Sweet Dream

Costco Chili

This chili was so good that after a few bites Landon said, "Why is it that nobody ever told us about this?"

So I'm telling you.  Go try!  It came in a 4-pound tub in the refrigerated section.  In Hawaii Kai it was by the rotisserie chicken.

Kai and Friends

Early morning at the dog park with Maya and Kiki.  Maya's owner Robert adopted Maya when her previous owner suddenly passed away and she was left at the day care that Kiki attended. 

Oweees

Wendell had a total knee replacement earlier this week.  His surgeon was Dr. Paul Norio Morton who used some kind of robotic thing to do the surgery.  Wendell is recovering nicely, and he even drove a short distance yesterday.

 

This is my owee.  I slammed my thumb in my car door while rushing.  I need this thumb to make pinch pots in ceramics class.  Old people shouldn't rush. 

 

Hawaiian Chili Pepper Plant Update

The leaves on a bunch of my plants became discolored, mostly at the veins.

 

Then the leaves dropped off.  I think I over-fertilized them.  Maybe plants this young shouldn't even be fertilized yet.  Bah.  Not sure.  

Luckily, some of my other plants were spared.  So far.  At any rate I'm gonna try and start another batch of seedlings.

Cy's Breakfast

Maybe this was actually Cy's Lunch.   

From L.A. Brisket in Ala Moana.  Brisket ($21), baked beans ($6) and Mac & Cheese ($6).  

Smart Boy

Small-kine ADHD, but still Smart Boy.  Click on the photo below to watch a short video.

Vifon Instant Pho

I bought this instant pho from Times.  It came in a four pack.  Unfortunately, I don't remember how much it cost.

 

I bought the pork from Times too.  The noodles were a bit limp, but the flavor was good.

  

Ceramics Class

Here's a video of our second glaze fired pieces with bonus instruction by Cleta showing a cool method of shaping clay that she learned from YouTube.

Dd's Goulash Pot Roast

Another simple recipe that looks so good!

GOULASH  POT ROAST

 

3 TB flour

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 # boneless chuck blade steaks, trimmed of fat

1 TB olive oil

1 TB butter

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 TB sweet paprika

1 tsp. caraway seeds

14 oz. beef stock

Salt, to taste

2 TB Italian parsley, chopped (optional)

 

On a small plate, combine flour and pepper. Dredge steaks with mixture until well coated.

In a large skillet over medium, heat oil. Add steaks and cook until well browned on both sides.  Transfer steaks to a plate and set aside. Melt butter in skillet. Add onions and saute until well browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, paprika and caraway seeds. Cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the beef broth. Return steaks to skillet. Cover skillet. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until steaks are tender and the sauce has thickened, 45-55 minutes. Season as needed with salt; stir in parsley, if using. Serves 3-4.

Head Massager

 Click on the photo below to watch a video of Kai enjoying a head massager.

Ceramics Class

This is a video of our first glaze firing.  So cool to see all the different creations.  There was a second firing yesterday.  Hopefully, I can do another video of those pieces next week!

Cleta's Rice Crispies Granola

This was super ono on my overnight oats.  Cleta said that she forgot to add in the maple syrup for this batch and it was still delicious, so consider it as an optional ingredient.

Thank you, Cleta!

   

Dd's Mediterranean Chicken

This kinda reminds me of my fave Dd's Chicken Anchovy Olio.  Simple to make, yet so ono.

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN

 

½ # chicken breasts, cubed

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 TB olive oil

14.5 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, with liquid

¼ c. kalamata olives, pitted, halved

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp.  dried basil

1 tsp. Italian parsley, chopped

1/3 c. feta cheese, crumbled

 

In a zip-top bag combine chicken, garlic and oil. Marinate refrigerated 2 hours.

In a skillet over medium high heat brown chicken about 6-8 minutes. Remove from skillet; reserve. 

Into skillet add tomatoes, olives, oregano and basil.  Reduce heat; simmer 6-8 minutes. Return chicken to skillet stirring to heat through.

Remove from heat; stir in parsley and feta cheese. 

Serve over pasta or seasoned rice.  Serves 2.

Ceramics Class

Our teacher was kind enough to let us take our unfinished pieces home to paint.  Of my ten pieces I was only able to finish the five easier ones in class.  

These are the not so easy ones.  It was so nice to be able to do them leisurely. 

I'm hoping to drop them off this morning so that they can be fired tomorrow with the rest of my pieces.  🤞🏻

Noods Ramen

We had Noods Ramen takeout for dinner last night which reminded me that I had photos from awhile back that I had never posted.  

I had opted for the Yuzu Shio Ramen which was okay and not as good as the now-closed AGU Ramen's.  😢

The guys enjoyed their ramens, and the fried rice and gyozas were ono with the chili garlic gyoza being our fave.

 

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($17.00)

   

Yuzu Shio Ramen ($15.00)

   

Garlic Fried Rice ($4.00)

   

Garlic Chili Gyoza ($7.00)

   

Ginger Scallion Gyoza ($7.00)

  

Dd's Mushroom Soup

MUSHROOM SOUP

2 TB butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ # fresh cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 cup water, reserve liquid
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
2-3 TB flour, as needed

2 TB dry sherry
3 c. beef broth
1 tsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3-4 TB heavy cream

Garnish: croutons, chopped Italian parsley, grated parmesan cheese

In a large stockpot over medium heat sauté onions in butter until tender.  Add garlic, mushrooms and thyme.  Cook 2 minutes until mushrooms have wilted.  Add flour stirring until completely blended.  Add sherry, broth and reserved porcini liquid scraping any fond that has formed on the bottom of the pot.  Add soy sauce, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer.  Cook 10-12 minutes until mushrooms are tender.  Using an immersion blender purée soup to desired consistency.  Stir in heavy cream.  Garnish as desired. 

Serves 2-3 as entree.

Awesome Three-Ingredient Deep-Fried Eggplant

I've only ever had this at Mei Sum Dim Sum Restaurant.  It's my favorite eggplant dish, but I've never been able to find a recipe.  So I had to make one up.

I added "Awesome" to the title because that's what Landon said about it.

As always with eggplant, I soaked sliced eggplant in salted water for about an hour.  You can go shorter, but I took Kai to the dog park before cooking.

Pat dry and dredge in corn starch with fried garlic mixed in (plus salt to taste).  Then fry.

 

This is the fried garlic that I used.

   

I don't like deep frying because of the mess so I rarely do it, but this came out really good.  Do you think air frying would work?

  

Ceramics Class

Red is mine and Geri's.  Blue is Cleta's.  Green is Erick's.

Next week we glaze.  I have ten pieces to glaze.  So for our 2-hour class I can spend 12 minutes on each.  Wish me luck.

Honolulu Aunty, thank you for the underglazes!  We will totally make use of them.

Not Dropping It

Click on the photo below to watch a video of when the “drop it” command didn't work.

Cy's Breakfast

 Naty's Kitchen in Maunakea Market.  Pig's Feet with Rice ($10), Rice Soup ($6), Iced Coffee ($6.50).

   

Ceramics Class

I must say that the people in this class sure produce a lot of pieces.  The instructor said that she might need to do two bisque firings instead of just one to accommodate all of the pieces.

Here are my planters.  I did the one on the right in the last few minutes of the class with my leftover clay.  It was the most fun to do of the three. 😆

 

Green circle is Cleta's and red is Erick's.  Geri had a scratchy throat so didn't attend. 

   

   

   

Below is a short video of a flip through of my notebook.  It helps to keep my mind in order.

  

Roselani Ice Cream

I've been enjoying this Roselani Pa'uwela Sunrise Ice cream.  It's an orange dreamsicle flavored ice cream with pineapple chunks in it.  It's super ono.

 

It's also super expensive.  But I can’t take my money with me, right?

  

Hawaiian Chili Pepper Plants Update

I transplanted some of the seedlings into bigger pots.  Luckily, I had kept the wonderful cinder/soil mixture from the plants that my friend Ryan gave to me.  

I had to move the pots away from our other plants because they were getting white flies from them.  ☹️

I already gave Geri two of the plants.  I wanted to give her more because their survival rate is much greater with her than with me, but she said two was enough. 

Cleta's Zucchini Fries

Per Cleta:  Cut, salt and leave on paper towel to absorb water.  Roll in flour, dip in beaten egg, pat well in panko.  Hot oil is key for crisp outside, kinda firm inside.

Ceramics Class

Our second ceramics class was yesterday.   I made another paint palette on the lower right, this time with bigger wells than the one I made at the last session.  Erick made the dinosaur, Cleta's incense holder is below Erick's and Geri's vases/bowls are to the right of Cleta's. 

 

Geri's plate is on the left and my cat/owl planter is on the right.  I'm starting to feel more productive and less frustrated than before.  I think me and Clay can be friends. 

 

Chicken Adobo with Potatoes

Landon said that he was craving chicken adobo so I made some the other night.  

I followed my mom's recipe here.  I didn't use salt-free shoyu and I added in a potato at the end.

Cy's Breakfast

Lam's.  $14.65.  I love chow fun and this one looks good!

Ceramics Class

Ceramics class started again.  I made the two cigar ashtrays in the middle, Erick made a bonsai plant bowl to the left of them, Cleta made cute cat wind chimes above and Geri made the hibiscus plate on the upper right corner.  

Maybe I'm more used to the easily ruinable nature of working with clay now.  I’m not as annoyed at it as in the last session. Yet.

Being Kai

Below is a compilation of some phone videos of Kai.

Manju!

Wendell went to Kauai recently for a softball tournament and came home with some Lawai manju.  I've been craving it ever since and even wondered if we should go to Kauai to pick up more.

And so I started looking up recipes.  I decided on Keeping it Relle's Sweet Potato Manju recipe because it was "simple" and used a lot of buttah.  Plus, she did a YouTube video showing how to make them.

 

You don't have to put them on a wire rack to cool, but I did because . . . 

   

this is what they looked like just out of the oven!!  Whaaaat??!!  I thought I would need to drain them, but eventually the melted butter disappeared and I guess was absorbed into the manju.  I figured that the next time I make this I would use 2 sticks of butter instead of 3, BUUUUT it turned out so ono that I think I might just stick to 3.

You can find the recipe on YouTube just below the video.  I used one can of Koshian instead of sweet potato and ended up with 20 pieces instead of 18.  My bake time was about 10 minutes longer than stated.  Also, the recipe calls for 4 egg yolks, so I used the whites to do the egg wash instead of wasting another whole egg.