacation, we tried it ourselves. 

Honey Toast is over-rated. There I said it. Ohana, please do not disown me! It's not that it tastes bad or looks funny. But literally, it's toasted white bread, honey and vanilla ice cream. You can make it at home in about 15 minutes with a loaf of white Cherry Blossom bread, Haagen Daaz and the cute little bear-shaped squeezy bottle of honey.

And for $7.45, it's a little pricey for its simplicity. If you add chocolate, stawberry, or azuki, it can quickly become a $10 dessert. Better to go there the bar menu and side dishes.

For a pure dessert craving near Ala Moana, try Mariposa. You will pay a whole nickel more for dessert at $7.50, but these were a much better value. Delicious, big enough to share, and I could NEVER make any of these at home, let alone in 15 minutes. Warm lilikoi pudding cake, in particular, is just so fabulously ono. Just know that this is much more of a "Ladies Who Lunch" environment than Shokudo's "Young Hip Asian" bustling vibe.

A Sampling from Mariposa--all $7.50

Liliha Bakery Coco Puffs
Looking for takeout dessert? Head out early to Kalihi and grab a box of Coco Puffs from Liliha Bakery. It's a puffy pastry filled with a light chocolate pudding and topped with a dollop Chantilly frosting, which is a not-too-sweet vanilla-butter and almost caramel flavored slightly hard frosting. It's definitely one of those things where the sum is much, much greater than the individual parts. If I could figure out a way to bring a box back, I would do it every time.

Keep them refrigerated. Less than $1.50 a piece. Plays very nicely with coffee.

I'd go to Shokudo for the food and hip and bustling vibe. But for a pure dessert experience, I'd return to Mariposa for proper sit-down, or wake up early to make it to Liliha Bakery before the Coco Puffs sell out.

Eat Well. Be Well.