Thanksgiving Dawn Patrol - 28 November

Happy Thanksgiving to us all!  I am thankful for the life I live, my family, our health (Mom - let's get better now!) and the opportunities we make for ourselves.  I have been preparing this turkey for the past three days - started by deboning it, then brining it, then drying it, then stuffing it, smoking it and finally carving it.  Here it is this morning -

After the turkey went into the Big Green Egg, I went on a dawn patrol.  There was a mega high tide at 2.3', ZERO wind and a waist high swell pushing through.  I brought out the 4'10" and the Armstrong CF1600 - same setup as the past couple of sessions.

I stayed out from 6:30 to 8:45 - I had a bunch of long rides and banking turns from section to section.  I didn't want to leave, but the waves were backing down (counterintuitive to a dropping tide), the wind was starting to fill in and I had a turkey to check on.  It came out exquisite!!!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Kalo, Lau Lau and an Elephant Noe

I made lau lau for the first time this past weekend.  And Noe became an elephant.

The things you can do with luau leaves.

Sunday Scallop Brunch

Yummy!

More Ahi for Dinner

We still had the cravings from the last batch while we were on Kauai, so I made another batch.

 

 I'm drooling on myself right now....

And While We're on the Topic of Meals...

This is one for the record books - La made and ate biscuits and gravy!!! And it was fantastic!!! Definitely cannot eat this everyday... without reducing your lifespan by several years - but what a wonderful treat!!! She never ate this before in my presence!!! After 16 years of marriage, countless stops along many freeways for food, having lived in the South for many years - all with her look of "how can you eat that stuff". You have just witnessed a miracle!!!

Pulled Pork Fumble Converted into a Lumpia Touchdown

I recently replaced the gasket on the Big Green Egg and realigned the lid. I had barbecued some chicken and fish and all was well. But my normal vent settings were not producing the same temperatures for a low and slow smoke. I know this because I set up a pork butt smoke for an overnight cook and two things happened - the temperature was hovering around 300 F when I went to sleep and I actually lost the fire sometime during the night. I woke up early to this fiasco, regrouped and the pork butt was done at 7:30 am. Unfortunately it's excursion above 300 F turned it into a roast instead of the usual sumptuous, "fall apart in your hands" pulled pork goodness. What to do with over 5 pounds of roast pork (when your wife - and sometimes your kids - doesn't like roast pork)... I immediately cubed the meat in preparation for making the next batch of lumpia. I got around to making the lumpia this morning - great save!!! I can say this because La was eating the lumpia up!!! I love this Southern twist on a Filipino favorite! Or it is just Hawaiian? ;)

More Fish for Dinner and a New To Us Grocery Store

This was lunch on Saturday - pompano. We bought these at the "Seafood City" store near our house. And they were imported - we've caught these on the East Coast. Noe said "I like the way Lola cooks it better". She still ate it up ;) Here's some other pictures from the store. We'll definitely be adding this place to our list of places to get groceries (La liked the cleanliness especially - but ensemadas didn't hurt either).

Fish for Dinner

I bought a few slabs of mahi (this is a catch up post - I actually bought and cooked the fish two weekends ago), and taught the kids how to make baked fish. Salt, pepper, crushed garlic and butter. Yummy with mashed potatos!!!!

Southern Filipino

If you need proof that I'm Filipino and from the South (Southern United States), here's some lumpia I made with smoked pulled pork. I eat these with Jack Daniel's Original BBQ Sauce!!! And they are loaded with umami (look this word up - a newly defined 5th taste sense that describes how 'rich' and 'savory' a food is)! SO ONO (yeah that's not southern talk, but by the 'years lived in a place' count, Hawaii is quickly becoming my Home State)

Slow Cooker Arroz Caldo

I've been wanting to try this for a while, but I kept getting distracted with smoking meat. I carved out some time on Monday and here it is - slow cooker arroz caldo. It turned out a little less yellow than I remember it (from when my parents made it), but it tasted really good - like warm blanket straight from the drier on a cold, crisp evening. Yum yum yum (even though it is the beginning of summer on the Ewa Plain - hot hot hot)!

Boat Show It Is!!!

The math said press on!!! With the 75+ miles we would have on the run flat, we could still get to the Honda service shop by Dulles - so why turn in defeat when you can bask in glory!!! One of our first stops was the pressure cooker demonstration. We will be getting one of these for sure - definitely passage equipment. Made some great fried chicken and potatoes in less than five minutes - how can you turn that down?