Swigs and Grinds

Brand New Shiny Website

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 19:36:00 +0000

Finally.

All of the plates I am spinning (literally),

Are now under one roof.

And by roof, I mean website

It still needs some tinkering,

but head over there to see what's been cookin'!

Cheers!

www.swigsandgrinds.com

Happy Anniversary to Us

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 21:59:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, on the 9th of September, I got a Facebook notification telling me that exactly 7 years ago, I posted my very first Swigs and Grinds article.
It wasn't an article so much as a proclamation to an invisible, unknown to me, blog-world to which I was gingerly cracking open the door and awkwardly stepping into it's room.
My credentials were:
"I'm not sure why I am starting a blog, other than I love to eat, I like to write, and I need an outlet. Plus, I seem to get myself into situations that my friends seem to think will entertain the masses.
I'm not so sure about that."
And that was that.
I had started a blog. That first post was titled,
"Will Work For Food".
I never would have guessed where that motto would take me over the next seven years, but in the immediate future it took me to my next post...

"The almighty Ingredient" wasn't that much more exciting, but I did name myself as an 'ingredient girl", which I still stand behind.

Lemon Rosemary Cocktail

I'm not surprised that my first "recipe" such as it is, was for a "Whacky Lemon Rosemary Cocktail". A damn good one at that.
Well, the cocktail was damn good, the recipe itself went:
"So the key is making the syrup in advance and letting it cool. So make it at some weird time when you're hangin' in the kitchen, or when you're making your coffee or whatever, then it will be ready to roll when it's cocktail time."
Haha what more do you need to know? I was never professing to be an expert, just someone with an eat-drink-and-be-merry-motto.

Savory Tart

Next was another not-so-recipe recipe called "What a Tart!", where the only real valuable instructions I provided was to

"Embrace your inner tart and go for it!"

And the best part was a quote from James Beard,

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch".

That first month in September 2009, I posted 16 articles. The next month, my all time high of 20! I was on fire with ideas and my appetite was raging. I also worked from home during that time and usually cooked three meals a day for myself, my three young children or for friends and family.

Book Lust

Eggplant Parmesan - A Love story...

Harissa

Orzo

Crazy Chocolate Cake

Fresh Pasta

Stories of Salt and Pepper

Herbs make all the difference

Rice addiction

Discovering Breadfruit

Eau De Summer

Hello giant piece of sugar cane

Escapism in Chinatown

I wrote about escape-ism in Chinatown, my book lust and the discovery of an amazing bookstore, giving and getting second chances with eggplant, and in life in general, as well as Eggplant Parmesan - A Love Story. I waxed somewhat poetically, on and on about Harissa, orzo, crazy chocolate cake, fresh pasta, secret ingredients, salt and pepper, herbs, rice, breadfruit, eau de summer, and 8-ft. pieces of sugar cane.

Lilikoi Cheesecake

I posted the secret recipe for my sister's coveted lilikoi cheesecake, which she begrudgingly divulged to me, along with my own recipes-slash-adventures-in such incarnations of brie and grape quesadillas, fingerling potatoes, falafel, pear and gorgonzola salad, roasted garlic, (again from "recipes" such as they are, that inform you that: 'If you haven't been practicing this move, you really, really need it! It couldn't be simpler. Just lop off the top of a couple of heads of garlic, pour on a little olive oil and some salt and pepper. Wrap the whole thing in some tinfoil and toss it in the oven. Leave it there until the smell starts making you're brain want to be slathered in it.'...
Truly expert advice.
No, really.

Brie and Grape Quesadilla

Fingerling Potatoes. Because they're cute.

Falafal

Pear and Gorgonzola Salad

Roasted Garlic

We talked about comfort food, and I asked, "So how about comfort foods? When is the last time one wrapped you in it's arms? And why do they comfort you so?".

Comfort Food

We also talked about having swanky breakfasts and outrageously fabulous sandwiches, I begged you to see the movie, "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs"and we publicly began the conversation which has now defined my culinary point of view: "sexy food".

Swanky Breakfast

Outrageously fabulous sandwich: Exhibit A

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Sexy Food!

I chewed on through the first couple of years as we shared meals consisting of poached pears, where you could find some encouragement to "see what you have in the creamy department. I had some plain yogurt and some goat cheese that I whirled into a food processor with some vanilla, sugar, lemon thyme, and some ground up walnuts. (I think that was all, but who knows)...
Serve with the warm pears and you will look like some kind of freaky chef-ish type, but really, you just worked with what you had and were willing to part with and came up with a comforting, warm, simple dessert! Go for it...", (my mystery basket skills go way back!).

There were also recipes for

potatoes confit, sausage meatballs, Morroccan chicken stew, and Mamala's cranberries, where I caution you that "If you're saying to yourself that you're not such a fan, you may want to rethink that after you try this. This is not your aunties gelatinous stuff slithering out of a can", no, this is MY mama's recipe and it rocks, and as a bonus, I also gave you her famous B.J's Baked Beans recipe. There's a baked brie, where you can use said cranberries, Asian Chicken Cabbage Rolls, Bruschetta and Stuffed Dates.

Potatoes Confit

Sausage Meatballs

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Mamala's Cranberries

Baked Brie

B.J.'s Famous Baked Beans

There were also plenty of wines that I was just discovering, mostly because they had awesome names like Bitch, Plungerhead, Molly Dooker, the Ballbuster and 7 Deadly Zins, until wine started to arrive at my doorstep for me to sample and write about, which was obviously very very exciting.

Ahh but what's in a name? Everything....

Plungerhead

Molly Dooker

The Ball Buster

7 Deadly Zins

That time when wine started to arrive at my doorstep...

And of course there's been plenty of cocktails like Soul de Cuba's Mojito, and my own renditions of a Lychee Martini, Watermelon Cocktail, Bloody Mary, Limoncello, Infused Vodka, Ginger Martini, Shave Ice Cocktail, an ad-lib recipe called "Ginger Peach Martini - The Saga... and one that became a very popular Swigs and Grinds photograph of a very sexy Ginger-Grape Cocktail.

Mojito

Lychee Martini

Ginger Peach Martini

When life gives you lemons... make limoncello

Infused Vodka

Watermelon Cocktail

Bloody Mary

Shave Ice Cocktail

Ginger Grape Cocktail

In the beginning of 2010 I decided to conduct some food surveys of sorts to as many different demographics as I could wrangle. I interviewed Kids, Mountain Bikers, and Moms; and I sadly just realized that my interviews with Business Professionals, Singles, Restaurant People, and Swanky Artists somehow only got saved as drafts and I can't figure out how to publish them now and keep them in sequence. Sigh.... just know that it was fascinating stuff.

Because who doesn't wonder what mountain bikers eat?

There was my bread dough phase, where I was freakishly determined to master the alchemy of yeast, flour and sugar. I shared my first success as well as my Dough Mishaps, and as I gained a little bread making confidence,
there were recipes for Naan Bread, Pecan Raisin Bread, Pretzels, Pita Bread, Midnight Bread, Flour Tortillas and finally Pizza Dough - which I now make several times a week professionally, but that story comes later...

Bread addiction

Dough mishaps: what to do when you screw up the dough...

Focaccia

Pecan Raisin Bread

Pretzels

Pita Bread

Making bread at midnight...

Those first couple of years I was cooking and eating like a maniac and dragging my readers, few as they were, along for the ride with more recipes for Melty Chocolate Cake and Chewy Chocolate Cookies,

Melty Chocolate Cake

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Sexy Pear Tart

Bacon and Egg Sandwiches, Chicken Pot Pie, a Pastrami Invention, Lasagna Lunches, Corn and Potato Chowder, Artichokes, Berry Custard Cups, Caramelized Tomato and Onion Tart, Roasted Beet Salad, Fondu, Indian Spiced Chicken, Creamy Rosemary Potato Soup, Pork Roast w/ Caramelized Onions, Pear Tarts, Savory Crepes, a gnocchi recipe with confessions of several previous failures, and my Brussels Sprout recipe that has converted many a hater over the years, (and also almost caught my house on fire)...

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Bacon and Egg Sandwiches

Chicken Pot Pie

Pretty sure I invented the Reuben Calzone...

Lasagna Lunches

Corn and Potato Chowder

The Art of the Artichoke

Berry Custard Cups

Carmelized Onion Tart

Roasted Beet Salad

Christmas Fondu

Indian Spiced Chicken

Rosemary Potato Soup

Savory Crepes

FINALLY, successful gnocchi

Writing this blog over the last seven years has been so much fun for so many creative reasons, even during the creative famines where I was apologizing for abandoning my post(s) - (literally), promising to post more in the new year, waiting for my muse to return, or seeking that muse on a sunday morning in bed with some food porn and the realization that "when I am in this space, it shows up and inevitably leads me to beautiful images, words, thought, and then takes me by the hand and leads me into the kitchen, pours us both a cocktail and watches me do my thing."

Luring the children outside to play

It's also been a bit of a time capsule for my life, seen through the eyes of food and drink.
My kids have grown up in the span of these seven years, but they are chronicled by such a Perfect Thing as my joy in watching them eat something they love, while Strange Things Invade My Kitchen - thanks to my mother, or while I become my own mother and tell them to Go Outside and Play, and get their Hands Dirty from bbq sauce at the beach.
There's stories of my mother and of my own childhood sprinkled throughout, and are expressed in memories of Mother's Day and food fights, as well as new traditions I had begun like Sunday Dinners.

Get your hands dirty!

Sunday Dinners with Family

From a story about my mama

There was the helplessness of feeding someone who is in mourning and the beauty in realizing "When there are no words that need to be said, a simple bowl of scrambled eggs, or a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, or even a coffee cup full of Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream can begin the process of healing an un-healable wound. The mind must shift to taste and texture, making room around the pain and welcoming the true meaning of "comfort food".

Once again, I am grateful for the role of food. As distraction, comfort, and nurturing - to fill the pockets of grief that words, embraces & even love can't reach. And I am also grateful for swigs.
For something that can be lifted in salute to the fallen, in remembrance."

I have in the "pages" of this blog, my list of Perfect Things, and further appreciation for things like my dishes, coffee, Lucky Peach, Picky Food, Bacon Jam and Sam the Cooking Guy,

My List of Perfect Things

Dishes for days...

COFFEEEEE

Best. Magazine. Ever

Introducing: "Picky Food"

Bacon Jam. Click on the link and make this NOW

Sam the Cooking Guy

along with some of the places I have loved, like Brasserie Du Vin, Shogunai Tacos, Le Crepe Cafe, the Hawaiian Shochu Co., Lucky Belly, Scratch Kitchen and Bake Shop, the K.C.C. Farmers Market, Hale Maluhia

Oysters from Brasserie Du Vin

My boys from Shogunai Tacos

Le Crepe Cafe

Learning from the masters at Hawaiian Shochu Co.

Lucky Belly, I love you

Chef Brian making things pretty at Scratch Kitchen and Bake Shop

Scenes from the K.C.C. Farmers Market

and of course, the best of all...

My Italy adventure... Where first I had to introduce you to a verb I created called Dickwolfing before I could tell you about Having This Dream, learning to say I Love Your Face in Italian, having a Strawberry Epiphany, and advice on what to do when your Friend Has a Winery in Tuscany.

March in NYC

Mi Piace la tua facia

My favorite faces of Italy

While having a Strawberry Epiphany

Terasole Winery, Tuscany

The Good Stuff

A beautiful dinner with a beautiful family. Unforgettable...

Campo di Fiore = my mind BLOWN

MEEEEEEAT

The day I fell in love with Pisa

Castle Rooftop Shenanigans

And let's not forget about what finding the crapier side of Livorno taught me. Oh Italy..... I still have stories upon stories still to tell of that trip of a lifetime.

I have learned to Be Careful What You Ask For, as I was handed the keys to my own little cafe and began my unplanned adventure of the last three years as a chef.

Which brings us to today. My posts have gotten further apart, I sleep less and work more. I no longer cook three meals a day at home or even entertain at home much, in fact my home fridge contains more take out containers than actual ingredients and my own meals are usually wolfed over a trash can or nibbled on between kitchen tasks instead of being eaten or sipped in the garden. I am more involved in food than I ever have been and much of my time is spent planning catering menus or four course wine pairing menus, doing mountains of dishes, and practically living at Costco. But it's pretty cool.

The Real Food Cafe's Monster Brownies

Special of the Day: Enchiladas

From the days of making endless trays of baklava

It's all about our famous pizza though...

It's true and I've met some of the best....

My cafe is in a residential building in downtown Honolulu. Customers become friends and pop in through the back door throughout my day to bring me a cocktail or to have some kitchen scraps and talk story. My children are learning to work and serve and cook, and the crazy memories and experiences that I have collected as a result of ALL of this is the most beautiful reminder which is found in my logo, and which I wrote on that first day as a blogger seven years ago, "When your motto is 'will work for food', who knows what adventures may come. Really when you boil it down, aren't we all just working for food? In the pursuit to obey the eat-drink-and-be-merry advice of old, there is plenty to laugh at and chew on along the way."

And ain't that the truth.

Happy 7th Swigs-and-Grinds-a-Versary!!!!!!!

So here on this seventh Swigs-and-Grinds-a-Versary, I want to say how truly grateful I am to see life unfold through the mess of food and the revelry of drink and I am blessed beyond belief to have been able to connect with readers, friends and family through the powerful connection of Swigs and Grinds.

So if you're reading this, could ya do me a solid and leave me a comment? Tell me how you found Swigs and Grinds, or how I know you, or what you connect with in these stories and through food and drink itself. Please. Pretty please. And thank you.
Thank you and cheers to where this will take us next....

P.S. You can click on the links for recipes, stories and more.

The Crappier Side of Things

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 02:58:00 +0000

Have you ever been in the middle of an amazing experience; a job, a vacation, a relationship, and you're so blissed out in seeing the beauty or the adventure and the wonder of it all that you are caught a little off guard when you round the corner into the crappier side of things?

Because all things do have that crappier side.

The dream job makes us want to go postal at times.

The best relationship has it's heartbreaking realities.

Even a dream trip to Italy contains places that are like a beehive of pissy college kids on mopeds, ugly graffiti on not so pretty buildings, grouchy Italian woman leading around lecherous old men, and strange little run down businesses.

Livorno, Italy 2015

I realize I sound like Negative Nancy here, but what I'm really trying to say is: I have been blessed to see the crappier side of all of these things in the last year.

And I can also say, I have gained the wisdom and the experience to see the beauty in the crappier side of things.

I might even say, that it is the crappy side that really allows us to see the magic in the way these things unfold exactly as they should.

I've learned that while the dream job isn't always fulfilling and instead can be an exhausting grind, it is also the perfect step on a path of unlimited potential.

And when I love it, it loves me back.

I've learned that the most fun, adventurous relationship isn't always meant to be long term. And with that realization comes the freedom to embrace a new chapter of life and focus on ME, and that that is the blessing in change.

And in a country that captured my heart before I ever even arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the crappier side in Livorno, Italy.

Livorno Coast, 2015

I had wandered through countless jaw dropping settings during my time in Italy. Places that don't even seem real. Places that rendered me speechless.

And then I stumbled into the city of Livorno.

After bumbling our way through the port area, feeling like we could be in a shipping yard in Oakland, we steered our little Mini Cooper onto a multi lane, cobblestone street which instantly filled with hundreds of kids on scooters, flowing out of a nearby school. Laughter-honking-yelling-Italian buzzing engulfed us from the streets.

We weren't sure where we were going or what we were looking for, so we rode the wave of humanity and ended up at the edge of the ocean, got a cocktail in a crappy little bar, and sat outside in the crisp winter sunshine and laughed at the fact that yes, even my beloved Italy has a crappy side.

And I have to confess, it was almost a relief to find it.

It made the fantasy even more rich and TRUE.

Livorno, Italy 2015

But let's be real, it's still Italy.

And I was still in love with it.

The same way that the times when I don't want to be at work, I realize that I have a great gig and something always happens to remind me of why I love it.

The same way that despite the relationship of a lifetime changing and coming to an end, I will always have love for it.

And in that sunny afternoon in Livorno lives a metaphor:

Even during the crappy times, some food and drink at the edge of the ocean, seeing the beauty through the not so pretty stuff is really what it's all about.

Picnic in Livorno, Italy 2015

Scratch Kitchen and Bake Shop, How our Neighborhood Feeds our Souls

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 22:44:00 +0000

Even though, for the last decade or so, I have lived 20 miles from downtown Honolulu, I have had a small business in Chinatown during these years. Although it hasn't been where I've lived, it's my neighborhood. The other business owners and customers I have met over the years have become family, lovers, friends. When one of our beloved shops or restaurants closes or moves locations, we grieve like one of our dear friends has left us. When a new place opens up, we all buzz about it and do what we can to cross promote our fellow entrepreneurs. We have watched our comrades move up in their careers and grow and expand, and we have seen places come and go, while people's lives weave in and out of our own, and we have watched as our neighborhood has evolved to what it is today.

Some of us have had several incarnations in the neighborhood and during all of our ups and downs, celebratory meals, drinks to drown our sorrows or to sow our oats, or shopping sprees after our own big sales, we turn to one of our neighboring shops, bars or restaurants where we enjoy our own moments in life, and where they enjoy them along with us.

I have been working on a series of articles for Hawaii Aloha Travel, as their food blogger, focusing first on my favorite neighborhood: Chinatown. I started with an article about Lucky Belly, easily promoting my favorite eats and drinks from their menu, but maybe even more importantly talking about the connection between food, drink, and all of the best and toughest times in our lives.

My next article was on Scratch Kitchen and Bake Shop, another of my very favorites. As I wrote the article I had my usual sentimental feelings about my neighborhood. Of course I wrote about their amazing food and drinks, but what I really love about the story is that it is a success story of one of our own. Brian Chan has family food history. His family owns Little Village, as well as Epic, where Brian was the chef and part owner until he opened up his own little Chinatown baby one year ago: Scratch Kitchen and Bakeshop, located at 1030 Smith Street, Honolulu.

Chef Brian garnishes his beautiful Pound Cake French Toast dish

When they opened, we were all abuzz. A great breakfast place in the neighborhood?! AND they are open on Sundays when Chinatown turns into a bit of a culinary ghost town? Finally!! With creative, sexy food and booze for breakfast?!

BLT Benny

Chilaquiles

Pound Cake French Toast

Obviously we became regulars for all of those reasons alone, but what I realized while digging into my favorite BLT Benny, navigating the awesome Chilaquiles, and beholding the art of their Pound Cake French Toast, and eyeballing my other favorite on the menu - the Big Island Beef Burger at the next table over, was this:

The food rocks my world, but it's these PLACES, and the people that work there that feed my soul. Talking story with Brian as he sends over shots of Jameson (yes, it's breakfast, don't judge), getting a smooch on the cheek from friends and my own employee who also works there, remembering all the different meals and who we shared them with and what was happening in our lives as we sat at the tables or bellied up to the counter...THIS is what feeds our souls, and why we come back again and again, and why we love this neighborhood of ours.

And so cheers to YOU Chinatown and all of your inhabitants, residents and business owners. I'm savoring my role of eating, drinking, and spreading the word about each of you, don't worry, I'm coming for you next....

Do you have Chinatown connection stories? I would love to hear them!

A Lucky Belly Connection

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 19:01:00 +0000

Lucky Belly in Chinatown - Honolulu, Hawaii

Connection.

It's a theme I have been giving attention to in my life. It's one of my favorite things in the world, and maybe even THE most important thing in my world. When I was a portrait photographer, I began to see the beauty and the purpose in connecting with other people. I learned that capturing a good photograph happens by making a connection to the subject and capturing that moment.

I heard mothers tell me that if there were a fire in their home the two things they would grab on the way out would be their hard drive and the photos I took of their children.

That is a pretty beautiful connection.

When I began to make mixed media art and furnishings, I saw it again. And I learned that

it is way more purposeful to work at something that I am connected to because it attracts people who will love and appreciate it and find their own connection to something that I have created.

And that's a really cool connection too.

When I started to photograph and write about food I didn't expect to find that same connection with a subject I could EAT after photographing it, but guess what?

I remembered how much connection there is that happens around food.

We all have endless memories centered around meals and family gatherings. The connections that happen between teaching children to eat, meals with girlfriends, date nights, cooking at home for someone, weddings, funerals, sad days, or happy days alone.

Connecting with someone who feeds you, or someone you have fed, or someone you share a meal with, holds much of the magical stuff of life: the connection we crave and seek and discover and share.

The connection we find over food and drink and adventure.

Sometimes the desire to fly away and experience these things in a far away place is incredibly strong, and sometimes when that happens, a whole new world opens up and the experience is life changing. Sometimes that same connection can happen at the kitchen table, or at that cool little place down the street over a drink and something great to eat.

I am beyond lucky to live in Hawaii, a place where people save money their whole lives in order to come visit. I am fortunate to be able to work with food in a place that is bursting with new and creative places to savor those connections and I am lucky enough to be right in the middle of Chinatown, where there is a literal buzz on the streets with all of the new and exciting places that have come to the neighborhood.

I opened up my photography studio in Chinatown, right across from the historic Hawaii Theatre in 2005. At that time, much of the neighborhood's shops were covered in papered windows, empty and waiting for the area's revitalization to be realized.

Over the years, the neighborhood has blossomed with fresh new places to eat and drink, blending in with the places that have been around for decades and standing arm and arm with the ever present crazy side of Chinatown.

Chinatown has always been the seedier side of Downtown.
And honestly, this is why we love it. It's on the edge, but just enough to make it unpretentious, artsy, and a mecca for creative culture.

Since the 1800's when sailors first began to use the harbor for shipping and docking large vessels, which also meant the arrival of sailors and harbor workers to the area, offering migrant plantation workers the opportunity to settle in the area and open up shops and bars, Chinatown has had a rich history and made way for it's colorful inhabitants today.

And as for connection, the business owners in the area have an almost familial connection, and for the people that visit these merchants, it is easy to feel the connection to them and their product.

I recently sat down with Dusty Grable, co-owner of Lucky Belly, located on Hotel Street and was not surprised that our conversation centered around this very thing. The connection that happens through food and drink.


Lucky Belly

Dusty opened Lucky Belly nearly three years ago, along with co-owners Jesse Cruz and Mary Tess Calad, in the heart of Chinatown and has become one of my favorite spots for lunch, dinner and of course cocktails.

Lucky Belly is a spectacular combination of Asian influenced dishes with a definite local flare and is riddled with both Jesse and Dusty's determination to do things in their own style. The result is a comfortable, modern-rustic place, that is putting out some seriously sexy food, centered around the concept of hospitality found by sharing a meal.

The Lucky Bowl

Among their amazing appetizers, salads, special plates and their signature ramen, are my favorites and the items I order over and over again:
the amazing Pork Belly Bao,
their seriously sexy Shrimp Gyoza with edamame avocado puree and ponzu,
the best Beet and Spicy Greens salad anywhere
and of course, their giant Lucky Bowl.


Beet and Spicy Greens Salad with goat cheese, candied pumpkin seeds and pomegranate dressing

A new menu item - Scallop Risotto in a cone sushi shell

Although Dusty is a certified sommaleir, and their sake selection is amazing, I can never order anything to drink except The Aviation - a cocktail made with gin, elderberry flower and citrus, OR their smokey Old Fashioned where they smoke a piece of kiawe under the glass before pouring in the cocktail to give it an amazing smokey flavor.
But if for some reason you need a non-alcoholic beverage, the Chinatown Swizzle will make you feel like you've got the real deal in your hand. It's made with galangal, kaffir lime, lemongrass, drinking vinegar and coconut juice.

The Aviation

The Chinatown Swizzle

And to make things even sweeter, for our late night needs there is the Lucky Belly Window. A little walk up window on the street where only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm-2am you can grab one of three $5 plates to sop up any late night booze after carousing at the many bars and clubs in Chinatown. The menu changes weekly and is actually something we plan our schedules around.

The moral of the story?
Chinatown, with all of it's whackiness, is home to places like this; where great food is taken seriously, but not too seriously and where the most important factor is connecting to the place, the food and the people you are with. Take it from all of us, who's bellies are lucky on a regular basis, Lucky Belly needs to be your new favorite spot and Chinatown needs to be on your list of places to visit on Oahu.

Are you a believer in connection?
What are some of your memories that center around food and drink?
Cheers to places like Lucky Belly and blogs like this where we can share in a meal, a cocktail and an experience!
I love to hear from you!

Hawaiian Shochu Company or Why We Love The Magic Funk Factor

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 08:02:00 +0000

The Koji Room at Hawaiian Shochu Company

I have learned something in my experiences as a dickwolfer, and even just as an eater and a drinker. And it is this:

The Funk Factor is where the magic is at.

It is present in all food and beverages that have some sort of fermentation alchemy going on.

Think miso, cheese, shoyu, wine, beer, kombucha....

The fermentation process is a funky one.

Beautiful in it's delicate balance of foul and fantastic. A little on the edge, risky almost.

Left a little too long and fermentation becomes rot, but carefully tended with intention and you've got the alchemy of turning something unimpressive into something golden.

al . che . my

/'alkeme/

noun

1. the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.

2. a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation or combination.

And this brings me to the coolness, precision and magic happening at the
Hawaiian Shochu Company.

Tucked into the sleepy back roads of Haleiwa on the
North Shore of Oahu, a tour of The Hawaiian Shochu Company is a really great addition to your North Shore experience. Most people are familiar with Sake, but Shochu has been having a surge in popularity not only in Japan, but in the U.S. as well, and Oahu is home to the United States' only shochu distillery.

Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit, while Sake is a brewed beverage. If you are curious about this fascinating process, a trip to Hawaiian Shochu Company is a must on your list of things not to be missed when on Oahu.

Hawaiian Shochu Company was one of only two Shochu distilleries in the United States until recently, when a Washington state distillery closed its doors, making Hawaiian Shochu Company the country's only shochu distillery.

Namihana Shochu

Namihana is the name of Hawaiian Shochu Company's shochu. It is created using traditional techniques of "Kurose Brew Masters" of Kagoshima, Japan. Years ago, Ken Hirata served as an apprentice under Master Manzen at Manzen Shuzo Co. in Kagoshima, Japan, later choosing Hawaii as the place to set up his own distillery based on Hawaii's weather, which is similar to Kagoshima's fall season when sweet potatoes are harvested. Hawaii offers a year round growing season in rich volcanic soil for the many varieties of sweet potatoes used in Namihana Shochu. Even the Name "Namihana" sounds like a blend of Hawaiian and Japanese: Nami - meaning waves, and Hana - meaning flowers.

Although Sweet potatoes are key in producing this Shochu, the real magic ingredient is KOJI-rice. And this is where the magic happens: when Koda Farms heirloom varietal rice is steamed in a wooden steamer called a KOSHIKI, and then introduced with koji (culture), the magic funk begins to do it's thing. This process is done by hand and closely watched as it does it's magic for 48 hours. Ken and his wife, Yumiko carefully tend to the fermentation of the Koji rice like a winemaker tends to his grapes, until they have reached the right balance of funk.

Kametsubo fermentation pots

Next the koji rice is mixed with steamed sweet potatoes and then goes into century-old ceramic vats called KAMETSUBO, which occupy a corner of the distillery, where the fermentation process continues for a total of about two weeks. After that, the mash is heated, distilled and then aged 4-6 months before it is ready for bottling.

This process is only done twice a year and yields a batch of only 6,000 bottles of shochu. This is one of the things that makes Hawaiian Shochu Company so special. Every step of the process is done by hand in the traditional way and when you have one of their bottles in hand, you know it is from a small batch made with a lot of love. The other thing that makes it special is the team of two that make it all happen. It is a treat to be guided through the process by Ken, who has such a love for the spirit, the techniques and the land from which it is produced. He happily explains each step and answers as many questions as you can come up with, while his wife Yumiko places labels on bottles and handles business across the room.

Ken & Yumiko Hirata

Of course, there is a sample involved in a tour of the distillery. I'm no shochu expert, but I can tell you this: there is a smooth, rich flavor in Namihana Shochu. Served simply over ice or crafted into a cocktail, shochu is a great addition to your arsenal.

If you're looking for something you can't find anywhere else in the islands OR the U.S. this is a fun and informative experience, complete with a sample of Namihana shochu!
You can schedule your tour or purchase Namihana Shochu
by appointment only by calling

The Hawaiian Shochu Company.

808.234.4162

kaloimo@gmail.com

Mama Mama, I Want Three Of All Of These!!!

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Fri, 01 May 2015 04:23:00 +0000

Venice Tables, March 2015

When you sit at a sun drenched table in a little nook in the streets of Venice in the spring, celebrating your birthday and another year of life, it's quite possible that you could have a gorgeous, spirit whacking realization that, yes, you want it all.

I sat at one such table a few days after my 42nd birthday in March, reveling in the manifestation of my dream of going to Italy.

My eyes and heart are filled by what I'm seeing and feeling, and I sit there; truly believing that I am the luckiest girl in the world.

My boyfriend had run back to the car for something and so I sit alone, savoring the sun on my face on this chilly winter day and watching the people around me swirling through this magical place.

I watch a young married couple, traveling with their two small sons. The parents trying to wrangle and chase and keep up with their children, and finally deciding to soak up the same sunny moment at the same cafe where I sit, at the next table over.

I sip my cocktail and chew on some salted nuts that our waiter brought over and think about my own children and when they were that age. I think about how quickly time passes and how I now have two teenagers and a preteen, I am divorced, I am a business owner, an artist, a chef, a friend, a girlfriend, a seeker, and I am very, very filled.

And then I hear the youngest son, while looking at the menu at the table next to me say,

"Mama Mama, I want three of all of these!"

And I laugh.

Mama Mama! Venice, March 2015

And I love this little guy's excitement, because I feel the same way.

And I love his focus on having lots of all of the things that look good to him, because I think that's what we should desire.

And I love his simple belief that there's no reason he shouldn't be allowed to have three of all of these, because I believe that too.

They don't even realize the beautiful thing they just helped me to recognize:

I want all of it.

I want three of all of these.

I want lots of all of the things that feel good to me:

Connection with my kids, my love, my friends, my family, the people who cross my path, opportunities, abundance, travel, art, great food and drinks...

This kid reminds me there is no reason I shouldn't have these things either.

He helps me know that there's no reason you shouldn't have all of these things too.

That's why we are here.

To live life to the full.

To see everything we want to see.

To feel deep, real, raw, brazen, sweet, love.

To walk through shadowy times so that we are strengthened and grow.

To soar.

To have three of all of these.

Venice Girl & Birds, March 2015

Cheers to allowing ourselves the belief that we can be or do or have anything we desire,

and even three of all of them.

Quote of the Day:

“You may have the universe if I may have Italy".

Guiseppe Verdi

When Your Friend Has a Winery In Tuscany

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 10:38:00 +0000

I know this:

When your friend tells you,

"When, you're in Tuscany, get in touch with Mario. He's a good friend of mine with a winery near Montalcino,"

you do it.

You meet him at Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana -

an "Antica Cantina del Brunello" in the amazing town of Montalcino.

Montalcino, Italy

This town...

Perched on top of a hill, guarded by a castle overlooking the Tuscan valley;

rows and rows of vineyards stitched together across rolling green hills under a winter sky.

Tuscany, Italy

Ancient buildings line narrow streets in typical Italian grandeur, waiting for us to fall in love with it.
And we do.

Montalcino Clock tower

Streets of Montalcino, Italy

We manage to arrive at Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana early, despite getting lost along the way and driving in a huge, beautiful circle through wineries and dirt roads only to arrive back at the main street and the doors of this amazing cafe.

And this Cafe...

As with so many things in Italy, this amazing landmark has been in business for over a hundred years.

Founded by Ferruccio Biondi Santi, inventor of the famed Brunello wine, and run by owners Alessandro, Franco and Nadia Pazzaglia - sommeliers and experts in the famous Brunello di Montalcino wine, the Super Tuscans, as well as Sassicaia and Masseto, and other excellent Tuscan wines and champagnes.

Red velvet seats, chandeliers, mirrors, espresso, cocktails, wine and desserts, oh my...
Of course we order two glasses of Brunello di Montalcino, and our sweet, sophisticated bartender brings us the customary complimentary appetizers that come with happy hour cocktails in Italy - One more thing to love about this place.

Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana, Montalcino Italy

Brunello di Montalcino

I slip out to buy a gift for our soon to be friend Mario, and walk the cold streets of Montalcino until I find the most amazing cheese store, where I choose a Pecorino Vinacciolo - An amazing pecorino cheese aged in grape seeds and wine making scraps of some sort which was obviously amazing.


Pecorino Vinacciolo

And then Mario arrives.
A man who smiles from eyes that have seen the world.
A man who embodies the Italian way of life; caring for his land, producing amazing wines, and dare I say, is a fellow dickwolfer.
We chat until it's time to pick up his daughter from school, and
we take to the ancient streets of Montalcino again, this time being led by someone who's everyday life is lived here.
A schoolyard waits behind a wrought iron fence, about to be filled with squealing young Italian children running towards parents and grandparents.
And we are here, pulling back the curtain to catch a glimpse of a day in the life.

Montalcino School

And then the doors open and Vivienne bursts into the courtyard, throws her hat at Mario and takes off like a wild little banshee.
She's all eyes and giggles, cold flushed cheeks and overflowing 8 year old precociousness.
And I instantly fall in love with her.

Finally we make our way to the winery.
Terralsole is the winery and home of Mario Bollag and his wife and children, and WE are the lucky two heading there to get to know them, tour the winery and have an amazing family dinner.

Terralsole Winery, Tuscany

Terralsole Tasting Room

Terralsole Cellars

Cases of prized Brunello di Montalcino

Terralsole Wine Cellar

This is where the magic happens

After a tour, a bottle of bubbles and two bottles of wine are opened, we sit at the dinner table and talk story about life in Italy, life in Hawaii, wine making, relationship making and children. Mario makes dinner while Vivienne shows me how she makes perfume out of rosemary and writes one of her poems in my journal which she translates as:

"When winter comes
you put on wool
and you go outside
when you see the snowflakes on your eyelashes
you discover the beauty"

The wine and the dinner are as sweet and robust as this family, this winery and this night;
and just like Vivienne's poem:
"When you see it, you discover it's beauty."

Find out more information about Terralsole Winery
or
Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana at:
www.terralsole.com

www.caffefiaschetteriaitaliana.com

Strawberry Epiphany

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:22:00 +0000

Strawberries in Tuscany

I realize that this is a blog about swigs (drinks) and grinds (food) and I haven't been talking much about that lately. However, this is also a blog about the things we laugh at and chew on along the way. Both literally and metaphorically.

And sometimes the literal and the metaphorical meet over a cocktail or a bite to eat and THAT is where epiphanies happen.

epiphany

noun . epiph.a.ny . i-pi-fe-nee

a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way.

Here's what I've always heard about Italy:

The food is fresher, the ingredients are better, they understand their ingredients and they coax them into their finest forms, they savor, appreciate, indulge.

Everything just tastes better.

That's what I had heard anyway.

So that was my expectation.

I believed that was what eating in Italy would be like.

Well, it's freakin true. All of it. I knew it!! I actually proclaimed that sentence several times during our travels.

I freakin knew it.

I was angry and ecstatic at the same time. Ecstatic because I was there. I was eating the most beautiful, simple, thoughtful food and I was angry because I thought I was ruined.

How could I go back to the United States and eat another tomato that is pink and mushy instead of bright red and tastes the way it smells? How could I walk through another supermarket when I have seen the produce in the markets in Pisa, or the meat and cheese shops in the Campo di Fiore?

Market in Pisa, Italy

Ruggeri Salsamentaria - Vini Liquori. Rome, Italy

Norcineria Viola. Rome Italy

The first time I talked to my daughter on the phone she asked me, "So what's the BEST thing that you've eaten?!" (Only my kid...)

And I thought about all of the amazing things that I had devoured and I said,

"A strawberry".

And she asked, confused, "Well what was on it?"

"Nothing", I said.

"Well what was it IN?", she asked.

"Nothing", was the answer I had while having my first ever strawberry epiphany.

My strawberry epiphany was the moment in which I suddenly understood food in a new or very clear way.

This is what food is supposed to be. Its SUPPOSED to taste like you just plucked it from your very own garden.

It's supposed to be made by a pair of hands that know where it came from and have made it with care. It's supposed to give you a connection with the person who made it and the person who sold it to you and the person you share it with and the place where you are sitting.

And then I realized I wasn't ruined at all. I was enhanced and awakened to a deeper love of the process.

And then I realized I was coming home to Hawaii.

To a place with a love and appreciation for food.

To my own cafe. To my own life where I have the pair of hands that makes the food with care, I have a connection with the person who sold it to me, I will pick it from my very own garden, and I cherish the people I share it with and the places we sit together.

And this, kids, is my epiphany.

Italians are doing everything right in my book and so can we.

We just need to pay attention and find the best of what we have and act like and eat like, "when in Rome"...

Even if we are oceans away and Italy is only our dream.

I Love Your Face

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 07:16:00 +0000

"Mi piace la tua el faccia"

Cheat sheet

I have been a photographer my whole adult life. I have photographed thousands of people. I have found it so easy and fulfilling to photograph children, but adults are usually a little trickier. However I am always confident that I will get the shot. Part of the reason is that I have mad connecting-with-other-people skills. I really do. But one of the ways I am able to make a connection with someone is by talking with them.

When I first landed in Italy, I instantly fell in love a hundred times before I even left the airport. But not with another person, necessarily but with the language tumbling off their tongues, with their fashionable outfits, with their architecture, with their laid back rules, with their appreciation of everything beautiful, with their food, drink, way of life and their FACES.

I knew right away that my first sentence I needed to learn was going to be, "I love your face".

Fast forward to a beautiful afternoon in Pisa, my eyes bulging from the beauty, my jaw dragging on the ground, my words not even coming out right in English because I was so speechless by the things I was seeing. I was focusing my camera down a spectacular street across from the tower to get this shot:

Then I noticed the two guys waving at me in the doorway, so of course I had to go make friends. Before I knew it a group of them had gathered in the door and I needed to tell them that I loved their faces!

Luckily one of them spoke a little English and translated my sentence for me while the others flirted and surely thought I was a crazy American girl while I photographed them.
And so I learned my only Italian sentence:
"Mi Piace la tua el faccia".

And another thing I learned was:
Adults love to hear that you love their face.
Every person who heard those words from me beamed. They laughed at my poorly pronounced Italian, they blushed a little, got a sparkle in their eye and I got the shot.

Here are some of my favorite faces from my journey:

And one more thing that I learned from speaking
my new sentence:
I need to keep using it. I want to continue to see into the faces that I pass in the street or interact with during the day. I want them to know that I love their face. I want to give them the same smile and sparkle in their eye and a little boost of love to carry them on their way.
Hey you:
I love your face.
Pass it on...

quote of the day:

“His dress told her nothing, but his face told her things which she was glad to know".

A.A. Milne

I'm having this dream...

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:38:00 +0000

Central Park NYC - 3.2015

I'm having this dream. It begins like any other day. I kiss the faces of my three amazing children, I am kissed by an amazing man that has fallen out of the sky and into my cafe and my life. I work, I feed people, I make art, I make connections. I am fed by nature and love. Things are good and pretty simple and a lot of fun. It is always warm and there is always someone around to laugh with. A dog sleeps next to me in my mushy, comfy bed. Life is really really good. And still I know that there is a whole world out there full of even more of the same goodness that already fills every day of my life. I know that I have a hunger for it. I know that from somewhere deep within me, I have a craving, a calling, an itch, a need.
And here's where the dream gets crazy...
I'm on the streets of New York City. The wind claws through the layers of sweaters, jackets and scarves and bites down on skin, heart, blood. But not viciously - it's a sexy bite meant to say: You are alive, flesh, blood, bone. My eyes seem to open wider and I actually see more. I look into the endless river of faces that flow past me on these frozen streets and I see them. Our eyes are not supposed to meet - some rule I heard about long ago - but they do anyway. And I see humanity, a story, a life being lived. And then they are gone, floating away on their own path. More flow to me. Old, young, angry, busy, fancy, important, insecure, confident, young, old, young, old...
And I am cold. But the cold on my skin makes me know that I am very, very alive. And then I realize that I have walked all the way to Times Square, where everything is larger than life. TV's on the sides of buildings broadcast 100 foot tall images: faces, products, places. They flash in an endless reel of lights and colors. Below, cops congregate on the corner, protestors gather for peace, steam rises from below the streets. People continue to rush from here to there, there to here. And I stop for a glass of whiskey.
And then suddenly I am in Central Park and everything is this amazing stark palette of white and grey and brown. There is snow everywhere and none of the trees have their leaves. Their branches like arms spread to the heavens. And I am there in the midst of this whole other world. I walk and walk and walk and I am wide open, and it fills me and some of it spills out of my eyes because I simply can't contain it. There is too much love to keep it all in. There are words of appreciation and birthday wishes and praise and well wishes that have also been poured into me and I am this vessel that begins to overflow right there in Central Park.
And then I realize that I am not alone. The man that kisses my face has led me here. I see him walking next to me for blocks and blocks past rows and rows of buildings and stores and the endless sea of people and I feel like it's all for me and I can't figure out why. I spend a lot of the dream somewhere between being completely in the moment, to watching it all from a distance. I feel incredibly connected but equally far away.
And then I wake up.
The wind is raging outside my window and I can tell that the air outside of my heavy blankets is cold. The shutters bang quietly inside but somewhere outside things crash in the wind. I step out of bed and my bare feet touch the cold stone floor of a castle in Italy, on the hillside in Tuscany. I stumble around trying to find a light. I layer on shawls and scarves and walk out into my quarters. There is an unfinished bottle of chianti on the counter, a row of white espresso cups line an antique hutch and the wind continues to rage in the courtyard.
I pull out my journal and write about driving too fast down ancient streets of Florence, eating fresh pasta recommended by a waiter named Rafaele and feeling the rain coming down from the Italian sky. And I realize It's only been one day. The dream is my reality. I breathe in the cold air and I exhale a breath of pure life. I am filled with gratitude like I have never known. Thankful for all that exists in my world and the world that I walk through. Thankful for the arm that hooks into mine and leads me through streets and adventures. I decide to absorb every moment of this dream and we set out to dickwolf Italy...

Castle Rooftop - Tuscany Italy - 3.2015

A new word for your collection

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 07:00:00 +0000


A message from my kitchen chalkboard

I would like to introduce you to a word that I invented last year. When I tell you what it is, you're going to think it's something dirty. But it's not. And as with most things, I have over used it to the point where my children cringe when I way it. But I don't care. It's a perfect word in my eyes, and that's probably because of it's meaning.
It's a word that has evolved and become its own creature.

Dickwolfing.
Yes, that's the word, the word is dickwolfing.
And it's not what you think.

What are you thinking? That would be funny to know.

Before I define this wonderful word, I want to tell you a story.

My brother from another mother is from Morocco. He has a pretty distinct accent and his use and knowledge of the English language always cracks me up. Sometimes he hears a word in English and he makes it more fun just by the way he says it.

He and his wife used to watch Law and Order and sometimes at the end of an episode they would shout in exasperation at the T.V. "Dick Wolfe!!" as the credits rolled and named the producer;
none other than Mr. Dick Wolf.

Stay with me, It's all gonna make sense in a minute.

This brother of mine is also my dear friend who gave me my cafe.
There were times early on when we would be working together in the kitchen and he would just say it. "Dick Wolf!!!", in his thick accent, and it always made me laugh.
Then there were other times when he would come through my back door and say his customary statement: "I'm hungry". And would then begin eating and drinking anything in sight, and like a tornado, he would blow in, wolf down everything and then leave.

I told him he was like a wolf.
I started to call him Dick Wolf.
Then it became a verb: dickwolfing

When the word dickwolfing makes it into the dictionary, it will have nothing to do with the producer, although I'm thankful for his wonderful name. It will look something like this:
dickwolfing
/dik wulfing/
verb
1. to voraciously put food and drink into one's mouth with great pleasure and enthusiasm.
2. to voraciously consume any thing, person, place, or experience with great pleasure and enthusiasm.

SO, as you can see. This word is awesome. But even better than the word itself, actually dickwolfing something is even more satisfying. And this is why I feel the need to share this word with the world. I would like to encourage you to unleash
your own inner wolf.

Here are some rules and suggestions for dickwolfing.

1. Definitely dickwolf food and beverages. Especially if there is booze involved.

2. Do not worry about consequences of overindulgence or calories or reputation or any of that nonsense. This is dickwolfing we're talking about, not dieting or acting in a responsible manner. This is very important to remember. There's a time to dickwolf and a time to be responsible. You decide.

3. Remember, you can dickwolf anything. You know that cute guy that you've been hanging out with as a friend but you know there's something more to it? DICKWOLF HIM. Do not be afraid.

You know that party you've been invited to and you know it might be awkward and boring but you're committed to going? DICKWOLF THAT THING. Bring your fun friends, go in there, jack the music, get the conga line going, get people out of their chairs, dance, make some new friends and then leave. THAT is dickwolfing at it's finest.

Dickwolfing means swimming after hours in a pool that's not yours, and getting yelled at and running. Dickwolfing is when you see a bridal party at a bar and you go over and make that party even better. Dickwolfing is when you look someone in the eye and say the thing you want to say even if it scares you. Even if it's brutally honest. Even if it's "I love you".

4. It's very possible to dickwolf something and savor it at the same time. So savor it. Savor every tasty, dangerous, gluttonous bit of it.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 often. When you're with your people and when you're alone. When you're at home and when you're out exploring the world.

Which brings me to the whole reason I wanted to share THIS word with you at THIS time.

It's time to dickwolf the world. It is for me anyway.

Obviously you can see from the contents of this blog that I have been dickwolfing things long before I gave birth to the word.

But this is my year. In a few months I will set out on some new adventures across this amazing planet of ours - (More details about that later).

And so, I consider all of this my training, and I will share many more adventures while I swig and grind my way through life.

Look out world, you are about to be dickwolfed.

Quote of the Day:

“I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Be Careful What You Ask For

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 03:30:00 +0000

Hello Food Friends. It's been awhile! Again.

I've missed you and this spot that exists to talk about food and the way it connects us together. Although I haven't been active here, I have been spinning many other plates - literally and figuratively.

If I were to choose a word for the last couple of years it would, without a doubt be: Reinvention.

At first I didn't truly realize this was an option for me, I didn't even have a relationship with the word. But now we're close.

Reinvention comes, much like invention, from necessity, but also from a place of freshness and possibility.

I like what Miriam-Webster has to say on the subject:

re.in.vent

1: to make as if for the first time something already invented

2: to remake or redo completely

3: to bring into use again

And so, the story is about this girl, who grew up around gatherings of family and friends and food, with parents who had a restaurant, and food constantly on her brain.

She was a weird kid who, while most kids were making an after school snack of instant ramen, she was making lamb chops and sauteed mushrooms.

She eventually tapped into her creativity in the form of photography and the written word. While photographing children and families paid the bills, photographing and writing about food became an exciting outlet.

She became good at cooking because she was really just very good at eating.

She always laughed off the comments of friends that she "really should open a restaurant" because she grew up in one and knew how much work it really is.

And then reinvention started to gain momentum.

When her life changed around her and she began questioning the kind of work that really made her happy, A New Years Eve conversation happened where she said to a chef friend, "maybe I should just get a job in a kitchen". To which he said, "Well the money is actually in waiting tables, if you want to get into the restaurant business."

But no, she said, that isn't it. "I want to cook. I want to chop stuff in the kitchen".

Fast forward two years to a conversation with a friend who had a little cafe in a residential condo building. She was hired to design his new restaurant and during the process he offered her his Cafe. He would remain involved, but gives it to her to change the menu, the decor, the name, she is free to reinvent it and herself in the process. Just like that. It wasn't something she could say no to.

At first this seemed like it was out of left field and materialized out of nowhere. I mean, who has this kind of stuff happen to them? She does. Then she remembered her New Year's conversation, her childhood, and her new found appreciation of reinvention, and it all made sense.

It's like she's making for the first time a restaurant girl that already existed. Although she is being remade and redone completely, she's really just bringing into use again all those skills from before. It is reinvention, for sure. But is also a coming home.

And so here I am.

A girl with a cafe.

People actually pay to eat my food.

And they like it!

And they keep coming back!!

And most importantly, I'm really having fun.

My Menu is basically the kind of food I cook at home.

Healthy, Hearty, Homemade, Real Food.

I serve pizzas, sandwiches, salads, coffee, smoothies and weekly specials.

My children are my wonderful staff and my customers are awesome.

And now, I will have lots more food stuff to share with you!

Who says you can't have it all! 1/2 bbq chicken with tomatoes and carmelized onions, 1/2 Brie and grape with green pea pesto

Monster Brownies

Chicken Enchilada Special

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Whose afraid of a green smoothie? Mango, pineapple, papaya, banana, kale, fresh grated ginger and a squeeze of lime

Yellow Chicken Curry Special

Rib Eye Steak Sandwich Special

Lilikoi Cheesecake

Stuffed Baked Potato Special

Chicken Tacos Special with Tomato, Cucumber, Quinoa Salad

Chicken Parmesan Sandwich Special

For all the Cookie Monsters out there...

So now, during my break when I'm eating food, reading a book about food, while a cooking show plays on TV and food cooks in the oven it's not so strange. Right?

Cheers to reinvention!

Quote of the Day:

“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.”

Henry Rollins

Bacon JAM!

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 07:18:00 +0000

I need to talk to you. It's important. See that little jar of brown stuff up there? It is a revelation.

Bacon Jam.

I know, when I saw it on a menu recently, I too thought, "What the hell???".

And so I ordered the bruschetta as well as the slider that it accompanied just to get to the bottom of this "bacon jam" mystery.

And I think I figured it out.

It's diabolically simple.

A perfect blend of caramelized onion and bacon.

Forget my last post about eating healthy. That carrot cake could have benefitted from a little

bacon jam, I'm sure.

But a better plan is to toast up some baguette, slather some of this on and maybe top with some chopped tomato.

Or better yet, make yourself a mini slider and you will realize that bacon jam is much friendlier than having to wrestle with those two slices of bacon that normally sit upon your burger. There will be no trying to ration a little bit of bacon for each bite of burger because, I tell you, bacon jam is a revelation.

It's as easy as this:

Onions. Maui Sweet onions if you're lucky, as I was to have my Chef friend gift me with two bags of. Slice them, chop some bacon, toss 'em together with some salt & pepper and let them do their thing slowly and relaxedly until they are brown and lovely. And make a lot. Like the whole pack of bacon and a ton of onions, because it's that good. Then right at the end, perhaps you should throw in a dash of brown sugar just for fun.

Let them cool a bit and then chop them up all together. It almost becomes tapenade-ish.

And then you really should build yourself (as my chef friend says with his Moroccan accent):

Tiny AM-bergers.

Oh. Yeah. Baby.

Bribery Carrot Cake

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:29:00 +0000

I know I just posted that I am trying to be healthy and all, but really, I made this for my landlord!

I called it Bribery Carrot Cake because I'm trying to remind him how much he loves me living next door to him, don't sell the house, lower my rent, etc... Also it was his birthday and he's trying to be healthier too.

The recipe came from iwannatalkaboutbrooke.blogspot.com. I used olive oil instead of whatever the recipe called for just to make it a bit healthier too (and that's all I had).

How bad can a cake be that comes from carrots be anyway?!

Also, I baked it in a ginormous tin can because I liked the shape it would make. It came out cool, but took about ten years to bake.

So, although I didn't even eat the finished product, I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

Enjoy!

Homemade Granola

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:10:00 +0000

Strange things have been happening with me.

The strangest perhaps is called "aging."

I used to be one of those people that others described with disdain like this, "You can eat whatever you want and not gain weight"!

Which, of course was not true. However, I could eat whatever I wanted without major consequences.

But I just had my 39th birthday and with it came the sad realization that my days of butter and cream and never exercising really have to end.

That's when the next strange thing happened.

I have started to eat healthier, drink water and even..... exercise.

Gasp.

Truth be told, I've always cooked somewhat healthily, but that nub of butter, handful of chips, drizzle of bacon fat has all started to make itself visible.

So in the spirit of true stereotypical healthy stigma, I'm posting about homemade granola.

Granola used to be associated with being a hippy thing. In fact it was an actual adjective when I was a kid to describe someone with hippy-like tendencies.

As in, "oh my god, your Birkenstocks are so granola!"

Eventually the truth was revealed that granola could actually be not so good for you because of the oils and fat hidden inside. BUT, when I was recently doing some research on healthy foods, it was confirmed that whole grains, fruit, nuts and even olive oil are what we're supposed to be eating.

The beautiful thing is that when you make your own food, you can control exactly what's in it.

Alas, homemade granola.

I used this recipe from Ina Garten. But in true Swigs and Grinds form, I used what I had and changed it up a bit. Mine consisted of oats, coconut, sliced almonds, walnuts and dried cranberries. I also substituted olive oil and used a bit of honey to sweeten it. It has been my morning go-to now for a couple of weeks and it really rocks.

My favorite is with Greek yogurt, flax seed, some other mystery seed my sister gave me, sliced strawberries and a drizzle of honey.

Healthy CAN be decadent!

Picky Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:51:00 +0000

I've talked about my love of "picky dinners" right? Not to be confused with a dinner for picky people, no a picky dinner in my house is one that you casually pick at. There are no silverware involved. Everyone shares from the same platter of little piles of food.

I suppose if I were in Spain this would be close to tapas. But, alas, I am at the Country House and so it is called a picky dinner. Or in today's case "picky lunch".

The thing I have noticed about my picky lunches is that they are usually when I am by myself. I have gotten slightly better at cooking a meal for one, but the problem is, when I am working at home I usually get so wrapped up in whatever creative project that is at hand and the limited time that I have to work on it, that lunch usually happens as an after-thought and I'm so hungry by the time I actually get around to it that I really don't want to wait for something to actually be cooked.

And therein lies the beauty of a picky lunch. In the time it takes to cut a few pieces of cheese, grab a handful of crackers, toss some tomatoes in olive oil & balsamic, and throw on a few chunks of last night's bbq chicken, lunch is served.

As I make my way back down to my studio, and resume my spot at the computer, I can simply PICK. A tomato here, a cracker there.

Ahhh... delighting in simple things. It's one of my favorite things....

What are your favorite items for picky food? Do tell.....

Lucky Peach

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:25:00 +0000

Two Christmases ago a very thoughtful boy gave me a Kitchen-aid mixer. How could he possibly top that this past Christmas, outside of a trip to Italy, of course? Well, he came pretty darn close with a subscription to Lucky Peach. A very cool food magazine that I knew nothing about.

This is not your mother's (no offense mother) food magazine.

This magazine is brand new, as in just birthed. In fact the first issue that I received was only the second one published. I must say I feel like I am in on something very cool and sort of underground. Rebellious almost.

Lucky Peach is "a quarterly journal of food and writing". It is published in June, September, December and March. When I opened the cover of my first issue I read this from Editor in Chief, Peter Meehan: "After we wrapped up the first issue and I had a minute to stand back and look at the thing, I felt like it was the magazine equivalent of throwing an M-80 into a bowl of ramen and taking a crime-scene photo of the results. That was a good thing, at least for me".

Well, Mr. Meehan, it was a very good thing for me too. With such articles titled: "More Things Were Eaten", "Miso Horny", "Eat, Drink, F*@k, Die", and "Nobody doesn't Love A Cake With A Runny Center", what, I say WHAT is not to love.

Yeah, I said it. I am head over heels in love with the brash, raw writings about things beyond appetizers and cocktails, not that I don't love a cocktail and an appetizer. I mean all you have to do is behold the covers of this magazine to know that you will be in for a ride. Who thinks of tattooing a pigs hind quarter with the body map of a human, for god's sake?! I love it.

And a small disclaimer, if you are easily offended by the F-word, it's written about seven times in the first seven pages, but that too, I must confess - I love. I mean we're talking about FOOD. But not just the romantic, touchey-feeley aspect of food, but the boiling hot kitchens, the long hours, the hard work. And it's not just some foodie blogger such as myself ranting about such things (although, in my defense I did grow up in my parents restaurant and am currently dabbling in my friend's cafe, I do however know my place on the food chain) the writings in Lucky Peach are coming from the big dogs of our food culture. The likes of David Chang of Momofuku, Daniel Patterson of Coi Restaurant, Mario Batali, etc. etc... In fact, in both issues so far, my (*)boyfriend Anthony Bourdain has written a story woven around a random movie of all things.

SO, with all of that said, I urge you to get your subscription to Lucky Peach. Heck, now that I think about it, it may even have been the catalyst for my recent return to Swigs and Grinds. For that I thank you Lucky Peach folks, because I have missed my little spot here in the blogoshpere. Till next time.....

(*) Ok, maybe I don't want him to be my boyfriend as much as I actually want to BE him. But that's another story....

Quote of the Day :

"A human being is primarily a bag for putting food into".

~George Orwell

(as quoted in issue 3 of Lucky Peach)

Imperial Stout, a new love

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Alright, alright... I've been missing in action. Again. I HAVE been busy with the art of survival, not to mention the art of photography, painting, raising children, making food, eating, drinking, being merry etc, etc... My 11 year old daughter has been disturbed by my absence here and has several times told me that some concoction that I've whipped up needs to be photographed & shared, stating, "Mom, you have followers that are waiting for you!"

I'm not so sure if the breath of my followers is bated or not, but here I am none the less...

There have been some things recently that have been inspiring me in the Swigs & Grinds department and so, at long last, I have finally decided that today is the day when I shall share them.

The first is a new swig in the form of beer that I have discovered.

I am learning that my taste in food AND beverage is similar: big, bold and brazen. Sheesh, sounds like much of my life - but that's another story. This beer is Sam Adams Imperial Stout. If you like dark beer this is a serious treat. It's almost not just beer. It's like a hybrid of coffee, chocolate and malty booze. It's thick and creamy and you only need one because it's over 9% alcohol.

Look for it at specialty stores and do pick some up!

A Renewed Love Of Cabbage

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:45:00 +0000

Kalua Pig and Cabbage, Rice and Mac Salad

I don't know what's happened lately, but I have a huge lust for cooked cabbage. Perhaps the most loved dish in Hawaii is Kalua Pork and Cabbage. Talk about a dish that is filled with love. I would dare to say that anytime you dig a pit in the ground (an Imu), put in a whole pig, hot coals, tea leaves, burlap, bury it with earth and let it cook for a whole day, you are talking some serious food of love.

Fortunately, there is a short cut to that process. You can walk into any L&L Drive Inn in Hawaii and for about seven bucks, get a heaping portion of Kalua Pork, cooked with cabbage and served with the mandatory couple scoops of white rice and mac salad.

This has become a bit of an addiction, and an especially handy one after being at the beach and not feeling like cooking dinner (it happens). However, it's probably not the healthiest of dishes, unless you're trying to bulk up for a winter of hibernation. Which, of course, sometimes I am.

But for those other times, and in case you don't have an Imu dug in the back yard or an L&L nearby, it's possible to make a cabbaggey bacony concoction that will satisfy your craving. And let me just say this: In case this craving comes around when there is a storm that knocks down a bunch of power lines in your neighborhood and keeps the power out for waaay to long, all you need to do is fire up the gas grill, pull out a cast iron pan and work it still! I'm just saying ....

Bacon and red onions

Chop up some bacon and onions and saute until bacon is crispy. Then add chopped cabbage and cook until tender.

Bacon, Onion and Cabbage

Ok, I have a big craving and I must go cook cabbage. Enjoy!

"A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.

~Thomas Keller

Sunday Morning Muse

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:59:00 +0000

Sunday morning. A blue sky outside, the soft hush of tradewinds, the dog at the foot of my bed, the house quiet and empty except for us. I could be doing anything. Do you realize how rare these moments are for me? I live with people. Lots of them. Most of them children - far outnumbering the grown-ups, life continually swirls around us; work, school, rides, needs to meet, places to go, people to be fed, deadlines to be met, bills to pay, laundry to do, kitchen to clean, it never ends.

But this morning is one of those very, very rare times when I am alone. A questionable breakfast beverage in hand (no comment), my newest food mags next to me, and my computer screen feeding me inspiration.

Sometimes this is all I need to get my mojo back. My muse deserts me sometimes, but I'm getting to know her/him/it a little better and I have noticed that it likes it when I am happy. When my mind is clear. When my heart is at peace. When I am overflowing with love. This muse of mine is a party animal, I'm learning. All the stress, drama, emotional bullshit - she(he/it) can do without all of that and, in fact, runs like the wind when that stuff is overpowering the mood. Heck, I don't blame her (him/it)! But when I am in this space, it shows up and inevitably leads me to beautiful images, words, thought, and then takes me by the hand and leads me into the kitchen, pours us both a cocktail and watches me do my thing.

SO that's where I'm headed now. Send my muse some love, because she(?) seems to be back, and I am oh so thankful.

Cheers,
H

Homemade Flour Tortillas!

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:46:00 +0000

Spicy, slow cooked beef quesadillas on homemade tortillas.

So my girl from way back has moved to Hawaii and is staying with me until she gets settled, have I mentioned this? And let me tell you, girlfriend can cook, and needless to say, we are a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen! My soul sister in so many ways, yesterday she woke up with homemade tortillas on the brain. Ah, a girl after my own heart....

As she stood in the doorway to my room, we talked of a sacred, taboo, subject: lard. Yeah I said it. LARD. Uh huh, that's what we needed to fulfill this fantasy of homemade tortillas. Because we would be venturing into the annals of my home-girl's childhood memories of her Mexican & Puerto Rican aunties, making tortillas from scratch because, well, that's what you do.

So in-between school supply shopping, haircuts and dealing with a freaking out cell phone, we did it. A tub of lard now lives in our pantry.

Even in Hawaii, we managed to come across an authentic tub O' lard.

Alright, now before you start listening to any guilt ridden, holy-crap-this-will-go-straight-to-my-butt kind of nonsense, let me just say that there are some things that you just don't screw around with. And this is one of them. It's been done this way for a million years (yes that's historically accurate) so just put aside your issues with the word, the concept, the image, and for the love of all things TORTILLA, just GO with it. And I swear, the foodgasm you experience will blur your vision, curl your toes and leave you shivering for more. Trust me on this one.

If you can make a biscuit, a pancake or the like you can make this. Flour, salt, baking powder, water and the L word. That's it!

Roll the dough into ping pong ball size and then roll out.

Roll out the tortilla pretty thin, it will puff up a bit when cooking.

Beef and Cheese Quesadilla

The finished product garnished with avocado, sour cream, lettuce & cabbage, and a corn salsa with a dried corriander & oregano dressing.

We packed these up and took them to the beach for a sunset dinner. And now I am forever ruined on store bought tortillas. Great. Just like my new homemade pasta addiction. How do you ever go back after this? Well, I don't believe you need to. It's a little more work, yes. But if you have your best friend over, crack open some beers and just enjoy the experience of the whole process it makes everything taste better!

Oh, and as for filling, we cooked some beef in the crock pot for a few hours with some onions, garlic, canned chipotle chilis, some wine or beer (or both), cumin, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Then when it was done, here's the big secret: Take a few corn tortillas, rip them up and then throw them & the remaining sauce from the meat into the blender. This will make the most rockin sauce - you will want to slather yourself in it! This whole tortillas in the blender concept is new to me, but holy cow, it works!

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
2-1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
2 Tablespoons (additional) Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
1 cup Hot Water

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large wooden bowl. Stir together.

Add spoonfuls of lard or shortening (use 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons), then use a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Slowly pour in hot water, stirring to bring mixture together. Lightly knead dough 30 to 40 times, or until it becomes a cohesive ball of dough and is less sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least an hour.

Roll into ping pong size balls, place on a tray, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rest for another 20 to 30 minutes.

Heat a cast iron griddle to medium/medium-high heat. One by one, roll out balls of dough until very, very thin. Throw tortillas (one by one) onto the griddle. Cook on each side for 20 to 30 seconds, removing while tortillas are still soft but slightly brown in spots. Remove and stack tortillas, and cover with a towel to keep warm. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing tortillas in a container.

Helpful tips:

* Make sure the water you pour in is very warm.
* Allow the dough to rest, both after kneading and after forming into balls.
* Roll out very thin.
* Get the heat right on your stove: Too hot, and the tortilla will burn in spots. Not hot enough, and the tortilla will begin to crisp before you can get it to brown. I get my stove between medium and medium high heat; that seems to do the trick.
* Use a dark griddle or cast iron skillet to brown the tortillas.
* Cook just long enough to lightly brown the tortilla in spots; don't cook too long or tortillas will crisp. You want them to be soft and pliable when you serve them.

Corn Salsa

Cut the kernals off of a few ears of corn

add chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic

Combine a few Tbs. citrus juice, a Tbs or so of sugar, a splash of balsamic vinegar, 1Tbs ground corriander, 1Tbs dried oregano, 1 Tbs fresh oregano, 1 chopped chive stalk, plus a few Tbs of Olive oil, some salt & pepper and toss with veggies.

Serve on top of quesadillas

Shave Ice Cocktail

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:18:00 +0000

Ok. Who doesn't love shave ice? If you don't live in Hawaii, this is the equivalent to a snow cone only shavy-er. And if you don't live in Hawaii, where there's a shave ice place on every corner, well, then I don't know what to tell you.

But if you DO live here, did you know that you can order a shave ice with no syrup, just the ice for like 50 cents and then take it home and make your own shave ice cocktail?! I know, right!!??

Why oh why, haven't we thought of this before?

Well, in case you happen upon such an opportunity, here's a suggestion of what to do with your sad, naked, shave ice: Take it home and take your jug of ginger juice that you've recently purchased from costco, a shot of vodka, and maybe some simple syrup and a splash of orange or some such juice, shake well in a cocktail shaker and pour over your rapidly melting save ice and voila! An unvirginized shave ice cocktail for your summertime sipping pleasure!

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Your Hands Dirty Is A Good Thing!

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:09:00 +0000

Let's just say it's been a long couple weeks, months, whatever. Finally the metaphorical fog has cleared a bit and I realized we needed to just get OUT. So, the other day I shoved all of my work and household responsibilities aside and started cooking at about 1:00 while my kids were still in school. I made roasted potatoes with parmesan, bbq'd some chicken, and packed up a bunch of snacks, gatorade for the kids, beer for me, dog food for our beast, and decided to pick them up right after school, even put off the homework for a while and head to the beach until sunset.

And let me tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Heads full of sand, knees scratched up from the coral, salty air on our faces, and best of all, dirty hands full of bbq sauce. Forget about the napkins and just go jump in the ocean. A huge moon rose over Diamond Head right before we left and my tribe and i realized the beauty in those moments. The dirty moments where you're a mess and you just don't care.

I'm looking for my Muse

noreply@blogger.com (H) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:44:00 +0000

Hi. Remember me? I'm the terribly inconsistent blogger who has seemingly abandoned the love of eating, drinking and being merry, clammed up, disappeared, packed up, shipped out. But no! I haven't really. I don't know what has happened to my Muse, but she/he/it has been, well, missing. Perhaps it's been drowned by the worries of life; bills, kids, changes, loves, joys, other writing projects, angst, spiritual quest and renewal, extreme yoga, busy with the real job, yadda yadda yadda....

I don't even know if there is anyone out there anymore who is waiting for me to Swig and Grind and share it. I have, however gotten several messages etc... over the last few months, basically asking "wtf??!, if I see that damned picture of the pasta machine one more time....." Well, I'm sorry. I've been missing the blogosphere, I really have. I have eaten great food. I've discovered great wine. I've shaken up whacky cocktails, and even photographed the whole dang process. But when I sit down to write, I'm pulled in a thousand different directions.

So here I am today, basically confessing my writing iniquities, and writing about my lack of writing. Touche Renee. It's a start. I decided not even to post a picture, because I needed to just WRITE! Argghhhhh!!!!!

So all of this to say. I shall repent and return to my debaucherous ways and if there's any readers still out there after my long sabbatical, than we shall resume our adventures together. Anyone? Anyone???.......