Aloha Friday Recipe: Baked Mango-Ginger Swordfish

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2 pounds swordfish steaks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 cup mango chutney

Place swordfish steaks in a large, shallow bowl. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, dry sherry, ginger and mango chutney. Pour the mixture over swordfish steaks, turning steaks to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place swordfish steaks in a medium baking dish. Cover with marinade. Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally with marinade, until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Recipe courtesy Allrecipes.com

For the keiki…

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While on Bubba Gump’s website after doing my review for Bubba Gump’s Maui, I noticed they had a kids page. There are some fun activities on there like memory, mazes, hidden words and coloring pages. So if your lil shrimp is needing a fun activity to do, click here to go to Bubba’s kids page!

Upcoming shows at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center

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The Maui Arts & Cultural Center has some great shows coming up in the next few weeks/months. Whether you live on the island or are going to be visiting and want to add some pizzazz to your night, see who will be lighting up the Valley Isle.

February 24th-Jimmy Buffett

February 28th- Steve Miller Band

March 13th- Augie T

March 21- Diana Krall

March 24th- Journey

March 28th- Na Leo Pilimehana

If you’re interested in purchasing tickets for any of the above events, click here.

Newest Hawaii Geocaches (2/24)

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If you live on or are visiting the islands and are looking to rack up some cache finds, here’s some of the most recent ones. If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about and are looking for a fun vacation activity to start, click here to get started. Happy Caching!

1000 Reasons – Cause I Can (Kauai)

Creepy Crawly (Maui)

Stop to See the View (Oahu)

The Anahulu (Oahu)

Waimanalo Beach (Oahu)

Hawaiian Word of the Week

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Sunday-Lapule

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”.

Wai’anapanapa State Park under renovations

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If you’ve got plans to visit Maui’s Waianapanapa State Park between now and the end of March, expect delays getting in to and leaving the park. The water system is being upgraded to the day use, camping and rental cabin area. This improvement is long overdue so hopefully visitors will drive with aloha in the area while things are in a bit of disarray. The construction is due to be completed by March 31st but knowing Hawaiian time, be prepared for it to run over a few days just in case.

To read more about details on this project, click here.

Aloha Friday Recipe: Tropical Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette

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6 slices bacon
1/4 cup pineapple juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 (10 ounce) package chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup diced fresh pineapple
1/2 cup chopped and toasted macadamia nuts
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. In a cruet or jar with a lid, combine pineapple juice, red wine vinegar, oil, pepper and salt. Cover and shake well. In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, pineapple, macadamia nuts, green onions and bacon. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Garnish with toasted coconut.

Recipe courtesy Allrecipes.com

Coco Palms in the news

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After a long dry spell of no news on the fate of Coco Palms’ seemingly thwarted rebirth, an article popped up in last week’s Garden Island newspaper. The current owners are asking for an extension to see what the economy does. This looks to be another long bout of back and forth meetings. I know that residents want something done with this property…some want the Coco Palms project to go forward and others want it turned into a cultural park or something else. I’m one of the ones who would like to see Coco Palms come back just due to the history of the place with public access to the coconut groves and fishponds but that’s just my opinion. I suppose its for selfish reasons because I would like to renew my vows for our 25th anniversary. Who knows with the way this is going we might just get to break it in for the grand opening, 12 years from now. If the developers had just conceded with the fitness center/spa issue back to the way it originally was, this project would be well underway if not have an opening date. It’s frustrating.

To read the Garden Island article, click here.

Four Foods on Friday 67

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Here’s this week’s questions for Val’s meme Four Foods on Friday. There’s still time to participate if you’d like to play along! Just click here and follow the directions!

#1. Potato chips. Flavored? Regular, ridged or stacked?
Flavored, I rarely eat plain chips. I like BBQ the most but also like Pringles Kickin’ Cheddar which is jalapeno cheese. The type doesn’t really matter to me but the hubby prefers Ruffles because Rrrrruffles have rrrrrrridges.
#2. Cheese doodles. Yellow or white? Puffed or crunchy?
They make white ones? Yellow I guess, I always thought they were orange or maybe I’m thinking of something else? I usually get Cheetos (crunchy) but I prefer the puffed kind that kind of disintegrate in your mouth. Curious…I never get those. (???)

#3. Pretzels? Your favorite shape? Favorite flavor?
I don’t have a particular preference for pretzels but we usually get sticks, waffle or regular shape normal sized and mini. The rods and nuggets are good too but can make your mouth a little dry.

#4. Share a recipe for salsa or dip.
A quick dip if you’re low on time is get a jar of nacho cheese dip (not con queso), some “real” bacon bits and cut chives and mix it all together to serve with plain potato chips for a loaded baked potato taste. (Ruffles or kettle chips hold the dip best since its a little heavier.)

Big Island Vacation Rental: Kailua Kona Vacation Rental chateau/country house

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(This rental has recently changed its name for a fourth time in 19 months 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 Kailua Kona Vacation Rental chateau/country house (formerly Nanahounua Retreat, Royal Hawaiian Retreat and Kailua Kona Vacation Estate.) 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 and I base them off of my experience with the rental.

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 $495+ per night, you expect to not have to worry about that. I am hoping that problem is rectified now.