Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Hawai'i's borrowed customs - the Kadomatsu

One of the fun things about living in Hawai'i, is learning about the cultures of our 'melting pot' community...and how we all borrow the customs from other cultures and celebrate with them.

One of these customs, borrowed from the Japanese, is placing a kadomatsu by our front doors.  Explanation of a kadomatsu from Wikipedia:

A kadomatsu (門松, "gate pine") is a traditional Japanese decoration as yorishiro of the New Year placed in pairs in front of homes to welcome ancestral spirits or kami of the harvest.^[1] They are placed after Christmas until January 7 (or January 15 during the Edo period) and are considered temporary housing (shintai) for kami.

Designs for kadomatsu vary depending on region but are typically made of pine, bamboo, and sometimes ume tree sprigs which represent longevity, prosperity and steadfastness, respectively.^[2] 

"The fundamental function of the New Year ceremonies is to honor and receive the toshigami (deity), who will then bring a bountiful harvest for farmers and bestow the ancestors' blessing on everyone."

After January 15 (or in many instances the 19th) the kadomatsu is burned to appease the kami or toshigami and release them. The kadomatsu is included in Unicode as U+1F38D 🎍 PINE DECORATION.^[3]

^{I must confess, that my kadomatsu don't always follow exact tradition, but even when doing my own thing, I try to do it with respect for the culture and history behind it.}

^{The bamboo kadomatsu was given to me by a dear friend many years ago...I use it every year, although the tradition is to use green bamboo.  The bamboo pieces are cut at three different heights, and the top sections are cut at a slant...then all three pieces are tied together.} 

^{The arrangement above was by my front door, on the inside of the house during a party, but taken outside and place by the front door on the front lanai afterwards.  The Daruma 'dolls are also another borrowed tradition from the Japanese, and also gifts from friends.}

^{Sometimes I will use the kadomatsu as a dinner table arrangement and then move it to the front lanai afterwards, where it will stay until sometime in January.}

^{Last year's Kadomatsu on our dinner table, and later taken to the front lanai}

^{Happy New Year!}

^{Feliz Año Nuevo!}

^{Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!}

 

 

Meyer lemons and lots of tips

 

My Meyer lemon tree has been producing lots of lemons the last couple of years.  At this time we have ripe fruit, still green fruit and blossoms!

Besides making Limonade, Limoncello, Spritzers,  and Limoncello Cream there are lots of other things you can do with them...

 

Tips for using Meyer Lemons –

*From my friends Diane in California and Deb in Georgia –Use a vegetable peeler and save the peel before juicing the lemons. Freeze the peels in small snack size bags. When lemon zest is needed, just take the needed amount out, defrost, mince and you will have fresh lemon zest to use in baking and all types of recipes.

The Meyer Lemon peels can be candied as well. They are really tasty and make pretty decorations for cup cakes, cakes, tarts, and other pastries (see my great-grandmother's recipe below)

The following are by Amy Scattergood Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in the January 16th, 2008 issue.

* Infuse your favorite olive oil with Meyer lemon peel: Warm a cup of olive oil and the peel from 2 lemons over very low heat for 15 minutes, then allow cooling for half an hour. Strain and pour into an antique bottle with a tight stopper.

* Make Meyer lemon vinaigrette with extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon juice, a splash of champagne vinegar, sea salt, cracked black pepper and a little lemon zest.

* Add Meyer lemon peels into a jar of honey and allow to sit for a few weeks; the peel will perfume the honey while it slowly candies in the jar.

* Perfume your sugar bowl by stirring strips of Meyer lemon peel down into the sugar.

* Make Hollandaise sauce with Meyer lemon.

* Whisk the zest of a few Meyer lemons into your favorite meringue recipe.

* Throw the peel of a Meyer lemon on the grill before cooking shrimp.

* Peel a whole Meyer lemon in one continuous long strand and drop the peel into a mug of hot chocolate.

...and my Great-grandmother's Candied Citrus Peels

Great-Grandmother Rachel (Rate) McElrath Parker Fisher's Grapefruit / Orange / Lemon Rind Candy

Better if made with thick skinned fruit

1. Quarter the rinds.
2. Soak in cold, salty water overnight.
3. Pour all (rinds and salty water) into a boiler. Bring to a rolling boil.
4. Pour off water and cover with tap water.
5. Bring to another rolling boil.
6. Repeat about 6 to 8 times (no salt, just water)
7. Drain and cover heavily with sugar and cold water - continue to add sugar and water as it cooks down -- cook about 3? hours with lid off on low heat (or until cooked down). Turn with fork.
8. Watch closely so it doesn't stick or burn on bottom.
9. Take rinds out and put directly on a pan (no foil or wax paper)
10. Turn occasionally while cooling.
11. Sprinkle with sugar on each side.
12. Let stand out overnight (not covered)
13. Cut with scissors when it is getting dry -- put in a plastic sack with sugar and shake.
This was not written down-- Mama (Nancy's mom, Kathy Griggs Pearson) just told from memory, thus the ? on cooking time.
Delicious!

Sonia's note: I remember eating this made by my Grandmother Arla Genevieve fisher Harris, but never saw her make it!

ps...if I left this out overnight, uncovered, my kitchen would be crawling with ants and geckos trying to get to them!

 

Christmas Eve 2018

 

Our table, before candles in the centerpiece were lit...I had the 'Joy' place setting... Anthony had the 'Love' setting across the table

 

I love mixing plaids...don't you?

After the candles in the centerpiece were lit...

With our dinner last night, I served Sparkling Martinelli in tall thin glass 'bud vases' to which I added some fresh cranberries.

The red goblet is one of 8 I gave my mother way back in the middle 60s, bought with 'Green Stamps'...Do you remember Green Stamps?

The centerpiece was very simple: a rectangular cheese board with rounded ends, with 6 votive candles inside Oui yogurt glasses; allspice leaves from tree in the yard, a simple red ribbon and mini red Christmas tree ornaments.

 

In the background you can see our 'shelf Christmas Tree' made from recycled wooden pallets by our friend Leilehua Yuen...and an assortment of toys I have been collecting here and there for several years, mainly from thrift shops, except for the red fire engine truck (details at the bottom), which was a gift from my sister this Christmas!

 

Our menu for Christmas Eve was fairly simple, and although I had done a lot of prepping the day before, there were still a few things to do to finish...but the day was not 'harried' and I took my time.

Our menu:

Pear Salad with Caramelized Pecan Halves, Pomegranate Seeds and Gorgonzola on mixed greens

 

The pears were crisp and juicy, and all the other flavors melded well... This one is a keeper!

 

The entrée was an old favorite recipe I learned many years ago when I had my cooking school in South Carolina and visiting teacher Shirley Corriher taught a series of 'Easy Entertaining'.  Pork Tenderloin in Hoisin Sauce...except last evening's was a Pork Loin in the Hoisin Sauce.

Pork Loin Roast in Hoisin Sauce
The pork marinated in the hoisin sauce overnight.

Hoisin sauce: melt butter in a saucepan, add hoisin, wine, (normally white, but I had only red, so that's what I used) add a tablespoon sugar (optional) - bring to a boil, reduce a little bit, put the roast in it while hot and let it sit there until cool, put in a strong baggie or in a covered dish in fridge overnight.

To cook: very hot oven (time depends on size of roast) let it cook on one side then turn over. Check temp with meat thermometer to 150 F. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

The above was served with mini potatoes, halved and boiled in water to which I add a handful of fresh rosemary tips.  Simple served with butter; and pencil thin asparagus, which I had decided to steam, but instead put in a glass baking dish, added a drizzle of avocado oil, place several thin slices of Meyer lemon from our tree on top of the asparagus and sprinkled the juice from the lemon ends over all of it and cooked in the oven for the last 10 minutes of the roast.

 

For dessert I served the Wine Cake I shared yesterday, served with a side of Sour Cherries & Cranberry Compote I made the day before...I added sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the fruit while cooking, and reduce them to a thick compote. 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Felices Navidades!

Mele Kalikimaka! 

Christmas Wine Cake

 

Many years ago I had found a recipe in Southern Living Magazine for a Cream Sherry Bundt Cake from scratch that was delicious.  As it happens sometimes, that recipe, along with others, was lost to me.

In a Tea group on Facebook in which I'm a member, someone mentioned the wine cakes and I remembered about the old recipe so started looking for one; could not find a from scratch, but found the closest to the one I remembered...but of course, as usual, I had to make changes...some because of what I had on hand, and some for our taste reasons.

So...here is the recipe as I found it and below I share my changes

Cream Sherry Bundt Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

4 large eggs

3/4 cup cream sherry

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

Powdered sugar, optional

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer add cake mix, instant vanilla pudding, eggs, cream sherry, vegetable oil and nutmeg. Mix for 5 minutes.

Add the batter to the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until the cake is fully baked and lightly browned on top.

Let the cake rest for 20 minutes and turn out onto a serving plate.

Before serving dust with powdered sugar.

 

 

My changes:

1 spice cake mix, instead of yellow

3/4 cups Merlot, instead of Cream Sherry

2/3 cup apple sauce, instead of the vegetable oil

No nutmeg was added, since I used a spice cake mix

and I added some chopped, toasted pecan bits

 

 

 

 

5th Annual Christmas Party

 

This past Saturday & Sunday were very busy days for me...

On Saturday I participated in a cookbook signing event at a bookstore on the other side of the island, so a 3 hour event turned into an all day affair...

and on Sunday, our group of friends, and friends of friends held our 5th Annual Christmas Party at a local county park, with our friend Galyn acting as host.

 

As usual, too much food...delicious or 'onolicious' as we say in Hawai'i, desserts, a fun gift exchange game (where I was the very last person to pick a gift and got the olive wood board and mortar & pestle I had been tracking all during the game and got to steal it and keep it!)

The most incredible dessert was brought by our young friend Lori!. Her dessert was the talk of the party and I want to share it with you, because I think it would be a wonderful dessert to feature during any Holiday Party!

It is called a Kransekake, a traditional Danish and Norwegian confection, usually eaten on special occasions such as weddings, baptisms, Christmas, or New Year's Eve.

 

Following is the recipe as she found it, but she made a couple of substitutions and an addition, which I thought made it even better!

Lori followed the recipe, but used almond flour instead of the ground almonds and omitted the pistachios, but added about 2 tablespoons of Japanese matcha tea powder and 1 teaspoon ginger powder.

Christmas Kransekake

600g (4 cups) blanched almonds, finely ground
600g (4 cups) icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
3 large egg whites, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
300g (2 cups) Iranian pistachios, finely ground

For the decoration

3 egg whites / 6 tbsp pasteurized egg whites
600g (4 cups) icing sugar
25g (2 Tablespoons) white sugar florist paste
Cornflour, for dusting (she used powdered sugar)

To make the dough, tip the ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl, add the beaten egg whites and the almond extract and mix to a dough with your hands. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill for a minimum of 2 hours, preferably overnight or freeze for 30 minutes.

For the star, roll out the florist paste on a surface lightly dusted with cornflour to the thickness of a 2 pence piece. Make a template, then cut out 2, six pointed stars each measuring 5cm across. Cut a 2mm channel from one of the points of each star into the middle of each star and leave to set.

Heat the oven to 190°C/170°F/gas 5 (between 350 and 375). Line 3 baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope about 2cm thick. Place the ground pistachios on a large baking sheet and gently roll the ropes in the pistachios to coat - (since Lori did not use the pistachios, she instead mixed the macha tea powder into the 'dough' and did not do this step)

Gently press the tops of the ropes with the heel of your hand to flatten them slightly–this will make it easier to form them into rings. Run an offset spatula under the ropes to loosen.

Cut the dough into strips (these will become rings): The smallest strip should measure 8cm, the next 11cm, the next 14cm and so on. Continue in 3cm increments until you reach the largest strip, which should measure 41cm long

Shape the strips into rings and push the edges together to seal. Make sure the curved surface is on the outside of the rings. (The smaller rings are the hardest to make, so take your time shaping them.)

Place the rings on the prepared baking sheets. Place a piece of parchment on top of the rings. Place an empty baking sheet on top of the parchment paper and press gently to flatten the tops of the rings. Remove the baking sheet and parchment paper and bake the rings for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool completely.

For the icing, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar a spoonful at a time, until stiff, glossy peaks form when the whisk is removed.

Once the rings have cooled, begin to build the tower. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a number 4 writing nozzle. Pipe a few dots of white icing onto the base of the largest ring and stick it to a large serving plate. Pipe the icing in a zigzag pattern around the ring. Repeat with the remaining rings, stacking them one on top of the other, from largest to smallest, piping a zigzag pattern on every ring.

Once the stars are hard, interlink the 2 stars by sliding one channel into the other creating a 3 dimensional star.

Top the kransekake with the star and dust with icing sugar before serving.

 

Any mistakes in the conversions between metric and US measurements are mine.