Musings of a wife and mother, born and raised in Hawaii. Far away from home now, but creating and discovering bits of sunshine and paradise in everyday life.
Snacks
Pan-fried Bacon Wrapped Mochi

Pan-fried Bacon Wrapped Mochi

Sorry for the long break here. I’ve been spending lots of time with my kids, dallying around, and enjoying the summer days. This Bacon wrapped mochi seems to have become a favorite recently. We’ve ordered it in restaurants before, but I’ve never made it at home. Turns out, it’s really easy. Frozen Osaka-Ya Plain Mochi...
Kitchen Sink Slushies

Kitchen Sink Slushies

Tis the time of year for slushies, slushies, slushies! We’ve already had some near 100 degree days here, and more are certain to come. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know how we love slushies here, especially Ice Cream Slushies. But what if you upgrade the scoop of vanilla ice cream...
Strawberries and Cream Cups

Strawberries and Cream Cups

I wanted some pretty strawberry parfait cups for my daughter’s tea party, and kept trying to think of what kinds of cake, cream, and sauces I wanted to layer in the glasses. As there were already going to be quite a few cakes, cookies, and treats for the tea, I didn’t want to make these...
Quick Hummus and Vegetable Toasts

Quick Hummus and Vegetable Toasts

I recently needed to come up with an easy open faced, vegetarian sandwich to include in a tea tray I was preparing for my daughter’s birthday tea. The other finger sandwiches I made were smoked salmon, chicken salad, and egg salad. Wouldn’t you know it? This one turned out to be the most popular, and...
Chocolate Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Chocolate Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Ever since Valentine’s day, the stores seem to be filled with strawberries. Seems a bit early, but I’ve been seeing them at the farmer’s market too. Here’s a quick little dip that my kids have no problem digging into. Very quickly melt some chocolate chips, peanut butter, and a bit of honey. I used the...
More Pa'i'ai: Green Onion Chili Oil Biscuits and Pa'i'ai Crackers

More Pa’i’ai: Green Onion Chili Oil Biscuits and Pa’i’ai Crackers

Fresh Pa’i’ai on Ti Leaves Before the holidays, I wrote about the traditional pounded taro called Pa’i’ai, from Mana Ai. We enjoyed mini pa’i’ai pizzas, and some wonderfully chewy, satisfying pa’i’ai tortillas. The pa’i’ai also made some very tasty biscuits and crackers which I’m sharing today. Although pa’i’ai can last for months at room temperature,...
Roasted Sweet Potato Jack-o-Lantern Faces and Ghosts

Roasted Sweet Potato Jack-o-Lantern Faces and Ghosts

I was so excited to think up of making these jack-o-lantern faces and ghosts with roasted sweet potato slices– something healthy and festive. I didn’t find out until after I had made them, and did a little surfing online, that someone had already done the sweet potato jack-o-lantern faces last year. Oh well, it’s still...
Avocado Cilantro Chile Dip

Avocado Cilantro Chile Dip

Now that school is back in session, I made a tasty little dip to have on hand for some afterschool snacks. It’s a quick “dump and blend” of cashews, pumpkin seeds, avocado, cilantro, diced green chilies, Cotija cheese, garlic, lemon juice, water and sea salt. Soaking the cashews and pumpkin seeds for a few hours...
Spicy Baked Buttermilk Chicken Strips

Spicy Baked Buttermilk Chicken Strips

These baked chicken strips are easy to make when you’re craving something like fried chicken, but don’t actually want to deep fry anything. The marinade is made with two simple ingredients: buttermilk and hot wing sauce. I like this hot wing sauce because it only contains cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, garlic and a little oil....
Fresh Strawberry Manju (Hawaiian Crispy Style)

Fresh Strawberry Manju (Hawaiian Crispy Style)

The farmers markets are brimming with berries this time of summer. The other day, I picked up some blackberries and strawberries that were so sweet and juicy. On my way home, I was thinking about what I could make with them, when I was struck by the greatest idea–   A whole fresh strawberry tucked...
Cold Poached Chicken Tenderloins with Ginger and Green Onion Sauce

Cold Poached Chicken Tenderloins with Ginger and Green Onion Sauce

One of my favorite Chinese restaurant dishes we ordered growing up in Hawaii was Ginger and Green Onion Chicken. It was a whole, poached (skin on) chicken, chilled, cut into small (bone-in) pieces, rubbed with oil and topped with a chopped ginger and green onion sauce. Oh, so good on top of hot rice. I...
Honey Hoisin Pork Tenderloin Wraps

Honey Hoisin Pork Tenderloin Wraps

For the pork, marinate a pork tenderloin overnight in honey, hoisin, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sea salt, and 5 spice powder. Then bake for 30 minutes the next day. If you’re really in a hurry though, instead of marinating the whole tenderloin overnight, cut it crosswise into slices and marinate the slices for 30 minutes....