These are only 500 buttons from my stash of 500,000. And yes, somehow I am managing to let them go at the YARDage Sale tomorrow. Lots and lots of fun fabric and notions and other craftiness goodies to be had. Maybe even a couple of industrial sewing machines too-an industrial Singer straight stitch and a comercial serger(or is it surger). Hawaiian quilts and koa boxes will be for sale, as will be baskets for your projects or gift giving solutions along with thread in a myriad of colors, hard to find bullion trim and yards and yards desireable brush fringe. Let me not forget 4 ply cording in alluring colors. The banana bread however, is sure to be snatched up quickly.

See you at PO’OHALA LEI & FLOWERS                                                                      this SATURDAY 9/26 from 5-8pm and SUNDAY 9/27 from 9am-3pm                                  69 N Beretania St. between Smith and Maunakea in beautiful Downtown Honolulu smack on the edge of Chinatown, Hawaii

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.

Last evening James and I went to Chai’s Island Bistro at Aloha Tower Marketplace to listen to Nathan Aweau. I thought we were just going to listen to the music and have a couple of cocktails, but the sublime sounds of Nathan Aweau encouraged us to splurge and celebrate Friday. This is a fantastic presentation of one of the pupu plates ordered. Wildly electrified jumbo prawn encrusted with kataifi and macadamia nut. Cocktail salad greens. King Crab cake topped with salsa and carrot swirls. Panko Ahi accompanied by a light cumin flavored  dipping sauce and a fresh wasabi. Wow, so gorgeous and so ono. Order this ‘Chef Chai’s signature appetizer plate’. It’s a combo of 3 of the most popular pupu. It is pictured more professionally at this menu link. More importantly, it was delicious and satisfying. And unquestionably, the music of Nathan Aweau was transporting.

Breakfast this Friday morning was simple yet hardy. I know about the ‘hardy’ part because my job was to devour it. I’m surmising on the ’simple’ part as my husband prepared today’s (and most days) breakfast. French toast using leftover hubby-home-made wheat bread, topped with plain lowfat yogurt, blueberries sprinkled on top and our sliced backyard Apple Bananas. Add a sweet sliver of cantaloupe and for local flavor…Spam!! What can I say? We’re locals and not too proud to eat  or admit that we eat Spam.

Recipe for French toast:

• Combine the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl
•  2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of cinnamon

Dip slices of stale bread in mixture-totally immersing the slices so that the bread is on the soggy soft side. Cook  both sides on medium high heat until toasty brown color. I don’t have to instruct you to add cooking oil to the pan and do all those common sense prep things..do I? …or do I? Another delicious meal to eat it up…Yum!

Rather than a gin this weekend’s tonic is really a mojito.

So, this weekend on a most hot and humid Hawaiian summer day, my husband conjures up a most delicious respite in the form of an icy cold abolutely refreshing sip-me-now beverage. He floated a teeny bit of dark rum on the top which colored the entire drink a lovely amber while still maintaining its yummy mojito flavor. Notice those vintage 1950’s glasses with the Roman coins? Yup! more cool pass-me-downs from my parents. I remember my parents entertaining friends and family using the set of eight. Only six survivors now, but we relish this gift and use them with delight. They are especially appreciated when filled with cool summer drinks-not all alcohol you know-remember my Summer Sip with the bubbly water? The mint is from the garden. The Adirondack chairs which host many a photo are creations of my husband, proud designer craftsman of Aloha Adirondack Chairs. A dotcom site coming soon. Sip and sit a while.

In the middle of my sewing session this weekend, my husband brought me this refreshing glass of Perrier garnished with mint from my garden and a sliver and squeeze of lime. Sip and Refresh then Sew. Every summer I treat myself to a few bottles of Perrier which before imbibing I ceremoniously pour into a real glass. It’s my treat to myself in those hot days of Kauwela season. It is imperative to drink from real glass as that is the little extra yet not difficult touch that elevates a simple water drink to a classy  H2O cocktail, punctuated by the fact that Perrier has switched to plastic bottles and isn’t that an anomoly…plastic…bottles?  Anyway, this lovely vessel in the photo is part of an intact collection of etched Hawaiian flowers, a gift from my parents which was gifted to them for their wedding over 60 years ago. Sipping bubbly water may seem prosaic to you all, but understand that as a rule, I do not buy bottled water. Hawaii has the most deliciously pure water (I would venture in the world) that most of  us locals are tap water drinkers. And those who are not…shheesh…wake up and drink the tap water, and if you continue to choose to waste your money, please recycle. So my little summer treat poured and delivered by my husband was the perfect sippy spa moment to lift my mood and ready me to continue my sewing for the upcoming Made in Hawaii craft show. Shown here in the foreground and background are two new fabrics for my Hawaiian barkcloth placemats and reversible tablerunners. So take a moment to relax and enjoy and remind yourself that you are special.

Despite the economic worries, sales at the Lei Shop were thankfully brisk. In Hawaii we give beautiful and special lei in addition or instead of the de rigueur rose arrangement or flower bouquets. We were not slammed but business was a happy steady flow. So it was a pleasant event to come home to a special Valentine’s dinner prepared by my husband. The menu; Blackened Ahi prepared with two different dry rubs- a curry/cumin and a predominantly chili/paprika concoction. Steamed artichoke with a ramekin each of lime-butter and mayonaise for dipping completed this artfully plated dish. We popped the cork to a Veuve Cliquot and kept it well chilled in a stylish Jeff Lee ceramic bowl, our favorite substitute for a wine bucket. For dessert James baked this pan of brownie with a cute little powdered sugar heart ahhhhwww. Simple. Elegant. Appreciated. Mahalo muchly! mmmmmmmwwahhhhhh.

Valentine’s came a little early. We had a number of errands to do in town on Thursday and decided to make it a day in ‘the Big Guava’–kind of like those folks who go in to ‘the City’ to spend a day shopping, dining, museuming and the like in the major metropolis’ like San Francisco or New York. Aside from welcome relief from my chiropractor our next big appointment of the day was to meet with Mr. Mori as my husband was submitting his retirement papers!!!!!!!! Yay! Hooray! Mr. Mori turns out to be a 6′3″ sandy haired Italian not the short Japanese guy we pictured. And you know, I listened to a message on the answering machine that he left the other day…and he stills sounds like your typical Japanese civil servant despite the fact that I know that not to be true. We did business, we shopped (wine at the Kaimuki Tamura’s then the polar opposite-tea at Lupicia in Ala Moana.) We then got a jump on Valentine’s Day by dining at Stage. A celebration was in order. Retirement and Valentine’s Day. My husband also presented me with the lovliest of lei, a 3 strand pikake and chose for himself a plumeria both from my favorite Lei Shop– Po’ohala Lei and Flowers. The dining experience at Stage was a treat. Delicious and  Asian inovative. The service genuine and attentive. Dessert-yummynum. We started with shared crispy fried Calamari and spinach Caesar Salad then hormone free New Zealand King Salmon and organic free range Lamb Chops for the entrees. A delighful  palate cleanser of homemade ice cream with a zing of chili pepper was a prelude to a sumptuously oozing bitersweet chocolate Soufle and a surprise retirement dessert from the kitchen. I am not a restaurant food critic so please check out the menu for the details. We had a delightful meal there and a day for celebration in the ‘Big Guava.’

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!

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.