Let Them Eat Pie...

...And lots of it.

That's what the unspoken rule at the Pie TweetUp seemed to be yesterday.

Pies, Pies and more Pies. Because of health restrictions and codes (no refrigeration) nothing could contain dairy. But there was Apple, Mango and Lemon Meringue pie. Strawberry-Lilikoi pie, Beef and Kidney pie, Savory Quiches, Empanadas, individual servings of Chicken Pot Pie. Avocado-Chocolate Mousse pie and my brainchild Poi Pie. (For those of you unfamiliar with poi: poi is a condiment of sorts, eaten with other foods, usually salty or pungent ones, to cut the flavors. It is made by pounding the taro root and adding water to make it into a paste the consistency of cake batter).

 Dania Katz, left, coordinator of the event and two participants. Sweet Potato Manju w/ Lilikoi Butter. A photo of my pie. (photo credit unknown)

Just after setting it down on the table - Poi Pie with Ginger Snap Crust, Boiled Hawaiian Honey and Salted Pistachio Nuts - oh so ONO!

Making it up as I went along, the filling has poi, sugar, coconut milk, melted butter, eggs and spices - in many ways it harkened to the likes of a pumpkin pie filling. I can't wait for my next excuse to throw caution to the wind and be unabashedly creative with food.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things and Looking Forward to Saturday

Whew! What a couple of weeks it has been! I hope everyone who stops by here has been doing well and that despite record temperatures, odd weather, current events and personal affairs that you've all been doing well.

I have become obsessed with my hats. I am fortunate to say they are doing well at retail in the shops I had prior to going into the summer and now, I've added a few more and really upped the ante. No sooner do I finish adding to the inventory when another order comes in and I practically wipe out my newly finished stock.

Sole proprietorship. Flying solo. CEO, VP, mail clerk, secretary, cleaning service... you name it and I wear the hat in this company. So needless to say, I'm pooped.

And I know... things could be worse.

To add to that, I have put out some extensive and exhausting posts recently: The Mirror Ball Dot Blog Hop and SHAG: A Tale of Mammoth Proportions give-away to name a few... so as I stated in the title of the post, I am Getting Back Into the Swing of Things by resuming with publishing mini-posts containing snippets and blurbs of my daily life.

Today, I am exploring sustainable cooking.

I recently made two new friends who are avid foodies and I have once again been bitten by the culinary bug. I have a renewed reason to explore food and be experimental, creative and daring or with less vernacular: I have an audience so I can be a show-off!

This Saturday we're doing something fun and going to a Pie TweetUp.

In a pie shell it's a social event:

July’s Pie Tweetup!

Photo by www.chefjana.com

Hosted By: @KulaFields @DaniaEdibleHi @KupuMaui

Hashtag:   #KupuMaui

You’re Invited to our 3rd Annual Pie Tweetup

Saturday July 20, 2013 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

• Free event and open to the public
• Make a pie to share made with a focus on local ingredients
• Remember we like both sweet and savory pies
• Invite family & friends to bake with you
• Use the hashtag #KupuMaui on facebook, twitter & instagram
• No store bought pies, please

If you want to attend and don’t bake or are on vacation, please come and bring: Eco-friendly Paper Plates (no styrofoam, please), Ecofriendly forks, napkins and eco-friendly cups. Please emailinfo@KupuMaui.com for a list of needs.

Today I told my mom about it and one of my ideas for a pie to bring. Her response was oozing with skepticism (in the best way), "You might want to make one before, just to make sure it works out...."

I have my concept, I did my research, I have my skills and taste buds, and no one has ever perished from my cooking. It's all gonna be good. I am not holding back on revealing my pie to be selfish; I am only doing so in case mom is proven right... =\

And then that evening I'll have my foodie friends over for dinner. I have a nice menu planned and again, I'm not not telling in case I change my mind a hundred-million times before then BUT as I stated above, I am going to explore sustainable food.

By sustainable I mean - today it hit me while looking at the thicket of elephant bamboo on the property that bamboo shoots are an edible. I equated sustainablewith bamboo because it has become one of the more prominent players in the discussion regarding sustainability. So I trotted on over to the tall, swaying poles, clacking together like rooted wind chimes in the gentle afternoon breezes and low-and-behold!

SHOOTS!(or as Gollum would say, "SHOOTSES!")

More shoots.

Shoots removed from the base of the plants. 

 The fibrous outer husk removed revealing the tender heart.

 The shoots cut in half. I don't know about you but I see 

the faces of one-eyed space creatures with open mouths shaped like lips...

The halves are now submerged under a small plate in a bowl of water to keep them hydrated while I do more research into preparing them for cooking. Instinctively I think they need to be poached or parboiled in a brine with salt or an acid like vinegar or lemon juice and since we're going to be grilling, to slice and oil them, grill quickly, julienne and toss with a vinaigrette. Lemongrass, mushrooms and even pineapple come to mind too... maybe something Thai inspired.

To be continued....

Shag-adelic Tuesday

I was in a quandary for choosing a winner.

Karen Neary, a Mirror Ball Blog Hop participant, was going to receive, and did, a copy of the book in her "Thank You" package...

Danette had already read and owned a copy of the book...and I wasn;t going to send her another one... so there :P

and that left 3 readers who had left comments (BTW only 3 comments out of hundreds of people who viewed the page)...

How could I choose?

(the image above gives away lots of what's inside the novel)

So, Kate, Linda H and Linda will all receive an editor's copy of the book!

Please send your address to:

markhordyszynski@mac.com

Congratulations to the winners!

Mega Mammoth Monday

Meet Shag

Click on the banner above

SHAG : A Modern Tale of Mammoth Proportions

He’s furry. He’s cuddly. He’s mammoth.

Well…um, actually, he is a mammoth.

Woolly mammoth.

Click on the cover for a free preview

Available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, iUniverse and other notable booksellers online.

Leave a comment to win a signed copy of

SHAG: A Modern Tale of Mammoth Proportion

You'll get to experience the book as I did, in its first printed form as an editor's copy, to review the manuscript for errors and corrections. It is one of less than 10 such copies.

Winner to be chosen at random next week.

Great Summer reading!

Mammoth Monday

The Land of Eternal Winter

The herd of great, furry beasts lumbered through the frozen arctic tundra. They were migrating south to the warmer climate and regions where the conifer forests were abundant. With the spring thaw, the herd passed this way on their journey to summer pastures in the north. Now, months later, they retraced their steps in hopes of finding something to forage under thepristine pellicle of snow. Food was good here last time.

     The late afternoon storm passed quickly and hadn’t flurried heavily enough to cover their deeply trodden tracks, but it was sufficient to blanket everything in a fresh coating of white. The newly fallen snow incited the rambunctious young sters into playing tag. Running and sliding beneath the fringed undersides and tree trunk legs of the adults, the calves’ acrobatic stunts stirred up clouds of confetti-like frost. One of the elder females chuffed at the impertinent nuisance of a snout full of powder.

     She reared her head as she recovered from the sneeze and blurted a loud trumpeting from her three-meter long trunk. The calves scrambled out and away from her gracefully curving tusks with their gentle upward twist.

     The woolly mammoth, a thirty-five-year-old female and the matriarch of the herd, stood eleven feet tall at the shoulder. She was draped in a thick coat of fur; the ropy, cashmere-like locks of hair flowed over each and every one of her kind from head to toe.

     In a panorama of nothingness, each massive creature resembled a hairy oasis. Even in the murky dusk their distinctive shape and oafish size made them oddities against the background of eternal ice age winter.

to be continued...

This Year I Had a Vacation Too!

When I have family and friends come to visit, I usually try to maintain a diluted stream of work during their stay. This year, a few weeks ago, when my dad and sister came to visit, I put aside all the trappings of work and took a vacation too! (But I should mention as I am always looking at the world for sources of inspiration, I am always working) =\ ...

I know it's cliche but it was great to explore my own back yard, and the best part was they rented a Jeep Wrangler - so I was a passenger and was along for the ride.

So here's a scrapbook depicting most of what we did during those 10 days.

Day 1:

Breakfast at the local grindz Jack's Inn

 A whole Opakapaka caught that morning... 

and charcoal grilled with a Sweet and Spicy sauce for dinner that evening. Oh so ONO!

Day 2:

 Huli Huli Chicken - hundreds of them grilled at once on mechanized spits

 Happy Hour pupus

A trio of Maui Cattle Co.burgers (from the bottom) beef, elk and boar.

Day 3:

 Old Glory waving in the late afternoon trade winds.

Maui Veterans Cemetery the day before Memorial Day: The Boy- and Girl Scout troops decorated the grave with flags and handmade leis.

 In honor of those who had served.

Makawao Cemetery 

Day 4:

Dad outside of the IAO Theater in Wailuku, an historic landmark known to be haunted

Dad posing with his ghostly koa warrior

 Maui Ocean Center

Day 5:

The Road to Hana 

the complete loop: the long way in and the short (54 Bridges) way home

From Haiku: East, North, West and then South

 Sculptures of hula dancers at the Tedeschi Winery carved from living trees (that were actually rotting from the inside out). They are still attached to the stumps in the ground.

Wind-driven turbines - the blades turn at 200 MPH at their tips

 Palapala Ho'omau Church - the resting place of Charles Lindburg

Day 6:

Sunset on Haleakala Crater

 The endangered Haleakala silversword.

Day 7, 8 and 9:

A weekend in Lahaina - the Pioneer Inn

On the way: Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop

 Freshly brewed ice tea and the some of the best french fries on the island - and as we all know: fries are just a vehicle for eating ketchup!

A very decadent home-made birthday layer cake: 

Lilikoi (passionfruit) pound cake and Lilikoi-Chocolate Ganache Buttercream; 

Maui Winery bubbly

Sis's birthday - you look fantastic, sweetie!

One of Dana's must haves in Lahaina: Local Boy shave ice - flavors unknown but it had Roselani vanilla ice cream on the bottom, not marshmallows but mochi and li hing mui (dried plum powder) sprinkled on top.

Hopped unfettered right up onto the blanket at the beach

This sat on the sand the entire time we were at Black Rock beach - this is so inspiring creatively because I could spin many different stories on this image alone

Dad posing outside before we grazed on the best buffet on the island: the KBH Sunday Champagne Brunch - dad's pre-Father's Day gift from us.

My lovely family: yes, I am related to them... =\

Day 10:

(Clockwise from top left) Grilled Okinawan (purple) Sweet Potatoes; Grilled Mango-Balsamic Chicken Paillards with fresh mango and black lava seat; Grilled Vegetables with Sweet Soy Mayo Dressing, black sesame seeds, Gingered Honey Carrots, Oven-dried Tofu, Poi 

Note: Mom stayed home taking care of the dogs, Kassi and Kona, basking in the solitude of the absence of my two visitors.

It was bittersweet seeing them depart but we already have future visits planned; I back East for the holidays, and Dana here for Whale Fest in February.

Next post:

What's furry, cuddly and really mammoth? Stay tuned to find out...