Based on an ancient Chinese custom the Japanese celebrate Girl's Day on March 3rd. In Hawaii all cultures celebrate Girl's Day.
As part of the 3rd Annual Girl's Day Diva Event a benefit was held Friday evening, March 2nd at the University of Hawaii at Hilo with proceeds going for the Performing Arts Center on campus.
There were food booths by several women owned and operated restaurants and some other type businesses such as beads and jewelry, clothing and The Book Gallery from downtown Hilo ( selling my cookbook and other Hawaiian books at the event).
You can see a press release about the event and all the participants when clicking below - of course, they misspelled my name, but not on the posters or the hand-out program.
I felt quite special, since my demo station was set up on a stage in the lobby.
Along with all the other 'Divas', I was given an official DIVA medallion, to wear around my neck all evening!
The show by the Touch of Gold group was a lot of fun and had people dancing on their seats!
As one of the evening's ‘featured divas' I was asked to do two quick dessert demos. I had only 15 minutes for each and a half hour in between, so I did two of my favorite quickie ones - the Pineapple Macadamia Charlotte and the Trifle - this time local strawberries grown in Waimea were incredible, so I went strawberry all the way on the trifle. Found a strawberry Angel Food cake at our local supermarket which I used as the base, strawberry jam, the instant French vanilla pudding mix and fresh strawberries.
The first dessert demo was the Pineapple Macadamia Charlotte. You can find the recipe in my recently published Gather Food Correspondent article Tropical Taste: Pineapple - Symbol of Hospitality
The second dessert recipe demonstrated was a fruit trifle.
Since I had only 15 minutes for each demo, I chose the short-cuts of using pre-made cake and pudding. Our local KTA superstores had Strawberry Angel Food cake and some lovely locally grown Waimea strawberries, so I went strawberry all the way. You can use any cake and combination of fruits you prefer
Strawberry Trifle
1 Angel Food Cake - I used strawberry flavored one
1 Jar fruit preserves or jam - I used strawberry jam
1 container strawberries, sliced - any other fruit or combination of fruit is fine
3 (4 serving size) packages of Vanilla Instant Pudding
Tear or cut the cake in pieces about 1 inch square and place 1/3 of the pieces in bottom of a high sided clear glass bowl or trifle dish.
Mix the jam so it will be ‘pourable' and drop 1/3 of the jar by dollops or spoonfuls over the cake, sprinkle 1/3 of the slices of fruit and then pour 1/3 of the pudding over all, continue layering, in that order until all ingredients are used.
The evening was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy tasting the two desserts!
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