Hawaii

After my parents divorced when I was 10 in 1978, my mother went back to work as a travel agent.  An opportunity came up for her to bring a tour group to Hawaii on vacation.  So, in November 1979, she headed off to Hawaii.  While there, she met a most interesting British man at the Marriott hotel at Waikiki Beach in Oahu.  They danced, chatted and had a great time!  He was on vacation, but she was working.  So, she had to leave with her tour group as her tour was due to go to Maui, Kaui and Hawaii.  He followed her!  When she told me, I was enraptured by the romance of a man chasing down my mother from island to island!

That man is my stepfather!

It's funny!  As a woman of the same age my mother was when she met my stepfather, and I being in the same place she was when she met him, I recalled her story again.  What seemed romantic in the 70s, seemed scarily like my beloved stepfather was some sort of stalker!  Now, anyone that knows me knows that I love him dearly...I'm just saying, if you did not know him, and my mother told you that she met a man that followed her island to island...what would you think?  Good thing they met in the 70s!

Friday, David had the day off and we went to Pearl Harbor. Strange as it was, they had no electricity, so we ended not really seeing anything. We decided to drive to the North Shore, known for their surfing waves. The waves were spectacular, and we saw numerous surfers trying to catch the waves. We stopped for lunch at the Botanical Gardens. There, I had a Kalua Pork Sandwich with Grilled Pineapple and Maui Onion on a Taro Bun.  It was delicious!  We continued down the East Shore. We saw these spectacular mountain ranges. The island is so very green. We also saw numerous farmer's markets. Each one selling mangoes, papayas, avocados, pineapples, coconuts and macadamia nuts. On this road trip, we saw a pineapple plantation and sugar cane fields.  When we got home, we decided to eat at Sansei, a Japanese restaurant.  The tempura was great, as was the sake.

On Sunday, it was another morning at the beach, but in the afternoon, we headed to the Waikiki Aquarium.  It is small, but does highlight Hawaiian sea life.  The boys loved it and even asked to return the next day.  Eventually, we made our way to LuLu's.  The atmosphere was laid back, and I decided to eat the Hawaiian version of Mexican fajitas.  They were surprisingly good!           

                                                

During this time, Justin decided to sleepwalk. Lucky for the passengers, he was still buckelled up! He kept trying to stand up, he tried grabbing the passengers as they walked by, then he sobbed in his seat, until I coaxed him back to sleep.

Then, still no sleep for me, we start to land. Just as the wheels hit the tarmac, Justin puked all over the place! We had to try and clean him up in the bathroom of the plane before we left. Then, we found Jeeves, and had him wait until we got Justin changed into fresh clothes!

The Hawaiians were so friendly.  My first reaction would be that they are paid to make us like their home, but most of the houses I saw were sadly run down.  But they are a proud people definitely into the beauty of their island.  Most of the islanders took a shine to my blond boy and my red-head.  These boys are a rarity in these parts!  If I took them to Ireland or Scotland, no one would look twice at them!

We also many tourists from all parts...Japanese, Chinese, Australian, British, American, French, Scandinavian, Indian, and Italians.  All of the female tourists bought themselves their Hawaiian mumu complete with a hair ornament shaped like a hibiscus or orchid.  Some men wore Hawaiian shirts, but not a lot.  I do give everyone credit.  I saw all shapes, sizes and ages at the beach wearing bikinis and speedos and no one even blinked an eye.  I was relieved as I expected to come to a place with skinny dark Polynesian ladies, and dark Polynesian men with rock hard abs...and I thought I would look like a white beached whale!  But thankfully, it did not matter.  Everyone was there to enjoy the surf, and that is what we did.  Many people dressed only in their bathing suits.  And yes, I did see the occasional lei.  Beautiful and delicate, also pricey.  But worth it if you can splurge to get the aroma of fresh flowers all day!

We had the breakfast buffet every morning at Kuhio Beach Grill.  The buffet was spectacular.  It was great to see that outside of the usual options of eggs, fruit, bacon, potatoes and toast, they also had a Miso Soup bar for the Japanese tourists.

Frequently, we visited the ABC Store for our drink, snack, souvenir and sunscreen needs.  These store were on every block!  Whomever owns this chain is rich rich rich!

It was a great trip.  There was so much to see and do and yet, we only had a nibble of it.  We were very sad to leave, but I plan to utilize my senses and turn that towards my recipe developing and work for with the Hawaiian flavors.  Check out these cookbooks: Hawai'i Cuisine: A Sampler of Favorite Island Recipes by Sam Choy and Tropical Taste by Sonia Martinez.  And, in the meantime, here is a traditional English scone made with Hawaiian flavors.

•2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon ginger
•1/2 teaspoon lime zest
•1/3 cup unsalted non-hydrogenated non-dairy butter, chilled
•3 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey)
•3/4 cup low-fat coconut milk
•1 cup pineapple, chopped
•1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, ginger and lime zest with a whisk in a large bowl. Add cut up butter and mix with your fingers until they look like bread crumbs.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the coconut milk and agave nectar until frothy. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix in the coconut milk until the mixture just starts to come together.

4. Stir in chopped pineapple and macadamias. Mix gently until combined.

5. Form the dough into a round circle. Flatten to 1/2 inch. Using a sharp knife, cut the circle into 8 wedges. Place each wedge carefully onto an ungreased baking sheet. Put it in the oven and bake for 18 mins or until golden brown on top. Do not over bake.

6. Slide them on to a cooling rack gently and immediately and store in a air tight container when cooled for breakfast or light snack. Serve warm or at room temperature with jam or powdered sugar. Also, may be stored in the freezer for a month in an airtight container.

Yield: 8 scones

Tropical Scone Photo by Lori Maffei

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