WW: Mickey D's in Hawaii

WW:

Our Golden Arches in Hawaii are a little different.
Signs are posted at the drive through exit that say "mahalo" or thank you in Hawaiian. The employees all wear Hawaiian print golf shirts. The menu is slightly different, and our prices are a tad higher.Spam is a delicacy in Hawaii, so naturally Spam and eggs are served. Our McDonald's restaurants also serve Portuguese sausage, served in a many local breakfast dishes. The McTeri is a local variant of the McChicken and was invented at a McDonald's in Honolulu. Local food uses a lot of "teri" or teriyaki sauce.

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Congratulations to Your Parents

Family culture in Hawaii is warm and beautiful. "Ohana" or family, extends beyond a traditional family unit. It means family that you are born into, and any adoptive or intentional family. It means every one that is tight knit and close, all those that are involved in your children's lives.Recently Son1 won an award at school. There was a punch and cookie reception after the assembly for the recipients. Many parents and tutus (Hawaiian word for grandparents), aunties and uncles (either by blood, or a term of respect for any adult and close to the child) attended the reception. Trays and trays of food were displayed. But before the reception, the principal had a few words to share.

We all congratulated the recipients with an applause. Afterward, the principal addressed the children, and shared that this honor was not just for them, but also for their parents, for their grandparents, and for their aunties and uncles. He said much about respect and honor, and the responsibility children have to their parents. Finally, the children were asked to get cookies and drink first for their ohana, and then for themselves. The children obediently went to the lines, selected goodies for their ohana, before serving themselves.

I attended by myself, while Hubs took time off to watch Son2. My heart melted when Son1 brought an embarrassing amount of food back to me. I declined a powdered doughnut. Those are Son1's favorite. His smile stretched across his face, and he said, "I want you take this all home to Daddy!" He knew his Daddy was home just so that I could come. I am grateful in a small way he understood.

How to Cut a Pineapple

Many of our mainland visitors ask how to cut a pineapple. I learned how on a vacation to Hawaii, at the Dole Plantation, long before we lived here. That's also where I learned a few pineapple facts.


People also ask how to choose a "good one", and how to tell if it is ripe. A pineapple will not ripen more after it is picked. The color of the skin will not tell the sweetness of the pineapple, either. Very sweet pineapples can have both bright green or yellow skin. Ready to choose a pineapple? Get your sniffer ready. The best way to tell if a pineapple is ripe is to smell the pineapple. We buy our pineapples at Costco. People are uninhibited about smelling pineapples in Hawaii. And people judge by the firmness, too. You just don't want a squishy one. OH! That is another thing. If you come to Hawaii and want to buy pineapple, Costco is the most economical place. They don't air pack them or agriculturally inspect them, which is required to get Hawaiian pineapple off the island. But if you want to indulge while you are here, stop at Costco.


The sugar does tend to pool at the bottom of the fruit, so turn it upside down 24 hours before you are ready to cut the pineapple. We really like the Maui Gold variety. They are a pineapple company on Maui. They tried for 80 years to get a hybrid pineapple right. Finally in the 1990s they produced Maui Gold. It is three times sweeter than other pineapples.

We twist the crown (the green part) off by habit, but it can just be cut off. The crown makes a nice adornment on a fruit platter, though. Now, if you lived in ideal conditions, and by that I mean tropical conditions, you can plant the crown in the ground after it has been soaked in water for a few days. The soil has to be warm enough and rich enough in iron for a pineapple plant to grow. Please don't try planting pineapple in mainland USA. It's not going to happen for you. Really.

Guess how long it takes the first fruit to produce? About 20 months. And then the plant will only give 3 or 4 over the course of it's life. So, after I pull of the crown, I split the pineapple in half, lengthwise, and then down the middle of the each core, so that I have 4 canoe looking pieces.

Then I stand up each little canoe and cut out the core pieces at an angle. Some people (few) eat the core. We fed it to my dog when we had a dog. He adored pineapple core.

Next I work away at the skin of each of my canoes. I make "C" shaped cuts. I have had much practice, so I am pretty good and not having many eyes left on the pineapple, which are the what we call the small brown circular spots. I just skim my knife over them at this point, or I want until I am cubing the pineapple. Next I cut each naked (no skin, no core) pineapple canoe into thirds, and finally into chunks.
I toss the chunks into a gallon sized zip lock bag. I don't like using containers because they take up so much room and we go through pineapple pretty fast.
Cutting pineapple for me is much easier on a really large, no slip with grip, cutting board. My pineapple doesn't go slipping and sliding and the juice isn't oozing everywhere. The other secret is that I use a knife with a blade that is pretty comparable to the size of the pineapple. I am not kidding!

We put our pineapple in salads, cooked with meats, and in tacos, to name just a few ways. We eat it plain, too. Pineapple contains natural digestive enzymes that are great for helping digest food.

You know, one of the reasons I knew Hubby was my soul mate twelve years ago was that he put pineapple on everything, like me! It is both of our favorite fruit, and my kids love pineapple, too. There is a lot more I can tell you about pineapples, so if you have questions, ask and I will answer in the comments!!! Much aloha!

All Pau Shopping

I dropped off an underwater camera at Costco one hour photo. Could the pictures be ready early? I needed to pick Son1 up from Awana Cubbies. The lady told me to swing by when I was "pau" (pronounced pow) shopping. I smiled as I walked away. When we leave the island, I will miss Hawaiian slang.

Pau means all done. When your child finishes eating...you ask, "All pau?" A waiter or waitress might ask the same thing of an adult before clearing plates. And after shots, the nurse says, "All pau!"

And when the work day is done, you're "pau hana."

And this post, well it's ALL PAU!

No Shoes, No Kids, No Rain, No Diet!

It had been awhile. We needed the time alone. And we were about to say goodbye forever. This was the last night we could use it together, alone.

I love convertibles. I drove one when we were first married in California. Two years ago, Hubby bought a convertible when I was newly pregnant, again. He said it was for me, but I really didn't drive it that much. He found another vehicle he wanted, so it was time to sell the convertible. The buyer was purchasing the vehicle in a few days, and this was our last weekend to use it. We arranged for our sitter to stay with the kids, and planned two stops.

We swung by our pastor's home for a few minutes. He was having an open house for families with children. They just finished their remodel, and of course we wanted to see. We were a family with children, but the only family there without children. HA!

When you enter a home in Hawaii, there is an unspoken rule that you just don't wear shoes in the home. You don't even ask people to remove their shoes. They just do.
People entertain more outside than inside. Covered lanais are considered extra living space, and count toward a home's total square footage. Their lanai is large and covered with a roof, but open on all sides. Huge area rugs are centered on the concrete, with plenty of seating facing their verdant and serene back yard.

Our pastor's wife is a character, in a quiet sort of way. She and I have had a special friendship for the last 3 years. We both have that "I Love Lucy" quality that begs patience from our husbands. We didn't make it very easy for Hubby to take our picture.
We couldn't leave without eating. You have to eat at someone's home in Hawaii. It is not an option not to eat. It borders on rudeness. It is also cultural that you are offered a take home plate with food. We had a few pupus, and passed on the take home plate. We told them we had a dinner reservation, but they insisted we stay. It would have been rude to leave. We stayed, just for a bit longer, complimenting them on the remodel.

At the risk of losing our reservation, we said mahalo and aloha (thank you and goodbye) and jumped in our convertible. The sunset was terrifically red, but it was a moment that you simply had to be there.
We drove south on the H2 to the H1 East. We exited the freeway, and drove along the water front to Ward Center, for dinner at Kincaid's.

We started with rosemary ciabatta bread. We told ourselves it was just like regular sourdough, made from wheat flour, totally allowable on the South Beach. And it could have been. So we left it at that. We were a little tied over from pupus. We skipped appetizers and went for the entrees.
I had the signature rock salt prime rib, aged 28 days under a mountain of rock salt. YUM YUM YUM! I ordered double veggies, and passed on the starch. Of course I shared some with Hubby! You didn't think I was going to walk out of there wearing that piece of meat all by myself, now did you?!? Do NOT answer that, Mom! Don't tell anyone how carnivorous I am...ROAR!
Hubby had the asiago-almond crusted sea scallops. NO I was not going to let him walk out of there wearing them all by himself, either! We had to share this stuff, too!!

Time on the babysitter clock was ticking. We were still eating dinner and asked for the dessert menu, because we are efficient with our calories. HA HA HA. We had a hard time choosing. The waitress totally understood our dilemma because she lost a ton of weight on a different diet. When we deviate from the diet, we like to feel guilt free, entitled, and rewarded for cheating. So the dessert has to be worth it. If we are going to cheat, it has to be a nice big fat scrumptious offense.

Our first order was the Original Burnt Cream, or creme brulee. It is their award winning dessert. People raved to us about it. We tried it, and it was good, as far as creme brulee goes. But we weren't really in the mood for creme brulee.The waitress swung by after we each had a bite. It was good, but we just didn't love it. Oooh she encouraged us to send it back if we weren't satisfied, and order something else. We about jumped out of our skin. We both wanted C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E.....not fat free, and not sugar free, as we had obediently eaten on the diet. Our next order was the chocolate torte with fresh strawberries, and vanilla ice cream. Two minutes later the waitress appeared, apologetically. They just ran out of the chocolate torte!!! I looked suspiciously at the tables around us. WHO had ordered our chocolate torte?!?

For our third order, we chose the Chocolate Indulgence Cake. I am not kidding you. That is really what it is called. And it requires capitalization. See this? It is served on a dinner plate. And just to make me get up and dance she asked the kitchen to plop a nice scoop of vanilla on the side.But to really, really romance me, Hubby asked for something sweet to pour over it. Didn't they have some sauce they poured over their cheesecake, or something? She scampered away happily, and returned with a little pitcher of strawberry sauce.

Man, oh man....we indulged in the whole thing, in the most felonious kind of way!

We paid our bill, hopped out of our booth, and found the escalators outside. Hubby stood behind me, with his hands on my shoulders, and exclaimed, "Hey, that's YOU. The Drama Queen!!" We stepped off the escalator, and I met my match!

We made the thirty minute drive home, with the top down, one last time. The temperature on the dash read 80 degrees at 9:30pm. Sounds warm, huh? Then it started to rain. But Hubby knows physics. We could drive faster than the falling rain and not get wet!

We arrived home to find Son1 sprawled on the couch. He had fallen asleep watching a movie. Hubby picked him up, reminiscing about he used to hold him as a sleeping baby, against his chest. It was just so funny, because right as he was saying it, we knew he has grown so far from that. He's not quite four yet, but he is tall.
Hubby and I went to bed with full hearts and full stomachs. We were happy we had our last convertible ride for now, and had eaten a dinner and dessert that was gratifying.

Easter in Hawaii

We had a good amount of Easter celebration in Hawaii. And you know what I love about Hawaii? There is none of this PC stuff about not celebrating Christian holidays. Hawaii is a pretty spiritual place in general, so faith is a common practice. However, Hawaii is the third most unchurched state in the union, with less than ten percent of folks attending a Bible believing church. Given all of this, no one blinks an eye about celebrating Christian holidays in the work place or in public. I love it! Plus, you can talk about your faith and people do not absolutely flip out, because that just wouldn't be showing aloha. People are willing to listen, even if they don't agree.

So, the first part of the Easter celebration started with goody bags at school. In celebration of Easter, the kids exchange little cellophane bags with treats with every kid in the class. Think Easter basket in a bag. That meant tons of Easter candy. And good candy, too. One other thing about Hawaii. You give good stuff or it is goes noticed! No, there was no Jesus in the bag. But it was in celebration of Easter, not "Welcome Spring."Next, we were invited to an Easter egg hunt up the street. Now this is what I mean. This is truly local style, and I loved it. We were invited to an Easter party. This was not a Just For Christians kind of a thing, even though the party was focused on Jesus and His resurrection. There were about fifty kids there, and they were broken up by age group. Son1 was in the under 5 group. It started out that kids no older than three went first to collect Easter eggs with treats. I got funny looks because Son1 is tall and in the youngest group. He was taller than some of the 4 and 5 year olds. I explained he wouldn't be 4 until August, and he was a real three year old. After his group started, then the 4 and 5 year olds ran and picked up the eggs. There were two bounce houses that were each about 2 stories tall going around back. Then, there were Christian Easter crafts offered in the garage and in the driveway under the easy up tent. (That is a heavy duty tarp to all of you on the mainland. They are called easy ups here.) Also, a Christian drama skit was performed. Delicious local food was prepared for everyone there. Later that day we went to another Easter party for Hubby's work. Son2 had his first cotton candy. He chomped it right down. There was an Easter egg hunt, bounce houses, egg coloring, and several other keiki (Hawaiian word for children) activities. We did concede and torture our children by asking them to sit with the Easter bunny. They hated him, and I can see why. He is scary looking, isn't he?

Easter Sunday we went to church. Brunch was served local style. Buffets here are described as served local style. Now, I learned from a group of local friends early on that when you serve local style in Hawaii you always have too much food or it is considered rude not to have enough. Also, you should have enough left over if people want to take some food home. Well, the brunch line was several tables long and then four tables of desserts, pastries, and fruits. This brunch at our church is one of my favorite Easter in Hawaii memories. We are sitting under an easy up tent. The boys were dressed in matching shirts, and people commented on how cute they were. Something I have learned with having boys is that they too can be cute! I am wearing a green top that matches the stripe in their shirt. This goes back to us dressing like a team! It was special to have GG join us. She enjoyed watching Hubby play the bongos for worship, too.

The end of our Easter story is that everyone in our family was really sick. We didn't stay after church for the children's program, with the empty Easter egg hunt, praying for those that don't know Jesus yet, decorating shirts for children in Uganda, or getting the real Easter candy with the craft project. Nope! The boys were both on prescription medicine. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home sleeping.

Ono in Hawaii

Ono is our way of saying something is delicious here. If it is onolicious, it means it is super delicious, in a local kind of way. Here is a little bit of this week's ono at our house.

My neighbor is on the state's professional competitive skin diving team. He shares fish with us every now and then. This time he brought us what is known in Hawaii as Ulua. Since the fish was under twelve pounds it is called Papio even though it is the same fish. If it is over that then it is called Ulua. The Ulua fish is the most sought after shore catch.The fish has white fillets. Hubby breaded it here for us and it was definitely onolicious!
Hubby brought home a special treat for Son1. An island favorite with the kids is Choco Boy. It is actually a Korean snack in the shape of a mushroom, like Choco Boy. The stem is made of a shortbread cookie and the mushroom cap is made of chocolate.

Corny Surprise

Hubby was coming back from the North Shore, and he called me to tell me he had picked me up a surprise. Now, the North Shore is what we call "up in the country" on our island. A lot of the land is designated as rural. There are a lot of road side stands where folks sell their goods. He brought me these and some avocado.I love ears of corn, but Hubby doesn't really. That's usually because I can settle for the frozen ones, and they don't taste so good. But there is just something about farm fresh, even Hubby can appreciate. He made these last night with our fillet mignon.

Wonderphone

Even after living in Hawaii for three years, I learn something new every day. A group of Son1's friends had a tentative play date for Friday at the park. E. called and we couldn't decide if we could beat the rain for a playdate. I suggested she call T. and call me back. "Do you have Wonderphone?" What was that? I asked her if I had a what?

"Ohh. So you can get get another call coming in, but you can't make another one going out?" No. "Ohhhh. Wonderphone, you know...that's what you folks on the mainland call three way calling, right?" I just cracked up laughing. "YES. I guess that's what you call wonderphone?" We never went to the park, and I didn't talk to T. because I don't have Wonderphone.

Later that night I told my neighbors my new vocabulary word. So they taught me another new one, pilau pronounced pee-lau. It is a local pidgin slang that means dirty, filthy, or with a stench. Here it is used in a sentence:
Brah, yo clothes stay pilau. You no like go wash um or wot?

Other words of interest in Hawaii:
rubbish- used instead of the word trash. We don't have trash cans. We have rubbish cans and rubbish trucks.
wagon-used instead of shopping cart.
all pau- pronounced pow...means all done
pau hana-celebrating the end of the work day
pu pu- pronounced pooh pooh...doesn't mean going #2. Word used for any heavy appetizers or finger foods.
doo doo- going #2....very important if you want to be understood with a little one.
shi shi- going #1

There are several others...I'll teach them to you when you get here....

Just Had To Go Back to Waikiki

Saturday morning started out with some running errands with the two kids in tow. Our plan was to run around for a little while, and then get Son2 home in time for his morning nap. The baby started to fuss, and Son1 started with, "Don't cry baby! In the Farmer Family..." Now I have to stop the story right there. We have started to teach Son1 little proverbs that start with "In the Farmer Family..." They include, "In the Farmer Family we share," and "In the Farmer Family we talk nicely to one another." You get the picture. He has started to repeat them with great enthusiasm. But on Saturday morning, Son1 came up with a new one. "Don't cry baby! In the Farmer Family we..." and he paused for a breath, and resounded with "GO BYE BYE!!!" Ohh Hubby and I just cracked up. Yeah, Son2. Get ahold of yourself. We are just out to have fun in this family. HA! We did get him down for his two naps.

Saturday evening came, and we chose to go back to Waikiki for dinner. Soon after we arrived, we heard the blowing of the conch shells announcing the close of the day. The Village Guards precision rifle team led the torch lighting throughout the grounds to the rhythm of island drums.
Once we were seated at our table, Hubby came up with a great idea. I should go and get my food at the buffet while he and the boys went to see the penguins before dark. What a treat for me! No hurrying, no rushing, and no policing anyone under three and a half feet tall.
Turtles and fish swam through the water, while the penguins knew it was almost bedtime.
Hubby came back with the boys and we sat down for another family dinner. Well, we sat for awhile, anyway until I decided to hit the desserts. And once again, I offered to take Son1 with me, only to lose him, like last week. But I knew right where to find him.
After dinner we headed for the park. Once again we enjoyed it all to ourselves. This time Son2 was not content to just watch the fun. Nah...he knew better this week!

Yesterday's Giggles

Hubby and I shared our days with each other last night. Some of the stories made us giggle:

1. I turned on the radio on the way to preschool. The Dave and Dawn show was on the FISH. Every Wednesday morning they have a What's Four Dinner? segment. They share a dinner recipe consisting of four ingredients. This week's recipe was a shrimp tomato rice salad. Obviously, those made up the three ingredients, followed by Italian salad dressing. Oh it was so funny, but you may not get how funny it was if you don't live here! They were stunned that mainlanders would call tossed rice, salad, and shrimp a salad. No lettuce??!?! No, we call that shrimp chop suey here! I died laughing in the car.

2. My funny look tipped off the preschool teachers when we walked in the door. "We can't really read that look," they said. "What is it?" I explained how every morning I throw Son1 in a jacket for him to wear from the car to the door of the classroom in 70 degree weather. Now, he doesn't need a jacket. It's warm. It's not like it's 69 degrees. But every other kid is donning a jacket. I suppose it is winter. Son1 dislikes jackets. He's a smart kid. IT'S WARM. I insist he wears one from the car to the classroom because everyone else is wearing one. Yeah, some life lesson I am teaching him. Do as everyone else does, just so I can look like a good mom.

3. Hubby's work is having a Biggest Loser contest. They left a hospital scale in the main hallway for people to self weigh, and then to record their weights. This contest fits in with his New Year's Resolution. He is entering! He steps on the scale. Oh....wait a minute. It read he weighed 20 lbs more than expected. He tried again. Now wait a minute. This scale must be off. So he stepped off, moved the scale weights down to zero. Hmm. The balance marker read zero. A marine sensed his confusion, and offered to try. He usually weighs 181, but suggested he might weigh 185 in uniform. So he stepped on the scale. He weighed 189. He told Hubby it must be 4 lbs off. But Hubby didn't buy that! How could it only be 4 lbs off for the marine and how could he weigh 20lbs over his own weight? Finally, a colleague admitted to Hubby that he stood behind Hubby with his foot on the scale, accounting for the extra 20lbs. The joke was on Hubby. They all had a good laugh. Later, he saw a colleague self-weighing. The person slid the weights into position, volunteering they must weigh about 175. Oh no! The scale read 195. Oh this person became so flustered! The person was about to try again, but Hubby confessed himself. This person was so relieved! He had this person going they really weighed 20lbs more than expected!

Kailua Beach Park

We spent a large part of the day at a baby luau at Kailua Beach Park. A baby luau is customary for Hawaii families, regardless of race or ethnicity, to celebrate a child's first birthday. In local culture, a baby's first birthday is considered a major celebratory milestone. The parties are huge in number, and the entire family is invited. We have been to the fancy shmancy kind that are on par with a wedding reception, and also the beach kinds, where parents still shell out some big four digit bucks for the party, too. The best thing about today's baby luau was the balloon guy. He is by far the most talented balloon artist we have seen.

Son1 is in absolute boy bliss.

His second balloon sculpture was an octopus with some cool eyes.

Food at baby luaus is generally buffet style. Starches of rice and noodles are usually served alongside whatever else is served. Son2 just refused to be left out. Just like his brother, he will be raised on local food. Rice and noodles will quickly become favorites.

The luau was just at the top of this hill, a few feet away, in the grass. But Son1 always seems to find the water if it is nearby. It is amazing he stayed in the bounce house and out of the water.

Fishing on Christmas Eve

Hubby and a group of guys from church went fishing on Christmas Eve. They arrived at the docks at 5:15am to hit the deep seas. After sunrise they had a view of Diamond Head in the distance.Hubby is fishing with Captain Sonny of Aikane Fishing. This is a 40 foot boat. It is the only deep sea fishing company on the island that allows you to keep what you catch. The boat was rocking and rolling on 4 to 5 foot seas. It was pretty rough. Almost the entire group of guys got sick overboard on multiple occasions. When they weren't fishing Captain Sonny suggested that they lay horizontal to feel better. Hubby was super queasy but was one of the only to not throw up. He decided not to touch any of the food he brought, so he was starving when he got home.

One of their catches was a twenty pound Mahimahi.

Captain Sonny raised the yellowfin tuna and mahimahi flags to symbolize what was caught.

Six yellowfin tuna and a mahimahi.

At the dock Captain Sonny filleted the fish for the guys. He also cut up some yellowfin and gave the guys some sashimi. Sashimi is the name for yellowfin tuna (also known as ahi) when it is served raw. Captain Sonny also gave the guys some ono (delicious in Hawaiian) secret recipes.

Hubby had a good time. He plans to go again, perhaps later in 2008 when the water temperature is more ideal and the fish are more plentiful.

So here I am with my appetizer for Christmas dinner...sashimi. I wasn't too sure about it, initally. But I have learned a lot about eating fresh fish here. It doesn't taste fishy. I don't know how to explain it...but it is like a whole different flavor. Hubby made the yellowfin for me three different ways: breaded, grilled, and raw.