Like many of you self isolating at home from the COVID-19 pandemic, for four months now since mid March, our family has returned to home cooking, saving gasoline and money that would have been paid to restaurants. For health reasons I should avoid eating sugar, but I love to bake. So what the heck?
Have a virtual taste of my pie, Dutch baby pancake, scones, and malasadas!
~ Rebekah
JJAnother dog picture, but hey, my dog seems to be the only constant during the current pandemic while we all stay at home. You are staying home, right?
Or at least assigning your trips “off campus” to the same one person per household. For our family that person is Pete.
He took advantage for a brief time of the order-and-pick-up service from Kualoa Ranch just five minutes down the road. Other times he went to Windward Mall in Kaneohe for the weekly farmers market.
The mangoes came from Ewa, the lady said. Yummy, and a good find because our tree isn’t bearing this year.
Coffee cake is topped with fresh mango slices and cinnamon sugar, then baked.
What a beauty!~ Rebekah
JJ the dog likes to go for rides
We took time out today for a short road trip down the highway to Kualoa Ranch to pick up the order of groceries we placed on Monday. It was a chance to take the dog for a ride.
To help the community during this period of staying home to guard against the coronavirus, the Ranch initiated this service. Kualoa Ranch, in addition to raising cattle, normally operates varied and numerous recreational and retail activities spread out across its properties for off-island visitors and residents alike. One example is the providing of Kaaawa Valley, that the Ranch owns, for movie locations.
Now it has consolidated its employees to operate a well organized food distribution program for the public.
How it works:
First ask to be put on an email list for Kualoa Grown. The product list is sent out on Monday for Friday pick up. Place your order online. To be added to Kualoa Grown email list please email Terra at tmcginnis@kualoa.com 🤙🏽
On Friday afternoon, drive to the Ranch where you are directed to a pop-up tent to pay. Happy people will place a numbered card on the windshield. Everyone wears protective masks.
Today we picked up orders for two families.
Follow the green traffic cones up the hill to where more happy people will deliver packages straight into your vehicle. Just roll down the window. No need to get out of your car at all.
Today we got apple bananas, beef chili, and fresh string beans. Last week we indulged in a dark chocolate bar, pricey but excellent and worth the money. Sometimes we need to treat ourselves. And go for a ride.
Be well.
– Rebekah
Hibiscus
Rocky of Ohana Tree Service and his crew of six gave the yard a haircut that should last for two years, he said. Except for the vegetable and flower boxes that I’m now encouraged to renew myself, the place looks very tidy. The kou, Maʻafala breadfruit, and avocado tree on the ma uka side are pruned back. The kou lost a huge limb in the recent wind storm.
Kou
Avocado
While they were at it, the crew shortened the height of the panax hedge and red hibiscus bushes, and they raked up all the debris. I took the opportunity to cut many tall ti leaf stalks for others to decorate Iolani Palace today, the 127th anniversary of the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani. The property is more airy and I can see and hear the surf on the reef as a result. The neighbors are happy!
Panax
~ Rebekah
P.S. — The calamansi is bearing again. More marmalade soon! RL
Kalapawai Cafe and Deli, at 750 Kailua Road in Kailua town, Oahu, is exhibiting six of my original paintings currently. They are in the back on the way to the patio and decorating the hallway walls by the restrooms. I like that they are away from the kitchen in a day-lighted area where viewers can linger and not bother customers at tables.
Kapalawai Cafe and Deli is just that—a small, trendy island eatery with a bakery, deli, and drinks. Eat in or take out is your choice.
This is the first time I have hung my work in a restaurant. The feeling early in my career was that people go to restaurants to eat, not to buy art. We’ll see. The daytime manager was a pleasure to work with. Additionally, the prices of the paintings are reduced from the original amounts.
Please consider stopping in this month to feed your tummy and your soul.
~ Rebekah
Oh, the food! Does the food make the party? In the case of last Saturday’s art show opening, yes! Kealoha and Kahikionaokalā Domingo of Nui Kealoha caterers outdid themselves with its farm-to-table menu, supplemented with basic additions of punch and cookies made by me.
Here we share the Nui Kealoha’s menu for the January 5 “Fiery Volcano Collages & Doodles” and the recipes for the cookies and punch, giving credit to their origins. Easy peasy and refreshing.
Kids loved these as well as seedless grape clusters on the side. Take precaution with grapes, a possible choking hazard, for very young children. For the punch, look for a ginger ale without high fructose corn syrups at the store.
Clockwise from lower right: classy menu, poke ʻulu, koʻele pālau tartlets, burnt ʻuala canapé.
I found the recipe for chocolate cookies on the back of the Western Family Baking Soda box.
Punchbowl recipe by my cousin Elly. From Everyone, Eat Slowly: The Chong Family Food Book (Chong Hee Books, 1999)
Enjoy!
~ Rebekah
No time to second guess a hurricane or a tropical storm, here at the studio we’re grateful Rocky and his 6-member crew of Ohana Tree Services were able to trim three large trees today, prior to Hurricane Olivia’s visit to Hawai‘i.
They did a great job, cleaned up all the debris, and hauled it away. We traded cooling shade for better air flow around the property and a lot more daylight. Whether Olivia blows strongly or not, it was time for the trimming. We got a great deal from this professional company with a price that was 37% of the next lowest bid.
Now the kou looks like a lollipop and is without its orange-hued lei flowers for a while. Thankfully the avocado was finished bearing its last three fruit for the season. Hopefully the mango will get the message and give us a crop for next time. As for the Maafala breadfruit, Rocky said to wait until the fruits are ready, and then he will come back to help harvest the tree and trim it at the same time.
Two climbers in the mango
Mango tree after trimming looks like a coat rack
Avocado tree after trimming
Kou tree after trimming has a few leaves remaining
We love our trees.
~ Rebekah
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