Family Photo & Maui Update

Steve captured our family photo after dinner last night. We were thankful for the remote on his camera, so we could capture the few hours we were all together. See it and read his comments here.

My parents ought to be on their way from Hartford airport to their home by this time. Steve & Sara are out exploring the island. Matt & I are lounging at home (nice to have a slow day -- my foot is hurting again, so better to save up energy). Our friends Robert & Lisa are contemplating the waves. This afternoon, we're gathering together to go up to Haleakala National Park. Here's a webcam of the crater. The webcam is awfully cloudy right now; I hope it clears up!

The trip is going well so far. We've gotten to spend good time with my parents and also our friends. Now Steve & Sara are here, and we're looking to have fun with them, as well. Matt & I have done almost everything we wanted to while on the trip, so we're mostly falling into uber-relaxation mode now.

We continue to post photos here, pretty much every day. Here's just one photo - I took this picture of my family at the top of a trail while I waited at the bottom.

From Tuesday (Iao Needle, Kahekili Beach, Family)

Picture updates

Pics from Hawaii (Oahu, and now Maui) are going up here - http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.laswell. We're putting up new pictures almost every day.

Enjoy!

Amazing meal

Last night, we enjoyed the 8th-rated restaurant in the entire country (according to Gourmet Magazine): Alan Wong's, in Honolulu. This was our second trip, so we knew a bit of what to expect, but were still blown away.

We started with appetizers. We knew that we wanted the "Manapua" Quesadilla again (having had it on our first trip in April 2007). This is not at all a typical quesadilla, it features Chinese barbecued pork and mozzarella cheese. The pork is actually sweet, which works so well together with the guacamole (which is not traditional guac, either - I think it had something like wasabi). Every little detail of this dish was just right, even down to the ultra-minced cilantro and other herbs which decorated the plate.

I think I surprised Matt when I ordered the Seafood Cakes as our other appetizer (since he knows that I'm not really a seafood lover). These were just amazing! They were intently creamy, somehow. Each bite showcased a different distinct seafood (shrimp, crab, lobster, and scallops).

We then had two salads. Alan Wong's Restaurant is amazing when it comes to local ingredients, and that shines especially well in the salads. My salad was entirely from the Big Island (which, ok, didn't exactly come from the back-yard in Honolulu, but that's basically local). Over a base of greens, which were definitely lovingly hand-picked, there was a blue-cheese ranch dressing, ultra-fresh tomatoes & cucumbers, and various other delicious bits. Matt had a salad featuring heirloom tomatoes and locally-grown spring lettuces.

At this point, we definitely didn't need an entree and dessert, so we went for two desserts instead. Why 2? Well, we knew it would be a while until we could come back, so why not? :)

From Friday in Honolulu

First up: The Coconut. Many of our friends have heard us go on about this dish after our first visit. Last night was amazing once again. This is a sphere of coconut sorbet (haupia in Hawaiian), covered in chocolate and toasted coconut, then hollowed out a bit (to look like an actual coconut). Coming out from the coconut are a range of super-fresh fruits and a passion-fruit sauce (lilikoi in Hawaiian), which is both tart and sweet. This is just so good - not too sweet, light, fruit-filled, and delicate.

We also got the special Bread-Pudding inspired entree. Neither of us (especially not me) generally orders bread pudding (I find the soggy nature gross, typically), but this was far different. Yes, there were a few cubes that I'd identify as banana bread pudding, but they were actually good - almost tasted like banana bread in places (something we'll eat any chance we get while on Maui!). One cube was covered in a dollop of intently flavored banana ice cream. Another had a very rich dark chocolate mousse, and others had something like bananas foster. The last bite was amazing (though we let it sit a little too long, so it wasn't that hot anymore): two chocolate truffles coated in a crumbly mixture, then fried (so the chocolate was molten). Anybody who loves chocolate would have been satisfied by that bite alone.

The entire meal took about 2 hours, and we were attended by excellent staff - from the friendly woman at the reception counter, all the way to the person who brought us clean flatware after each course. They paid attention to all the details.

So, if you ever find yourself in Honolulu, and aren't scared to spend a bit (though we thought it was a great deal - having spent the same or even more for meals in Austin that weren't nearly this good), go to Alan Wong's. You'll escape the hectic bustle of Waikiki and instead be surrounded in a food-lovers paradise.

(Oh, and their rolls are pretty amazing!)

Hawaii trip - day 1

You can find pics from our first day in Hawaii here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.laswell

Not a lot so far, but I'm sure I'll post other things later. I also imagine we'll tell the story of our very long first day of vacation later. The short version - weather at DFW (which people we know who live near DFW didn't even notice) delayed our flight out of Austin and messed up American Airlines entire flight network. So, rather than getting to Oahu yesterday afternoon in time for dinner, we got here this morning at 5:20am (local time), via Hawaiian Airlines and Las Vegas. Other than exhaustion and feeling rather unclean, it wasn't that bad, really (minus our suitcase, which we're still waiting for) -- and was mostly remedied when we saw this view from our hotel:


Not the best photo I've ever taken - but that's Waikiki beach (and the little dots you see in the ocean are surfers).

Check the link above to pics from our hike at Diamond Head. Next up is probably lunch & getting adjusted to the time zone.

Oh, and one unexpected bonus of detouring thru Las Vegas was that we got to get In-N-Out Burger. YUM!

Packing = Real-World Tetris

Like a lot of geeky people my age, I played a fair share of Tetris when I was a kid. I was glad for those hours of fitting blocks onto a grid during what I did today - packing suitcases.

See the long orange block in this image? In the realm of packing, that's a tripod (in a handy-dandy travel case!). The blue 2X2 cubes are shorts & shirts. They can pretty much squeeze in anywhere. Purple L shapes are shoes, you do best when you put two matching ones together as a unit (stuffed with socks, of course).



Unfortunately, when packing, unlike in the game, blocks don't disappear when you complete a row. But, when packing, unlike in the game, you can almost always squeeze one more thing in.

In the end - we're going to make it on our trip with just one checked bag! It's a 50 lb limit, of which I think we're using about 49.999 lb (this is one of those times when I think .9 repeating may actually equal 1 - haha). We'll have 4 carryons in addition (purse, laptop, small suitcase, and briefcase-type bag), but at least we'll have only one annoying checked-bag fee, and not too much to tote around while making our connection tomorrow.

Otherwise, things are set and basically ready to go for our trip! I'll try to post some pictures here while we're away.

A more productive day

I had a hard time being productive a few days last week, so I made myself a few goals for today:

• I'd post something thoughtful on my sabbatical blog. DONE!
  
• I'd finish a sewing project. DONE!
  
• I'd make a big batch of some kind of food to put into the freezer. SIMMERING!
  
• I'd make some Mexican food, from scratch, for dinner for Cinco de Mayo. WILL DO THAT IN THE NEXT HOUR!
• I'd do some laundry! DONE!
  

The sewing project was a bag from a recent special edition magazine from Better Homes & Gardens Creative line - Bags, Pillows & Pincushions. The bag I made was featured on page 46. I was looking for a larger bag that I could take on trips, or use to hold books/etc. while going to the office. This bag looked like it might work. I modified it in a few ways:

• I used medium-weight canvas as a stabilizer, rather than heavy-weight interfacing.
• I used cotton webbing inside the handle, to make it easier on my shoulder.
  
• I added a zipper pocket inside (following these directions). The written pattern has just two open pockets inside.
  
• I added a zipper-top. I made the bag without a zipper on the top and it was just too floppy. You couldn't use this bag for much; everything would have fallen out! It only had a single clasp in the middle, which is not enough for a bag that's roughly 13 X 3. So, I improvised a zipper-closure. It's not perfect, but I'm quite happy with it, considering I don't really know what I'm doing!

The outside fabrics are from Amy Butler, purchased at a shop in New Braunfels, TX. The bag is sitting over my antique rocking chair. In front of the bag are two small pouches - one with velcro (rough directions here) and one with a zipper (better directions here).




The first cooking project is simmering away on the stove presently. I'm making the classic ragu bolognese recipe from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Prep took about 45 minutes (I tripled the recipe, to make sure there was enough to freeze), and it's now been simmering for about 3 hours. I think it has at least another hour, or maybe two to go before it's finished. From that description, maybe you can tell why this isn't a recipe we make often! Matt made it once before, and it was yummy. This is a gift to myself, really - one night in June, I'll come home from work exhausted, but will be able to pull off a home-made meal thanks to a container of bolognese in the freezer!

The second cooking project will be Green Chile & Chicken soft tacos from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. It will have grilled poblano peppers and onions, along with chicken. I think I'll top it with our favorite avocado-tomatillo sauce (which I pulled out of the freezer - I love little rubbermaid containers!) It winds up tasting a bit like my favorite item at Taco Deli, the chicken frontera fundito (not entirely, but close). I figured the ragu would need more time to simmer, and it's also Cinco de Mayo, so tacos seemed like a good choice.

The Marcella Hazan cookbook is probably only for those who want to spend a lot of time cooking (though the food is good, the recipes are time-consuming). But, I'd happily recommend the Rick Bayless cookbook (that title, or others) to anybody! The recipes are actually doable on a weeknight, are very tasty, and are usually fairly healthy. If you want to try his dishes before buying the book, you can find quite a few on the Frontera website, or check out the show on PBS.

Trip Advisor

Do any of you use TripAdvisor?

Just curious.

Every once in a while, I get a bug to write reviews of places we've visited while traveling. Here's my travel map from TripAdvisor, showing places I've marked.

1. Bora Bora, French Polynesia


2. Oahu, HI, USA


3. Hana, HI, USA


4. Honolulu, HI, USA


5. New York City, NY, USA


6. Paris, France


7. Dingle, Ireland


8. Tralee, Ireland


9. Moorea, French Polynesia


10. Tahiti, French Polynesia

• View my profile


• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

More sock monsters (again)

Yeah, another sock monster photo. Sorry. :) Maybe I'll post some real content here one of these days! (I've put up quite a lot of real content on my sabbatical blog this week, though. Check that out for posts about a conference I went to, including posts on innovation, leading in uncertain times, church growth, meaning of the gospel, etc.)

Anyhow, back to the point...

We had dinner tonight with some friends, including one friend's daughter (who I think is about 8). I was giving a bag full of the sock monsters for the women's retreat to Lisa. She pulled out the sock monsters and showed them to the 8-year-old.

Call it market research: she loved them!


She asked if I could make a cat (in blue, red or white). I came home, did some internet searching for what a cat looks like (haha; I actually found a few flickr images of sock kitties) and came up with this. It's not perfect, but I think it's recognizable.







I also pulled up a sock monster I'd started a long time ago and finished it for another friend's daughter. This girl has been going thru a hard time lately, so we hope that "Eunice" and her three crazy ears will bring a smile to her face.



No more sock monsters for a while, I think! :) Tomorrow, I'll be doing some work around the house, reading while watching our new deck continue to be installed, and preparing to teach my session at the retreat on Saturday.