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.
Island Food
Roasted Vegetables with Coconut Curry Sauce

Roasted Vegetables with Coconut Curry Sauce

Have you ever seen purple broccoli or yellow cauliflower? Eye catching, aren’t they? A rainbow of vegetables! I’m thinking of all the phytonutrients here! They’re so pretty by themselves in a platter and you could eat them with a dip, or…. I like them roasted– tossed with a little olive oil and put in a...
Lau Lau Flavored Kale and Beet Greens

Lau Lau Flavored Kale and Beet Greens

Lau laus are a favorite island food. Traditionally a pieces of pork and salted fish wrapped in layers of luau (taro) leaves, then ti leaves, and finally steamed in an underground pit (imu) for several hours. Today they are mostly cooked in steamers or even crockpots . The luau leaves end up soft, smoky and...
Top Chef Finalist Sheldon Simeon's Star Noodle Restaurant

Top Chef Finalist Sheldon Simeon’s Star Noodle Restaurant

Sign outside Star Noodle in Lahaina, Maui For those of you Top Chef fans out there, you know by now that Sheldon Simeon, executive chef at Star Noodle, got eliminated in last night’s Part 1 of the finale. He had an incredibly good run though, and did Hawaii proud. Such a talented young man. Pretty...
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....
Easy Spam Fried Rice

Easy Spam Fried Rice

Hi folks, Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. It’s been a bit hectic here lately, but the kids finally went back to school today. Yay! A while back I posted my party spam musubi, and showed some musubi filled with fried rice. So here’s a quick recipe you can use for that,...
Party Spam Musubi

Party Spam Musubi

Spam musubi– a perennial favorite. A slice of spam sandwiched between rice and wrapped in seaweed. How could I fancy it up? Hmm…what if I cut the spam into fancy shapes? I like to use Lite spam. Although lower in fat, sodium and calories than the regular spam, it’s still not exactly a healthy food,...
Cornflake Cookies

Cornflake Cookies

Most of us, especially those of us of a “certain age” are sure to be familiar with Tony the Tiger. If you spent any part of your childhood watching cartoons on television, I’m sure you’ve seen him rave about frosted flakes. Tony is the childhood friend we, and even our kids all had. Last week was...
A Quick Visit to the Honolulu Farmer's Market at KCC

A Quick Visit to the Honolulu Farmer’s Market at KCC

Pink and Red Ginger Last month I visited the Saturday morning Honolulu Farmer’s Market at Kapiolani Community College. Unfortunately I only had about 30 minutes, so I didn’t have time to stop at every booth. I love spending hours at farmer’s markets just browsing leisurely, but I didn’t have the luxury this time. Parrot’s Beak Bright,...
3660 On the Rise

3660 On the Rise

Ahi Katsu: Sashimi-Grade Ahi Wrapped in Nori and Deep Fried Medium Rare, with Wasabi-Ginger Sauce We met up with some friends on Oahu and had the best dinner at 3660 On the Rise. I’ve heard such good things about 3660 for years, but have never gotten to try them out until now. All I can say...
Chocolate Covered Kula Gold Fruit Skewers

Chocolate Covered Kula Gold Fruit Skewers

Anytime I go back home to Hawaii, I love to visit the farmer’s markets to see what’s new, and to buy all the local fruits and vegetables. Kula Strawberries and Maui Gold Pineapples are two must haves on Maui. Since we were having chicken and vegetable kabobs for dinner, and I had a ton of...
Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Cookies

Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Cookies

Hello my sweet cookie! Some of the best island style cookies involve cereal, like this little baby above– chocolate chip dough covered with Rice Krispies. Another more famous is the classic Cornflake cookie. I’ll get to that one too, later on. We were so lucky these were staples in our school cafeteria lunches. Start off...