Tag: cooking

Have a fine morning snorkeling. Sort of a snorkeling trifecta – found an eel, a turtle and an octopus. The photos are still in the camera. Hopefully I came away with 3 nice photos.

New microwave adventure today. Eggplant. “My” vendor at the farm market usually has nice Japanese eggplants at a very nice price. So, I bought some. Sliced them up. Manufactured some “marinara” sauce. And nuked the lot for 8 minutes. It is aging in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow – I’ll reheat it, add a chopped tomato and serve over some udon noodles. Pretend spaghetti.

Have I mentioned lately that I dearly love my iPod touch. iTunes had The Chronicles of Narnia on sale for 9.95 a couple of weeks ago. The Narnia Chronicles were the Harry Potter series of my smallkidtime. Yes, they are based on christian mythology. Mostly likely designed to brainwash  little kids. Nevertheless, I am enjoying them again in my dotage.

I decided it would be easier to learn how my new camera works underwater if the subject stayed still. I came upon an underwater cache of coke bottles. The little fish getting a closer look is Hawaiian White Spotted Toby.

Carlton returned to eating real people food today. No more turkey meatballs and yogurt and avocado and banana diet. We finished that all up last night. This evening we had nuked shark, avocado, tomato and interesting local “salad greens”.

How to Nuke a Shark: Get a couple of nice “beefy” shark steaks. Season with whatever spicy seasoning mix you have around. Just pepper is OK. Shark doesn’t have much flavor – it needs spicy. Stuff into a microwave steamer bag. Nuke 2.5 to 3 minutes.

I got a cookbook out of the library today. (Aside: the Kona library is really short of books. Maybe lots of books were just checked out. Or maybe the are still culling old books but have no budget for replacements.) The cookbook was “Meals from Crappy Little Kitchens”. Well, my kitchen at home is up to their Crappy Little Kitchen standard. My kitchen here is not good enough to be called a Crappy Little Kitchen. Maybe I should make a cookbook: “Meals With No Kitchen At All”.

There is a parade tomorrow morning. The second parade since we have been here.

Would Sarah Palin please leave the planet.

No picture today. Oh, I have some new images in my camera – but – I am too lazy to download them.

One of my favorite things to prepare at home is pasta salad. But, I have not figured out how to cook pasta in the nuker. Today, I made a really passable pasta salad using fresh yakisoba noodles.  I nuked some broccoli in a steamer bag for 3 minutes – then I added the yakisoba noodles. And about a tablespoon of water – and nuked the noodles and veggies for another 2 minutes. After I draining the noodles – added ranch dressing and salsa. Then put avocado, tomatoes, and some chicken on top.

My microwave coach sent the following:

Pasta, shells or fettuccine;  break the fettuccine into  about 2 inch sections.  put 2 tablespoons of canola oil with water  in a see through container bring to a boil, then put the pasta in and stir, then nuke for a couple minutes stir again to keep from sticking together, then nuke again for about 3 or so test for tenderness.  I usually set the power at 5 for the second go around.  Works for me might work for U.  Let me know if/when you try it how it does in the Pacific Islands.  Zee

Yesterday I took pictures of black things in color. Today, colorful things in black and white.

No meatballs today! Today, nuked up some leftover rice, broccoli and cheese scraps in one steamer bag and in another bag – skinless chicken thighs with chili pepper flakes. When the chicken was done (after 4 minutes) I made a little sauce out of apricot jam and shoyu (soy sauce). And chopped up a sorry ass tomato to sprinkle on top of the rice mixture. Pretty good. Today’s lunch was a two bagger. Tuna sandwiches with avocado for dinner.

Been here two weeks already. No regrets about coming over early. The weather is air conditioner warm. The ocean is nice. There are very few tourists. Life is good.

The West Hawaii Today is a very poor newspaper. But, it is the only paper. I scour the paper daily, looking for something to rationalize spending 50 cents. Today the Lost and Founds were worth 50 cents.

Meatball fest continues. Today, I nuked them with some leftover rice, a few veggies, and some chilis. Sort of TexMex meatballs. Side dish of avocado and pineapple.

Note to self. Finally figured out how to make OK eggs in microwave steamer bags. Use the Glad brand bags. Break 3 eggs into the bag. Add a couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese and a little cream, milk, whatever. That is is basics. I added salsa and some chopped up spinach. Nuke for 4 minutes in our rather wimpy microwave. Let set a couple of minutes. Top with grated cheese. The cottage cheese is what makes it work.

Wonder what I’ll figure out to do with meatballs tomorrow?

Sam sells coffee and hats on the street

The street was closed this afternoon. Vendors and musicians gathered to play and sell. Our friend Sam Ah Hoy sells his coffee and hats. He makes fine lau hala chapeau. I may commission one. I can not buy an “off the rack” one – because I have a really big head.

Cooking note to self: Hawaiian Green Beans – steam in the microwave for 12 minutes to make done enough for Carlton.

This winter, I am experimenting with microwave steamer bags. I was going to get a little crockpot this winter – but decided that microwave steamer bags will require less cleanup.