There's no recipe for lumpia in "Another Taste of Aloha' and I'm kicking myself because the book next to it was "A Taste of Aloha" (same authors) and I bet it was in that first one.
But here are some Hawaiian spins on foods we mainlanders cook. We eat prosciutto-wrapped asparagus...and they like -
Leeks and Ham
4 leeks, cleaned and blanched
4 slices Black Forest Ham
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Wrap each leek in ham, put them in a shallow dish, sprinkle the top with Parmesan and bake at 375 until the cheese crisps up - about 30 minutes.
Spinach Salad
1 lb. fresh spinach, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
3 bananas, sliced
1 lb. apples, cored and thin-sliced
10-12 fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 11-oz. cans of mandarin oranges, drained
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
Dressing
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teas. dry mustard
2/3 cup white vinegar
3 T onion juice
2 cups vegetable oil
3 T poppy seeds.
Mix, pour over salad and toss
Just in time for the Easter ham!
Hawaiian Sweet Potatoes
2 eggs
2 teas. vanilla
2 cups sweet potato, grated
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup flaked coconut
Preheat the oven to 325. Beat the eggs and vanilla together, add the other ingredients and mix well. Use a greased 10 x 7 x 2 in. baking dish and bake until the custard is set; about 35 - 45 minutes.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
$9.00
"The Far Side vol 4" by Gary Larson - $1 Going to keep it in the car for the times I get caught without a book and Richie's not back yet (to the car.)
"My Favorite Intermissions; Lives of the Musical Greats" by Victor Borge, born 1/3/1909; died 12/23/2000 age 90. He was a Danish musician and comic, known as the "Clown Prince of Denmark." Excerpt: "Every theatre is a lunatic asylum, but opera is the ward for incurables" said a friend of Franz Liszt. $2
"Another Taste of Aloha" collectively written by the Junior League of Honolulu $3 (Why have I never heard of the "Senior League" of some place? Hmmm....) I am hoping for a recipe for my beloved lumpia or Hawaiian-style egg rolls.
"A DSM-III-R Casebook of Treatment Selection" by Samuel Perry, MD, Allen Frances, MD and John Clarkin, PhD. Sample from the Contents page -- "Schizophrenia, Undifferentiated - The Case of the Square-Dancing Spiritualist." Each chapter describes a patient presenting with whatever symptom mentioned; various means of treatment, which treatment was used and outcome. Riveting, I can tell you. Just waiting for Richie to come back to the car from a quick errand, I've diagnosed my late Fa-in-Law and three friends! Whee! What fun! $3
All purchased at the Palos Verdes Library book sale.
"My Favorite Intermissions; Lives of the Musical Greats" by Victor Borge, born 1/3/1909; died 12/23/2000 age 90. He was a Danish musician and comic, known as the "Clown Prince of Denmark." Excerpt: "Every theatre is a lunatic asylum, but opera is the ward for incurables" said a friend of Franz Liszt. $2
"Another Taste of Aloha" collectively written by the Junior League of Honolulu $3 (Why have I never heard of the "Senior League" of some place? Hmmm....) I am hoping for a recipe for my beloved lumpia or Hawaiian-style egg rolls.
"A DSM-III-R Casebook of Treatment Selection" by Samuel Perry, MD, Allen Frances, MD and John Clarkin, PhD. Sample from the Contents page -- "Schizophrenia, Undifferentiated - The Case of the Square-Dancing Spiritualist." Each chapter describes a patient presenting with whatever symptom mentioned; various means of treatment, which treatment was used and outcome. Riveting, I can tell you. Just waiting for Richie to come back to the car from a quick errand, I've diagnosed my late Fa-in-Law and three friends! Whee! What fun! $3
All purchased at the Palos Verdes Library book sale.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A Terrifically Good Read
"The Book of Animal Ignorance" by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson Harmony Books 242 pages $19.95
This is an engaging series of short pieces on animals and their special peculiarities. The chapters are arranged alphabetically - "Aardvark, Ant Eater, Cane Toad" ending with the homely "Worm."
The albatross was fascinating. As soon as it's able to fly, it will stay in the air until it's ready to mate -- some 10 (ten) years later! They mate for life, developing a body language unique to only that couple. They raise only one egg every two years and parents take turns sitting on it or foraging for food.
Cats need to eat the quivalent of five mice per day. Even if they have access to a huge pile of food, they will eat only "one mice" at a time. When a cat exends its claws, its paws double in size. I would add that this goes along with an angry cat's appearance in general -- they puff up, extend all of their hair -- to look bigger and more formidable to the enemy.
Dogs evolved from wolves. Humans began keeping them 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. A dachshund's breed name comes from the German for badger - "dachs." Labs were bred to retrieve fishing nets in Newfoundland. Poodles were originally used for (drum roll) duck hunting! Poodle comes from the German word/phrase meaning "to splash in the water." Louise Doberman, a night watchman bred his namesake dogs for watchdog duty in the late 1800s. Toy-sized dogs were originally bred to be carried in the sleeves of Chinese noblewomen -- to keep them warm.
(Inside the frontispeace) Octopuses are dexterous enough to unscrew lids from jars. The bald eagle's feathers weigh twice as much as its bones.
The book is filled with entertaining details like this. The chapters are short - perhaps a page and half in most cases, with illustrations of special features. Memorize bits of this and you can dine out on the contents for months! Wonderful conversational tidbits.
This is an engaging series of short pieces on animals and their special peculiarities. The chapters are arranged alphabetically - "Aardvark, Ant Eater, Cane Toad" ending with the homely "Worm."
The albatross was fascinating. As soon as it's able to fly, it will stay in the air until it's ready to mate -- some 10 (ten) years later! They mate for life, developing a body language unique to only that couple. They raise only one egg every two years and parents take turns sitting on it or foraging for food.
Cats need to eat the quivalent of five mice per day. Even if they have access to a huge pile of food, they will eat only "one mice" at a time. When a cat exends its claws, its paws double in size. I would add that this goes along with an angry cat's appearance in general -- they puff up, extend all of their hair -- to look bigger and more formidable to the enemy.
Dogs evolved from wolves. Humans began keeping them 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. A dachshund's breed name comes from the German for badger - "dachs." Labs were bred to retrieve fishing nets in Newfoundland. Poodles were originally used for (drum roll) duck hunting! Poodle comes from the German word/phrase meaning "to splash in the water." Louise Doberman, a night watchman bred his namesake dogs for watchdog duty in the late 1800s. Toy-sized dogs were originally bred to be carried in the sleeves of Chinese noblewomen -- to keep them warm.
(Inside the frontispeace) Octopuses are dexterous enough to unscrew lids from jars. The bald eagle's feathers weigh twice as much as its bones.
The book is filled with entertaining details like this. The chapters are short - perhaps a page and half in most cases, with illustrations of special features. Memorize bits of this and you can dine out on the contents for months! Wonderful conversational tidbits.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Counting (Richie's) Chickens
He's become a good cook, quite possibly because he follows a recipe exactly. I swear if it called for "three grains of salt," he'd count them out. We had the Cordon Bleu last night.
POULET CORDON BLEU (serves four; he halved it for us)
4 chicken breasts, split and pounded out
black pepper to taste
4 teas. Dijon mustard
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 slices prosccciutto or ham (he used Black Forest)
1 cup bread crumbs
"Butter" each breast with mustard, add a slice of cheese then a slice of ham. Roll it up as best you can and tooth pick it shut. Dredge in flour, then beaten egg and finally the bread crumbs. Bake in a dish lined with parchment paper for 35 - 45 minutes.
Sauce
1/2 cup dry, white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 T flour
1 T butter
1 cup cold milk
Heat the wine in a sauce pan, reducing it by half. Add the chicken broth, bring it back to a boil and then simmer it. Keep warm until ready to add.
In another sauce pan, make a roux by melting butter over medium heat until bubbly. Whisk in the flour and continue to whisk for 8 - 10 minutes. Add the cold milk and whisk it in completely, add the wine sauce and add a dash of pepper. Plate the chicken and top it with the sauce.
CHICKEN PICCATA (Serves 4)
4 split, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs.
2 T olive oil
Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Pound out chicken to 1/4 in. thick.
Mix the flour and a pinch of pepper on a plate. On a second plate, beaten eggs plus 1 T water. The third plate has the bread crumbs. Dredge each breast in flour, then egg and finally bread crumbs. Heat 2 T olive oil and saute chicken until browned - about two minutes per side. Put the breasts on the cookie sheet and bake 5 - 10 minutes.
Sauce
3 T sweet butter at room temperature
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Melt 1 T butter, then add the lemon juice, white wine and pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced by half; about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add 2 T butter and stir well. Sauce the chickens and serve.
POULET CORDON BLEU (serves four; he halved it for us)
4 chicken breasts, split and pounded out
black pepper to taste
4 teas. Dijon mustard
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 slices prosccciutto or ham (he used Black Forest)
1 cup bread crumbs
"Butter" each breast with mustard, add a slice of cheese then a slice of ham. Roll it up as best you can and tooth pick it shut. Dredge in flour, then beaten egg and finally the bread crumbs. Bake in a dish lined with parchment paper for 35 - 45 minutes.
Sauce
1/2 cup dry, white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 T flour
1 T butter
1 cup cold milk
Heat the wine in a sauce pan, reducing it by half. Add the chicken broth, bring it back to a boil and then simmer it. Keep warm until ready to add.
In another sauce pan, make a roux by melting butter over medium heat until bubbly. Whisk in the flour and continue to whisk for 8 - 10 minutes. Add the cold milk and whisk it in completely, add the wine sauce and add a dash of pepper. Plate the chicken and top it with the sauce.
CHICKEN PICCATA (Serves 4)
4 split, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs.
2 T olive oil
Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Pound out chicken to 1/4 in. thick.
Mix the flour and a pinch of pepper on a plate. On a second plate, beaten eggs plus 1 T water. The third plate has the bread crumbs. Dredge each breast in flour, then egg and finally bread crumbs. Heat 2 T olive oil and saute chicken until browned - about two minutes per side. Put the breasts on the cookie sheet and bake 5 - 10 minutes.
Sauce
3 T sweet butter at room temperature
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Melt 1 T butter, then add the lemon juice, white wine and pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced by half; about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add 2 T butter and stir well. Sauce the chickens and serve.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Among the Uppah Clawsses, Dahlings
(Despite the fact that we are Full Metal Jacket Middle Class. Thought that should be noted.)
Richie surprised me today with lunch out. We'd finished running errands, but instead of heading north and home, he went south to Riviera Village. For non-residents, Riviera Village is the south end of Redondo Beach and could be considered our Beverly Hills. Tiny boutiques (they change frequently)several brew-pub restos, a Trader Joe's, a card shop, a couple of office buildings and so forth.
Yellow Vase Flowers - Cafe - Bakery, 1805 S. Catalina, Redondo Beach, 90277
yellow-vase.com/bakery
The building is a rectangle with a patio running down one of the long sides. First in your face is a flower shop, followed by a small cafe tucked behind that and presumably the kitchen and bakery are behind that.
The Yellow Vase sells flowers, wedding cakes (round or square,) has a glass display case of hand-made chocolates, another of desserts -- dessert bars in cherry, apple or lemon, pastel-tinted meringues and it serves actual food -- salads, crepes, paninni and one lone pizza (margarita.) You enter, look at the menu, order and pay for your food, are given a numbered plaque for your table and you go sit down -- inside or on the patio.
Richie ordered the ham melt -- Black Forest ham, Brie, capers and Dijon mustard. It looked like a rather smallish sandwich to me, but it came with a huge salad -- arugula, radiccio, etc. I had the Parisian salad -- romaine lettuce with dried cranberries, candied walnuts, red onion, shallots with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side, please. It was quite good. We agreed that the food was okay nothing wrong with it, but what made the place outstanding was the clientele.
It was mostly women, the Ladies Who Lunch plus real estate saleswomen (eager eyes trolling the rest of us) and the dilettantes -- one woman was wearing tennis clothing! I haven't seen a grown woman in tennis whites since 1982! (when I lived in the real Beverly Hills.) It was all hilarious to us. Normally a large group of women would be so shrill that bats would flee them, but the music system -- harps, flutes - was so loud we never heard their gasps of appreciation, sneers at lesser mortals or (sadly) any riveting gossip.
So, if white-gloved Auntie comes to town or racquet-wielding Betsy, this is the place to take them. Let their husbands go to the brew pub across the street. They can sit by us.
Richie surprised me today with lunch out. We'd finished running errands, but instead of heading north and home, he went south to Riviera Village. For non-residents, Riviera Village is the south end of Redondo Beach and could be considered our Beverly Hills. Tiny boutiques (they change frequently)several brew-pub restos, a Trader Joe's, a card shop, a couple of office buildings and so forth.
Yellow Vase Flowers - Cafe - Bakery, 1805 S. Catalina, Redondo Beach, 90277
yellow-vase.com/bakery
The building is a rectangle with a patio running down one of the long sides. First in your face is a flower shop, followed by a small cafe tucked behind that and presumably the kitchen and bakery are behind that.
The Yellow Vase sells flowers, wedding cakes (round or square,) has a glass display case of hand-made chocolates, another of desserts -- dessert bars in cherry, apple or lemon, pastel-tinted meringues and it serves actual food -- salads, crepes, paninni and one lone pizza (margarita.) You enter, look at the menu, order and pay for your food, are given a numbered plaque for your table and you go sit down -- inside or on the patio.
Richie ordered the ham melt -- Black Forest ham, Brie, capers and Dijon mustard. It looked like a rather smallish sandwich to me, but it came with a huge salad -- arugula, radiccio, etc. I had the Parisian salad -- romaine lettuce with dried cranberries, candied walnuts, red onion, shallots with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side, please. It was quite good. We agreed that the food was okay nothing wrong with it, but what made the place outstanding was the clientele.
It was mostly women, the Ladies Who Lunch plus real estate saleswomen (eager eyes trolling the rest of us) and the dilettantes -- one woman was wearing tennis clothing! I haven't seen a grown woman in tennis whites since 1982! (when I lived in the real Beverly Hills.) It was all hilarious to us. Normally a large group of women would be so shrill that bats would flee them, but the music system -- harps, flutes - was so loud we never heard their gasps of appreciation, sneers at lesser mortals or (sadly) any riveting gossip.
So, if white-gloved Auntie comes to town or racquet-wielding Betsy, this is the place to take them. Let their husbands go to the brew pub across the street. They can sit by us.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mondays. (Sigh.)
Resumption of the heavy load. So let's have some fun! 'Impossible!" you snort, but consider these ...
Toothpaste
The CIA is said to use poison toothpaste to take out dictators (such as Belgian Congo's Patrice Lumumba.) Larry Devlin, the agent issued it, said he didn't use it.
If you're going camping, be advised that bears can't differentiate between food and toothpaste, so include it in the food you hang high above the ground.
It's said that 72 per cent of Americans squeeze toothpaste from the top of the tube. I'm one of them so Richie took it upon himself to put a clothespin across the base of my tube to encourage me to change my errant and evil ways.
Vegetable Shortening or Crisco
Waterproof your baby! Cover the entire heinie in Crisco!
To make white clown make-up for Halloween or for just generally terrorizing the neighbors (wear it with no explanation) mix two tablespoons of corn starch with one tablespoon of vegetable shortening.
Although Crisco, for example, appears solid it's actually more than 80% oil suspended in a lattice of fat solids similar to honey in a honey comb. Ladies, think "cellulite."
Jell-O
Show your kids how plants grow beneath the earth's surface -- plant some seeds in Jell-O and watch them grow. (Frankly this doesn't sound possible to me ... dirt is one thing; Jell-O is quite another.)
Style your hair on the cheap! Forget expensive potions. 1 teaspoon Jell-O dissolved in a cup of warm water and applied to your hair.
Wrestle in Jell-0! (Admit it -- you've always wanted to ...) Pour 2,347 boxes (no more, no less) into an 8 ft. square, padded box, add boiling water and chill for two days.
Mark Your Calendar! April Fool's Day, Eugene, OR At the Maude Kerns Art Gallery -- "Jell-0-Rama" where local artists use it as their medium. Painting, sculpture (if a little wobbly) and so forth.
Special thanks to Editor Tony.
Toothpaste
The CIA is said to use poison toothpaste to take out dictators (such as Belgian Congo's Patrice Lumumba.) Larry Devlin, the agent issued it, said he didn't use it.
If you're going camping, be advised that bears can't differentiate between food and toothpaste, so include it in the food you hang high above the ground.
It's said that 72 per cent of Americans squeeze toothpaste from the top of the tube. I'm one of them so Richie took it upon himself to put a clothespin across the base of my tube to encourage me to change my errant and evil ways.
Vegetable Shortening or Crisco
Waterproof your baby! Cover the entire heinie in Crisco!
To make white clown make-up for Halloween or for just generally terrorizing the neighbors (wear it with no explanation) mix two tablespoons of corn starch with one tablespoon of vegetable shortening.
Although Crisco, for example, appears solid it's actually more than 80% oil suspended in a lattice of fat solids similar to honey in a honey comb. Ladies, think "cellulite."
Jell-O
Show your kids how plants grow beneath the earth's surface -- plant some seeds in Jell-O and watch them grow. (Frankly this doesn't sound possible to me ... dirt is one thing; Jell-O is quite another.)
Style your hair on the cheap! Forget expensive potions. 1 teaspoon Jell-O dissolved in a cup of warm water and applied to your hair.
Wrestle in Jell-0! (Admit it -- you've always wanted to ...) Pour 2,347 boxes (no more, no less) into an 8 ft. square, padded box, add boiling water and chill for two days.
Mark Your Calendar! April Fool's Day, Eugene, OR At the Maude Kerns Art Gallery -- "Jell-0-Rama" where local artists use it as their medium. Painting, sculpture (if a little wobbly) and so forth.
Special thanks to Editor Tony.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Naming The House
It doesn't seem to be the thing these days -- to give your house a name (and use it on your personal stationery, also a disappeared item. I can remember when a proper bridal gift was a box of engraved, monogrammed notes and envelopes meant for "thank you" missives.)
This custom started in Europe and crossed the Atlantic to the East Coast. In my mind's eye, I can see an example -- the great, looming stone "Condre Hall" in Huntington, NY. It has vast terraces on two sides of the massive house and with little trouble at all, I can "see" F. Scott Fitzgerald flappers and smooth guys, draped languidly on chaises, sipping cocktails. The north shore of Long Island is studded with these types of place. One sheik used to have himself choppered into The City weekdays. Wonder if he named his "Dubai West"?
In the Midwest (and I'm thinking specifically of Kansas City, MO) there is a long downward-sweeping avenue with great mansions on either side of it. The Kansas City Art Institute is situated in one, I believe.
Out here about all we have is "PickFair," the old Mary Pickford estate which has changed hands many times since the '20s. The Doheny Mansion (oil wells) is now a catered wedding/event site. It's quite elegant, but they don't allow use of the mansion's toilets; one has to go up a flight of stairs, traipse back up a path, across a parking lot ...not hospitable at all.
Texans always seem to name their ranches -- Possum Hollow comes to mind -- and my cousin's place is a good example. He, wife and little girl live in Corpus, but outside of Mathis, they have a working ranch with an official-sized roping arena! Complete to tiered stands and stadium lights. They use it for charity roping contests (and draw some of the biggest names in rodeo to them, too.)
If we ever won the lottery (insert hollow laugh here) and bought a place high up on Palos Verdes Peninsula, I know what I would name it. "Vue de Dieu" (God's View) because it very nearly is (not being blasphemous; it's like being in a low-flying airplane up there.)
However, here where we actually do live (36 in. between houses) I would have to lower my expectations considerably. "Warthog House" ("My dear, she looks exactly like one!") or perhaps "Lower Masses Containment"? But, not having any engraved, monogrammed stationery, it doesn't really matter ...
This custom started in Europe and crossed the Atlantic to the East Coast. In my mind's eye, I can see an example -- the great, looming stone "Condre Hall" in Huntington, NY. It has vast terraces on two sides of the massive house and with little trouble at all, I can "see" F. Scott Fitzgerald flappers and smooth guys, draped languidly on chaises, sipping cocktails. The north shore of Long Island is studded with these types of place. One sheik used to have himself choppered into The City weekdays. Wonder if he named his "Dubai West"?
In the Midwest (and I'm thinking specifically of Kansas City, MO) there is a long downward-sweeping avenue with great mansions on either side of it. The Kansas City Art Institute is situated in one, I believe.
Out here about all we have is "PickFair," the old Mary Pickford estate which has changed hands many times since the '20s. The Doheny Mansion (oil wells) is now a catered wedding/event site. It's quite elegant, but they don't allow use of the mansion's toilets; one has to go up a flight of stairs, traipse back up a path, across a parking lot ...not hospitable at all.
Texans always seem to name their ranches -- Possum Hollow comes to mind -- and my cousin's place is a good example. He, wife and little girl live in Corpus, but outside of Mathis, they have a working ranch with an official-sized roping arena! Complete to tiered stands and stadium lights. They use it for charity roping contests (and draw some of the biggest names in rodeo to them, too.)
If we ever won the lottery (insert hollow laugh here) and bought a place high up on Palos Verdes Peninsula, I know what I would name it. "Vue de Dieu" (God's View) because it very nearly is (not being blasphemous; it's like being in a low-flying airplane up there.)
However, here where we actually do live (36 in. between houses) I would have to lower my expectations considerably. "Warthog House" ("My dear, she looks exactly like one!") or perhaps "Lower Masses Containment"? But, not having any engraved, monogrammed stationery, it doesn't really matter ...
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