Saturday, February 4, 2012

I have been having a few issues with my iPad, so decided to have it looked at. Nearest Apple store is Honolulu so we booked a road trip to Oahu. We went to the small Kapalua Airport, which actually looks more like a bus station than an airport! Not too many seats to sit in and security does not open until a few minutes before an Island Air flight is suppose to take off. Very interesting.....

Our flight from Maui to Oahu was delayed almost three hours but we finally made it. We had lunch on the beach at a wonderful hotel in Waikiki. Hawaii is such a beautiful place! I'll have to add pictures later, no computer right now. After lunch, we wondered over to our hotel, the Royal Hawaiian. It's totally pink! Right down to the cash register tape!! Beautiful old hotel, back in the day when staying on Hawaii was courtly and leisurely. Our room was upgraded so we ended up on the top floor and got a suite. They leave some freshly baked Banana Macademia Nut muffins for you on a tray on the bed as a greeting (as well as the recipe for said muffins, lol). I am impressed by the view, first of all, but most impressed with the toilet, lol. The toilet seat is heated!! And it washes your bum and dries it for you!! All with the push of a bottom. Wonder who thought of THAT?

We had dinner at the Azure restaurant (it sits right on the beach) in the Royal Hawaiian, starting with a Mai Tai in the bar. I ordered the tasting menu with wine pairing. The first course was Azure Sashimi Ahi with avocado and watermelon radish salad. The second course was "Ocean Cappucino", Dungeness crab and shrimp Bouillabaisse. The third course was Kona Lobster Tail Risotto. Fourth course: Butter Poached Fillet of Beef with Madiera and Black Truffle Sauce. For dessert, there was Kula Strawberries and ice cream with a Balsamic and Cinnamon Fadrizzle. The food was great! The service was great! We had a great time! We walked around a while, then went up to our room.

You can see the ocean from our balcony during daylight hours and hear it the rest of the time. Pretty amazing. I am truly blessed to be able to do all these things!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Up about 7am, a cup of coffee, check emails. I elected to have an egg with toast this morning. Sometimes change is good, lol.

Went to the beach about 9:30am. The walk is all down hill. It's not until it's time to go back that you remember the climb to get back to the condo. Didn't see any whales this morning but a lot of surfers and guys with boogie boards. It's fascinating to watch these guys, especially if they are any good at surfing (I certainly couldn't do it!).

I wrote two articles today for examiner.com. Did you know today was National Carrot Ckae Day? Me neither. But it is, so I wrote about it. Carrot pudding and carrot cake became popular during WWII when luxury items like sugar were scarce and rationed. Apparently carrot cake is still served at Christmas time in England. I also wrote an article about romantic places to have dinner on Valentine's Day.

By that time, it was lunch time. We had a Mediterranean Salad: arugula, fennel, prosciutto, green onions and cherries (it aw suppose to have pomegranates but there were none to be found on Maui). Pretty good. Arugula has a very peppery taste but the peppery flavor is tempered by the vinaigrette.

I did nursing CEUs in the afternoon and watched some TV for an hour. At 5pm, it was time to start dinner. Cornish Game Hen with Mushroom Sauce, Baked Rice and Green Beans with Creme Fraiche. Very filling, very tasty! Nice sauce on the game hen, I would definitely make this again. The original French recipe calls for quail, but since that is not readily available, Cornish hen is a good alternative, just serve half a hen. We were too full from dinner so I did not make the Profiteroles. We had Rum Raisin ice cream instead. Coats the stomach, as my father used to say!

I talked with Jordan for a short while. He's had a hard week and Ah Choo is getting him up in the middle of the night. "I saw a ghost, really, I did", the cat says as Jordan jokes about Ah Choo's 2am wake ups. Hope the cat settles down.

For now, bedtime. Good night from paradise.....

Thursday, February 2, 2012

One thing about "retirement" is that it can be somewhat predictable. Just kidding, lol. Can't retire yet. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting, however!

After a breakfast of coffee, toast and a granola bar, I did one CEU unit. After that, my reward was a trip to the pool. There are still trade winds and the day was partly cloudy, so it wasn't too hot sitting out. We discovered a new flower at the pool. It almost looks like a bird of paradise but it's not. The flowers here are absolutely gorgeous. They are still trimming trees, so it continues to be noisy during the day.

Lunch was a Ban Bagnat, a French sandwich. You take a baguette, cut it in half lengthwise and remove much of the bread inside. Rub the cut sides with a clove of garlic, also cut in half. Drizzle with olive oil. Mix tomato slices (in my case, I was using up our supply of cherry tomatoes, so cut those in half) with red wine vinegar and basil, salt and pepper and set aside for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors blend. Slice black olives-enough to make it a layer on the sandwich. Hard boil one egg per sandwich, then slice it. Layer the tomatoes, olives and egg on the baguette (I used a mini-baguette), wrap it, then let it sit so the juices soak into the bread. I served it with the leftover Crab and Corn Chowder to rave reviews. My friend snapped my picture but it took so long, I apparently stopped smiling, lol.

I read in the afternoon and took a nap (one of the benefits of being "retired", lol).

Dinner was Salad Nicoise ala Julia Child. Boiled potatoes (dressed with white wine vinegar and parsley), blanched green beans, hard boiled eggs topped with a round of anchovy, tomatoes and fresh seared tuna, all dressed with a Dijon-Lemon Viniagrette. A very nice meal, indeed! Dessert was diced strawberries over vanilla ice cream which was then drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction. Yum! There was a "Napolean" in a glass with orange mascarpone and blueberries (an extra one from the other night), which we could have had, but I had to admit I ate it this afternoon, lol. Just wanted something sweet, ;-). What can I say?

Another beautiful sunset.....I think you'll agree....

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

We went out to breakfast this morning at 8am. Not too many people out and about then, lol. We ate in the Whaler's Village Shopping Center in Ka'anapoli near the Westin. I had stuffed French toast made with Hawaiian bread (no surprise ther!) coated with crushed Macadamia nuts, then deep dried. It was not something I would normally order but I was intrigued. It is served with maple syrup and coconut syrup. Not bad, not bad.

After breakfast, it was time to get a few groceries. After a trip to Safeway, Walgreens and Foodland Farms, it was back to the Ridge (that's the name of this condo complex). Put the groceries away, then on to the pool. Sat out for about an hour, until it got too warm. A beautiful clear day today! They are pruning trees in this complex, so it's been a little noisy. Keeping paradise properly "coiffed" has it's price, apparently. They also took down a large tree near our condo-amazing to watch. It must have had something wrong with it, at least I hope so.

Lunch was a Roasted Chicken Salad with apples, spinach and walnuts and an orange vinaigrette. It was very nice, very refreshing.

After lunch, I answered emails, did an hour's worth of CEU's toward my nursing license, read, then watched a little TV. Nothing very exciting by some standards, lol.

I reheated the leftover Flatbread with Bacon and Scallion Pesto for an appetizer. It reheated well, which is nice to know. Dinner was an Herb Crusted Salmon served with a Spinach Salad. The breaded herb crust kept the salmon moist, but I could have baked it a little less. A nice healthy meal! Dessert was a piece of chocolate cake. It has kept well (made on Sunday) and is still moist and tastes good. Also nice to know!

The sunsets here are beautiful. Although sunsets usually are, no matter where you are, don't you think? I talked with Jordan, watched a little TV while blogging, but now it's time for bed. Tomorrow is another day....

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Another day in paradise.... As someone just told me, I am living the life of retirement and I guess that's true, at least for the moment.

After breakfast, I did some CEU study. Once that was done, we walked to the beach and stayed for about an hour, hour and a half. We saw more whales. This one looked like a baby-small in size, so an assumption on my part. It never gets boring watching them play and jump out of the water, only to make a big splash when they land. Kind of the equivalent to us doing a cannonball in the pool. There were surfers out riding the waves. Some are better than other and one in particular knew exactly the type of waves he was looking for.

On the way back to the condo we stopped by one of the pools so I could get some parsley for lunch. Lunch today was Flatbread with Bacon and Scallion Pesto. I baked some pizza dough by itself in the oven (drizzled with a little olive oil), cooked up some diced bacon, and then cooked some sliced onions in the bacon grease. The scallion pesto was made with green onions, parsley, lemon peel and lemon juice whooshed up in a food processor with olive oil added when the particles were finely chopped. Salt and pepper to taste and you are done. Once the pizza dough is baked, smear it with sour cream that you have added a little lemon zest to, scatter the bacon and onions, then dot the surface with the scallion pesto. I was not sure what to expect, but it turned out great. The pesto had a very strong taste, but paired with everything else, it was great! Another yum!

More continuing ed in the afternoon, a little Food Network, some reading and it was dinner time. Tonight we had Balsamic-marinated Pork Loin Cops, Baked Rice and Green Beans with Creme Fraiche. I had to walk back to the pool for more herbs-tarragon, rosemary and parsley. It is so cool to be able to pick the herbs as you need them and have them fresh when you use them! The pork had a Lemon-Honey Sauce (with rosemary) which turned out nicely. I have finally learned that the secret to a good sauce is a little skillful neglect on the cook's part. When a sauce needs to reduce, put it on the stove on a high heat and walk away. That's not to say you don't keep an eye on it, but it rarely needs stirring, it just takes time to reduce. For dessert I had put together a Napolean of sorts using some puff pastry disks I had baked the other day, layered with Mascarpone Cream and blueberries. That also turned out well. I like working with ingredients you already have and being able to put something good together. Thank you, Cook Street!

I talked with Jordan, showered and will read before bed. A very quiet day indeed.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Up at 7am with a breakfast of coffee and an Oatmeal Raisin muffin. I worked on CEUs for nursing relicensure this morning. I have 2 hours down and only 28 more to go, lol. I figure if I work on it a little each day, I'll be fine. My license renews in April.

I received a call from Carson Tahoe saying they found another nurse to fill their weekend slot, so I won't be getting that job. At least they called me! I wasn't left "hanging".

After the "strenuous" mental work out, we went to the pool for an hour and a half. I have color! It did rain off and on today but we had nice weather for the pool. After the pool, lunch time!

Since there was no lamb for meatballs, we went with beef and I switched out the mint for cilantro. Both pool areas have fresh herbs growing in barrels, so it is great to walk to the pool and just pick fresh herbs as I need them. One of the advantages of paradise! We had local island kale (from the store) that I blanched in water. We then wrapped the kale around the meatballs, dolmades style (Greek grape leaves filled with meat). Pretty tasty, actually.

A lazy afternoon of reading, then dinner. I made Seared Duck Breast with sautéed artichoke hearts, shallots and garlic. The duck was also served with a balsamic reduction. Yum! I served that with twice baked potatoes. Not as much duck fat was cooked out with searing it in a skillet, so I think that next time I'll make the duck like we did in school. The duck was seared, skin side down in a skillet, then baked off in the oven on a wire rack to keep the meat above the fat that cooked off. Much better, I think. But--you live and learn as they say. There was left over chocolate cake for dessert (cal surprise, lol). I must say, the chocolate cake was much better tonight than it was yesterday. Note to self: Most cakes seem to get better with age.

Turn in early to shower, talk to Jordan and read before bed. Another day in paradise.......

Sunday, January 29, 2012

I actually made breakfast today! We had Dutch Baby Pancakes. They use a thin batter and are baked in a hot oven in a pre-heated hot pan for about ten minutes. The Dutch Babies can be served with fruit or with a squirt of lemon and dusted with powdered sugar (which I have come to learn is also called confectioners sugar and 10X). I have always liked these thin pancakes that bake up to look like large bowls-not sure why, other than they are quite tasty!

After breakfast, we went shopping for groceries for this next week. I still like the Foodland Farms store. It's small but offers a lot. It was interesting however, that they do not sell lamb. Guess it's not that big on Maui. I was going to make lamb meatballs but we bought beef instead.

By the time we got back to "The Ridge", it was time to make lunch. I also baked a chocolate cake to take with me to Sandra and John's house. Lunch was Corn and Crab Chowder. LOVE this recipe! Onions, red pepper, bacon, and celery, sautéed in a little butter. Add a Tbsp of flour, some Old Bay spice, half and half, chicken broth and some diced potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Add frozen (or fresh if you have it) corn, 12 oz of crabmeat, and continue to simmer another 5-10 minutes. Serve it up hot with some crusty bread. Yum!!

I made dark chocolate frosting after lunch. It's made by heating cream and sugar to boiling then adding some butter and unsweetened chocolate and vanilla extract and stirred until the chocolate and butter melts. The frosting needs to cool before it can be used. It was a new recipe for me but it turned out well.

Junie Jun!

We went over to Sandra and John's at 5pm. They live just up the street. They have a little 2 1/2 year old girl whose name I didn't realize until tonight is June. So her name is June Jun! She is a cutie. Half Chinese and half American. John did the cooking tonight-BBQ ribs, Panko fried chicken with a savory dipping sauce and Ginger Bean Curd Shrimp, a spinach dish and white rice. Everything tasted great! We finished with the chocolate cake and a slice of passion fruit they had picked off a tree locally on one of their walks around this area. John teaches math in middle school but the two of them would like to buy some land and have a farm. John (and I am probably not spelling it correctly) was born and raised on a farm in rural China. His parents immigrated to America (NYC to be exact) when he was 8 years old. John is the youngest of three children. Sandra was born and raised on Statin Island, so they met in New York. It is wonderful to hear John talk about what a great place America is. He has traveled all over the world and seen quite a bit. They have lived on Maui for almost four years but it has been hard making friends, they say. I think they are a little lonely. We left when it was time for June to go to bed. We had a nice evening and left with the promise of a fish dinner of fresh "gold fish" (not, apparently the little goldfish in a fishbowl but a salt water fish with whiskers!). Sounds like an adventure!