15,000 is the magic number that I want you all to think. Collectively. Positively. Staunchly.

You can think more, bigger, grander, higher.

This 15,000 is a numerical thought experiment that I am putting out to the universe and I would like your assistance.

If we all want to put a dollar sign $ in front of that 15,000-all the better. It would look like this…$15,000.00

If this is successful, I’ll let you folks know.

Think…15,000

Mahalo~

No such thing as Monday Blues when you work in a lei shop. How could that ever be possible when surrounded by these beautiful and fragrant lei. At Po’ohala Lei and Flowers on Beretania St. in Downtown Honolulu Chinatown, today’s offerings will chase away any blahs or blues you may have. How fortunate to have another fresh ilima to twine with the heady pikake bud. If your sweetie prefers a non scented but stunning lei, adorn your special someone with this scarlet double or rope rose. This red rose bud beauty will last for days. Among the many lei shops in Hawaii, Po’ohala is the only one offering these  strands of rose, pikake and pakalana artfully twined and heavenly scented. Today we sewed them in both pink and red roses. After I have worn a lei with roses in it for a couple of days, I cut the string then remove and float the roses in pretty bowls of water and place them in different parts of my house for an extra pick-me-up of loveliness. All these lei are appropriate for both men and women…and no, in Hawaii giving and wearing  of lei are not hobbled by gender boundaries…and YES, another reason “lucky we live Hawaii”. Ahh, too many choices. Which lei will you choose?

On the bright side–I scored a goal. On the dark side–we got beat by a team that showed little sportmanship in seemingly boorish behavior by racking up the score. Our regular goalie was at a tournament in Australia so 3 fairly inexperienced volunteers (thank you, thank you) took their  respective turns in the goal box. We were also missing 6 regular team players. For future reference  ladies, let me tell you how it is done. After it becomes apparent that scoring in a situation like this is as easy as say, brushing your teeth, you then should start rotating players into different positions. For instance; move your forwards into the fullback line, let your fullbacks have a run at being a forward, bring your goalie out to play on the field, put people that usually don’t play the keeper position in to experience the goal box. Mix it up.  Start passing to those gals that usually don’t get a chance at a lot of ball handling. Really! It is disconcerting and should be totally unnecessary to tell folks that. But there you go. Sportsmanship is not dead. It just needs to be taught. Remember, it’s called Playing a Game.

What do you do when you have too much fabric, notions, crafty stuff, beautiful Hawaiian-made quilts, buttons, quilting squares of every size, spools of thread in a rainbow of colors, feathers(what I am doing with feathers, I don’t know, but I have yet to start that unique project after 15 years so I’m giving them up), fat quarters, fabric, fabric, FABRIC, stuffing stuff and abandoned projects in all stages? You have a YARDage Sale. Not just for women only as we’ll have koa boxes and handmade knives for sale also. I haven’t seen these gift items yet, but I’m intrigued to see the craftwork of the knives. Home baked banana bread with pecans will be available too, so we’ll have something to slice that banana bread with, but get there early as I have tasted them and they are ono.

Where: PO’OHALA LEI & FLOWERS- 69 N Beretania St. between Smith and Maunakea in lovely Downtown Chinatown, Honolulu, Hawaii

When: SATURDAY  5-8pm  &   SUNDAY  9am-3pm

Time to gather your costume fixings for Halloween and it is never ever too early to plan for those Christmas or anytime gift-making-giving. Excuse me, but did I mention FABRIC, FABRIC, NOTIONS, BUTTONS, THREAD, FABRIC  and more crafty CRAFTS? See you there and don’t be a quilting square. Corny, I know but I can’t help it. I have spent much of the past two and a half weeks sorting through a ton o’ stuff resulting in yardage and notions in piles of complementary colored chaos. Really, only the thread looked cool. Crazy making to be sure.

This rainbow enameled switchplate has adorned every house I’ve occupied since the early ’70s when I bought it from my friend Robin’s mother. Mrs Lee had the cutest little knick-knack shop located in Puck’s Alley down the street from the University of Hawaii Manoa, so many millions of incarnations ago about when I was an almost hippie. It also turns out that all the enamel ware which was such the rage back then was created by our other friend Leslie’s aunty who created her art in San Francisco and was a hippie. So this colorful little rainbow switchplate cheerily adorned many a wall in many a home these eons past to present. Until I needed a project done in my bathroom. A project that I had nagged wished and wanted for a couple few years. A simple project. More on that later but it is something that will change your life!! Fo’ real. But I digress… Project complete (mahalo Honey!) but whilst removing my old friend the switchplate some of the enamel cracked off. I left it as is/was for another couple few months then decided that lo these many decades of quiet comfort, its time had come. You know what they say about only keeping the things that bring you joy. It was cracked, chipped, lost its luster and really needed replacing. Out with the old…

Welcome to the brand spanking new colorful plumeria switchplate.

You know how much I adore flowers.

Long may she reign.

Not every day starts as deliciously as this. But it should. And it could, if you are lucky enough like me to live in Hawaii. A neighbor grew this papaya and a friend was handing out starfruit. Dollop a couple of healthy helpings of yogurt to a cut lengthwise and seeded papaya-I like plain yogurt with as much fat as they make, slice the starfruit width-wise(they make the lovliest of edible pretty things). For more pretty and nummy I added mint from my garden. Grab the same spoon that you ladled the yogurt with and dig in. Savor briefly, sigh how “lucky you live Hawaii”, then eat it up–yum!

says it all

No doubt about my vote this election!!! I am anxious yet optimistic. The champagne is chilling.

I have voted in EVERY election since I was 18.

America– Please, do the right thing this time.

January 30

Yes, you read that right and was that omelette Yum! Made from wild salmon roast which I had wisely frozen late this past summer. I’m guessing here but I think that I had already bought and consumed many many cuts of wild salmon, realized that I couldn’t eat this particular piece fresh and just knew that it would satisfy a mid winter salmon crave. In the summer when salmon is available I regularly consume it in various and interesting preparations for days on end. This summer I recall that one of my salmon runs continued for 10 days. My previous record a couple summers back was 14 continuous days  of eating salmon at least once a day but mostly twice daily. Coincidentally my cholesterol was measured soon after my yummy salmon stint and the nurse phoned me with raving results! Hee! My husband prepared this omelette using belly meat cut from the roast we ate the night before. While cooking last night’s roast he poached/boiled the belly then we saved and froze the salmon stock in freezer bags for easy mess free accessible stock. Hint: identify the freezer bags contents and date using a ‘marsh’(indelible ink for younger-somethings)pen before you fill the bags.

Omelette ingredients:

A most delicious brunch and it wasn’t even Sunday. Mmmwah. Thank You Hunny.

postscript oops: I mistakenly wrote walnuts when I obviously used pecans in my previous post of cilantro-pecan pesto. I have made the correction.

January 23

Pesto can be made with  such an astounding variation of ingredients that I rarely make the same ones twice. Perhaps it’s because I have difficulty following a recipe and probably couldn’t duplicate a concoction even if Martha was standing next to me with a measuring cup and wooden spoon ready to whack my knuckles like a nun in elementary school. I was ono for some pesto the other day but didn’t have the standard fare…basil, parmesian etc. I did have 2 giant bunches of Chinese Parsley-cilantro for you mainlanders, pecans, olive oil, garlic and Romano. I won’t agonize over providing you with a properly documented recipe since I just wing it anyway but I’m positive that one can find a suitable recipe for pesto just about anywhere. Simply substitute, experiment and have fun. Recipes are just ideas not the Holy Grail. Helpful Hint: heat the olive oil to a tepid in the microwave before adding the greens. Helpful Hint #2 pour the blended ingredients (I use a blender no fancy-shmancy food processor for me…yet) into a bowl then add the cheese and mix it all by hand otherwise the pesto gets too gooped in the blender. My Cilantro-Pecan Pesto was a hit mixed with quickly sauteed chicken thighs, onions, organic penne pasta and slivers of red and orange bell peppers. Wine too of course but I can’t remember what kind except that it was a red. Yum-yummy!