Wordless Wednesdays Snorkeling This Week

These pictures were taken on two snorkeling trips this week, one to Mauna Lani Beach Resort on the West Coast and one to Richardson Beach in Hilo...

And here is a video from our Hilo Dive Club's Scuba Sunday event:

A Fresh View

My brother and his wife were here from California last week. It was their first time in Hawaii and showing them around our island was a real treat, because we got to see things from a fresh perspective. It was a gentle reminder about what a special place we live in.

My sister in-law's daughter got married in Kona:

Here is a video of the Wedding Luau:

Here is my brother and sis in law Debbie at the Wedding Luau:

Fruit on the Lanai every morning:

Wes examines our first Geocache. My brother is a pro-cache man!

There were waterfalls, large and small:

Mutual admiration of the flora:

A stop in Laupahoehoe to see the train museum, monument beach and lunch at the '50's diner.

We went to Waipio Valley

Sunrises and sunsets in abundance

We visited the caldera and the lava viewing area...

They went home with lots of memories and we have the joy of ours to savor. Love living on this island!

Cinnamon Rolls!!!

Last week's BBA challenge was cinnamon rolls. I have made cinnamon rolls for years, using a variety of formulas. My favorite is a brioche style dough. I like my cinnamon rolls big, soft and fluffy with a traditional fondant icing, so I choose that formula over the sticky bun concept.

I went by the book for the most part, using just a little bit of Hawaiian Style in the mix. I used pineapple extract instead of the lemon extract. In the filling I took candied ginger, raw Maui sugar and freshly grated cinnamon. I have my own cinnamon trees, but the bark is not ready for harvest yet, so I used some that I bought at the Mercado in Mexico City. I did make my own candied ginger, which is very simple. We have an abundance of ginger here, my favorite being the young ginger which is about the thickness of your thumb. We can buy a pound of it for less than a dollar at the farmer's market. The skin of young ginger is much thinner and you really do not even need to peel it for most uses.

The filling was a real winner. The hint of ginger, and the fresh cinnamon were awesome together. I also took the liberty of buttering the dough before applying the filling and rolling, I think that it keeps the buns more moist and helps the sugar to caramelize. I have always done this and since I was adding a few things to the filling, I figured I may as well do that too. Instead of using a knife to cut the rolls from the log, I use thread as I learned to do as a child when making cinnamon rolls with my Great Grandma Wolf.

The formula was excellent. My only change to the dough was to add two additional egg yolks for a richer dough. I normally bake my cinnamon rolls in a 9 X 11 pan with sides, instead of a 1/2 sheet pan, so that they rise more than spread when baking. However, this time I tried the sheet pan method as suggested and they actually came out very nicely. As you can see, I invested in an industrial sized box of plastic wrap that fits the sheet pans perfectly.

I did the dough quite early in the morning and then realized that we had far too many activities booked for me to actually make the rolls that day, so I put the dough in the refrigerator to rest overnight and got up at 4 in the morning so we could have nice hot rolls that day.

Wes was standing there waiting for them to come out of the oven, so I did not let them cool as long as was suggested, and iced them right away. They came out wonderfully. And as he took his second bite, he proclaimed them wonderful by saying, "These are even better than Ann Sather's!". I consider that a compliment!