Vacation

There was no blog last week because I was in Maui, HI. Ahhh! What can I say, someone invited me to go along with her family and I didn't say no. It really was a good vacation, lots of sunshine and some warm rain, lots of fresh air and fresh tree ripened guavas, pineapples, mangoes and those other ones I don't like, papayas. We stayed in a home on a private dirt road just off the Hana Hwy between mile makers 1 and 2 so we were 29 miles from Hana on the wet side of the island. We got a lot of rain which was fine except the house was "off the grid" powered by solar panels and our water was run-off from the rain falling on the roof and piped into a 10,000 gallon tank in the front yard. We had to watch how much power we used in the mornings before the sun brought up the batteries which took most of the day. That's okay, we were at the beach or hiking or shopping and having lunch in the little town of Paia. I couldn't resist the Maui beef burgers on a Kiaser roll served at Mambo's Cafe. It's on Baldwin Ave up the block from the Hemp store. Then there were the mahi-mahi fish and chips at the Paia Fish Market on the corner of Baldwin and The Hana Hwy.
We rose each day at sunrise as the house faced east and there was no stopping the sun from waking us. No blinds or draperies on any of the windows to keep it out. Mornings are best for picture taking so I took advantage of several mornings for a little walk with my camera. Clouds moved continually along in front of the house so the family's 5 year old son and I called it a train of clouds and we pretended it was hauling sugar cane. Clouds do make for the best sunrises all pink and gold. One day I did glimpse the cinder cone of Haleakala as I stood on the front lawn but didn't ever see it again to photograph it. Two of us drove over to Wailuku and Iao Valley State Park. We climbed up the tourist steps to the little look-out but didn't know where the real trails were so couldn't get up close to the cone shaped rock that is at the head of the valley. Kings are buried there and battles were fought there I suppose for dominance of the huge fertile valley watered by the four streams that converge there and flow down into the plain.One day we all drove further up the Hana Hwy and stopped to hike through a small park beside the road. It had mahogany trees which I had never seen close up. Their bark is spongy like our Redwood trees only not so thick. The trail was graveled at some parts but most of the time we were walking on roots. So many plants combined in that jungle. Many of the larger trees had vines wrapping around them from the base on up. It looked to me as if the vines would eventually strangle the trees. It all seemed a bit eerie  for me raised in dry California but oh so lush and pale green compared to the darker oak and pine greens I see every day.
Guavas grew all along the Highway and all down the road we were on. The smell of them is like a wonderful perfume and they taste like it too. Neighbors grew coconut palms and sweet little apple-bananas. How I wish we could get some of those here. They have nothing of the cloying aftertaste of regular bananas, just sweet. I would eat one every day if I could. Maybe if we all ask at Trader Joe's they will bring them in. We did find one good coconut on the road and carried it home to try. It yielded two cups of coconut milk which I froze and then made into "shave" ice for a treat. The coconut meat is very soft and rich tasting unlike the hard meat we get from the imported ones here. It is not very sweet either. I guess that is my recipe for the week.

We did drive over to the dry side to go to the beach at Kihei and drove on down through Wailea and Makena to the big state beach there. How it has changed since I was last there 26 years ago. The sugar cane fields are still there but a bit less extensive. The population must have doubled and it shows.
I have posted pictures of the trip on facebook. Here is the link to take you there. Enjoy and Aloha.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30421&id=100000307281191&l=70d7fa4940

It's Just Food

It's Just Food

I became interested in Michael Pollan's book, Food, Inc when I saw Mr. Pollan interviewed and I agreed with his support of eating a balanced diet and had to admit that his contention that we should eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat was sound. I would choose just a little less meat whereas Mr. Pollan seemed to be saying a lot less meat. My sense is that I will not agree with Mr. Pollan on much more of his theory though I will read his book, Food, Inc when it is available at my local library just to verify my sense of it. In the mean time I read his earlier book, In Defense of Food. For the most part it is concerned with the scientific studies of nutrition and nutrients. Scientific experiments are targeted to individual nutrients and studies are bent to evaluate the elimination of “bad” parts of our diets like fat and carbohydrates. Both of which scientists now admit we need in our diets. These experiments study the specific parts so can't uncover the relationship of the food choices in the whole diet. Why this would be a surprise I don't know. It always seemed to me that studies of singular parts of the whole could not but fail to uncover any real truth about why we are unhealthy or healthy. Also, so much of our health is how we eat what we eat. Do we deep fry, do we boil vegetables to death, do we eat to much at one sitting, do we vary our seasonings and lightly dress our salads. What sort of exercise we get is also such a big factor in our health. Our age is also important. On top of it all is our culture. What do we know about food and how do we use that knowledge. Each of us has learned at our family table that food is a central part of our existence. It is an extension of our culture, a huge part of our socializing and we must eat to survive.

One thing that has always puzzled me is this notion that canned, frozen, processed and preserved foods just aren't good enough. What ever gave anyone the idea that we can't get nutrients from vegetables when other than fresh. Only in this jet age have we been able to have year-round fresh foods. Our ancestors survived because they had dried or preserved fruits and vegetables most of the year and here we are proof that the species is surviving so it's just food. My favorite food after chocolate is jam. That's preserved fruit and despite the sugar which has been in jam for many generations we survive and thrive. It's just food, eat it and enjoy as it does you no harm and in fact does you a lot of good. Just don't eat too much of any one thing or type of food. Our cultural attitude toward food is our best guide and one I have explicit faith in. Mr. Pollan seems less sure and writes that we need some outside guidance in our choices. Pooh I say Mom knows best even better than the National Institute for Health because Moms learned from their mothers and on back into history. Did my Anglo ancestors boil their vegetables to long? Yes they did. But my mother and I learned not to because lightly cooked veggies taste better. Canned vegetables taught a lot of people that fresh was superior tasting to preserved or over-cooked. Try this experiment; follow Julia Child's' method of cooking green beans. Boil several of quarts of water with a bit of salt then drop in the beans and cook just 5 minutes. Very time consuming but WOW what a treat to eat fresh, carefully cooked beans. Now, go to the store, buy that package of microwave-able green beans and feel no guilt because who has time to boil a huge pot of water for 4 servings of beans? And WOW what a treat the microwave-able beans are.

Another contention Mr. Pollan makes that I find silly is that fast food is cheaper. That is the reason he gives that makes people choose the sugar rich processed foods that are making us fat. His contention is that we pay less for manufactured food products. What? I bought whole fresh carrots the other day for 50 cents a pound. Organic or not they are nutritious and delicious and it takes the same amount of time to cut some of them into sticks as it would to open a package of PopTarts and toast a couple of them. Compare the price of a pound of carrots to a package of sweetened dough stuffed with sugary gel covered in sugar-water frosting and you will see the cost savings of eating healthy snacks. To say nothing of the nutritional value. And then what is this organic thing anyway? It is a certificate from some government agency that's what. It cost the farmer time and money to get and if it adds value to the food I will be very surprised. The important choice we make as to eating food is variety. Eat a bit of everything to get the most value from our diet. So here we are back to the whole picture. I say Mom knows best and has our best interest at heart. The saying is “Food is love.” Good food carefully prepared must be the best love. It's just food, buy it, cook it right and eat it.

The following recipe is the cupcakes I made for my daughter's wedding. This is not a quick and easy recipe but delicious and light for cake. It is from The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking with a few modifications to make it less dense with more intense flavor. I frosted it with Joy's old fashioned caramel frosting, page 1000, a pain to make but if you have time a real old-fashioned treat. When the instructions say beat, dump the sugar/cream concoction into the Kitchenaid (or whatever brand) stand mixer turn it on med speed and walk away for about 10 minutes. Seriously it takes that long for the mixture to come together as frosting.

The original recipe is Applesauce Cake on page 943. Because the wedding was last Fall and the theme was just that I substituted the deep orange sweet puree of a kabocha squash (pumpkin is nearly the same). With all ingredients at room temperature begin: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift all-purpose flour twice then measure 1 ½ cups plus 2 tbs (my addition) and sift into a bowl with

¾ tsp soda

¼ tsp baking powder (my addition)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves (recipe says ½ which is too strong)

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp grated or ground nutmeg (recipe says optional 1/8 tsp)

1/8 tsp ground mace – not in my recipe (recipe says optional)

½ tsp salt

In your mixer Beat

¼ lb (8 tbs) butter for 30 seconds (recipe says unsalted butter) (never use a butter substitute if you want good flavor)

Gradually add and beat on high speed until lightened in color and texture, 3 to 5 minutes

¾ cup packed brown sugar (recipe says white plus 2 tbs of brown)

Beat in:

1 large egg

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternation with, in 2 parts:

1 cup squash puree (recipe says applesauce) beating until just incorporated

Walnuts and raisins are optional additions (not included in the wedding cupcakes, but pecans with squash puree would be delicious)

With your spring loaded large ice cream scoop: put one scoop in each of 12 paper muffin cups, place in the center of your preheated oven and bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool 10 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or freeze for an hour then frost. Keep frozen until 2 hours before serving. Freezing is not absolutely necessary as they will stay fresh overnight. Enjoy using applesauce or one of the winter squashes available in the market. I am thinking of using apple butter in the next batch I make. Enjoy.