the Govenors New Garden

This past Saturday, Madre Chocolate (the company I now make chocolate with) participated in th Aina Ho'ola o Ma'ilikukahi or "Hands Turned to the Soil" conference.This conference raises awareness of where our food comes from, how it is grown and encourages folks to get their hands dirty doing the work that brings food to the table. We were invited to demonstrate how locally grown cacao beans become the snappy, glossy, melt in your mouth chocolate bars we consume.

Governor Neal Abercrombi and his lovely wife Nancy dedicated a new herb garden to Nancy's mother complete with a traditional Hawaiian blessing and a local, farm to table, organic, vegetarian mid day meal. Madre Chocolate was the entertainment during the meal. Nat showed the kids how to make a frothy Mayan chocolate drink. We ground chocolate on premises and poured some samples for all to taste.

The best part of the whole experience was of course the kiddos. It was so much fun to see such enthusiasm mirrored in these kids for some thing I love so much. 

Things got really hands on with the  molinillo (frothing wand used to make the delicious beverage) and the piedra de moler (grinding stone). You can see in the photo above, one young lady still going to town grinding those nibs! I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that chocolate is exciting to so many - young and old, from all walks of life. It is wonderful to see a special treat like chocolate bring people together. We can all relate to this kind of delight.

Below is a video with more information about Aina Ho'ola o Ma'ilikukahi.

Aina Ho'ola Conference 2010 from Jenna Ishii on Vimeo.

Shree-ahmp!

 Driving to the North Shore is considered something of an event. Even if we make the trip more than once in a week. The North Shore is special.During the winter a trip to the North Shore can provide hours of wave watching. Giants that roll in and break in barrels the size of a two story house. On a spring day, we will make the hour and a half drive to tail gate at a polo match or to hike Kaena Point. On this day we were headed to Puaena Point to do some sea turtle spotting. Our friends from NJ were visiting and said that if they saw a sea turtle, they would move here. So, North we go! However, as you might have guessed, we needed to be fortified(gastronomically speaking) for this mission.

 Let us stop for shrimp on the way... 

 

Fumi's shrimp to be precise. Why Fumi's? Honestly, out of the kajillion or so shrimp trucks along the Kamehameha Hwy, Fumi's has the nicest view and the prettiest shack! Such a cute wash up station too!

With the shrimp ponds right behind the kitchen, I can't imagine the little pink critters on my plate could get any fresher. Stir fried in Siracha spicy garlic sauce with a side of sticky rice and a minuscule green salad(salad? Who needs salad? We are here for the shrimp.)

 If you need a cool down after the spicy garlic shrimp, Fumi's has thoughtfully provided a shave ice shack as well.

Oh and guess how many turtles we saw? I counted 11. 

I would like to say a warm welcome to our soon to be neighbors, Neil and Christine!