Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Taste of Hilo

The hottest tickets in town every October are for the Taste of Hilo!

The Taste of Hilo is sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCIH) of the Island of Hawai'i.  Now in it's 12th year, the Taste, held in the Sangha Hall of the Honpa Hongwanji Hilo Betsuin, showcases the finest foods and beverages of our community and their purveyors while benefiting the needs of Hawai'i Community College with scholarships for deserving students.

 
The hall is packed each year with participants and visitors.  A line starts outside and winds all around the building before the doors open at 1 o'clock on the designated Sunday, with each visitor holding on to their souvenir program, a small plastic tray and glass wine stem which we get to take home with us.

I like to study the program first to get an idea of who all will be exhibiting, select my favorites and try to get to their tables as soon as possible.

 

This year, my main target (and that of most people seemed like!) was the long tables of the main feature; the promotion of the locally farm-raised Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) by Dr. Kevin Hopkins, UHH Professor of Agriculture in partnership with the Hawaiian Sturgeon & Caviar Co., a partnership of Day2 Resources LLC and Akolea Aquatics. 

 

Renown private chef 'Olelo pa'a Faith Ogawa, owner of Glow Hawai'i, specially prepared the sturgeon in three different and very distinctive ways for everyone to taste.   I had never tasted sturgeon and was pleasantly surprised that although a very oily fish, with healthy quantities of Omega 3 fatty acids,  I didn't find it fishy at all.  In fact, it was very pleasant and mild tasting.

  

Sauteed Hawaii Sturgeon with Luau Sauce topped with Waimea Tomato Onion Confit and Nakano Sweet Corn on left

 

Hawaii Sturgeon Gravlax on crostini with condiments on right

The third dish was

Kiawe Smoked Hawaii Sturgeon with condiments, but I didn't get to take a photo of it.

The line for the sturgeon tasting was the longest in the hall and no matter how much time passed and how many people went through, the 
line was never any shorter by the time we left!

 

 

 

Wine pairings for the sturgeon were done by Randy Nunokawa, owner of Grapes, our own Hilo specialty wine shop.

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Boar stuffed Ali'i mushrooms served with an Ohelo Berry Sauce with a hint of star anise...a delicious pairing of Hamakua Heritage Mushrooms Co. with Chef Casey Halpern of Cafe Pesto in Hilo

 

 

 

 

 

Furikake crusted 'Ahi on watercress & bean sprout salad with vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and wasabi shoyu vinaigrette - Hilo Hawaiian Hotel

 

 

 

Sweet dessert suchi - Short & Sweet Bakery of Hilo

 

Following was the most exquisite cake decoration in an Oriental theme displayed by Short & Sweet Bakery

 
 

The Hawai'i Community College Culinary Art Students had a table with generous samples of fried egg rolls filled with shredded pork, peas, water chestnuts and green onion served on soba noodles with sesame plum chile sauce

HCC pork egg rolls on soba noodles with sesame plum chile sauce

 

 

 

HCC instructor Chef Sandy Barr Rivera arranging servings on table

 

 

 

 

 

HCC School of Culinary Arts director Chef Allan Okuda, instructor Chef Sandy Barr Rivera and students

 

A hui hou to another delicious Taste of Hilo.... see you next year!

 

Hamakua Alive! 2010 Festival

The 4th annual Hamakua Alive! Festival was held in the beautiful park located down at Pa'auhau Plantation Village....Although it was a bit windy, it was a 'gorgeously sunny day'...perfect for an outdoor harvest time fest!

 
Lots of people; great entertainment with Hawai'i Island's own John Keawe and Oahu's Cyril Pahinui; fun contests; ono food; loads of vendors and yet again, another exciting cooking contest .... and doing a great job as emcee extraordinaire, Hawai'i Island District 1 Councilman Dominic Yagong!

 

To see more photos taken by me and other people during the festival, visit the Hamakua Alive! page on Facebook

If you live in Hawai'i...and even if you don't, but plan to visit...."Friend" the page and keep up with plans for next year's festival.... We're already planning on more fun things for the next one!  If you plan to visit Hawai'i next year, the Hamakua Alive! festival is always held towards the end of October!

 

 

'Semi-homemade' Quick & Easy Holiday Desserts

I received a call a few days ago from Arleen Yoshimura, a fellow cookbook author asking if I could do a food demo at the Kamana Senior Recreation Center in Hilo today.  Arleen apologized for calling so late, but they needed someone to fill in at the last minute for someone else who had been scheduled and could not make it.

Since my calendar showed that today was open, I was happy to accept.  Arleen requested a couple of easy and quick 'semi-homemade' recipes.  I told them that I wasn't Sandra Lee, but I just happened to have two dessert recipes that qualified.

With the holidays soon here, I chose a pumpkin mousse for Fall and Thanksgiving entertaining and a strawberry trifle for Christmas.

 
The audience was great....great interaction and good feedback...and encouragement from several requesting I work on a liliko'i (passionfruit) cookbook next.  Arleen requested I bring some copies of my cookbook and I grabbed a bunch which put in a basket....ended up being 39 and sold them all, plus have orders for about 15 more!

 
Easy Pumpkin Mousse

Ever since I first got this recipe from a friend we’ve added it to our Thanksgiving menu.   It is so light and the perfect ending to a heavy meal.

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

1 small package instant butterscotch pudding

2 cups of skim milk

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 (8 oz) tub cool whip or whipped cream

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Mix pudding with skim milk; when set fold in all the other ingredients.  Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice (if using)

Yield: 8 servings

 
Easy Strawberry Trifle 

The original recipe calls for a pound cake, but you can use any cake or lady fingers. I substitute with an Angel Food cake as a base. For the demonstration I doubled the recipe, but used only one angel food cake. By substituting the pound cake as called for in the recipe and using only one cake for double the other ingredients, the calories, carbs, fat, sodium and sugar count is much less than that of the original recipe.

Oddly enough, comparing the nutritional information given in one of my cookbooks for a home-made angel food cake with that of a boxed mix and one purchased at a local supermarket bakery, the one purchased ready made at the bakery had less sugar, sodium and carbohydrates than the other options. I thought this was amazing.

1 package (10 ounce) fat-free pound cake mix (*) or (1) angel food cake
2 packages (3.4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 cups fat-free milk
1 jar (10 ounces) all-fruit of your favorite berry preserves
2 clamshell packages of ripe strawberries - sliced

Prepare and bake cake mix according to package or purchase a ready-made angel food cake. Ours is strawberry flavored. Cut and cube in 1-inch pieces.

Prepare pudding according to package directions using the fat-free milk. Arrange cake pieces in bottom of deep glass bowl or trifle dish. Spread 1/3 of the preserves over cake layer . Top with one third of the sliced strawberries and one third of the pudding.

Repeat layering two more times and ending with pudding. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Top with fresh berries, if desired.

YIELD: Approximately 40 1/2-cup servings.