Sonia Tastes Hawaii

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!