People with Passion

I love to read about them, and to write about them.

You need to subscribe to the Star Advertiser to read Joleen Oshiro's article about this wonderful Leilehua High School teacher, Jackie Akuna, who inspires her agriculture students to care about the food they grow and eat. In a world dominated by factory-farmed food, in a state where most of our supermarket produce comes from somewhere else - days, weeks, months old - these central Oahu teenagers are growing their own fresh food! They are cooking and eating vegetables, and taking them home to supplement family meals.

But you can read more about Jackie Akuna at She Grows Food, a blog about women and the future of food, and on Alan Wong's Pineapple Press.Alan is also a Leilehua grad!

What is it about good, fresh food that brings me back to farmers markets every week? Two days ago, I talked to several people I met at the Blaisdell farmers market, who I've subsequently seen elsewhere. A week ago, I shared a table with 6 others. The server asked me who they were; I said I met them all at the farmers market!

Back on topic, the produce grown by the Leilehua ag students and Future Farmers is sold at the Thursday Wahiawa Farmers Market at the Hongwanji, and at the Peterson Egg Room (call first, ph. 621-7097.)

If you see me, ask to read my copy of the article, or come to the library to read it. It's worth your time.

You'll be heartened by the resolve and caring, the energy and influence of Leilehua alumna and teacher Jackie Akuna.

Lucky Me! Dinner Parties

Our cigar friend, Doc Jeff - who we teasingly call Chef Jeff - put out the call for smokers/eaters, and a slew of us showed up. First, we stopped at St. Germain Bakery, located close by, for two baguettes to go with The Pig & The Lady chicken liver pate made by the First Lady of varied and delicious Vietnamese cuisine in Honolulu, Mrs. Le. She's affectionately known as "Mama" Le. You can order this pate goodness for yourself, by the container. You may gasp at the price, but it is worth it - full of wine, brandy, love, care and most importantly, TASTE!

Sante! July 2012 Cheese Dinner @ Naked Cow Dairy

We also took some Naked Cow Dairy cheese: peppered Asiago and Waianae tomme. Naked Cow is the only dairy on Oahu making cow's milk cheeses; they also make delicious butter and yogurt - I was told they'll have halloumi, a Cypriot cheese, today. Our friends eagerly sampled both of them, and the buttery tomme was the favorite. We love sharing the good things we find at Honolulu Farmers' Market, at Blaisdell. Someday I'll have to write a post about all the lovely people we've met at the Farmers' Market!

What the host served us: grilled marinated and spiced ribs so tender, rack of lamb, perfectly done, and lehi, a type of snapper, prepared with lup cheong and bok choy, dark shoyu, cilantro and green onion. Can you say heaven? There was salad, red wine and other food, but the cheese, pate, meat and fish were the stars!

I have no pictures of this or the other dinner party, as I feel uncomfortable taking photos of food in other peoples' homes. I rarely take photos of the food I prepare at home! I'm too hungry.And I'll have to write about the other dinner party later!

Here are links to the first and second of Doc Jeff's dinner parties! I'm sure there were one or two that I missed, but these were all fabulous!

What have you eaten lately that was memorable and delicious?

Quick thoughts and tease

To those of you wondering how to slice ali`i mushrooms: clean or brush off anything brown you don't like, then slice into 1/8th inch slices vertically - the length of the mushrooms. I slice these pieces diagonally no longer than 1.5 inches long for a stir fry. Cut into smaller strips or pieces for use in an omelet or stuffing. Start cooking! These are so delicious and worth the price!

We were invited to not one, but TWO last-minute dinner parties last week. Yes, we had to do penance and eat more prudently after that. That is the tease, and I hope to get to that later today or by Wednesday. Happy eating!

Mission Street Honolulu Popup

I know it was more than three months ago, but I did have to digest it!

Between the worlds of farmers' markets and popup dinners in Honolulu, we have met some fantastic people and crazy chefs. When we sat down to the Mission Street Food dinner, we were soon joined by more than half a dozen of those regulars. If they weren't in the kitchen, they were at our table!

Here's what we ate:

Pickled Mussels, Guacamole

Yellowtail tuna

Fried Chicken,Watermelon, Fromage Ranch

Pork Belly, Lentils

Braised Beef Cheek, Burrata

Sauterne Shave Ice with Honeydew Cream

How was it? Great food and companions, good wine. My favorites were the yellowtail, the salad with watermelon and the dessert. Ted's favorites were the pork belly and beef cheek. One of our friends said the food was more like Commonwealth than Mission Street Chinese. The Mission Street empire now includes Mission Bowling Club and Mission Street Chinese NY. I went because I'm not sure when I can get to any of those places.

Here's my review of their book, Mission Street Food, by Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz. It's irreverent, amusing, full of recipes and insights. And their philosophy of giving back.

20% of each dinner went to a local Hawaii charity, GreenWheel Food Hub, an initiative which is working on getting electronic food stamps into farmers' markets. A worthy cause.

Autumn Dinner @ Home in Honolulu

My vegetables are talking to me. Again.

Tonight, they said: make me into a soup to warm up to this cool, blustery day.

This time it was a big ole yam and a pile of baby kale talking.

I peeled and chunked the yam, covered with water and microwaved until almost done.

Peeled and sliced a small onion and 3 cloves of garlic, then sauteed those in olive oil.

Added the yam chunks to the pot, along with about a cup of the water they were cooked in, as well as 1-1/2 cups of turkey broth from Thanksgiving.

Shredded about 4 cups of the baby kale and added that to the pot, along with 2/3 can of coconut milk.

Seasoned with black pepper, cayenne (just a pinch), salt, cumin. Simmered until the kale was soft.

Served the resulting soup with chopped tomatoes and Christopher Sy City bread. Sorry, no photos.

How would I make this better? Maybe some nutty garbanzo beans.

When I Cook

It's usually vegetable-based. By that, I mean the vegetables that are crying out to be used need my attention.

Tonight, we ate purslane salad with slivers of red onion, and cubes of cucumber and Roma tomatoes, with Angelo Pietro ume dressing. And miso steelhead with Sun Noodle soba. The marinade was thinned with water and heated in the pan the fish was cooked in. All simple, but good. And there are enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Now, if only the asparagus, zucchini and kabocha would stop talking to me!

Dinner at Prima Kailua

WARNING: the following photos (all by Mike) show plates with bites taken out of them or worse, plates with only a sad bite left. This is both a reflection of how tasty the food was AND how hungry we were!

We were there a week or two before they celebrated their first anniversary. We were so happy to be greeted at the door by smiling Blaine. I wouldn't know where to start talking about him, so for now I'll just say he's welcoming and capable - between him as host, and our waiter, Keenan, we were in good hands.

It had been a while since we'd had dinner there, so we'd asked Mike, who lives in Kailua, if he wanted to join us. We got to eat more things with three of us. We started with some liquid libations: Ted had the Bamberger lager, which he enjoyed. Mike and I had the aperitif of St. Germain with I think - prosecco - and soda - refreshing and delicious!

We heard the specials, and quickly ordered 3 of them. We enjoyed the opah, Samoan crab ravioli and grilled tako.

You're talking about three hungry people, so photos of food were secondary to tasting and eating! At right, the last bite of the local opah belly gravlax with cucumber, egg, creme fraiche. Yum!

Next photo below left is the grilled tako with lima beans. Confession: I hate lima beans! These were yum! The octopus was caught nearby, expertly grilled, beans wonderfully tasty. Mike said even his grandmother would eat this, it was so tender. This was the favorite of both guys.

After the tako, see the Samoan crab ravioli with chorizo, potato and crab sauce. Two orders, because I'm greedy! So good.

The pasta dish is onolicious Spaghetti Amatriciana - with tomato, guanciale. Am I the only one who wants to pronounce guanciale with a soft "c"? There were no prisoners!

We were ready for dessert from the creative mind of Aker, Alejandro Briceno. We had the gelato sampler, and the flavors were banana, fig, almond cake and Mike's favorite, milk.We demolished the anise fritters - like very light and tiny andagi - they are gone in the photo.

On the left is chocolate juniper cake with brulee shards, a crumble and grapefruit sorbetto, and on the right is mango gelato with pistachio crunch, and - I think - tuiles and panna cotta. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong on any of these! Basically, we just ate 'em because they were delicious.

Above, see the hardworking crew of Prima Kailua, who looked like this most of the night. They had a full house! Lindsey, in the background, was kind enough to say hello, and thank us for trekking over the mountains. We'll be back, as there are still things we haven't tried: the fennel panna cotta, brussels sprouts and grilled baby romaine, chicken-fried sweetbreads, more. What else should you eat there? The papardelle with curried bolognese, asparagus risotto, the crudo of the day!

Congratulations to Prima - not only for their first anniversary, but for their 'Ilima Critics' Choice Award for Best New Restaurant 2012-2013! They are open 7 days a week from 5 pm to 10 pm, located at Kailua Town Center, next to Foodland. Ph. 888-8933.

By the way, Mike, I want to eat with your grandmother: she's a champ!