Aloha Friday Recipe: Onion Soup

Ingredients

2 medium onions, cut into thin crescents
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 can (14 1/2 oz) vegetable broth
3 cups boiling water
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, saute onions in sesame oil until onions are transparent. Add the broth and boiling water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the salt; cover and simmer for 30 more minutes. Just before serving, add soy sauce. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

Recipe courtesy Dr. Terry Shintani

Four Foods on Friday #53

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Here’s this week’s questions for tomorrow’s edition of Four Foods on Friday. If you’d like to play along there’s still time, just hop over to Val’s!

#1. What kind of pretzels are your favorite?

I like any kind really, even those honey wheat ones that have a healthy aura but really aren’t can be good. For a special treat, I like the cheese stuffed soft pretzel sticks from the freezer section. YUM!

#2. What’s your favorite way to eat pancakes?

With a knife and fork. Heh heh. Syrup is good enough for me.
#3. Do you make garlic bread from scratch or buy frozen?

I usually buy frozen but I have some italian sweet bread and I’m going to spread butter and roasted garlic on it and maybe a little basil. Mmmm.
#4. Share a recipe that calls for mozzarella cheese.

This will seem lazy but make rigatoni with your favorite sauce and put tons of mozzarella on top and bake until golden brown and bubbly. It’s one of the hubby’s faves!

Congrats to our friends at SunsetsofHawaii.com!

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Just wanted to congratulate our friends at Sunsets of Hawaii.com whose relaxation DVD’s appeared on the “Hawaii, Here We Come” episode of Jon and Kate Plus Eight last night!

If you’d like to order these DVD’s for yourself to relax after a long day or for the Hawaii lover in your life you can either go to our sidebar on the left or buy direct through their website at www.sunsetsofhawaii.com to get $2 off each DVD with their coupon codes.

Hawaiian word of the week

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Heiau-(hay-ow)- Ancient Hawaiian temple. The lava rock wall ruins of many still remain. They are sacred, do not stand on the walls of a heiau.

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”.

Big Island Vacation Rental: Royal Hawaiian Retreat Big Island

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(This rental has recently changed its name so I wanted to bump it up and get the word out. Original review on August 8th, 2007. I will keep an eye on this (and any other rental reviews I do) so if a name change applies in the future, readers can be informed.)

When we were looking for a little getaway for the Big Island, we decided to do a search for Big Island Hawaii Vacation Rentals and came upon the Royal Hawaiian Retreat (formerly Nanahounua Retreat.) One part of my travel planning business is to stay in rentals to see whether or not I’d recommend them to others, so expect any review of a rental to be very thorough.

I was excited to stay there based on the pictures alone and it looked like it wasn’t far from Kona. However I was a little apprehensive after dealing with the booking agent. She seemed very nice in all of her correspondence but she just wasn’t very organized. She told me I would be receiving the final agreement and directions after I paid the final payment. I had to ask for it 3x and that was after I had to email her images of my cancelled checks showing I paid because she was never in the office when she checked her email regarding my reservation. That was a little nerve racking when your bank account is over $3000 lighter!

The drive in was a little further from Kona than anticipated, about 25 minutes away due to the traffic. There was an earthquake in October 2006 and while there’s no damage to the property, there’s damage to one of the roads leading to the property. It’s one lane and controlled by a stop light that is definitely on the slow side. There’s a beautiful white horse fence that surrounds the property and a nice stone driveway leading to the house. The house is a light pink with a large yard (rare) and a beautiful view of Kona. There were fresh flowers in the house as well as a nice welcome note. As you walk to the front door there’s a koi pond with several large koi fish and a small fountain. To the right of the koi pond are several containers of herbs you can use in your culinary adventures. As you walk into the foyer, there’s a water feature and bench. If you turn to the left, you will round into the front room with a pool table framed by a lava-esque fireplace. A pool table was a real plus for us as they are definitely a rare find in rental homes. The only problem is if you’re shooting on the end where the picture was taken, there’s a wall of breakables which makes it hard to play or you have to switch to the shortest stick. Beside that room is a formal dining room and a living room with a flat panel TV on the wall that can be angled how you choose. All the furnishings are nice and it’s obvious there have been recent renovations in most of the rooms. There are 2 bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor along with an office/computer and laundry room.

Then you get to the kitchen. It’s the one room that needs a facelift. It may not appear so from the picture but when you’re up close, the white paint is chipped and worn, the countertops could use a little updating and well, there were “friends” in the dishwasher. Now anyone who lives in the islands knows they do not tell tourists about the bug issues and I’m used to the geckos, ants and yes, the occasional roach but the dishwasher was INFESTED with roaches. I couldn’t bear to wash our dishes in there so we hand washed everything. When you’re paying $450+ per night, you expect to not have to worry about that. I am hoping that problem is rectified now.

Click “read more” to continue review….

Aloha Friday Recipe: Pineapple Haupia

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Ingredients

1 can (8 1/4 ounces) crushed pineapple
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
Dash of salt
2 cups coconut milk

Instructions

Drain pineapple well. Combine cornstarch, sugar, and salt; stir in 1/2 cup of the coconut milk until a smooth paste forms. In a saucepan, heat remaining milk on low heat. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Stir in pineapple. Pour into shallow 8-inch square pan. Let cool until firm. Makes 6 servings.

Four Foods on Friday #52

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Here’ this week’s questions for Four Foods on Friday. If you’d like to play along, hop on over to Val’s place and post your answers on your blog!

#1. Name something you use cream cheese in/on.
A quick thing that my hubby LOVES (and me too) is getting that pressed beef like Carl Buddig and putting a little bit of cream cheese in the middle, rolling it up and sticking it with a toothpick for a quick little appetizer. We both grew up on it.

#2. Do you use yogurt in any recipes?
NO! I mean no. I’m not a yogurt fan. Hubby eats strawberry yogurt with Kashi’s Mountain Medley on top for some added fiber and fruit.

#3. Macaroni salad. What do you like/put in yours?
I don’t like it so I couldn’t tell you but I can say that U-Top-It in Kona makes theirs with a bit of ranch flavor (like maybe some Hidden Valley Ranch powder mixed in) and my husband’s eyes rolled in the back of his head with joy. So take that for what it’s worth!

#4. Share a recipe that you use sour cream in.
I don’t like sour cream at all so instead of being a smarty pants and say “put sour cream on nachos” or something, I’ll give you a cream cheese recipe. When we did fondue recently I did stuffed mushrooms by doing the following…Take a block of softened cream cheese, a small can of lump crab meat and a can of tiny shrimp, minced garlic and green onions and mix together. Make a small batch of plain pancake batter and add Old Bay seasoning to taste. Get some button mushrooms and remove the stems and hollow out the center with the tip of a spoon. Fill the mushrooms with the cream cheese filling, dunk it in the pancake batter and then into a pan of hot oil until the batter is golden brown. Even if you don’t like mushrooms (like me) you’ll LOVE these!! (This Old Bay or cajun pancake batter is the perfect coating for chicken, fish and shrimp too!)

A sweet gift any time of year

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When we hopped over to Maui, my grandma said “oh can you get me a Maui pineapple? They just don’t taste the same from anywhere else.”

Some people would giggle and say a pineapple is a pineapple but the only people who say that are those that have never had a Maui Gold pineapple. It truly is like heaven. It is the sweetest most juicy, flavorful pineapple you will ever eat in your lifetime and they are addicting. Not going to be on Maui anytime soon? Not a problem! Just go to their website and you can get a delicious Maui Gold pineapple delivered right to your door or the door of the ones you love. Now some may be put off by the price of one of these lovelies to get it to your door…$32 with shipping for one. BUT, if you have a few people who love them the shipping price stays the same whether you buy one, two or a case of six. So if you’re having a luau, it’d be worth it to buy a 6 pack because instead of paying $32 for one pineapple, you’d be paying just over $13 for one and regardless of how many you buy you get a free pineapple corer. Have I enticed you yet? Yes, it’s not cheap and yes, if you haven’t had one, it’s hard to get across just how worth it the price is. All we can say is once you have one, you’ll never go back.

(Of course you could always go to Maui and get them much cheaper while you’re there! We love helping you justify a trip to the islands!)

Eat well for less and help charity too!

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ALOHA MONDAYS ARE BACK AT HALI’IMAILE GENERAL STORE

For each person that brings in one non-perishable food item to be donated to the MAUI FOOD BANK, Bev will take 50% off the price of your dinner’s entree. If you’ve seen my recent review of Hali’imaile General Store then you know this is a must do! Reservations are recommended 808-572-2666. Please join in at HALI’IMAILE GENERAL STORE one of Maui’s premier restaurants and “help the hungry” with your food donation.

If you aren’t going to be on Maui anytime soon, you can always donate online.