Hawaii...Mmm Delicious part 2

Every two years my father's family holds a family reunion where most of them live; Honolulu, HI. The first event that kicks off the weekend celebration of family is always a luau at my dad's Auntie Mary's house. Back in the day Auntie Mary used to do all of the cooking. Over the years the younger generation has stepped in to lend a big hand and some of the food is now catered. No matter who is doing the cooking, the best advise is to not eat breakfast or lunch that day.
This year it was a mix of catering and home cooking. I am sad that Auntie Mary isn't doing as much cooking because I truly miss her curry shrimp, but there were plenty of other delights to choose from. I chose a mixed plate of (clockwise from top left) Lomi Salmon, Squid somthingornother, Tuna Poke, Chicken long rice, Kalua Pork and a slice of taro root; all things scrumptous! I could live off of the Lomi Salmon, Poke, Pork and long rice, I love going to Hawaii for the food.
After the family reunions on Oahu, Ed, me and Ed's parents went to Maui for the remainder of our trip. We stayed at Napili Point, a condo resort on the edge of the water overlooking a small cove filled with sea turtles. I LOVE this place! My parents booked it several years ago and I have been back three times since. The condo has a full kitchen, living room, big balcony, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Despite the full kitchen, we decieded to use one of the 3 gas grills on the property to grill up a Hawaiian style feast for dinner. Ed made seared Ahi for the two of us and his mom and a steak for his father. He also grilled up corn and pineapple and made a mango, avocado salsa to top the main entrees. Oh yeah! It was truly awesome! His father licked the bone.
The next morning we went to the gazebo cafe around the point. To get there the best way to go is on the path along the cove (where sea turtules are regularly spotted), down to the expansive tide pools and around to the whale shaped pool. There is always a line that requires about a 20 minute wait, but at the end of that wait there are white chocolate, macadamia nut pancakes! Not to mention a table with a great view. During the winter months (February-April) whales are regularly spotted from the pool and gazebo area. There is a bell mounted on a nearby palm tree with a sign that says "one ring for a whale spout, two rings for breaching".
The last time I was on Maui with my parents we ate at a French Restaurant. I could not remember the name of it but I knew it was in an itty bitty strip mall on the way to Lahina just around the bend. All I remember was that the food was indiscribably amazing! And when we went, it lived up to my memory, some of the best food I've ever had. Of course this time I remember that the prices are up there too. The restaurant, Chez Paul does not have a magnificent view what-so-ever. It is a closed, dark, classic French restaurant, and it is fantastic!
Hawaii was a fun and delicious trip! I am always happy to return. But for now it is back to the wonderful home cooked meals of my husband.

Hawaii...Mmm Delicious part 1

Before I thrill you with my wonderous culinary delights of Hawaii I want to wrap up Ed's infomercial workout.
Only about half of the class was asked to participate in the actual infomercial with before and after pictures and all. Ed was asked to join the top group! He lost a total of 22 lbs. and had to go buy new pants! My hubby is looking great and has kept up the routine after classes ended. Look out for the Shadow Boxer infomercial as a product of Body by Jake. Maybe some late night you'll see Ed's before and after shots and hear how he wanted to get in shape to sell himself better as an actor.

To Hawaii...
This was a special trip to Hawaii. Although I and my family have been many times for my father's family reunions this was different. Not only did we go to see my dad's family but our entire family tagged along. My mom, dad, sister, sister's boyfriend, grandma, husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law and me. We all went out to a fancy dinner on one of our first nights to celebrate both my parents' and Ed's parents' 40th wedding anniversary and my grandmother's 80th birthday. The restaurant was called the Hau (pronounced "how") Tree Lanai and had a beautiful view of the sunset. (of course it did, it's Waikiki).


The meal was a fun gathering of families. We all enjoyed wine, food, conversation and catching up with each other. The salad I split with Ed's dad was less than amazing and not worthy of a blog photo, I could have made something better at home. But for my entree I ordered this yummy Mahi-Mahi topped with avocado.


The next morning I was awake early beacuse our room was irritatingly noisy. I left Ed to sleep in the room and went out to find a quick bite for breakfast. I walked up Kuhio Blvd. where I knew there was a small grocery store. I picked up some water and POG (best juice ever; pineapple, orange, guava) and then stumbbled upon the section of Aloha Shoyu, the best soy sauce around. We occasionally found it in Grocery Outlet here in California but it quickly disappeared. I took this picture to show Ed and to remind ourselves to get some when we came across a better, less expensive store. But, I forgot and this is all I have of the Aloha Shoyu.


More to come...

Moving on

There are a lot of things that get neglected when life gets busy. Both blogs and dinners have fallen into that category; more the blogs than the dinners.

Among the many busy things that have crowded the last 6 weeks, transitioning to a new job and a new apartment were on the list. On my last day of my job at Warner Bros. we found out we had been accepted to an apartment we liked a lot and had just looked at two days before. Ed's Aunt and Uncle were also in town visiting during this time. All of this launched our lives into crazy chaos.

Dinner was consumed among a forest of boxes for a couple of weeks. Nevertheless, Ed came through with some tasty dishes.
The always great, baked honey & walnut encrusted salmon is featured here with maple glazed carrots, colorful pasta and a room full of boxes. Dinner (with wine, good ol' two-buck-chuck) was a great relaxing break from packing, working, training, learning, getting trained, cleaning and packing. Our living room eventually became more full when we moved our matress next to our kitchen table. The celling in out closet leaked and then smelled horrible making it impossible to sleep in the bedroom.

Thank goodness, shortly after this picture was taken we moved. Now we are happier in quiet Burbank.

However, two days after moving all of our stuff to the new place we left for Hawaii for over a week...

Hot off the Grill

Some time has gone by and a lot has happened. I'll start at the beginning or rather the end for my sister.
My little, baby sister graduated from college. She is now a (fairly) mature, young woman ready to use her business marketing degree in her new endeavors.
A hot day in Monterey marked her commencement and what better a way to celebrate than to host a BBQ! Our parents brought an array of meats and vegetables for the grill. There was also no shortage of margaritas and wine. Ed, my father and Kyle, my sister's boyfriend, all took turns MANning the barbeques.
Mmmmm, steak and chicken and mushrooms and sausages. It was a great way to kick off the summer!
Congratulations Jamie, now you have to find a job. The best of luck!

Sizzlin' Shrimp

All of Ed's meals are great but there are some that standout more than others. Previously I have noted his rack of lamb and chicken pesto risotto just to name a few of his fantastic signature dishes. He recently made a batch of his mom's spaghetti sauce, a fairly standard red meat sauce that he makes from scratch. And when I say a "batch" I mean he makes enough to feed a cafeteria of teenagers. It is one of those things like his chili that just gets better with time. We pack medium size portions into tupperware and freeze them for future quick and easy meals of pasta (whole wheat of course) and red sauce.
Recently Ed made a recipe from his Cook's Illustrated magazine that he had been wanting to try for a while, some sizzling shrimp thing. All I can say is WOW! Dude! this was so amazing! I don't care how unhealthy or super healthy it was or even if it had snail's brains in it. It was super good! I sat down and sneaked a quick bite of it and quickly had no intentions of getting up to get my camera to document this meal, I just wanted to scarf it down.
So, if you want some amazing food check out recipes in Cook's Illustrated in association with the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. Then get yourself a man who can cook GOOD!

Free Food!

As part of Ed's infomercial weight-loss program they offered him a free home delivery of food. Who doesn't like free food? So, of course he said yes. We didn't know what to expect but it certainly was not two giant boxes filled with Nutrisystem food. We received the equivalent of a 28 day program in Nutrisystem food to aid Ed in his weight-loss effort.
As you well know we like food, good food, thus the reason for creating this blog. I am not a fan of most prepackaged foods. Which is why I am so luck and so happy to have married Ed who loves to cook and is great at it. Okay, I enjoy some of those Lean Cuisines for lunch because they are easy, cheap and fairly healthy. But Nutrisystem I just couldn't get excited about.

Here Ed displays the thing that sounded most disgusting to both of us; dehydrated scrambled eggs. However, it turned out to be one of the better foods in the pile. I haven't tried too much of the food but the most uneatable item I found was the oatmeal. I normally love instant oatmeal but this stuff was like eating chunky, hot poi or porridge, yuck!
I cannot see how anyone could stay on the Nutrisystem diet. The food is horrible and not even healthy for you. Everything is loaded with sodium and preservatives. It seems the way you are supposed to loose weight on the Nutrisystem diet is through extra large servings of fiber!
Ed has been offered to receive a second shipment of food if he wants it. Maybe we will donate it to charity.

Poultry

Ed was looking for a healthy game hen recipe and found the perfect one in a food and wine paring book my parents gave him a few years back; Cornish game hen with sage and grapes. We don't normally have sage or grapes in the house. The sage was on sale, an herb we don't often use, we went for it for a change of pace. And the grapes are a diet snack-food must-have.
I have become exactly what I hoped I wouldn't. The person who stars a blog then abandons it when she gets busy. I'll try and update at least once a week.
Ed has been doing great on his infomercial diet/exercise program. He has lost 10lbs. to date and he's not yet half way through! I'll have myself a muscular man on my hands come summer!