May 21
As soon as it gets gorgeous out, the first thing you want to do is whip the cover off the grill and throw on some burgers and dogs. But what about after that? With a stretch of nice days its easy to run through your usual grilling repertoire and run out of ideas. So why don’t we do a little island-inspired grilled chicken? Pineapple Passion Fruit Glazed Chicken we first made during our trip to Kaua’i in February.
As you cross the bridge coming into Hanalei on the north shore of Kauai, the first thing you see is a wide swath of green taro fields, spread across the Hanalei Valley. Farmed by the Haraguchi family for five generations, the fields are situated on the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge which is home to a variety of endangered birds, including the Hawaiian nene and moorhens.
Taro, a root vegetable brought to Hawaii by Polynesians, was a primary starch in the traditional Hawaiian diet and continues to be a cultural touchstone. If your only association with taro is the poi you once had at a luau, a tour of the Ho’opulapula Haraguchi Rice Mill and Taro Farm will go a long way in giving you a new appreciation for this tuber.
Mar 12
Vacation is usually a chance to get away from it all and let someone else do the cooking. But on Kaua’i, the Garden Isle, that’s only half true for me. If I’ve only got a week, I want to soak up the sunshine, slurp down some saimin and savor the sweetness of pineapple, papaya and mango.
None of that requires a kitchen, but once you’ve been to one of the farmers markets on the island, you’ll want one. For our last two escapes to sunshine, we’ve stayed in a little vacation cottage steps away from the beach with a little deck and a hammock slung between two palms. And a kitchen.
Two days after being back from SF, I’m finally hungry again. When you’re trying to pack food experiences into a compressed amount of time, you’re never hungry for 3 meals, let alone afternoon snacks. But I persevered. California delivered a gorgeous week of sunshine, practically a heatwave for early October. Ahhh, vitamin D. And not only that, this past weekend happened to coincide with Fleet Week, the America’s Cup, a post-season Giants game, and a Niners game. But let’s start with an appetizer, shall we? The Ferry Building ended up being a home away from home of sorts, since it was so close to the hotel.
Summer vacation is a bit of misnomer if you live in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is when it’s finally sunny and beautiful here, so you want to stay home and soak it up, rather than leave it behind. The last couple of years we’ve kept our vacations close to home, exploring other parts of the Pacific Northwest, but we’ve taken them either too early or too late to get a strong dose of sunshine, but this year, we hit it just right.
We’re just back from a glorious week in Tofino, British Columbia, a little beach town on the edge of Vancouver Island near Pacific Rim National Park.
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