Sonia Tastes Hawaii

The treasures.....

One of the things that excite me most about living in the tropics is the flora....I love the rainbow of colors in the flowers and foliage we find as we drive around.  Yesterday we went to a local nursery to buy some fruit trees and I had a ball with my camera....

I don't know all the botanical names of each, but I don't think it is a requirement to enjoy their beauty.

Since I will be gone to the mainland for about a month and might not be able to post anything during my trip, I leave you to enjoy the breathtaking beauty of these blossoms...

A hui hou! (until I see you again!)

A white datura - it is part of the large Solanaceae family which is quite an extensive family of plants also called deadly nightshade.  Some of the plants are poisonous and some not (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants all belong in this family)

Looking inside the datura.....!

Single petaled yellow hibiscus

Ruffled petaled yellow hibiscus

Orange blossoms

Purple orchids

Shell Ginger - the tubers  on these are not the edible gingers

Green and purple orchids

Yellow lehua blossom from the Ohia tree - the red blossom variety of this tree is the one seen most often and the flower that represents Madame Pele and thus is the flower which represents the Big Island of Hawai'i.  the yellow ones are not as commonly seen.

Terrestial Orchids - I got one of these yesterday for our yard!  It sort of ressembles tuberoses when they are just budding out.

Isn't this orchid a show stopper?.....so I guess it is time now to stop this little show.....

Enjoy!

You Say Tomato.....Recipe Contest

After long months of planning and anticipation, the long awaited moment finally arrived... 

Monday, March 12 was the day when the judges would get to finally taste and decide which recipes were the winners out of 90 plus recipes received  in the Hamakua Spring Country Farms "You Say Tomato..." recipe contest...of course, before then, we judges had already been hard at work for several weeks, sorting, reading and evaluating which would be the 15 recipes to make it to the semifinals.

Hamakua Springs Country Farms has made the official announcement in their Ha Ha Ha! blogsite, so instead I will let you take a peek behind the scenes.

We all showed up full of anticipation.  June & Richard Ha, owners of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and sponsors of the contest, greeted and mingled with the judges as they arrived.

Randy Nunokawa, HCC's Non-Credit Culinary Program Coordinator,  food writer and cookbook author Joan Namkoong, Hawaii Tribune-Herald food columnist Audrey Wilson, June Ha, food writer and cookbook author Sonia Martinez, Richard Ha  and Marleen Hapai, of the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents.  The sixth judge, HCC Chancellor Rockne Freitas was tied up for a bit, but he managed to be able to join us in time for the tasting

Chef Allan Okuda's and Chef Sandy Barr's first and second year students at the Hawai'i Community College's (HCC) Culinary School had already been hard at work interpreting the recipes submitted by the contestants.  Thirty students participated forming 15 teams of 2 students each.  Each team was assigned a recipe.

Chef O going over last minute assignments with some of the students...

...while others patiently wait to get the show on the road...!

The judges taking a few moments to go over the rules: The recipes were judged on Visual Appeal, Taste, Originality and Best Use of Tomatoes.....

This is a very hard job......

.......but someone had to do it....!

Hmmmm.....wonder whose dish will win....?....not long now......

First Place in the Entree Category and also Grand Prize overall was the Hamakua Tomato Pie, entered by Candace Ames from Hilo.

First Place in the Salad Category was Crunchy Lomi Salad, entered by Leonora Tsukayama of Hilo

First Place in the Preserves & Condiments Category was the Tomato Chutney, entered by Suzie Littlejohn of Kea'au.

Second Place in the Entrees Category: Ripe Tomatoes Stuffed with Lentils & Rice, entered by Carolyn Uejo Kuntemeyer of Hilo.

Third Place in the Entrees Category: Tomato & Flank Steak in Awesome Sauce, entered by Barbara Lee of Aiea.

Second Place in the Salad Category: 'Tomato is a Fruit' Salad, entered by Eileen T. Tredway of Hilo.

Third Place in the Salad Category: Fresh Tomato & Corn Salad, entered by Alyssa Moreau of Honolulu.

Second Place in the Preserves & Condiments: Tomato 'Sass' entered by the students of the Kea'au High School Food Service in Kea'au.

Third Place in the Preserves & Condiments: Simple Salad Dressing entered by Jessie Hellinger of Hilo.

Everyone who participated, from the students to their instructors and the judges were so pleased with how it all went that we can't wait until next year!

Fun Girl's Day Diva Event in Hawaii

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.

DIVA EVENT

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!