Sonia Tastes Hawaii

The 3rd Annual Ka'u Coffee Festival - Pahala, Hawai'i - 5/14-15/11

 

 

I was invited to participate as a judge in the cooking contest held this past Saturday as part of the Ka'u Coffee festivities in Pahala.

 

 

Most people have heard of Kona coffee....and except for the last few years, Ka'u coffee was not a major contender in the world of coffee.  All that has been changing! 

 

 

 

Ka'u, one of the largest ahupuaʻa (regions) of the Big Island of Hawai'i was known mostly for its vast dessert in the drier areas and sugar cane in the more fertile areas.  All that changed when sugar cane was no longer a viable product and farmers in the area had to reinvent themselves to be able to support their families. Many turned to coffee growing and today, just barely 11 years after the first major plantings, Ka'u coffees have come into their own, placing within the top 10 in competitions and being recognized as serious contenders in the coffee world.  Just recently in Houston, the Kailiawa Farm, one of the coffee growers in this southermost region of the island won the 'Coffee of the Year' award in the 2011 Specialty Coffee Association of Americaʻs (SCAA) annual international cupping competition with over 120 specialty coffee entries from 17 different coffee growing countries. 

 

Lots of delicious food and coffee vendors; games, music and entertainment headlined by Cyril Pahinui; hula, pageantry, a cooking contest; coffee cuppings, tours of coffee farms and the 'Ka'u Coffee College', which will be open to the public on Sunday.

 
I was bowled over by the many entries in both the sweet and savory categories of the food.  All entries were required to use coffee and encouraged to use as many other local products as possible.

 
Each first place winner took home $100.  Second & thrid places received prizes of gift certificates.  The highest scoring recipe, Strawberry Mocha Trifle entered by Crystal McIntosh, won the Best Taste of Ka'u with a cash prize of $250!  Find the recipe and photo below.

Contest entry categories:

 Dessert I: Cakes, cookies, and pies
Dessert II: Drinks, candies, other desserts
Main course/Entrée

 Smoke meat, pupu/appetizers, savory snacks
 
Contest entry divisions:

 Professional (working chefs, culinary teachers or post-secondary students of the culinary arts)
Amateur (adults who simply enjoy cooking at home and cook for their own enjoyment and for the satisfaction of their family and friends)
Student (High School and Middle School students who enjoy cooking for their own enjoyment and for the satisfaction of their family and friends)

 

Strawberry Mocha Trifle

Brownies:

1 cup butter, melted

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 c. cocoa

1 1/3 c. flour

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. white chocolate chips

Ka’u macadamia nuts chopped

½ tsp baking poweder

½ tsp. salt

 1 c. Ka’u coffee

Hershey’s syrup

1 pint whipping cream

6 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp vanilla 

5 c. strawberries soaked in 2 c. melted strawberry jam 

Garnishes:

1 Ka’u Strawberry

 2 chocolate leaves (1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips melted + 2 Ka’u lemon leaves, clean)

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease 13X9 pan.  Stire butter and sugar until blended. Beat in eggs, then vanilla, until well blended.  Stir in cocoa, mixing well.  Sift flour, baking powder & salt into small bowls; stir together.  Add flour mixture to chocolate batter, mixing until smooth.  Sir in semi-sweet & white chocolate chips.  Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake 25-30 minutes or until firm.  Cool, then cut into 1 inch cubes.  Place half of brownie cubes on bottom of large glass bowl.  Bruch with coffee, then drizzle with Hershy’s syrup.  Layer ½ of strawberries using slotted spoon.  Then ½ of whipped cream.  Repeat layers,  garnish with strawberry & chocolate leaves.

Whipped Cream – beat whipping cream & sugar in chilled bowl until stiff, add vanilla in last minute of beating.

Chocolate leaves – brush melted chocolate onto 1 side of clean leaves until covered.  Freeze overnight or until firm. Peel off lemon leaves.

Congratulations to the organizers of the festival and all of the participants for a well-run and fun event!  Mahalo nui for inviting me to be a part of it!

I had so many photos and am sorry I had to narrow them to just the above.....!

 

 

 

A Sunday Picnic at the Pana'ewa Zoo - Hilo

I don't think we have been to the Hilo Zoo as many times in the past as we did this past week.  Well, yes... I have, but not so many visits so close together.

My last post mentioned the Amorphophallus Titanum or corpse flower was getting ready to bloom.  It has made the local paper three different times in the last couple of weeks.  We went to see it the first time when it first showed up in the paper, Saturday, April 16th.  You can read my post by clicking HERE

We went back on Tuesday 19th, Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd, around 1 pm.  At that time, it was still fairly tight, so we thought we would come back on Sunday for a picnic with friends.....Turns out it opened Saturday late afternoon!

 
You can see the little patch at the base where the blossom was pollinated with pollen sent from another garden on the mainland...

By the time we went back on Easter Sunday about 1 pm, it had already started to close!  But I took more photos.  After all, this is my second time to see one - the other was a slightly different, with the bloom lower to the ground, at the Fairchild Botanical Gardens in Miami - and I have no idea if I'll ever see another again.

Our friends Brenda and Kevan joined us for a picnic at the zoo. 

We found a nice table in the shade and had a lovely time.  We spent three hours eating, talking and taking little trips around the copse of trees that separated us from the famous blooming flower.

 
Our table, set and waiting for the others to come back from visiting the bloom.

 
Lovely company, Brenda and Kevan

 
My son Anthony and I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade apple chutney and chicken cooked in the clay pot with soy sauce, Rangpur lime juice, Meyer lemon juice, grated fresh ginger and a touch of sesame oil. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chicken and guacamole - Brenda had made homemade chips to serve with it

 
Cantaloupe and fresh greens salad

 
The homemade chips!  They were ONO!

 
Almost forgot the soup!  I had played with a recipe for sweet potato bisque and came up with my version using our delicious Okinawan purple sweet potatoes.  Don't let the color turn you off, it was very delicious!

Purple Sweet Potato Bisque

1 Tablespoon butter

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 knob (about an inch) grated ginger

5 large purple sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cups vegetable both

1 cup coconut milk

1 Tablespoon Mae Poly Sweet Chilli Sauce (*)

A dribble of maple syrup or to taste

Boil the peeled and cubed sweet potatoes until done.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until onion is trnaslucent but garlic doesn't brown.  Add the grated ginger and some of the broth.  Place in blender with part of the sweet potatoes.  Pour back into saucepan and continue processing the potatoes in batches with some of the broth until all the potatoes are done.  Pour back into saucepan.

Add the rest of the broth and then the coconut milk.  Add the chilli sauce and the syrup.  Taste and adjust as needed. 

Reheat if needed. 

I poured it hot into a thermus to tranport for our picnic. 

When we left the zoo at 4 pm, we left the flower arrangement we had used as our table centerpiece under the memorial plaque for our friend and neighbor, Jean Curtis, who loved the zoo as much as if it had been her child.

People were still streaming in to look at the bloom as the gates were literally being closed!

We ran by again today since we had some errands to run in town and noticed the ruffled edges of the petals were already drying up.

We all had a great relaxed time and hope to repeat our picnic in the zoo again in the near future!

If you haven't visited the Hilo zoo, please do.  It is such a lovely little gem.  I still have more photos to share soon....

 (*) Any hot sauce will do - we just like this brand.



A quick little trip to the Zoo

The Pana'ewa Zoo in Hilo is the only one in the United States located in a rain forest.  The grounds are meticulously landscaped and kept with all sorts of beautiful tropical plants and flowers.

As we were driving into Hilo for errands on Saturday, my son was reading the day's newspaper and right on the first page was a very interesting article with photo by Peter Sur, a very talented young journalist who has been with the paper quite a few years.  The article was about one of the residents of the zoo; the 54-inch bud of an Amorphophallus titanum or Titan arum plant aka the Corpse Flower (for its terrible stench of rotten carcass when the bloom opens).

We decided to run by the zoo first and take a look, then run our errands.

 
While we were standing in front of the shade house where the plant lives, and while talking with another visitor, we met Peter Sur who is coming by every day to check and see if it has opened yet.

 
Taking the stroll through he beautiful gardens I had to stop and take photos of plants and flowers and interesting residents.  Above, our own little Giverny Lily Pond

 
Mac has a large vocabulary and kept saying "Aloha" and "How are you?"

 A baby pineapple growing by one of the walkways

 
Memorial tile in honor of our friend and next door neighbor Jean Curtis who died two years ago.  Jean was very involved with the Pana'ewa Zoo and besides being a docent for many years, she also developed the training manual for new docent and also was instrumental in bringing Namaste', our resident white bengal tiger, to the zoo....

 
During our visit, Namaste' was sleeping peacefully under a big clump of bamboo in his 'territory' - which is a very large enclosed pen with a pond where he can cool off when he wants to.  Since I couldn't take a good picture of him this trip, I settled for the Memorial Mural.

 
A proud llama

 

 

 
King of the Hill

 
A Hawaiian Hawk aka 'Io in Hawaiian

Thai ginger lilies - not sure of the variety name

We will be going into Hilo tomorrow, so we will be taking another quick little zoo run to check on the bloom ourselves.  I also have more photos of blooms and residents of the zoo to share!

BTW, the zoo is open everyday* from 9 am to 4 pm.  If visiting, you might want to time it to take in Namaste's feeding time - 3:30 pm daily and the Petting Zoo is open only on Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:30 pm

Admission to the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo is free

*Except Christmas and New Year's Days

 

Slow Food Hawaii at the Lava Rock Goat Farm

 

Our local Slow Food Hawaii convivium hosted a visit to a local goat dairy farm today.

 

Lava Rocks Goat Farm is located in the Hawaiian Acres area of Kurtistown in the Puna district of Hawai'i Island and was originally established as the first goat dairy farm in the state in 1984. 

 

The 9 acre farm owned by Steve Sayre and Lava Stacey, stopped production in the year 2000 and after reorganizing, started again 5 years later. 

 
Supply running low on Sunday after participating in several farmers markets during the weekend

Their Puna Goat Cheese can be found in several farmers markets, supermarkets, carried by a local chain of health food stores and also featured at one of the large resort hotels on the west side of the island.

 
Heart shaped Garlic Queso Fresco and small round Rosemary Queso Fresco served with corn chips and crudités.

Chevre, feta, queso fresco, mozzarella and ricotta are all handmade by Lava, some in natural or with assorted flavors such as peppercorn, rosemary, garlic and herbs. 

 
Feta, tomatoes, cukes, celery and herbs salad

 
Popular lately has been the addition of feta in canning jars filled with olive oil and herbs.  Lava grows all of her own herbs in the gardens surrounding the dairy building.

 
A selection of delicious smelling goat milk soaps are also available....rose, vanilla, coconut, ginger and lavender are just a few of the wonderful smelling soaps you can find...

After the visiting the 'girls' and a couple of babies, we toured the milking room and the dairy room where the fresh milk is pasteurized and cheeses made by Lava.

 

Steve and Lava joined the Slow Food Hawaii members for a potluck lunch at a very convenient picnic table set up under an awning in the yard.

 

You can always count on this group sharing good food at our potlucks!

 

 

Good baaaahhhh..........!

 

 

The Kolekole Epicurians

Invitations were sent for the 10th of April but due to conflicts in scheduling another event in which I needed to participate, our little group of 'epicurians' got together at Kolekole Beach Park yesterday instead....I'm so sorry that some of our group could not join us due to their own conflicting schedules!

We did have a good time, though.... The afternoon was cloudy and at one time we had a fine misty rain, but did not last long.  The late afternoon and early evening were cool and pleasant.

 
Our theme for this pot-luck was 'Spring'...and it always amazes me how everyone can come up with different dishes without consulting each other first.

Chris & Jenn brought a delicious pasta and pepperoni salad with cooked tiny medalions of carrots mixed with a delicious dressing.

 

Brenda & Kevan brought Char Siu of pork tenderloin with a very hot and tangy mustard Brenda made as well as delicious deviled eggs.  They also gifted the rest of us with bottles of their own homemade Apple Cider Wine!

 

Kim brought a beautiful fresh greens salad with sprouts, sliced cukes, carrots and mushrooms, also with a lovely dressing.

 

Anthony & I provided iced tea, hot coffee and my version of a recipe for Green Bean Salad  I learned this recipe many years ago during a cooking class I took in Miami taught by Giuliano Bugialli,.  It is one of our favorites and one I make fairly often.

 

Quantities are sort of approximates in most things, since I never meassure anything anymore for this salad.

About 2 pounds fresh green beans

Juice of 1 or 2 lemons

1/2 pint whipping cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

About 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped and toasted Filberts/hazelnuts (*)

Trim the ends off the green beans and cut the beans into bite size pieces.  Wash thoroughly and dump them in a large stockpot filled with slightly salted boiling water.  Let it come to a boil again and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes.  You want the beans firm. Take out of the boiling water and plunge them in cold water to stop the cooking process.

Put the beans in your serving dish and sprinkle all over with the lemon juice.  Toss them to cover all the beans with the juice.  I used one and half large Myer lemon for this salad.  At this point you can cover them and either store in the refrigerator or continue.

Pour the whipping cream all over and then toss a little bit to make sure you cover all of the beans.  The lemon juice will curdle the cream and form a thick coating.  You can cover and place in refrigerator at this point or continue.

Add the freshly ground pepper and sprinkle all over with chopped and toasted nuts. (*) I use macadamia nuts.

Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Buon Appetito! 

Farmers Markets of the Big Island

 
A year ago the last week in April, the first in a series of feature articles about farmers markets on the Big Island of Hawai'i was published in the Hawai'i HomeGrown Food Network, a site dedicated to building local, sustainable food communities on the Island of Hawai'i.

Since then to date, 12 markets have been visited and featured. There are still about 12 or 14 more markets to visit to complete the 'round the island' visit.  I can't wait to share them all.

The features started with The Kino'ole Farmers Market in Hilo. 

 
1- Kino'ole Farmers Market - Hilo 

Location: 1990 Kinoole St., Hilo, HI 96720. Parking lot of the State employment office on corner of Kahaopea. South Hilo.  Saturday 7 am to Noon 

 
 
2- Under the Banyans - Hawi 

Location: Under the banyan trees in the heart of Hawi, corner of Akoni Pule (Hwy 270) and Hawi Rd (Hwy 250 from Waimea). Saturday 8 am to 3 pm & Tuesday 2 pm to 6 pm

 

3- Farmers Market at The Mill - Mountain View 

Location:  17-995 Volcano Rd. (Highway 11) between Mile Markers 12 & 13, Mountain View, Puna. Saturday 7 am to Noon

 

4- Waimea Homestead Farmers Market - Waimea 

Location: Hwy 19 – 55 mile marker at Kuhio Hale West Hawaii Office 
of DHHL, Waimea. Saturday 7 am to Noon

 

5- Keauhou Farmers Market - Keauhou, Kona 

Location: Keauhou Shopping Center – South end of Ali’i Drive in Kailua-Kona. Saturday 8 am to Noon

 
 

6- Volcano Farmers Market - Volcano Village 

Location: 19-4030 Wright Rd., Volcano. On Wright Road, straight across Old Volcano Rd. Cooper Center comes up on the right. Sunday 6:30 am to 10 am

 

7- Waimea Town Market at Parker School 

Location:  Parker School Campus, center of Waimea. Saturday 8 am to 1 pm

 
8 - S.P.A.C.E - Pahoa/Kalapana

Location: Seaview Performing Art Center for Education. 12-247 Pohakupele Loop in Seaview Estates, Puna. Saturday 8 am to Noon

 

 
9 - South Kona Green Market - Captain Cook 

Location: The Kealakekua Ranch Center in Captain Cook, third level, Behind Choice Mart and Ace Hardware, Mile Marker 109.5. Sunday 9 am to 2 pm

  
10 - Maku'u Farmers Market - Puna 

Location: Approx 7-1/2 miles from Kea’au By-Pass - 15-2131 Keaau- Pahoa Hwy- On Highway 130 on the Hawaiian Homelands approaching Pahoa. Sunday 8 am to 2 pm

 
11 - Ho'oulu Community Farmers Market - Kona 

Location: At the Luau Garden, at the Keauhou Beach Resort/Outrigger, Ali’i Drive, Kailua-Kona, North Kona. Wednesday 10 am to 3 pm

 

12 - Kekela Farm Market - Waimea

Kekela Farm Market is located at 64-604 Mana Road on the northern slopes of Mauna Kea.  Head east from Waimea towards Honoka’a on Highway 19 (Hawaii Beltline Road),  then turn right onto Mana road at the 55 mile marker, then left at the stop sign. Go 0.4 miles to the red barn (first left after Koa Lane),  just before the curve. Tuesday & Friday 2 pm to 5 pm

My next month's article will feature the Mid-Week Market @ Anna Ranch in Waimea - which is open on Wednesday afternoons. 

 

Enjoy! and whether you live on the Big Island or you are visiting, make it a point to visit some of our fabulous farmers markets!

 

 

New Year's Day & Italian Pasta

This post is way overdue...too much has been happening and for some reason or other, I kept putting it aside, even though it was the highlight of our New Year celebrations!

My friend Hector Wong has appeared in this blog before, the first time was right after the 2nd Annual Mango Festival when I shared his Heavenly Rose Mango Cake in late July of last year and recently when I attended the 5th Annual Avocado Festival and he presented his Savory Avocado-Sweet Potato Tower

A week or so before the New Year I received an e-mail from Hector, who lives in Honolulu, saying he would flying to visit his friend Luca in Hilo and that Luca was inviting us to an Italian New Year Day pasta lunch.  Luca is from Italy and has been living in Hilo just a relatively short time, but his pasta and bread making feats are already legendary among his friends, so we jumped at the invitation.

 
Our menu consisted of a Peruvian Chicken dish made by Hector (he is of 100% Chinese descent but was born and grew up in Peru), handmade tortellini and handmade tagliatelli by Luca and an assortment of desserts made by Hector.  Luca left a few tortellini wrapers for me to learn and practice on.

 
The filling in the tortellini -  Mortadella, prosciutto, ground pork loin seared in wine, rosemary and sage.  Parmesan cheese, one egg, salt, pepper and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg - Typical dish of the Bologna area in the Emilia-Romagna region

 
Tortellini in Brodo di Pollo (Tortellini in Chicken Broth)

 
Fresh tagliatelli hanging on a clothes drying rack waiting to be cooked

 
Luca, checking the pasta

Tagliatelle -Smoked salmon lightly cooked in butter olive oil wine and vodka. Add a little cream and, once off the fire, some lemon juice - a dish more common in the north regions of Italy.

 

Tagliatelli Pasta al Salmone Affumicato (Tagliatelli with Smoked Salmon)

 

Hector made gingerbread cookies to go with the Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake.  He also had samples of a Pistachio Cake and Starfruit Charlotte. 

Hector's desserts are all 'takes' on Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbook Rose's Heavenly Cakes (2010 IACP cookbook of the year)

 
Clockwise from bottom: gingerbread cookie, Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake and a slice of the Starfruit Charlotte. 

Fresh Hawaiian ginger and fresh cardamon from Malaysia (a gift from a friend) was used for the Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake, which was lighter than air....

 
Sicilian Pistachio Cake - pistachios from Sicily

 
The Starfuit Charlotte, inspired from the Apple Caramel Charlotte by Rose Levy Beranbaum

You can find the original recipes which inspired Hector's desserts in Rose's Heavenly Cakes cookbook

Needless to say, the whole meal was thoroughly enjoyed. 

Mahalo nui, Luca and Hector!

To read both of the posts about Hector in Gather.com click on the following:

Hector's Heavenly Rose Mango Cake

Hector Wong's Savory Avocado-Sweet Potato Tower

BTW, you can visit Hector's blog by clicking on My Yellow Kitchen

 

Hector Wong's Savory Avocado-Sweet Potato Tower

You might remember my blogging and posting about Hector's Heavenly Rose Mango Cake last summer for the 2nd Annual Mango Fest.

This past Saturday, Hector again wowed the crowds with a Savory Avocado - Sweet Potato (7 tier) Tower at the 5th Annual Avocado Fest!

 
As mentioned in the previous post about the mango cake, Hector's idol and mentor is Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible and other cookie, chocolate and cake related books and he honors her by somewhere, somehow making a traditional rose design on his creations.

 
His inspiration for this recipe came from a traditional Peruvian molded mashed potato and avocado salad.  Hector, of 100% Chinese descent, just happens to have been born in Peru.

 
Hector used the local purple Okinawan sweet potato as well as white sweet potato.  In Cuba the white sweet potato was known as 'boniato' or tropical sweet potato.  They have a lighter and more delicate flavor than a regular sweet potato and it will whip fluffier.

 
For the 'tower', a total of 20 pounds of avocado, 20 pounds of purple sweet potato and 20 pounds of white sweet potato were used.

 
You can find the recipe in my article about the festival for the Hamakua Times newspaper published pre-festival time titled More than just Guacamole!

 
Hector was helped by the students of the Konawaena Culinary program under the direction of Chef instructor Patti Kimball and students of the University of Hawaii Community College Culinary arts program

 
The Avocado Festival has been a free to the public event held for several years at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, in Captain Cook on the West side of Hawai'i Island (aka the Big Island) - always in February!

 

Hector's Heavenly Rose Mango Cake at Gather

 

9th Chinese New Year's Celebration in Hilo - continued

 

 

 

A weird thing happened with the digital card in my camera...when I did the original Chinese New Year article, I couldn't find half the photos I took on that day in my digital card.  A few days later I took photos of a Valentine Cookie decorating party I attended and later couldn't find them either....for some reason, my digital card "split in two" and there are TWO files, each holds some of the photos I've taken since...I have no clue of why.

 

 

 

Anyway, here are a few more images of the Hilo Chinese New Year Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several martial arts demonstrations

 

 

 

Young girl performing a sword exercise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Face painting by Hilo artist Kathleen Kam

 

 

 

Little girl in red

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next year!  Kung Hey Fat Choy!

 

9th Chinese New Year Celebration in Hilo

 

The 9th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration was today....with drums and lions, lanterns and good luck banners in evidence at Hilo's  Kalakaua Park

 
Kalakaua Park in downtown Hilo has been the location of this festival for the last 9 years and this time we noticed more people than ever....as usual, we ran into several friends we hadn't seen in a while...

 

True to the 'melting pot' traditions of our islands, the 'Food Court' offered Portuguese bean soup and malasadas; Chinese plates; smoothies and flavored popcorn; Korean plates; Okinawan andagi and plates; Indian samosas with raita sauce, vegetable and chicken curry dishes and a selection of lassi; French crepes with several fillings and Italian crostini with an assortment of toppings were the selections in the court. 

 At the curb side entrance to the park a pizza truck was doing brisk business and just beside it was something you can see only in Hawai'i...a food truck offering Aunty Peaches Onolicious Poi Balls!

 
 The students of the Hawai'i Community College School of Culinary Arts under the direction of Chef Allan Okuda and Chef Sandy Barr Rivera were once again a part of the festivities, but they were so mobbed we were not able to see what they were preparing for the public.

 
Don't know what happened, but some of my photos didn't turn out at all!

One more wonderful Chinese New Years' Celebration, Hilo style.... Good job Hilo!