Home Town:
Hawaii,
USA
Living In:
California,
USA
Member Since:
Oct. 2010
Cooking Level:
Intermediate
Cooking Interests:
Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Asian, Mexican, Italian, Healthy, Vegetarian, Dessert, Kids
Hobbies:
Needlepoint, Gardening, Hiking/Camping, Boating, Fishing, Hunting, Photography, Painting/Drawing, Charity Work
I grew up on Oahu, so I still try to live the "aloha" island spirit. And no, I don't eat Spam. Fish & steamed rice is comfort food. My favorite breakfast is half a ripe Solo papaya with nothing but a spoon.
I wasn't blessed with children but I do have 14 nieces & nephews. Some of the public education I do is helping people find ways to live without adding to the pollution of our drinking water. For example, buy as much local tree-ripened unsprayed fruit as possible, or grow it yourself. Buy food in bulk or in recycle or compostable packaging (NO plastic). Rip out your lawn and replace it with raised beds for veggies (veg garden uses same amount of water as lawn but you can't eat grass). Use least-toxic methods of pest control and ask your neighbors to do the same.
And I avoid hydrogenated oil completely (read those packaged food labels).
My favorite things to cook
Poached eggs on toast with salsa. Cherry cobbler with tart Morellos, not commercial pie filling.
Pasta with basil pesto.
Uncooked: Sliced nectarines with blueberries. Caprese salad (Sun-ripened heirloom tomato slices on large basil leaves on slices of fresh mozzarella, crackers optional, sprinkled with balsamic vinegar & olive oil.) And fruit smoothies with yogurt & unsprayed container-grown strawberries.
My favorite family cooking traditions
My niece greets me at the door with "Auntie, what kind of pie did you make?"
My cooking triumphs
Apple pie. Oatmeal raisin cookies. High-protein whole-wheat cinnamon-raisin bread. Cheese souffle.
My cooking tragedies
One mistake from years ago still makes us laugh: the pumpkin pie flavored with powdered garlic instead of powdered ginger. We ate it anyway!
Usually I eat fresh fish raw (sashimi), "blue" (briefly seared, which restaurants are reluctant to do for liability reasons), or smoked. So I should have been suspicious of the 30-minute bake time on this website's "Flounder Italian Style." Oh well.