Happy Easter

Filed Under Spread the Aloha | Leave a Comment

Just wishing my readers out there a very

I’ve officially heard it all…

Filed Under Spread the Aloha | Leave a Comment

So when the hospital lists visiting hours, do they include the equestrian population? What I love best about this story is how the off duty nurse posed with it.

Click here to read the story

Aloha Friday Recipe: Stuffed Lychees

Filed Under Local Recipes | 1 Comment

Ingredients:

2 cans (1 lb, 4 oz size) lychees
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 tablespoon sherry
Dash salt
3 tablespoons chopped macadamia nuts
2 tablespoons chopped crystalized ginger

Procedure:
Drain lychees. In small bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sherry and salt until mixture is smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Stuff lychees. Makes about 4 dozen.

Submitted by: Residential Services Division
Organization: Hawaiian Electric Company

Who wants some shave ice?

Filed Under Food Finds | Leave a Comment

In the islands, shave ice is pretty well known. For visitors, many are under the assumption this frozen treat is a sno-cone. You’d be nicely but quickly corrected. Sno-cones are a more crunchy, crushed ice consistency whereas ironicly shave ice is a more snow like consistency. (Almost seems like they got the names mixed up!) In Hawaii, everyone has their own favorite place to stop for shave ice. Most will quickly jump in with the famous Matsumoto Shave Ice on Oahu. Us, we’re fans of Aloha Island Shave Ice on Maui in Paia. I love an all cherry shave ice (I know, so adventurous) while the hubby goes with rainbow or all cherry. They chill the syrup in the fridge which we think makes a big difference. We’ve had some pretty bad shave ice in our time but Aloha Island Shave Ice does it right. (They’ve got good plate lunches too…yum!)

So how about you? If Matsumoto’s was NOT an option, where would you tell people to go for your favorite shave ice? It’s the first day of Spring so why not celebrate with a nice shave ice if you have the means!

Earthquake recorded at Kilauea Volcano

Filed Under Current Events, Kilauea Volcano | Leave a Comment

A 3.7 magnitude earthquake hit Kilauea Volcano this morning at about 3amHST followed by about a dozen smaller ones. It’s reported it didn’t really effect the sulfur vent at Halema’uma’u but it was observed that the glow seemed to disappear afterward. They are considering possible evacuation of the town of Volcano depending on Pele’s whims. Stay tuned, we’ll be watching this closely!

Update: Another section of Crater Rim Drive has been closed due to volcanic rocks found in the road and Halema’uma’u lookout/parking lot that they are attributing to the quake which caused the first eruption from that site since 1924. The road has been closed for safety reasons while the scientists try to figure out what the presence of those rocks mean.

USGS Photo

What’s Pele up to?

Filed Under Kilauea Volcano | 1 Comment

If you thought the lava at the new viewing site was all volcano goddess Pele was up to these days, you’d be mistaken. Tucked away inside the park at Halema’uma’u Crater, she’s been up to some work there as well. A new sulfur vent opened up last week which has scientists puzzled because the plume is glowing in the dark at night. They have searched records to see if this has happened before and if it has, it wasn’t documented. Despite five to ten small earthquakes reports per hour, the folks at the observatory say an eruption is not imminent as it would produce closer to 40 earthquakes per hour.

If you are planning a visit to the park and were looking forward to cruising Chain of Craters Road or seeing Halema’uma’u crater, you’re out of luck for now. This area had already been closed for a month due to increased sulfur dioxide in the air but once the new vent opened, the levels skyrocketed to very unhealthy levels prompting the park to prepare evacuation plans if needed.

Hawaiian word of the week

Filed Under Word of the week | Leave a Comment

Haole-(how-lee)- White person, foreigner. (Used often as a non offensive slang to describe whites however some use the word in a hurtful manner making it derogatory and a racial slur by their demeanor or adjectives used before the word. Right- Bob is standing next to that haole couple. Wrong- Get out of my way stupid haole.)

The alphabet contains 12 letters: 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w). To simplify pronunciation, sound consonants as in English and break up words so they are easy to say (ie- Humuhumunukunukuapua’a would be pronounced humu-humu-nuku-nuku-apu-a-a)

Pronounce vowels as follows:

a - a in above; e - e in set; i - ee in see; o - o in some; u - oo in moon.

Pronounce vowels marked by a glottal stop (`) quickly ie- o`o sounds like oh-oh! in English.

Stress rising dipthongs (ae, ai, ao, au, oi, ou, eu, ei) on the first letter and end with a short e, i, o or u. ie- oi sounds like oy in soy, ending with a short “i”.

Aloha Friday Recipe: Banana Guava Pie

Filed Under Local Recipes | Leave a Comment

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sliced bananas
1 1/4 cups guava nectar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
baked pie shell

Procedure
Combine guava nectar, lemon juice, sugar and salt. Bring to boil over low heat. Mix cornstarch and water to a smooth paste and stir into mixture. Stir until thickened and clear. Cool. Combine with bananas and pour into baked pie shell. Serve with whipped cream.

Submitted by: Liana Brown

Were you one of the ones who bought into the dream?

Filed Under Kilauea Volcano | 1 Comment

Well, I wondered about it in this post when the 7/21 flow started and here we are 8 months later and the people who invested in Kalapana Vacation Lots and the new surrounding attempt at a subdivision have lava literally in their backyards. Here’s the latest pic from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory:

See the red road in the middle? That’s the red cinder road where people have bought plots on either side of the road to build their dream. See all that steam on all sides of it at the ocean? That’s where lava is going into the sea all around or even over their property. I was perusing the internet and these lots are still being sold with NO mention that there may be lava flowing over it at the moment. Maybe they don’t need to mention it. These listings still have things like “lava hasn’t flowed here since 1990.” That may have been the case when it was first listed but it sure as heck isn’t the case now. Maybe it’s part of the whole “due diligence” process on the potential buyers end but I for one could not in good conscience sell my land hoping some sucker will take it off my hands while I knew lava was flowing over it.

If you are looking to buy cheap real estate in paradise, PLEASE do your homework. Everyone who lives within 20 miles of Kilauea knows there are certain risks involved from lava hazards to air quality issues. Have an inspection of your potential property, research the area, research what lava zone your home would fall into and what that means for your insurance policy and how much your premium could be. Do not assume that the listing tells you everything you need to know. I know this may sound like the basics but many people will buy sight unseen and buying Hawaii has some issues that the mainland doesn’t. Pele doesn’t care how much you paid for your piece of her land.