Open Faced Breakfast Sandwich

I only had eyes for Christina at the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival in September. 

Oh, yes, we’re totally on a first name basis. And I told her she was my rock star.

She is as gracious in person as she is in her book.

I lurked around her table. I barged in on people at a nearby table and pretended to look around. I was the most obvious stalker possible. She was a total professional. A few of the slow poached eggs broke before they could be served and she sent them back to be redone. I haven’t figured out how to make these eggs—I’ve tried twice—but this is the second time I’ve gotten to eat them and they are even lovelier than I remember.

I’m a girl that’s squeamish about uncooked egg white but slow poached eggs, done in the shell and then broken and slid out right before consuming, are creamy, even though they appear underdone. The yolk is the perfect temperature and bursts like a little sun. I’ve said before that she’s a genius with salt in her recipes. I watched that genius in action. She’s not afraid of salt; she pinched it up and made it rain.

My heart sang, “Let me wash dishes for free in your kitchen. You don’t have to share your secrets, I just want to eat your crumbs. I will never leave if you teach me how to sprinkle salt.” It’s a miracle I came home that afternoon.

I accidentally took a swig of her coffee milk. I thought it was chocolate, but it wasn’t.

(oopsitwastasty)

Did I say there was onion pineapple marmalade and bacon? There was. Sorry to torture you like this.

Too bad I can’t kidnap her and make her be my personal chef. I’m sure if I did that she would still be super nice to me, as she was to everyone. I can’t say the same for all the famous people that were there.

Not to mention that I would be the fattest person alive, at which point she could escape.

I went with the 59th best thing and made myself a breakfast sandwich, with one half of a multigrain English muffin.

It’s about 300 calories. Was completely compliant with my diet. You could probably even put some turkey bacon on it.

Nowhere near as good as Christina’s, but I still have a memory.

A dream.

An inspiration.

Hello Musubi!

A couple of days ago I got a package.
Look what was in it.   (ok, so the towel is already wrinkly, because I don’t know how to use kitchen towels properly, but it’s perfect in real life.)
You’re jealous. I know. I’m lucky enough to have Shar as an “pen” pal and she sends me the best packages (noodles from Chinatown, curry leaves, and even lemons and limes from her garden). These are her new designs for this season. Do you see how ingenious this is? Rice kitty, nori wrap on the onigiri shaped body… Crazy Cute.
Shar, the creator of shirts, towels, and all things kawaii, will be at Moanalua High School this Saturday from 9-2, and there are free shuttles from Aliamanu middle school. She says that this is a huge show with over 200 vendors.
If you miss her there, the last show is at Moanalua Middle school...from 9-2. Mahiole street in Moanalua Gardens on December 15th.
If you’re not lucky enough to be in Hawaii and want to order, email me and maybe she’ll be willing to ship to you. But poor you, not living in Hawaii. You miss out on all the fun.

All I Want for Christmas

After searching the entire island of Hawaii and Internets of Amazon.com for 2 months we have finally bought an acceptable computer desk.

I was stoked. I would finally get to blog. I only have photoshop for my raw photos on my desktop.

But no! The table is unfinished and has to be stained. Jake says it will take a week. He could tell I was disappointed and got started on making it right away.

I couldn’t take it. So I am sitting on the floor with the keyboard, sweating after dragging all of my desktop computer parts out of the extra room where 20 unpacked boxes still sit. The computer is covered with furry dust and is screaming at me to update five billion virus scanners and security updates and also wants to reformat my camera card.

I don’t care. I am blogging. And we finally have curtains. I am happy.

I got an early Christmas present when Dianne Jacob came to give a workshop on food writing.

I don’t recommend moving and trying to organize a workshop at the same time, just FYI, but it was totally worth it in the end. About 5 bazillion people had to help me out, a lot, to make it happen, and I owe them so many favors that I will be repaying in baked goods for the rest of time.

Dianne was even better in real life, which is really hard to believe, I know, because I already liked her so much. She was warm and funny and really has such great taste, as she loved my Lantern Ilima lei. It matched perfectly.

We picked her up at the airport before the workshop and ran into Chinatown to get some food. She bought my friend and I each two char-siu buns (which are ten thousand times better in Chinatown than 7-11) and we got a couple of smoothies to go.

At the workshop she prompted our creativity with writing exercises, examined a favorite post, told us the hard truth about cookbook writing, and we shared our frustrations with blogging.

I think the advice that stuck with me the most, weeks later, has been: “Have an opinion. it’s so much more interesting.”

She has lots of opinions and she conveys them in a smart and funny way. It’s possible to be positive without being gushy, I’ve decided. I was really trying to learn from that. I’ve been fired up again to write more and write well.

Dianne bought me lunch nearby. We ate some garlicky ong choi and some stir fried mochi (only in Hawaii!). Dianne said that the mochi had great char from the wok. She told me the technical term but I can’t remember. My internet research led me to Wok Hei.. That smokiness was the smooth edge between burnt and savory. It made me want to go to Chinatown every day.

Catherine Toth met us for the last five minutes of lunch and gave us cake pops. I unfortunately had to share with my kids. I have no idea why I didn’t take a picture of how cute she is and how cute her cake pops were. Shame on me.

After the workshop we went to eat again with the ladies and gentleman from Les Dames I drove Dianne to the airport again, and raced home with a head full of food writing. I have too many New Year’s resolutions that have nothing to do with dieting.

I have been making way too many of these.

In between batches there are neighborhood kids trying to “Catch That Chicken!” whilst scrambling underneath our house.

Then there’s the Jackson chameleon in our car port. He must’ve been looking for his relatives.

We are alive, eating, and Hawaii-living.

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?

Island Style Filled Chocolate Bon Bons

Lilikoi Filling

• 1/2 Cup lilikoi puree
• 1/4 Cup white chocolate chips
• 5 marshmallows
• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar

Heat the lilikoi puree, white chocolate, marshmallows, and powdered sugar in the microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring after each. Once it is completely melted, whisk in the powdered sugar. It should be very thick soup. Let cool for 5 minutes and then put in the fridge until you need it. If it is too liquid you can add more powdered sugar. I put in even more lilkoi puree to one batch for extra punch.

Christmas Style Filled Chocolate Bon Bons

Eggnog Filling

• 3 Tbsp eggnog
• 1/4 Cup white chocolate chips
• 4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 Cup powdered sugar

Heat the eggnog and white chocolate chips in the microwave for 20 seconds, stir, and return to the microwave for 10 more seconds if needed. Whisk in the cream cheese and powdered sugar and beat until thick. Put in the fridge until needed. Add more eggog for stronger flavor (but you’ll need a little more powdered sugar).

Peanut Butter Bonbons

• 1/2 Cup chocolate chips, melted
• 1 Cup natural style peanut butter
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar

Combine the melted chocolate, peanut butter, and cream cheese in a stand mixer (with the regular paddle). Beat it together for 30 seconds, scraping the sides twice. Add the powdered sugar and mix again until it is crumbly but can be rolled together in your hands.

Making Bonbons

You’ll need some plastic molds that are dome shaped. I had success with many different domes. Milk chocolate is the hardest to unmold because it is so soft. Darker chocolate and even white chocolate for some reason is easier.

For the chocolate, it does work with chocolate chips but I recommend going with something a little better. I used Trader Joe’s huge dark chocolate bar (well, just a part of it) with good success.

Get a glass bowl with a lip and place it over a sauce pan that has an inch or so of water in the bottom. The bowl should not be touching the water (this is a double boiler). Heat this over medium heat until the water is simmering. Place about 1 Cup chocolate pieces in the bowl, and stir with a silicone spatula until melted and very shiny. If you have a candy thermometer heat the chocolate until about 110 degrees. To tell the truth, I don’t use mine usually. I heat it until it’s pretty hot when I stick my finger in it, but I can still barely stand it.

(Don’t you love my instructions?)

Then remove the chocolate from the heat, throw about 1/3 cup more of chocolate pieces in there, and stir it around until the chocolate is all melted.

Immediately put a little dollop of chocolate into a few of the molds (work with only a few at a time as to not let the chocolate cool down too quickly) and then start brushing it (yes! with a paintbrush!) in the inside of the mold. You don’t want the light to show through the chocolate. You may have to do two coats with a cooling in the refrigerator session in between.

Once you’ve painted the inside of the molds (up to the top! But not over the edge.) place them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

When the chocolate is hardened in the molds then add the filling. Fill just under the top level so you have room to drop a little more melted chocolate over the filling. You will probably need to reheat the chocolate to hot again over the double boiler before doing this. If the chocolate is too cool with this last step, the chocolate will not harden properly and will feel too soft.

Put the chocolate molds back in the fridge and wait until they harden. Then pop out the chocolates. Usually I have to kind of tap and press a little on the molds to pop them out. The milk chocolates were the hardest—I ended up freezing them for a little while to get them out.

Clean your molds between batches. Do NOT put them in the dishwasher even though you just got a new dishwasher and you think it’s a miracle. Lesson learned.

Now, what do you do if you have some leftover chocolate?

Why, I can think of at least one thing.

Eat the Street Kakaako

On Friday I was lucky enough to go to Eat the Street in Kakaako with a friend for her birthday.

I love when I can pretend I’m doing something nice for a friend but really just get to eat whatever I want. Birthdays are so great for that. I recommend them.

Eat the Street is an event where a bunch of food trucks and pop-up food tents gather for a crowd of people who are at least as hungry as I am (organized by streetgrindz).

We basically decided there were no limits and no shame to getting everything that looked good.

Our first stop was Inferno’s Wood Fired Pizza. Yes. They brought their own oven and set up shop. Awesome. We ate the cheese pizza with truffle oil and both of us were stuffing our faces even though it was still too hot to eat. These guys are champs—they were churning out pizza constantly and I know for a fact that rolling out pizza crusts is a pain and a half. They were also offering barbecue pork pizza and I wanted to stand in that line too…

Adam, my friend and wedding photographer, is great friends with Jonas Otsuji, the mastermind behind Otsuji farm’s Hawaiian nachos. I missed out on the kale nachos (tempura fried kale topped with fish and sauce) but the breadfruit nachos were delicious too. I slammed them so quickly, one bite each.

Then we were off to the Tiki Truck. I can’t stay away from this place. I was the last order as they had run out of crack sauce. Lucky me!

I could eat about a dozen of these tacos. The green papaya slaw mixed with the crack sauce is just pure bliss.

Then we were off for some corn (lilikoi butter and parmesan cheese), Ono Pops (WHY did I forget to take a picture? Too busy eating), and then a crepe.

I don’t care if crepes are over done with these kinds of things. And who cares that I can make them myself? I just love a crepe.

Yes, that is a real bottle of nutella. Did that not convince you?

While we were waiting for our crepe I sidled over and bought a bleu cheese slider and ate it. (Ok, so I ate half of it.)

Even though we stuffed ourselves I still bought 4 macarons from La Tour Café, and they were buttery deliciousness. So worth it.

I love outdoor eating events with too many people. We met a couple of friends from twitter @hnlmark @melissa808 @nonstopmari (I missed @edoshiro again! and as I found out later, @chefjay and others… Next time, ok?) and even had a lovely chat woman who somehow connected because of a love of Jamaican men. I love a night out.

What did you do this weekend?

P.S. The workshop with Dianne Jacob is December 10 at Cupola Theatre in Honolulu. Click HERE for more information and to register! See you there!

Food Writing for Food Lovers: A Workshop with Dianne Jacob

Friends, if there was ever a reason to be in Honolulu in December, this is IT.

(Aside from the great weather, beaches, water, food….)

Dianne Jacob is coming to town! A few months ago she told me she was coming to Hawaii and would we be able to put together a workshop? And I just fell over myself, immediately, because yes. I want to go to a workshop with Dianne.

If you don’t know Dianne, you should know that she is just stuffed full of amazing knowledge to help you as a food writer. Whether you want to be a great blogger, a freelance journalist, a cookbook author… She knows how to help you. In addition to keeping up great discussions on her blog, she is a writing coach/consultant, writes (books! cookbooks!), and works as an editor.

So I’m happy to announce that we have worked out the details for an honestly amazing day with Dianne Jacob at the Cupola Theatre, in the Honolulu Design Center on December 10, 2011 from 8:15am-3:30pm.

If you’re a foodie, a blogger, a freelance writer, an aspiring cookbook author or even a wannabe of any of the above, you’ll want to attend.

The schedule includes writing exercises, restaurant reviewing skills, techniques to get noticed, and she’ll give you the inside scoop about publishing and writing.

At the workshop we will have breakfast and lunch catered by Stage Restaurant featuring a buffet of options, including their famous Ahi poke with avocado, Marcona almonds, orange tobiko, spanish onions, yuzu olive oil, and wasabi. I am also particularly excited about their desserts. Their pastry chef is magical. Chocolate cream tarts and apricot frangipane are on the menu.

(plus! We have door prizes!!)

Have I talked you into it yet?

Follow the links to learn more:

Come. I’ll be thrilled to see you there.

Foodbuzz 24x24: Pop! Pop! Pop!

Today was a good day. Amaya played hard at her very own birthday party. The kids weren’t one bit bothered by the rain, and still played hide & go seek, jumped on the trampoline, and made bubbles by the boatful. They were soapy, soaked, sugared-out, and happy for 5 straight hours.

That’s the way birthdays should be. I remember crying at a few of my own kid-birthday parties, about stupid things, but mostly it was about expectations. Amaya played it cool, all the way through, and just wanted to have fun.

For this month’s Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 (click to see all the other fun, creative events held on Saturday, June 25th) the glorious editors at Foodbuzz chose to support Amaya’s 5th birthday party. For our theme we went with Pop!sicles, Pop! (soda for you urban folks), and Pop!ping Bubbles.

If you know me, you know throwing a party is not my thing. That’s the kind of talent that’s similar to craftiness. I love to cook but cooking for a party throws me off. I just want to hide out until she’s 18 and she can throw her own parties. If she wants.

So I took a deep breath and dove into party planning. I thought about parties I’ve been to and I put those experiences to good use when I was planning my party. I’d like to share those thoughts with you here.

Invite Electronically

I used Facebook to invite everyone to the party. I sent invites to the parents and it was easier than easy to monitor who was coming or not because of the quick “attending” button. I called those that didn’t respond to make sure that they saw the invitation. This saved me tons of hassle. Maybe it’s not classy, but hey, is this about invitations or a party?

Focus on Food Made with Love

I went looking around for some of my favorite products, especially ones that would not be run of the mill for most people. One of the reasons to have a party is to entertain the guests, and why not give them something to remember?

For this reason I chose OnoPops and Waialua Soda Works. These are both local companies that I have loved and I knew they would be a hit at our party. Both companies feature local ingredients. One really amazing thing about supporting local companies is that you get a better connection with the people behind the product. It doesn’t feel like a clinical transaction. I went by OnoPops kitchen and got a quick peek at his progress on the first lychee pops of the season and felt confident by my interchanges with both OnoPops and Waialua Soda Works that I was supporting real people doing something that they love. I feel the same way about Farmer’s Markets. It’s hard to feel anything when you’re walking down the aisles of a supermarket.

My favorite part about OnoPops is their outrageously creative flavors. The guys behind the operation, Joe and Josh, have made a very smart product and I hope to try every one of their many, many flavors. They currently sell OnoPops at local farmer’s markets, Whole Foods Kahala, and several other stores that sell organic and local products.

I took the stranger route and started with an Ume Thai Basil.

With the first few licks I wasn’t sure, but pretty soon I couldn’t get enough of it. The salty plum taste was so well-conceptualized as an icy dessert.

Later I had a Gingatanical green and I was breathing fire by the end of the pop, but I loved it anyway. It felt energizing and refreshing. Everyone else thought I was crazy.

There were sweeter flavors for everyone (even a few no-sugar added ones), and strong favorites were the Mexican Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Chinese Five Spice OnoPops. I could eat about a million of those Chinese Five Spice treats. It was definitely a departure from normal party fare and part of the fun was trying out a new flavor, once the kids saw that “Cherry” and “Grape” were not options today. We all had multiple popsicles and passed around our favorites. Yum.

Just thinking about these popsicles made me want to make a cool popsicle. This week I made a li hing mui mango popsicle. Mangos are a classic li hing mui accompaniment and the pair make a modern island-traditional snack.

• 1 Cup water
• 1 Cup mangos
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp li hing mui

1. Blend all the ingredients together and freeze in popsicle molds. Note, it is very thick. I had to siphon mine into the mold.

Seen here in its natural element.

From Waialua Soda, Karen and Jason Campbell have created a light tasting soda featuring uniquely Hawaiian flavors. I like that this pop has sharp, fresh bubbles, and isn’t syrupy sweet. Waialua Soda uses glass bottles, which is a naturally attractive choice for a party, so there’s no need for plastic cups! Everyone went in for 2nds and 3rds because we wanted to try all the flavors. You can find Waialua Soda at Cost Plus World Market locations nationwide as well as at many local businesses.

Simple Appetizers Only (and perfect for hands-on eating)

I didn’t want to have food that wouldn’t taste good (or be safe) after sitting around at room temperature for hours. In Hawaii it’s pretty much a no-no to not serve a meal, but I scheduled the party from 2-4 (although most people stayed until 7, which made me feel like a success!). I didn’t feel comfortable giving out food that wouldn’t taste good after it cooled down, so I picked things that would stay good the whole party. Also, I had time to make the food without running around like a crazy person for three days straight (I only did that for two days).

For the rest of our spread I made from scratch hummus, cupcakes, homemade salsa and served with tortilla chips, fruit, and vegetable sticks (all seen here in my husband’s hand-made, wheel-thrown, beautiful bowls. Lucky, aren’t I?).

Oh, and cake pops.

Yes, people, I made cake pops. I’m the girl that lacks craftiness, and cake pops are the ultimate crafty food. I know, mine are not that pretty, but we all ate them. Because these ones actually tasted GOOD. Cake pops are notorious for having just a one-size-fits-all sweet flavor. These ones were guava flavored, and the cake flavor stayed true through every bite. I originally wanted to make a mango flavored cake pop, but the mango flavor just didn’t come through and I kicked that recipe out the door.

P.S. We are all good parents. Cake pops are for special, only. Plus we did cut the limit of cake pops to 5 or less. Ha ha.

Guava Cake Pop Instructions (makes 40-45 pops)

(click the links to print the recipes and instructions, without pictures)

1. First I baked a guava cake from Kaui Philpotts’ book, Hawaiian Country Tables. With this recipe you’ll make about 40-45 cake pops. It helps SO much for your brain if you don’t have a baby grabbing onto your leg every two seconds. Maybe you will remember to make sure your camera is not on JPEG because you won’t get any good pictures of the cake making and next three steps, otherwise.

2. Then I let it cool completely. COMPLETELY. There are a lot of points during this construction that I have an urge to ignore warnings (which is exactly why I will never be a seamstress), but don’t ignore this.

3. While it is cooling, make a guava syrup from 1 Cup of guava puree and 1/4 Cup sugar. Heat the puree and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Let it simmer, stirring constantly, until it reduces to about 1/3 of a cup of sauce.

4. When the cake is completely cooled, cut off the edges and the bottom of the cake (if crusty at all) and discard those hard edges.

 

Crumble the rest of the cake into little itty bitty crumbs in a large bowl.

 

Ignore all that crap you just got on the floor. Your kitchen is about to get a lot messier.

5. Mix in a cup of cream cheese frosting and the guava syrup into the cake crumbs. Stir it all together with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated. Try to make a test ball out of about 2 Tbsp of cake crumbs. If the ball falls apart easily, add more cream cheese frosting (a Tablespoon or two at a time) and try again. Too much or too little frosting can make or break your cake pops.

6. Make cake balls out of the cake crumbs by rolling together a couple of tablespoons of crumbs, making sure they are firm with no cracks. Put the cake balls in the fridge until you are ready to make and (soon) serve your cake pops.

7. Pull out the cake balls from the fridge. Put desired sprinkles in a bowl.

In a bowl that has high sides and isn’t too wide, melt 2 Cups of white chocolate candy pieces in the microwave for 1 minute, 20 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds and removing the bowl when the chocolate is completely melted. (when this runs out, melt about a cup more of white chocolate for the rest of the pops and repeat as necessary). 

Using at least 6” lollipop sticks, dip the end of the stick into the white chocolate (about 1/2”) and then push that end about halfway into a cake ball.

8. Dip this newly formed ball on a stick into the melted white chocolate, putting the pop straight down. Hopefully this action will cover the whole cake pop in one go, up to the bottom of the stick. DO NOT TURN the cake pop. Use a spoon, if necessary to drape the rest of the cake pop in the chocolate by spooning the chocolate over the part of the cake pop that is exposed, without turning and tiling the cake pop. Lift the pop out, straight up, and then hold it over the bowl on its side and tap your arm gently to remove the excess chocolate. Don’t tap the pop on the side of the bowl—just your arm. 9. Sprinkle as desired while the chocolate is still wet. (note, dipping the pop into the sprinkles does not work and only results in a bunch of chocolate being put into your sprinkles). Push the pop straight down into a piece of Styrofoam so it will dry easily. I found that if I sliced a small x into the Styrofoam with a sharp paring knife that it was easiest to push the stick through it. Let it dry completely (takes a minute or two) and serve. Will keep at room temperature for several hours. Can be stored in the freezer but not the fridge.

Even though these were tasty, once I started getting the idea, I had to make the most perfect cupcake ever. (Oh, was I talking about a diet during the last post? Puhleeeze. I am so cheating today.)

Orangette’s chocolate cupcake (A Homemade Life has become one of my very favorite books, and I have adopted her recipes as my new favorite foods.)

Baked's Matt Lewis’ caramel (as a filling) from his caramel apple cake. Jake made this cake for me for Mother’s Day and we’ve been dipping into this amazingly rich and buttery caramel ever since.

and The Pioneer Woman’s best frosting ever.

Are you drooling yet? Did I just put the most perfect three recipes together for the first time ever?

I just blew your mind. I know. I cored out the middle of the cupcake and then put a heaping teaspoon of caramel in the middle.

Fun Activities without Directions

Kids play fun games at birthday parties, but I already knew that wasn’t my style. I didn’t see much reason to corral everyone into a game that not everyone wanted to play. Instead I put out bubbles (homemade: 4 gallons of distilled water and 8 Cups of dawn dish soap—regular, not antibacterial, mixed the night before for proper development of prime bubble making) with spatulas, cookie cutter shapes, and yarn and straw wands. I made a big bucket and left it out for the kids to play whenever they felt like it. Pretty soon they discovered that their own hands were just as good as any of the wands. (click here for where I got the bubble idea). Y’know what’s great about bubbles? No directions needed. Other good activities like that are sidewalk chalk, sidewalk paint, and a big area to play in. Check, check, check. The kids went back and forth through all of these activities when they felt like it, eating popsicles and salsa in between, and the adults could enjoy hanging out together without worrying about keeping their kids in check.

Make it Special for Everyone

It was Amaya’s birthday, but the great thing was that it was a party for everyone. I didn’t want there to be too much emphasis on her alone, as that’s where jealousy or embarrassment can get mixed in. I asked guests to not bring gifts (and the few that were brought, not wrapped, were given on the side) and we never did sing Happy Birthday or have any sort of “look at me” formal agenda. Gifts are really fun, and I know she’ll get a few, but I didn’t want anyone to feel pressure about buying anything and it helped that we didn’t introduce any rivalries with the whole “watch me while I open my new cool presents” thing. I know my daughter, and she sometimes gets focused on the wrong things in big group situations. Do what feels comfortable for you. I know that Amaya did not feel deprived in any way. We’ll see how she feels when she’s turning 6.

Amaya has friends of all ages and sizes. She really lets you know she adores you. I have a hard time believing she’s my kid. She transcends age-differences and wants to have real conversations with everyone about their day, the last movie they saw, what they like to eat, whatever. And she does it with flair. Today was special for her because she got to eat as many cake pops as she wanted and played nonstop with her friends.

She loved every second of it.