Shave Ice Anyone?

Shave Ice

Have a fine morning snorkeling. Sort of a snorkeling trifecta – found an eel, a turtle and an octopus. The photos are still in the camera. Hopefully I came away with 3 nice photos.

New microwave adventure today. Eggplant. “My” vendor at the farm market usually has nice Japanese eggplants at a very nice price. So, I bought some. Sliced them up. Manufactured some “marinara” sauce. And nuked the lot for 8 minutes. It is aging in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow – I’ll reheat it, add a chopped tomato and serve over some udon noodles. Pretend spaghetti.

Have I mentioned lately that I dearly love my iPod touch. iTunes had The Chronicles of Narnia on sale for 9.95 a couple of weeks ago. The Narnia Chronicles were the Harry Potter series of my smallkidtime. Yes, they are based on christian mythology. Mostly likely designed to brainwash  little kids. Nevertheless, I am enjoying them again in my dotage.

Friday

coke bottle

I decided it would be easier to learn how my new camera works underwater if the subject stayed still. I came upon an underwater cache of coke bottles. The little fish getting a closer look is Hawaiian White Spotted Toby.

Carlton returned to eating real people food today. No more turkey meatballs and yogurt and avocado and banana diet. We finished that all up last night. This evening we had nuked shark, avocado, tomato and interesting local “salad greens”.

How to Nuke a Shark: Get a couple of nice “beefy” shark steaks. Season with whatever spicy seasoning mix you have around. Just pepper is OK. Shark doesn’t have much flavor – it needs spicy. Stuff into a microwave steamer bag. Nuke 2.5 to 3 minutes.

I got a cookbook out of the library today. (Aside: the Kona library is really short of books. Maybe lots of books were just checked out. Or maybe the are still culling old books but have no budget for replacements.) The cookbook was “Meals from Crappy Little Kitchens”. Well, my kitchen at home is up to their Crappy Little Kitchen standard. My kitchen here is not good enough to be called a Crappy Little Kitchen. Maybe I should make a cookbook: “Meals With No Kitchen At All”.

There is a parade tomorrow morning. The second parade since we have been here.

Would Sarah Palin please leave the planet.

Go fly a kite

Kites online - Nagasaki

Got the old theme back. And, I backed it up to my computer. But, I haven’t made much progress “doing something” with the photos from Japan. I still have 2,233 of them. Which might be more than I started with.

I cooked my weekly “meal from real ingredients” today. Once a week, I like to cook a meal using only “real” food. Nothing boxed, bagged, frozen, canned, from the deli or otherwise pre-cooked. Today it was “tuna salad”. Spinach, red and yellow tomatoes, and grilled yellow fin tuna. I did cheat and add sour dough bread from the farm market. And I have some leftover grilled tuna. Life is good.

Did the Republican candidate for governor of Colorado really say that bike lanes are an evil UN plot? Or was that just an Eastern Establishment Press spin???

List #1 – What I did this winter

No picture today – still feeling too smug about getting a decade of images culled and cataloged to go out and make more.

Going to have lists for the next couple of days.

What I did this winter:

  1. Culled and cataloged a decade of images.
  2. Learned to like Lightroom.
  3. Vastly improved my open ocean swimming confidence (which might not be a good thing).
  4. Discovered that doing all the domestic chores every week – just like at home – makes the rest of the week work better. So, on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday – every week – I did laundry and defrosted the fridge and restocked the pantry.

Had albacore tuna – with lemon pepper sauce, rice, tomatoes and avocado for lunch. Ono grinds – as we say local-speak.

Microwave egg trick – It works for me. Put a slice of bread in a bowl. Add a little milk or cream to mush up the bread. Break an egg on top. Punch some holes in the yoke. Top with salsa. Cover. Nuke 2 minutes. It makes a nice alternative to peanut butter sandwich or oatmeal – which have been the major breakfast food this winter.

an image free day

No picture today. Oh, I have some new images in my camera – but – I am too lazy to download them.

One of my favorite things to prepare at home is pasta salad. But, I have not figured out how to cook pasta in the nuker. Today, I made a really passable pasta salad using fresh yakisoba noodles.  I nuked some broccoli in a steamer bag for 3 minutes – then I added the yakisoba noodles. And about a tablespoon of water – and nuked the noodles and veggies for another 2 minutes. After I draining the noodles – added ranch dressing and salsa. Then put avocado, tomatoes, and some chicken on top.

My microwave coach sent the following:

Pasta, shells or fettuccine;  break the fettuccine into  about 2 inch sections.  put 2 tablespoons of canola oil with water  in a see through container bring to a boil, then put the pasta in and stir, then nuke for a couple minutes stir again to keep from sticking together, then nuke again for about 3 or so test for tenderness.  I usually set the power at 5 for the second go around.  Works for me might work for U.  Let me know if/when you try it how it does in the Pacific Islands.  Zee

Black and White

Ferns
Ferns in Black and White

Yesterday I took pictures of black things in color. Today, colorful things in black and white.

No meatballs today! Today, nuked up some leftover rice, broccoli and cheese scraps in one steamer bag and in another bag – skinless chicken thighs with chili pepper flakes. When the chicken was done (after 4 minutes) I made a little sauce out of apricot jam and shoyu (soy sauce). And chopped up a sorry ass tomato to sprinkle on top of the rice mixture. Pretty good. Today’s lunch was a two bagger. Tuna sandwiches with avocado for dinner.

So Kona

computers, travel, fish, and pulp fiction... my Kona literary life
computers, travel, fish, and pulp fiction... my Kona literary life

Been here two weeks already. No regrets about coming over early. The weather is air conditioner warm. The ocean is nice. There are very few tourists. Life is good.

The West Hawaii Today is a very poor newspaper. But, it is the only paper. I scour the paper daily, looking for something to rationalize spending 50 cents. Today the Lost and Founds were worth 50 cents.

I suppose Chris and Leslie lost a couple of DOGS
I suppose Chris and Leslie lost a couple of DOGS

Meatball fest continues. Today, I nuked them with some leftover rice, a few veggies, and some chilis. Sort of TexMex meatballs. Side dish of avocado and pineapple.

Note to self. Finally figured out how to make OK eggs in microwave steamer bags. Use the Glad brand bags. Break 3 eggs into the bag. Add a couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese and a little cream, milk, whatever. That is is basics. I added salsa and some chopped up spinach. Nuke for 4 minutes in our rather wimpy microwave. Let set a couple of minutes. Top with grated cheese. The cottage cheese is what makes it work.

Wonder what I’ll figure out to do with meatballs tomorrow?

Street work today

Sam sells coffee and hats on the street

The street was closed this afternoon. Vendors and musicians gathered to play and sell. Our friend Sam Ah Hoy sells his coffee and hats. He makes fine lau hala chapeau. I may commission one. I can not buy an “off the rack” one – because I have a really big head.

Cooking note to self: Hawaiian Green Beans – steam in the microwave for 12 minutes to make done enough for Carlton.

This winter, I am experimenting with microwave steamer bags. I was going to get a little crockpot this winter – but decided that microwave steamer bags will require less cleanup.

bora bora anyone?

The Computer Altar is looking a little unsettled
The Computer Altar is looking a little unsettled

Dueling iTunes. The latest version of iTunes makes it really easy for two or more computers to share iTunes libraries and to copy music from one to the other.

Note to Peg: Last night’s Chubby Chicky was really good. I am sure I’ll forget what I did by the time I buy another whole chicken. So, here it is for me.

  1. Wash and dry a whole chicken. A chubby chicky if you will.
  2. In the pot that Carlton found in the trash room – brown up any veggies that need using up.
  3. Stick any herbs that are lying around inside the chicky and season up the out side with pepper, cumin, etc. Lots of seasonings.
  4. Brown the breast side of the chicken. Then turn it over and brown up the backside.
  5. Seal up pot with foil.
  6. Put lid on top, and put in 260 degree oven.
  7. Put iron skillet on top of lid.
  8. Cook 4.5 – 5 pound chicken about 90 minutes.

I am now in tropical mode. Carlton was interested in going to Tonga this year and I was interested in Samoa. But, they have both been hard hit by earthquakes over the past week. Bora Bora anyone?

Iris Quest – Day 6

From Friday - FX01
From Friday - FX01

Food. Got a couple of pork tenderloins off the distressed counter at the grocery this morning. The pork tenderloin is a hopeless cut of meat. Devoid of flavor. Much like the boneless, skinless chicken breast. Only porcine. But, the price was right and I needed something to anchor next week’s dinners.

Well, it wasn’t bad. This is what I did.

Oven – preheat to 500 degrees
Slather tenderloins in mustard and pepper with gusto
Oil the little iron skillet
Tenderloins go in the skillet – wedging a cut up apple into any empty spaces
(Onions would work, and if Carlton wasn’t eating – garlic would be great)
Cook 10 minutes in oven
Turn the tenderloins over
Cook another 10 minutes
Remove from skillet – tent with foil
Let stand 10 – 15 minutes.

Now, it was still light in the flavor catagory. But, it wasn’t  completely dried out.

This is not a cookbook blog – I just want to save these cooking directions so I can cook pork tenderloins again – if they show up 1/2 price on the distressed meat counter again.