Tronioca

Four Days Ago : 2011
After a ridiculously busy week at the office, we decided to close up shop an hour early, order Pho from town and sit down to a relaxing evening of take out and Tron: Legacy on Jarod and Kelsy's massive in home theater set up.

While my giant bowl of veggie pho totally hit the spot, the real show stealer was neither the Daft Punk soundtrack of the flick or the perfectly pan friend tofu in my soup-- it was our dessert!
Kelsy had added a couple cups of freshly made tapioca to our order and when I first heard this news, I was admittedly skeptical. While I really enjoy bubble tea and recently tried an oddly delicious white truffle, cream of cauliflower and tapioca pearl soup, straight up tapioca pudding has always been on my "no, thank you" list. Well, no longer! Turns out, I really like it! The texture of this particular pudding was more firm and gelatin-like than I had expected and the coconut flavor was light and refreshing without being overly sweet. Just like with boba tea, I found the pearls to be a really fun and a different sort of quality.

Between the futuristic beats emanating from the surround sound, the hyper visual show from the grid in front of me and the funky fun unfolding on my palette, my brain was racing with exciting tapioca experiments.

Yesterday I picked up a couple bags of dry pearls 

and can't wait to start designing my own

Tapioca: Legacy!

Can't find these weird little pearls of goodness in your neck of the woods? 

Email me here to get a list of tapioca varieties and prices.

I'll send you some to experiment along with me! 

Da Crack Ain't Whack!

It’s lunch time again at Farsyde Tattoo and after the going away partying we partook in for our friend Logan’s farewell last night, there was a definite consensus for some grub with substantial booze soaking up properties. Where I come from it goes without saying that we’d already be on our way to the local taqueria. Where I AM, however, that’s not always an easy (or edible*) option.  Fortunately for us, though, an old local favorite has recently re-opened up right here on the south side.

I’m talking about Da Crack- literally a little crack in the wall taqueria located between a local mini market and an outdoor adventure retailer. There’s no seating area, just a walk up window where you place and receive your order.

Like the establishment, the menu is super simple—Pick your meat and then build your taco or burrito from a  limited list of extras. The boys all ordered pork burritos with everything, while I kept it girly with a veggie taco, no tomatoes, add olives and jalapenos. I went for the hot sauce over the mild.

I absolutely LOVE that black olives are a common ingredient in Mexawaiian food! While a canned olive is far from being a genuine Mexican ingredient, I’ve always utilized them in my own Mexican dishes. They add a definite flavor dynamic which can often be lacking in vegetarian tacos, burritos, enchiladas and the like.

I knew we were in for a treat the moment Yama walked into the shop with the cardboard box full of our orders—it smelled amazing! It smelled like Mexican food! Real Mexican food! Sure enough, the burritos were absolutely massive and my single taco weighed the equivalent of a 2 month old kitten. Full of beans, brown rice, cabbage, onions, cheese, olives, jalapenos and hot salsa, none of the ingredients were overpowering—not even the fairly tomato-y salsa. I added a package each of parmesan cheese and  Taco Bell fire sauce to complete the deliciousness, cuz that’s how I roll.

When making my own Mexican food here in Hawaii, I’ve found that the tortilla selection kinda sucks. The corn tortillas split when you make eye contact with them and the flour ones aren’t much better on the dryness scale. Da Crack may or may not make their own tortillas, but they were by far the best I’ve had since my arrival here. They are of the nice, rich flour variety—clearly made with a healthy dose of lard for extra elasticity. Yum!

Everyone was very happy with their orders, including Arthur who also has recently come from the land of taquerias on every corner. Da Crack was super satisfying, well made and delectably simple.

I’ll definitely be heading back for more Crack!

...Da-Crack...

(808) 742-9505

2827 Poipu Rd.

Poipu, Kauai, HI

*A couple months ago I was over in Lihue running some errands and decided to hit up the local Mexican food spot for lunch. Now, I had been warned before moving here that I needed to “eat as much Mexican food as possible,” as I would be hard pressed to find anything authentic on the island. While I did indeed take this warning to heart, I also can’t really suppress my Mexican food urges for too long before I start getting’ loco. Upon walking into La Bamba I was encouraged by the frescos and down casita feel of the décor while my taste buds began to Macarena at the sight of other patrons enjoying large plates full of delicioso looking arroz, frijoles y  enchiladas. After an excited perusal of the menu I decided on a potato burrito—not exactly the most authentic of choices, but hey… I like carbs. Callate, buey.

When my meal arrived it looked great! It was served “mojado,” meaning it was drenched in enchilada sauce and had a little cheese sprinkled on top. There was also a bit of shredded lettuce on the plate along with a side of sour cream. Time to dig in!

Looking back on that day, I’m not entirely sure what it was that I was expecting when I cut into that plump, inviting flour tortilla, but I can tell you was certainly not what I found. Staring back at me from the two halves of burrito was nothing more than a giant mass of mashed potatoes. That’s it. Just mashed potatoes. I rooted around inside the order with my fork but came back with nothing more than starchy fluff.

I am still flabbergasted by the experience. In the words of Chaz Michael Michaels, “It was mind bottling.”

I definitely won’t write La Bamba off because of this—in fact it almost makes me more curious. Until my next trip, though, I think I’ll continue exploring all my other burrito options the island over! 

Twitter'waii

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Spam & Eggs in San Francisco

Bedazzled Spam can by saraH

Well here I am, back in California and having a hella great time with my family and homies. The first leg of my trip landed me in San Francisco to spend some quality time with my best buds, Katie and Sean. them being as awesome as they are, they put me up in their home in the inner Richmond district and we had a blast exchanging gifts from Hawaii, hitting up our favorite sushi spot and checking out "The Fighter" at the Balboa Theatre! 
As a thank you for their hospitality I made breakfast one beautiful, crisp SF morning-- 

Spam and Eggs!!

It was only appropriate that I make this breakfast in SF since it was here that I was first introduced to it by my boyfriend, Arthur, right before we moved to his home island of Kauai. Just like Katie and Sean, I had never had Spam before-- partially out of a warranted fear of canned meats and partially out of an equally warranted fear of probably liking it too much. As expected, my first foray into the land of Spam was absolutely, amazingly, saltily, wonderfully delicious and I was immediately eager to share it with my other haole friends. So after two months worth of weekends practicing in Hawaii with Arthur as my readily willing guinea pig, I was ready to spread the word of Spam! 
Ingredients:
Serves 3
6 Eggs
1 cup medium or short grain white rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 can of Spam
1 Avocado, sliced
Shoyu
Ketchup
Tabasco


-Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
-Bring water and rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook 20 minutes.
-Slice 6 slices of Spam. The thickness of the slices depends on your tastes- but a lot goes a long way (my Mom swears it's what killed my uncle) and I tend to like to have a bit leftover for more Spam experiments over the weekend!
-Arrange the Spam slices in a non-stick skillet and heat over medium high heat. Turn slices frequently to until nicely browned and crispy on each side.
-Place cooked Spam on a cookie sheet in warm oven until ready to serve.
-Cook eggs to guests' preferences. We had ours fried over easy*  and were shocked to find that each of us got a double yolked egg- Pomaika`i!
-Plate meal with one scoop of rice, two slices of Spam, eggs and some avocado slices.
-Provide condiments on the table for use!

Like I did with my first Spam foodventure, Katie and Sean also learned about the concept of putting shoyu on eggs. It's a revelation! I doubt I'll ever be able to eat them again without the urge to drizzle a little soy sauce on top and my hosts were pleasantly surprised by the salty, simple flavor as well!

Sean read two fantastic stories to us from his newly published 'zine as I cooked and Katie made coffee and tea. I served the meal with a side of Classhy Instant Oatmeal Muffins with homemade Macadamia Nut Streusel to round out our Hawaiian breakfast. YUM! And ahat a fun morning! We were all well stuffed and sufficiently fueled for the big day ahead of us- Hella'waii Style! 

Katie loves it!

*A tip for frying eggs over easy: Crack eggs into a pan which is already quite hot. When the whites begin to bubble right on the edges of the yolk, you're ready to quickly flip the eggs. Only let it continue cooking for a couple moments before serving!

Kalua Pig

Koloa Fish Market serves their kalua pig
plate with steamed rice, long rice, ahi poki
and lomi lomi salmon sides.

Kalua pig is easily one the most popular Hawaiian meals. This shredded pork shoulder can be found on nearly any menu and featured Islands wide at luaus, though it is most commonly found as a lunch plate alongside a scoop  of white rice and some mac salad. Traditionally kalua pig is cooked in an underground pit, called an imu, with koa wood, hot rocks and banana leaves. These are all elements which contribute to the unique smoked smell and flavor. If you're not up to digging a large hole in your backyard, Kalua pig can easily be made in a slow cooker or, if you're in Hawaii, purchased in a tub from Costco! That's right, the locals all agree that Keoki's Kalua Pig is the go-to brand for authentic, tasty pig.

• Slow Cooked Kalua Pig
• Ingredients:
• Serves 12
• 1 (6 pound) pork butt roast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Hawaiian sea salt
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring
• 
  
• -Pierce pork all over with a carving fork. Rub salt then liquid smoke over meat. Place roast in a slow cooker.
• -Cover, and cook on Low for 16 to 20 hours, turning once during cooking time.
• -Remove meat from slow cooker, and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisten.

On our last visit to Costco we had a pretty sweet $5 off coupon for a large tub of the good stuff. I'd only ever had a couple bites of pig off my boyfriend's lunch plates before, so I was definitely eager to cook with the wonderfully smoky meat!
From the first time I tasted kalua pig, I knew that it could easily be the main ingredient in a mean burrito. I didn't want to totally Mexican-ize it, though, so I decided to keep my Kaluarrito Hawaiian by incorporating all of the classic lunch plate items. Into a burrito size spinach tortilla I rolled up kalua pig cooked with cabbage, white rice, simple mac salad, chopped green cabbage, avocado and some picante salsa. As expected, the combo was fantastic! The mac salad was an unexpected texture in the burrito which absolutely added some fun to the meal. Remember to steam your tortillas before wrapping up a monster burrito- it'll give you a much more pliable tortilla!  
Steam your tortilla by placing your large flour tortilla on a microwave safe plate.

     -Spray with butter or a little water

     -Cover plate tightly with plastic wrap

     -Microwave 30 seconds

For more burrito building tips and basics, click here!

Simple Hawaiian Macaroni Salad

This is a super basic recipe and I will be exploring mac salad far more extensively in the future, so stay tuned!!

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

3 cups large macaroni
1/4 cup grated carrot
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk (may require less, only use to moisten)
salt & pepper

a dash of sugar

-Slightly overcook macaroni until "fat." This helps the pasta soak up the sauce.
-Add grated carrots, mayonnaise, and milk till well coated.
-Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Add more mayonnaise if you prefer a wetter salad.
-Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.
-When ready to serve, add more mayonnaise if needed.

Keoki's tub 'o pig has something like 16 servings in it. We barely made a dent in it for our two burritos and therefore had a bit left over in the fridge when breakfast inspiration struck for a Kalua Breakfast Pigwich. 

In a skillet I cooked up 2 thick slices of bacon, then used the hot bacon grease to heat and crisp up our leftover pig. I also heated an English muffin in the pan, then set all the meat in the warm oven while I whipped up a single scrambled egg. 

On each half of the English muffin I spread a thin layer of mayo, then a slice of muenster cheese, the egg, bacon and kalua pig. While there is no denying the decadent deliciousness of the pigwich, I will say that it is not for the faint of heart. 

This was one rich, greasy piggy... and I'll definitely be making it again! 

Kalua Pig is a pretty inescapable dish around these parts and the boyfriend has mentioned that he "could eat himself to death" on it. Well, we'll try to avoid any untimely death served with rice and mac salad, but I do look forward to much more experimentation coming out of my still brimming tub of Keoki's!

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

Happy New Year!

Although I've been here on Kauai for two months now, I'd say it's just starting to sink in that this is where I live, not just some extended vacation. I'm feeling sufficiently settled in at home, am working hard and playing harder. What better time than January 1st to begin a new life full of fun, food and adventure?!

And an even better question: What better way to kick off 2011 than with an easy, delicious mimosa with a Hawaiian twist?!

One of the first Hawaiian products I learned about was Hawaiian Sun. This is a line of canned nectar drinks. In the grocery stores they're impossible to miss- stacks of jewel tone cans covered in illustrations of tropical fruit...um.... YES PLEASE!

Well needless to say, their flavors are just as enticing as their packaging. With offerings such as Guava Nectar, Pass-o-Guava, Passion Orange, Lilikoi, Strawberry and Island Iced Tea, there is something for every taste.  I've quickly realized that in my case, every taste is something for me! And to make matters even better, I found out that Hawaiian Sun is 100% all natural.
The ingredients lists consist solely of fruit puree, natural cane sugar, citric acid and natural coloring. Now here's a canned drink anyone can get behind- yum!


I'm not gonna lie. The first time I enjoyed myself a nice cold Pass-o-Guava one afternoon I couldn't help but realize, "Man, I can see how this could be a really refreshing hangover cure." Then, in the same mental breath thought, "Oh dang.... I'll bet this business is gooooood with some booze up in it!"

So this New Year, I've combined the two and present you with the

Hawaiian Sun Guava Mimosa!

Now, I know you don't have much energy right now, 

so I'm gonna keep this simple :

"Chef's Best" seal doesn't lie
on the Andre!!

Ingredients for 4:
2 Cans Guava Hawaiian Sun
1 Bottle fine champagne
2 Cups ice
4 Hibiscus for garnish
4 Straws
4 Stemmed cocktail glasses

-Fill glass half full with ice
-Pour champagne halfway up glass
-Shake Guava Nectar well and fill glass
-Garnish straws with flower and serve!

~

What's that? 

You're on the mainland and you 

want to try some of this delicious Hawaiian Sun beverage treat?

Well then shoot me an email at purrsnicketyh@gmail.com for a complete list of flavors and prices. 

I'll ship ya some. 

:)