So, last Sunday, we went to see my friend's hula performance. Her Halau (hula school) was celebrating its 20th anniversary. It was so amazing. The setting was beautiful and the dancing was very good. We had Hawaiian food...poi, rice, poke, lomi salmon, lau lau, kalua pig, chicken long rice and cake. It was good. After the show Dara (my friend) gave me her leis and haku (lei worn around head). It was so nice! I was telling her at work on tues how much I loved the leis and she offered to teach me how to weave them. The one I wanted to learn how to make is made of leaves. The type of leaves grow in our yard so I picked them on Weds morning and she taught all of us at work how to weave the leaves. It is actually really more challenging than I thought. I took mine apart and re did it several times. But I finished it and it was big enough to wrap around my bun, so I wore it yesterday to work. Everyone was very impressed. And I'm excited to practice and then learn to weave flowers into it. I will post a picture of it.
We have my friends, Karen and Jim, from dental school coming to stay with us for a week this week.....It will be fun. Today I hope we go to the beach. I want to do some snorkeling.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Maunawili Falls
Today we woke up at 6:30 am to go hiking...what is wrong with us?! We drove to Kailua on the other side. It was a nice 3 mile hike. No crazy mountains, no climbing on boulders. We had to cross a small stream about 5 times and then reached a nice little waterfall with a beautiful blue-green pool of water. The water was so nice and cool. I brought my water shoes so I got to wade around in it. On the way back I kept them on instead of my hiking boots so I could just walk through the water that hopping on rocks. I really didn't like hopping on rocks. I was terrified I would slip and fall and bust something. But we made it. We were back at home by 11am and now we are just resting, laundry, cleaning, etc.
Tomorrow Brian is going fishing for ahi tuna. They may be going out 20-30 miles from shore. On Sunday, one of my co-workers invited us to her Halau's performance here in Ko Olina. There is a dinner of local food and then 3 hours of different groups performing hula. Should be fun!
Our friends, Karen and Jim are coming next Sat through the 24th for a dental conference.
Tomorrow Brian is going fishing for ahi tuna. They may be going out 20-30 miles from shore. On Sunday, one of my co-workers invited us to her Halau's performance here in Ko Olina. There is a dinner of local food and then 3 hours of different groups performing hula. Should be fun!
Our friends, Karen and Jim are coming next Sat through the 24th for a dental conference.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Kalua Pig
Well, it took me awhile to get to this but here it is.....
Brian was invited by one of his coworkers to cook Kalua pig. This is a traditional Hawaiian pig roast. He went over Sat morning to start. They started with 7 live pigs over 500 lbs each. He had his first pig kill. It took all day for them to shave, gut and prep the pigs. The pigs weren't in the imu (underground oven) until 9pm. I worked on Sat and to be honest I didn't want to be there until the pigs were dead. So I went over around 4:30pm. When I got there they were cleaning the last pig. Then they took a break waiting for the rocks in the imu to cool down. The fire was blue and it needed to cool to an orange color.
When the fire was ready, they cut slits in the pigs so they cook evenly. Then they curl the pig onto itself and crack the back of the pig. The pigs are seasoned with Hawaiian salt and Shoyu (local sweetened soy sauce). Then they are wrapped in banana leaves. They put 4-5 hot rocks (special type of rock from a nearby river) in each pig. The pigs were then wrapped in wire and they fit all 7 pigs in the huge hole in the ground with two big pots of cooking pig innards. The imu had the wood on the bottom, banana stumps (from the trunk), then the pigs, then more stumps, more banana leaves, then covered with burlap sacks.
It was a big rush to get the dirt on the top after that for good reason. Apparently, the heat builds up in the pigs and the fat and grease can explode in flames. This is bad because it pops the entire load of pigs and they can shift. You don't want them to shift and end up in the dirt! So all the guys (except Brian), were standing on the edges of the burlap while they fired up the backend loader to get the dirt on top and KA BOOM! A pig popped! The burlap raised up and dropped down (about 6 inches). Everyone was now in a real hurry. It popped one more time before the dirt was all on. But it didn't look like the pigs moved.
Then we ate dinner...lots of good local food. Homemade dry ahi (smoked dry fish..like fish jerky), lau lau (meat cooked in taro leaves and coconut milk) and other things. We stayed until around midnight. Then the next day....
We arrived on Sun around 9:30am. People brought of course more food. Homemade Spam Musubi (which if you've seen my videos you know what that's about), and some really good corn bread that was more like cake. Then they opened up the imu. They hand shoveled the dirt off, pulled off the burlap, pulled off the banana leaves and stumps until they got to the pigs. Then 2 pigs in their wire cages were loaded per big metal tray. It took about 8 -10 guys to carry each tray to the tables. The kids pulled out the pig skulls because they hang them on the side of the shed and they try to pull out the pig teeth for necklaces.
Then it was the ladies turn. I was given a thick plastic apron to wear and we went to work shredding the meat. Our job is to remove all the little pieces of banana leaves, removed all the bones, remove any parts you don't want to eat (which honestly isn't much around here). I snuck the piece of pig palate into the trash along with some fat. We used the bones from the pig to shred the meat and also shred by hand. I used a couple ribs for awhile until someone loaned me their scapula. That worked much better. Basically we shredded and smashed the meat for 2.5 to three hours. We then added more salt and bagged it into gallon sized ziplocks. Then they loaded up the meat for future parties. Apparently, after all that work you don't even eat it!
My hands were so sore..but I didn't let on since I couldn't be the only one to stop! And I have strong dentist hands! After that we had more food..more lau lau and loco (stew from the innards). Brian had the loco, not me. He said it wasn't bad. I had chicken long rice (chicken in rice noodles with soy and ginger). It was good. We stayed for some beers and horseshoes. Then Susan and Boogie (the couple that invited us) snuck two bags of pig into our cooler.
Brian's had some, but to be honest I haven't had it yet. I just haven't had the appetite for it after shredding it for so long. Plus its really fatty. After the meat cooled in the fridge, we scrapped off the lard layer and we got about a half container of crisco off of it. Shockingly, in the three days following, two people who were there and took home a lot of pig had mini strokes.
It was an amazing experience. When I went to work and was telling people about it.... they were really impressed. Most of them have never seen, or participated in what we did (and they were born here). I will email some pics since I can't post them all here.
Today we went on another hike... I will do another posting for it though.
Brian was invited by one of his coworkers to cook Kalua pig. This is a traditional Hawaiian pig roast. He went over Sat morning to start. They started with 7 live pigs over 500 lbs each. He had his first pig kill. It took all day for them to shave, gut and prep the pigs. The pigs weren't in the imu (underground oven) until 9pm. I worked on Sat and to be honest I didn't want to be there until the pigs were dead. So I went over around 4:30pm. When I got there they were cleaning the last pig. Then they took a break waiting for the rocks in the imu to cool down. The fire was blue and it needed to cool to an orange color.
When the fire was ready, they cut slits in the pigs so they cook evenly. Then they curl the pig onto itself and crack the back of the pig. The pigs are seasoned with Hawaiian salt and Shoyu (local sweetened soy sauce). Then they are wrapped in banana leaves. They put 4-5 hot rocks (special type of rock from a nearby river) in each pig. The pigs were then wrapped in wire and they fit all 7 pigs in the huge hole in the ground with two big pots of cooking pig innards. The imu had the wood on the bottom, banana stumps (from the trunk), then the pigs, then more stumps, more banana leaves, then covered with burlap sacks.
It was a big rush to get the dirt on the top after that for good reason. Apparently, the heat builds up in the pigs and the fat and grease can explode in flames. This is bad because it pops the entire load of pigs and they can shift. You don't want them to shift and end up in the dirt! So all the guys (except Brian), were standing on the edges of the burlap while they fired up the backend loader to get the dirt on top and KA BOOM! A pig popped! The burlap raised up and dropped down (about 6 inches). Everyone was now in a real hurry. It popped one more time before the dirt was all on. But it didn't look like the pigs moved.
Then we ate dinner...lots of good local food. Homemade dry ahi (smoked dry fish..like fish jerky), lau lau (meat cooked in taro leaves and coconut milk) and other things. We stayed until around midnight. Then the next day....
We arrived on Sun around 9:30am. People brought of course more food. Homemade Spam Musubi (which if you've seen my videos you know what that's about), and some really good corn bread that was more like cake. Then they opened up the imu. They hand shoveled the dirt off, pulled off the burlap, pulled off the banana leaves and stumps until they got to the pigs. Then 2 pigs in their wire cages were loaded per big metal tray. It took about 8 -10 guys to carry each tray to the tables. The kids pulled out the pig skulls because they hang them on the side of the shed and they try to pull out the pig teeth for necklaces.
Then it was the ladies turn. I was given a thick plastic apron to wear and we went to work shredding the meat. Our job is to remove all the little pieces of banana leaves, removed all the bones, remove any parts you don't want to eat (which honestly isn't much around here). I snuck the piece of pig palate into the trash along with some fat. We used the bones from the pig to shred the meat and also shred by hand. I used a couple ribs for awhile until someone loaned me their scapula. That worked much better. Basically we shredded and smashed the meat for 2.5 to three hours. We then added more salt and bagged it into gallon sized ziplocks. Then they loaded up the meat for future parties. Apparently, after all that work you don't even eat it!
My hands were so sore..but I didn't let on since I couldn't be the only one to stop! And I have strong dentist hands! After that we had more food..more lau lau and loco (stew from the innards). Brian had the loco, not me. He said it wasn't bad. I had chicken long rice (chicken in rice noodles with soy and ginger). It was good. We stayed for some beers and horseshoes. Then Susan and Boogie (the couple that invited us) snuck two bags of pig into our cooler.
Brian's had some, but to be honest I haven't had it yet. I just haven't had the appetite for it after shredding it for so long. Plus its really fatty. After the meat cooled in the fridge, we scrapped off the lard layer and we got about a half container of crisco off of it. Shockingly, in the three days following, two people who were there and took home a lot of pig had mini strokes.
It was an amazing experience. When I went to work and was telling people about it.... they were really impressed. Most of them have never seen, or participated in what we did (and they were born here). I will email some pics since I can't post them all here.
Today we went on another hike... I will do another posting for it though.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Stay tuned for tomorrow
Last night we were preparing Kalua pig for the imus. It was amazing! 7 pigs...each over 500 lbs. We were there until midnight last night and now we are about to leave to pull them out of the oven and I get to help shred the meat. I will write all about it and post pictures tomorrow. It was not for the faint of heart. But its authentic...they buried the pigs in the ground with rocks in them wrapped in banana leaves.
I'll write all about it tomorrow!
I'll write all about it tomorrow!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Great day at the beach
Yesterday, Brian and I went to Makaha Beach. Its one of our favorite spots.....and its only a 25 min drive. The beach was nearly empty. We got out there around 10ish and stayed until 4:30. Can you believe that we can sit in the Hawaiian sun for 6 hours without burning (of course lots of sunscreen)?! We've each tried a lot of brands and found the best ones for each of us. We grilled chicken on the beach on our propane grill. I went snorkling out there for the first time. The surf was non existant, so it was a good day for it. I was surprised at how clear it was. Nice clear water. It was about 10-20 feet deep where I was snorking. Saw some fish...at one point a huge school of over 100 fish was there. There were staring at me trying to figure out if I was going to eat them. Not a whole bunch of different kinds of fish though...mainly humuhumunukunukuapua'a (or hawaiian trigger fish). But I did see a grouper and a couple coronet fish. It was fun.
Today, Brian had the day off work and went to "prepare" pigs for a luau tomorrow. They are then putting them in the imu (underground oven). Just to give you an idea of his day...those pigs were alive this morning. For once, I'm glad I work on Sat's. I don't want to have any traumatic experiences that will keep me from eating ham or bacon. He's taking pictures and video. Anyway, I have to get ready to pick him up......
Today, Brian had the day off work and went to "prepare" pigs for a luau tomorrow. They are then putting them in the imu (underground oven). Just to give you an idea of his day...those pigs were alive this morning. For once, I'm glad I work on Sat's. I don't want to have any traumatic experiences that will keep me from eating ham or bacon. He's taking pictures and video. Anyway, I have to get ready to pick him up......
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