Aloha friends!

That baby pineapple I showed you awhile back is all grown up! Here’s what it looked like just before I picked it....

It was turning yellow and had a lovely pineapple scent. That’s how you know it’s ready to harvest. Behind it you can see my neighbor’s mango tree...another yummy tropical fruit.

What it lacked in size was made up with delicious flavor! It was sweet and juicy.
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When I cut the pineapple, I saved the top. I removed the flesh and planted it in a pot. I have a few pineapples started. I just need to decide where to plant them in the yard. For now they’re all just hanging out together on our lanai, enjoying the sunshine.

Next time you buy a pineapple from the store, save the top and plant your own little pineapple. They’re fun and easy to grow. You can even keep them as houseplants, if you place them near a sunny window they’ll be happy.
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Thanks for reading my diary!
Wishing you aloha!

Aloha friends,

​We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes! I know that sounds strange for January. What’s stranger is that we have just two tomato plants and both sprouted out of our compost pile...I kid you not. Once we realized what they were we carefully transplanted the seedlings into a large container. This was at the end of September....

Here are the same two tomato plants one month later...

They grew like crazy! The container is called an EarthBox, it’s self watering and has a reservoir that holds about 4 gallons of water. It takes a medium bag of soil and I added some granular fertilizer to it. Tomatoes seem to really like it. That and the warm Kauai sunshine.

As the tomatoes grew and produced fruit, I could tell one was a Roma (I’d been buying them at Walmart in the plastic clam shell) and the other looked like a tomato I had grown last spring that was a burgundy color only this new one was red.

Pretty soon we had tons of tomatoes! I had already given some to our neighbors and we still had more than we could eat. So, I made fermented salsa. It’s delicious, super easy and good for your belly. Here’s the recipe...

4 Cups Chopped Ripe Juicy Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Chopped Sweet Maui Onion
2 Tablespoons Chopped Bellpepper
1 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Jalapeño Pepper
1 teaspoon Salt

Mix and taste it. It should taste salty but, not too salty. Put the salsa into glass jars. Press it down a bit so that the tomatoey juices cover the salsa. Cover loosely and put in a dark corner of your kitchen. Check the salsa a couple times daily just to make sure the salsa remains covered with the juices. Taste it after 24 hours to see if you like the flavor. If you like it, go ahead and cap your jars and place your salsa in the fridge. If you want it more tangy, leave it to ferment longer. I fermented my salsa about 36 hours. You can ferment it up to 5 days. The salsa will keep in your fridge up to 6 months. I made ours 3 weeks ago and it’s nearly gone. It would never last 6 months in my fridge!

Here we are now the end of January and my tomato plants are still going strong. They produced more than 120 tomatoes, I stopped counting. It’s been fun and we’ve really enjoyed the flavor of these tomatoes. I saved some seeds and already have two plants started to replace these guys once they die off. No surprise they sprouted easily.

Thanks so so much for reading my diary!

Aloha friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! We had a nice day here on Kauai. The temp was pushing 80F, but we still baked...had all the windows open in the kitchen! On the menu was ham, augratin potatoes, sausage stuffing, and asparagus with pumpkin and apple pie for dessert. I was so happy about how well the pumpkin pie turned out. My last few attempts did not go as well. But, this one was nearly perfect. I think I got it down. Here’s a few photos from our day...

I hope that you had a good day and got to spend some time with those you love sharing food and laughter.
As always, thanks for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

It’s been a beautiful day here on Kauai. Really the complete opposite of last year’s rained out Halloween. The kids are excited for trick-or-treating but, first we had to carve our pumpkins and pineapple.

Pineapple are fun to carve. I think they have a lot of personality. They’re also tasty. And when Halloween is over I can plant his top in my pineapple patch.

We’ve been doing a little decorating for fall. Last week I made some bunting and hung it up in my kitchen shelves. I used scrapbook paper and ribbon. One of my daughters painted the haunted house. Nothing too scary here. We don’t have much Halloween decor because I purged most of it when we moved. But, I did keep our favorite pieces.

For Halloween dinner I always make chili. It’s a family tradition back from when I was a kid. I like this recipe because it’s an all meat chili. The beans and whatever else you want to serve with it are on the side. That way everyone can make their own bowl. It’s even better with corn bread. Here’s an old recipe card my mom gave me with the recipe...

The kids came home quite happy from trick-or-treating. They got a ridiculous amount of candy! Lots of full size bars. The people offering treats were very generous. The pile below is just one child’s stash!

I hope that you had a nice Halloween and thank you for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

​I hope that you had a great July 4th! We had a lot of fun here on Kauai. It was perfect weather for a cook-out. My husband and son barbecued some delicious pork ribs and fresh corn on the cob. The girls and I made pasta salad, baked beans, steamed asparagus, and a tossed green salad. We kept it pretty simple so we all could enjoy the day.

After we ate a yummy dinner we busted out the fireworks. By the way, they sell fireworks everywhere here. I thought it was funny that I picked up ours at the grocery store! And the boxes at Costco are huge...nearly as tall as I am! Here’s what you can get for $199...

But, here’s what I purchased...$17 worth.

We had a good time playing with the fireworks, and nobody got burnt. We then made s’mores for dessert. Sweet and sticky goodness! We ate them up before I could take a photo.

Kauai puts out a nice fireworks show. I was really impressed as I’d never been on island to see it before. We watched a spectacular show from our backyard. They set them off from Vindinha stadium in Lihue which ironically is across the street from the airport! It’s actually a day long celebration with lots of venders, bouncy houses and entertainment, fun for everyone. The proceeds benefit Kauai Hospice, always a wonderful organization to support. I took a few photos that didn’t quite do the beauty of it all justice but, you get the idea...

Happy Independence Day and thank you for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends,

We had an awful storm blow through Kauai last month. On April 14 we got over 2 feet of rain! The thunder was so strong it shook our windows! All of this rain caused flash flooding and mudslides. The north side of the island got the brunt of it. Hanalei was nearly under water, cars were washed away and homes were flooded. Kuhio highway was completely blocked by a huge landslide. Amazingly no one was killed or seriously injured.

The weather was either rainy or overcast for what seemed like forever. When the sun finally made an appearance we put our home renovations aside and headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day for a picnic.

Lydgate beach is a family favorite. Weeks after the storm the ponds are nearly unrecognizable. The area is littered with fallen trees and debris. It was sad to see it that way but, clean up has started and the baby pond is almost free of wood. Despite the lack of swimming, people have been making the best of it...we’ve seen some awesome structures built.

My husband grilled carne asada (beef) on our hibachi. Yummy tacos to celebrate a sunny day!

Thank you for reading my diary!

Aloha All!

Just in case you didn't get enough turkey at Thanksgiving, look what showed up at the Lihue Walmart...it's turkey Spam! Some of you know that we have a fondness for Spam but, I may have to draw the line here....

Aloha Friends!

So, we've been living here on Kauai just over a week. It still feels like a dream and I can't say that it's totally sunk in yet. It just seems amazing to me that we're actually living here.

This past week has been mostly spent trying to get organized in our little home, buying food and supplies and getting the kiddos enrolled in school. We're staying in our condo which is just under 650 square feet until we buy a home. It's cozy but, we're making it work. Nobody has flipped out and lost their aloha yet.

My husband is back to work. He works from home. His schedule is 5am to 1pm. He really likes the hours and doesn't mind waking up early. It's been great to have the rest of the day to enjoy together.

Yesterday we got to see my husband's cousins and auntie who are visiting from the Mainland. They timed their vacation perfectly. Any sooner and we would've missed them. We hung out at the beach for awhile then invited them to our house for pupus and dinner. Pupus (appetizers) was cut up papaya, poi and poke. We kept dinner super simple....ordered take out from L&L Hawaiian. We got chicken katsu and stir fried vegetables with tofu. It was delicious and an incredible value. We got enough food to generously feed 11 people for $45! And we have left overs!

The farmer's market  here on Kauai have a wonderful variety of fresh fruit and veggies at prices comparable and sometimes cheaper than what we used to pay in San Diego. One of our favorite venders has everything for $2 each. Basil, okra, papaya, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, water spinach and more. It's easy to eat healthy here.

Thanks for reading my diary!

Hola friends!

It's Cinco de Mayo! How about some poke tacos? This photo is from a trip to Kauai a couple years ago. Recipe is easy....

Poke from Foodland
Lettuce
Cilantro
Green onion
Wonton wrappers

Fry the wonton wrappers in a few inches of oil, use tongs to shape it into a taco shape. Add a few pieces of poke, lettuce, cilantro and green onion. Top with sriracha or your favorite hot sauce. Happy Cinco de Mayo homies!

 Aloha Friends!

Look what came in the mail today! My hubby's new lunch box! It's perfect for him. We do love Spam here. But, we try to be health conscious and buy the low sodium Spam. :)  With the exception of my favorite....teriyaki Spam.

The sides of the lunch box are covered in vintage ads. I love the "happy meat" and "how to create a Spam sandwich". Pretty silly stuff.

I can fill the lunch box with delicious recipes from my Spam cookbook!