Category: Hawaii - feeding my ohana

What to Bring Back? Snacks

6/9/2013

Hello Summer! Whenever we go to Hawaii, we always bring some of our favorites back. Some for us, and more for our friends. Here is a short summary:

Toffee-covered, chocolate macadamia nuts.
Island Princess, we love you. This is the most requested and most appreciated item. Why? They are:

1) Powdered-sugar dusted
2) Toffee-coated
3) Chocolate-covered
4) Macadamia nuts

What's not to like?! Typically, we use these as gifts, but we do save a package (or two) for ourselves.

Hawaii Hello Kitty Crackers
While these are no different from any Japanese crackers on the Mainland, the sheer variety and availability of Hello Kitty cuteness foods is simply bigger in Hawaii.

I picked these up at Don Quijote, or the equivalent of Safeway in Hawaii. You can find these at Long's Drug's in Hawaii as well.

Peanut Sesame Candy from Chinatown
Eating these means that your dentist is going to be getting a fancy new car by treating your mouth. They are slightly sweet, chewy, sticky sesame seeds-stuck-in-your-teeth goodness.

Traditional Chinese peanut variety and also macadamia nut variety.

My cousin's wife and one of my clients love this stuff. And so do we.

Coconut Senbei from Fujiya Bakery
Fujiya Bakery is a long-time Hawaii Bakery well-known for all manner of mochi and manju that they offer.

My dad's favorite peanut butter mochi is from here, but what we like to take back are the coconut, pineapple-coconut or macadamia nut wafer cookies. It's snap-crackle-pop crunchy--think of them as the same crunch of fortune cookies, but flat and flavored.

Available at Shirokiya, the Fujiya factory in Kalihi and Long's Drugs. This is something you want to hand-carry.

While one can't bring back the beach, shave ice, malasadas or haupia sweet-potato pie, these are some nice bring-backs to keep your Hawaii groove going a little longer.

Now who's ready to go on vacation?

Land of the Snake-Free

4/13/2013

Today is more of a food-for-the-soul post. Why is Hawaii unique amongst the 50 states? What compels so many ex-pat Hawaii people to return "home" as often as we can?

Warm weather, beautiful beaches and the Aloha spirit. Stock answers. However, there are also some very ordinary hazards and "city life" clutter that are simply NOT found in Hawaii, helping to create a more relaxing geographical as well as mental state. It's easy to just "be" there.

While I have plenty of familial distractions in Hawaii (but you know I love you all!) here are a few wildlife and environmental distractions you don't have to deal with.

Snake, not worm. Photo by Pacific Island Parks

Snakes
OK, OK, in the strictest biological sense, there are no endemic snakes. There is indeed one non-native snake that introduced to Hawaii in the 1980s. However, it's not poisonous, blind, and about as large as an earthworm. As if you needed another reason to declare Snakes on a Plane to be a ridiculous movie. It is illegal to have a pet Nagini, and if even one snake gets loose, it makes the front page news.

Rabies
People never believe it, but Hawaii really is the only state in the US that is rabies-free. Here is the rabies quarantine information, straight from the Department of Agriculture. No Cujo on O'ahu or any other island.

Poison Ivy or Poison Oak
Which is a problem for me, because I don't really know what these look like. Good thing I don't like camping.

Billboards
There is no "Your Ad Here" there. When you drive to Hana or Haleakala, you really should keep your eyes on the road at all times.

Mobile Homes
Though most homes are single wall construction anyway. And the vast majority of homes have neither an attic nor a basement.

Humongous RVs
Just how far do you think you can go on an Island? And there are no inter-island bridges.

Goodyear Blimp
How would it get there anyway? It sort of defeats the purpose to deflate it, fly it over, and re-inflate it to fly it.

You cannot own sand and salt water.

Private Beaches
You may own the land in front of the shoreline and it can be difficult to get to the shoreline, but You Cannot Own the Shoreline. Larry Ellison may have bought the entire Island of Lana'i and the airline to get him there, but he can't gate a beach or kick you off.

Professional Sports
But UH and high school sports rule. Cost of "away" games and small market audience probably have a lot to do with this.

Daylight Savings Time
Hawaii is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. Thus, the variance between the longest and shortest day is a whopping 2.5 hours. Why bother?

Seasons
There can be snow on Mauna Kea, but there is no spring thaw or fiery blaze of autumn leaves. People who live in Hawaii would tell you differently, but really, every day is beach weather.

Consider this a dose of away-from-Hawaii or lucky-you-live Hawaii relaxation. What else have I missed?

What's Cooking from Mom and the Husband

2/28/2013

Where has Feeding My Ohana been?! I spent last week back home in good ole' Leeward O'ahu. Offline.

Although my friends gave me grief for not having a smart phone, and I did have to seek out a Starbuck's for WiFi to my iPad for directions to get together with the above-noted friends, it was very relaxing not to be online-all-the-time. Everyone should do this once in awhile.

Here is a quick summary on what we've been eating--here and at Mom's house. While we had plenty of vegetables, there was no meatless any day. We were on vacation, after all.

Bay Area Monday
Yakisoba. I cam home with yet another head cold, so this was made by the husband. This is my son's favorite meal, and soon we'll have to start making three packages.

Crispy wonton and roast pork.

Great Aloha Run Day
Crispy wonton, roast pork, and pork with sweet and sour cabbage. I also introduced the family to Co-worker Kale Salad. Mom approves.

Bay Area Tuesday
Carbonara Hironaka. We've not eaten this in a really long time and it was nice to come home to this.

Day at the Beach
Sanny's Hamburgers and Gravy. Homemade plate lunch.

Back in the Bay Area Takeout Wednesday
Yiassoo Greek Food, Tapioca Express and Whole Foods Chocolate Cake. Procured by my fabulous husband.

Thursday
Unfried Baked Chicken from People Magazine. It was very peppery and a little too salty. This is a good idea that needs some re-tooling. Stay tuned.

Weird Rainy and Windy Hawaii Day
For the last two days of our vacation, it poured. Buckets. So it was Mom's Watercress Soup, but made with kale, and just as good. Watercress can be tricky to get in the Bay Area, so this was good advice from Mom.

Leeward Drive Inn, very retouched

Glorious Hawaii Beach Day
Leeward Drive Inn Fried Noodles. Just a satisfying lunch after a morning at the beach. Please note they don't make mandoo anymore, but the Pork Cutlet and Gravy is still fab. And remember, it has and will always be cash only.

Back to the Mainland, but definitely keeping the Hawaii vibe going as long as we can.

Aloha Friday All!

Very Much Home Cooking--More for Non-Picky Eaters

3/8/2012

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.

Warabi, cleaned and trimmed.

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.

A full pot of watercress soup

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.

The Trans-Pacific O-miyage Exchange

11/18/2011

The Trans-Pacific o-miyage exchange never fails to bemuse me.

O-miyage (pronounced "oh-me-ah-gay) is a Japanese word describing little gifts one brings back from travels, or sometimes just a little something you take to someone's house. Whenever we visit in Hawaii, we never go empty-handed and never leave empty-handed.

Here is how this dynamic plays out across blue Pacific.

I have relatives visiting from Hawaii. This is a good thing because besides in addition to being allowed to turn the heat up to slightly-above-tundra, we are on the receiving end of various gifts and snacks, including a brand-new Hawaii Regional Cuisine cookbook, Big Island snack mix, private reserve Kona coffee, various forms of macadamia nuts, and all things li-hing mui.

Now for the quid-pro-quo, or what my husband sometimes calls the accounting of affection.

My Hawaii-based ohana asks for Trader Joe's and Archer Farms food. Yep, you read that correctly. Target food. And yes, there are 4 Target stores in Hawaii, but they don't have the same stuff as our neighborhood Target. Like Lemon Raspberry Granola Bites or Paul Frank Kids clothes. Go figure.

But Trader Joe's is my Hawaii-based ohana's version of the Holy Grail. What I not-so-fondly call squirrel food and what serves as my post-Hawaii plate-lunch detox, is what my relatives lust for. 10 bags of trail mix, 6 boxes of Trader Joe's Mac and Cheese and assorted bags of pistachios, almonds, cashews and dried apricots.

The best part is that we all think we got the better end of the deal.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Huli-Huli Chicken--My First Guest Post!

6/8/2011

First of all, mahalo to Ground Control to Major Mom. I'd been searching for an old-time huli recipe for awhile, and finally came upon an authentic one. She has graciously allowed me to share her post and recipe.

Huli Huli Chicken by Ground Control to Major Mom
My family was living in Hawaii when I was 4-years-old. My Dad, who was in the Navy, was stationed at this small base northwest of Honolulu (not Pearl Harbor). My first solid memories were from Hawaii.

And here's one of them: Huli Huli chicken fundraisers. Click here for a history of Huli Huli chicken (from the obituary of the inventor--a Navy man--from 2002). I vaguely remember driving up to a large dirt/gravel parking lot, perhaps at a church or a high school. And you'd see row-after-row of rotisserie-like skewers, all covered with chickens, as well as large metal trash cans to hold the marinade (this was in the '70s, well before plastic trash cans, apparently), and folks using cotton mops to slop on the marinade on the skewers.

My Dad mentioned to me once that the chickens would be sold whole for just a few dollars (I think he said $5, but I could be wrong), and they'd be wrapped for you in newspaper!

Click here about a modern-day operation on Oahu.

What I'm going to present always brings back the memories I had, but I'm sure someone will tell you that it's wrong. I've had chicken made with commercially purchased "Huli Huli Chicken Sauce" and that just seemed WRONG WRONG WRONG. Too syrupy, from what I remember. If you do a web search for "huli huli chicken recipe" you'll come up with a very wide variety of recipes. Ginger, sugar and garlic are common threads, but from there you'll see varied other ingredients: limes, chiles, honey, ketchup, white wine, etc.

That's my sister's handwriting, circa 1995 or so (she was still in high school). I didn't photograph the back of the card, but suffice it to say that the back merely says to cook the chicken.

Mix all ingredients together, sans chicken. Stir stir stir, dissolving as much of the sugar as you can.

Since the chicken is taking up so much space in the bag, a little marinade will go a long way in the zip-top baggie.

I will allow this to sit in my fridge for TWO DAYS, flipping the bag about every 12 hours.

The cooking is the tough part. Because of the sugar content of the marinade, you have to be VERY careful how to cook up the parts. Low low low, for 25 minutes on each side, then you can turn up the heat at the end to give a nice crispness to the skin. I guess I could invest in one of those rotisserie cooker thingies, but we're lazy and just want to throw it on the gas grill.

Another option is to slow bake the chicken, then throw it on the grill. I don't have a rigid cooking time, or even a rigid cooking temperature. Let's call it 350F for 1 hour. Then give it about 5 minutes on each side on a NASA-hot grill (to coin an awesome Alton Brown term). Baste it with more marinade, if you wish.

Looks WONDERUL, doesn't it? DO NOT be alarmed if you cut into your Huli Huli chicken and you see pink nearest the surface...this is the marinade penetrating the meat! Trust me, it's a good thing. So long as it isn't pink next to the bones, you're golden!

Thanks again to Major Mom. The Internet can make us all ohana. Or at least it has the ability to bring kindred huli chicken fanciers together. Click here for recipe.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Thursday is Poi and Ogo Day

5/20/2011

My Dad is going to be so proud.

Thursday was ‘holy-smokes-can-you-believe it!’ lucky ogo day.

What’s ogo?? Ogo is the Japanese word for a grassy seaweed that quite literally grew like weeds in the shallow reefs in Hawaii. The closest approximation I can think of is pickle weed, and it’s really not that close. And it’s definitely not the Astroturf-green seaweed salad in the Asian deli aisle or at Costco.

My Dad made ogo into a sublime side dish. After searching online for a Bay Area source, emailing a few San Francisco-based fish distributors and even calling a couple, I had given up.

Then last week, an ex-pat Hawaii friend, a good ole’ local Kaimuki boy, Facebook'd that there was fresh ogo to be found in the Bay Area! This is a very serious and wholly justified cause for celebration.

Comes in about a half-pound bag.

Imahara Produce on Thursdays is the place for fresh ogo and poi, flown in from Hawaii that day. If you can’t get there in the morning, call ahead because they usually sell out of both. The two bags of ogo I bought were amazing--fresh, super-clean, and just smelled good.

I have to admit, I more often go to Marukai, a big Japanese grocery chain store directly across the street. However, Imahara’s is a family-run business that definitely merits regular visits. The place is always really clean, their staff just rocks, and the selection produce is really beautiful and fresh—they bring new stock in every day. This makes it a tad more expensive than Marukai, but definitely less than Whole Foods. And lots of Hawaii food, like frozen lau-lau, Ani’s sweet bread, Zippy’s chili, various flavors of Hawaiian Sun drinks, and fresh San Jose tofu and Japanese food to boot.

Just don’t buy all the ogo on Thursdays. Click here for Dad's recipe.

Eat well. Be well.

Hawaii Fruit 101

4/30/2011

There were certain fruits I never, ever thought I'd pay money to obtain. In Hawaii, these fruits, well, they just are. When you have a chance to eat these in Hawaii, or where-ever you are, go for it!

Hello Starfruit, I've missed you from my 'small-kid' time. I'm embarrassed to say what I paid for just one. Its hoity-toity name is 'carambola' usually cut cross-sectioned (see photo) to show off its shape. As kids, we called 'em "five fingers," ate them like apples,
and everyone knew someone with a tree.

Starfruit has a firm texture, like a very crunchy grape. They are not too sweet, a little citrus-ey, very juicy, a cross between an orange and maybe a peach. Eat them when they light yellow and the skin is not wrinkly.

The mango tree I used to climb

Mango. Haden, Pirie, and the humongous Shibata. Everyone had a backyard mango tree, and you couldn't give the stuff away during mango season.' This is the fruit I most routinely buy--typically Hadens from Mexico. Pirie (pronounce "peery") is an acquired taste--squishier than Hadens, eaten by slurping or spooning it off the pit.

Pineapple. In the name of 'local' (and nostalgia) I buy fresh Maui Gold pineapple from Hawaii instead of generic from Costa Rica. Lower acidity and good sweetness. Sadly, with the end of pineapple farming in Hawaii, the ability to buy canned Hawaiian pineapple has also gone. Canned pineapple is now from Costa Rica or Thailand.

Lychee. My grandma had a tree and a childhood friend had lychee trees. We picked, ate and spit out the pits while sitting up in the tree. Canned lychee is convenient because they are pitted, but the texture isn't even close. Asian markets and even Safeway will sometimes stock fresh lychee. Peel, eat and spit da pit.

One of my parents' papaya trees

Papaya. Not my favorite, but my husband and son love them. Slice them in half, scoop out the slimy seeds that look like very, very big caviar, and spoon out the fruit like a melon. If you are searching for papaya, I recommend the smaller variety it just a bit bigger than your hand. One that is going from green to yellow-orange and eat it right away. Mushy papaya is just plain gross.

I've left out apple bananas (my dad's fave), mountain apples, coconut, breadfruit, guava and lilikoi (passion fruit). I'll have to leave those for another installment. 'Til then,

Eat Well. Be Well.

Finding the Absolute Favorites--It's Not Just the Food

9/2/2010

Thanks Shutterfly's offer of a free book and my husband's thrifty ways, in two weeks, I'll have my very own Feeding My Ohana | Family Favorites hard-bound book. Print run = 1.

This turned out to be a harder task than I thought. Currently, Feeding My Ohana has over 200 recipes, and there were 18 8" x 8" pages for the book. What do you pick? Add three very opinionated at-home 'consultants' proposing their own preferences. "Why can't you put Spam musubi in there?" "But I looove broccoli salad!" "You can't seriously be thinking kamaboko sandwiches" and "I can't believe you're not putting lemon bars in"...

We came to consensus on most items, and have managed a detente for the rest, with side agreements to make the non-book ones in the near future. But why did we pick out these as our favorite? Tastes good, of course. Some of them, like tofu steaks or sesa-miso eggplant, were definitely descended from magazines and cookbooks, but we've made them our own, by adding, subtracting, or just plain changing things up a little.

But beyond flavor, most of the family favorites revolve around a good time or friends and family. Shave ice, Rainbows plate lunch and malasadas always make us appreciate going home to Hawaii. Sugar cookies in the shape of our favorite Sharks (12, 22, 15 & 20) attacking a hapless duck bring together our annual Christmas cookie-making and our family Sharks games. Even the names remind us--my Mom's Chicken Katsu in Hawaii, Christine's Clam Chowder at our annual Christmas party, Steve's Hummus from my long-time boss, and Todd's Pecan Pie every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So what are your family favorites? What do they remind you of?

Ode to Plate Lunch

8/17/2010

Korean Fried Chicken Mini-Plate from Zippy's

Thank you to L---, one my Facebook "like-ers" to get me pondering plate lunches. She said, "I've always wondered about the scoops of rice and mac salad. Seems like overkill." After 2 weeks at home on O'ahu eating a variety of plate lunches, I (grudgingly) agree, but only to a point. 2 scoops of rice is overkill. Mac salad is a necessity.

This got me thinking--what defines a plate lunch, why does an otherwise nutritionally-conscious, ex-pat Hawaii girl make a beeline for it as soon as her feet touch Hawaiian soil, and why on earth are there no vegetables? Heck, even President Obama has Rainbow's when he goes home to Hawaii! I've made a living doing market research, so I Googled away. Then I asked my Dad.

Here is the anecdotal history. For the entree part, Hawaiian Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Portuguese and Korean plantation workers all shared their various lunches, with not a sandwich to be found. A recent New York Times article concurs.

Choices, just in Korean food

For the rice part, according to my ever-wise and pragmatic Dad, "They used the leftover rice, but the vegetables were eaten the night before. You know, rice is cheaper than meat, so more rice and sometimes noodles makes the meat go farther." Says the man who lived through the Depression, Pearl Harbor, gas masks with his lunch pail at school, and has graduated to great-grandpoppa-dom. Lots of starch stretches out home-cooking.

The macaroni salad kicked in later, with refrigeration I suppose. It also incorporates the concept of using the left-over dinner food. I've had mac salads with carrots, peas, leftover shrimp, crab, chicken, cucumbers, tsukemono, and of course, gobs of mayonnaise. And let's face it, it just tastes good with gravy or teriyaki.

So in marketing-speak, what is the plate lunch's value proposition?

1) It offers ridiculous, best-of-breed variety. You can choose from kal-bi, tonkatsu, garlic ahi, lau-lau, pork adobo, hamburger steak, oxtail soup...the list goes on. Even more, Zippy's has daily *and* weekly specials. And at the Korean plate lunch places, you can actually pick vegetable sides, along with your macaroni salad and chop chae (see above).

Boneless Chicken w/Sloppy Gravy from Rainbow's

2) It's a good value: Spend $5-$10 for a complete meal. $5 is a complete meal (OK, likely without vegetables) and a $10 plate lunch can usually feed at least 2 people. What can $5 buy at Starbucks? Rainbow's says it best, "generous portions of hearty, simple food with two scoops of rice and a side of macaroni salad at a reasonable price." The boneless chicken plate lunch (left), is only $6.50(!), includes two full sides of chicken, and put both my husband and me into a blissful afternoon food coma.

3) It's accessible to everyone. Served with plastic utensils on a flimsy paper plate, plate lunches are not pretentious, and you can always find whatever you're in the mood to eat. There's no right way to eat one and everyone has their favorite place to get one. Lawyers, surfers, and lawyers who surf all eat plate lunches.

Really, it's just a brilliant product--an awesome food value, consumable to ensure repeat business, marketed virally, and with a target customer base of anyone who eats. Now I'm hungry!