Show and Tell

When I was a kid in elementary school, one of my favorite days was Friday because we had "Show and Tell" where we could bring things in and share them with the class. My inbox has been flooded with some really good blog feeds lately and I thought it would be fun to share them with you. Enjoy! You can subscribe to any of these blogs as I do and will get updates in your inbox every time a post is made. I will have more for you next week, stay tuned. Oh... if you scroll down to the bottom of the blog, you will see a place where you can sign up to be a follower of THIS BLOG!

One of my all time favorite food blogs is Orangette... written by Molly Wizenberg of Seattle who has managed to parlay her blog (over 4,000 readers a day!) into a book deal, A Homemade Life and she now has a monthly column in Bon Appetit . Molly and her husband Brandon have recently opened a restaurant called Delancey in Seattle so some of her blog now has chronicled being a restauranteur. They feature what look to be rustic and amazing pizzas and her most recent post is about the restaurant. Many of her posts include recipes and techniques as well as excellent photography. Another thing I like about Molly's blog is that she has never accepted advertisers, even though I am sure that she has had many offers!

Wes Davidson (yes, my husband) has a blog about moving to and living in Hawaii. His recent post on the Hilo Breakwater is particularly interesting and I learned quite a bit about the breakwater and harbor that I look out at while I am at my desk. I love history and history that is releveant to me even more.

The Purple Foodie is a blog done by Shaeen, a 20 something foodie from Mumbai. She bakes up lots of goey goodies that she finds in her cookbook collection. Her most recent post was for some awesome looking brownies.

Another Blog I truly enjoy on a daily basis is Wandering Chopsticks. The blogger does not reveal her name, but she lives in Southern California and is VietNamese. She posts a lot about Asian food, but also wanders around Southern California finding wonderful food of all kinds. She is diligent to post every day, which is something I have not been able to do, but I want to share her blog with you. This post is about Osso Buco, one of my favorite fall and winter dishes.

And finally one of the blog sites that is important to my life is the FBI Blogs, that is For the Big Island Blogs. It is a compilation of blogs written by residents of the Big Island of Hawaii. Damon Tucker is the creator and grand instigator of the blog roll and has done a lot to promote each of these varying blogs. They are written about a multitude of subjects and some have fantastic photography and interesting ideas as well as news about Hawaii. I invite you to visit and take a look at some of the big island's best blogs.

New True Blood Pictures!

If you read Tuesday's Post, then you already know about the huge costume/dinner party we had here for our True Blood Ohana. The pictures I posted then were ones I took, since then photographer/friend Ricardo Zepeda (who came dressed as the sheriff) sent me some more pictures, so I am posting them here. This time you will see my costume too. I came as Gran, Sookie and Jason Stackhouse's dear departed grandmother.

Janet applies makeup to Noel (Lafayette)

The Evil Maryann Arrives! Watch out when she starts vibrating!

Lafayette tries to ward off MaryAnn.... watch out for the black eyes!

Here we have Sookie, Maryann, Gran, Crazy Toilet Paper Lady and the Sheriff

Time for a Pah tee! Swamp Juice Anyone?

Women's work is never done, Maryann works on the mufaletta sandwiches and Gran stirs the crab dip!

Wordless Wednesdays Ginger

Our True Blood Ohana

The Sheriff Caught the Crazy Toilet Paper Lady on Sunday!

Every Sunday night for the last 12 weeks, a group of East Hawaiian friends has gathered together to watch Season 2 of True Blood on HBO as the True Blood Ohana. Ohana means family in Hawaiian and it can mean extended family as in this case. For those of you who have been living under a rock, True Blood is a campy show that Alan Ball (Six Feet Under & American Beauty among others) produced for HBO. The premise for the show is that True Blood has been invented, it is a drink that feeds vampires so that they do not have to drink the blood of humans any longer, hence, they are no longer a threat and can integrate somewhat into society. Somewhat is the key word here. It is a show perfect for watching with a large group as there are lots of laughs, ooohs and ahhhs, ewwws and occasional applause. We record the show on our HD DVD Recorder and play it back after we have consumed a luscious dinner and cocktails. 15-18 of us pile into our theater room and find our places. We usually end up at our house because we have a 6' HD Projection Screen, but we have been at a couple of other houses for the get together over the summer. Everyone brings dishes of food and drinks and we laugh, visit and catch up on gossip. I love our True Blood Ohana, even more than I love True Blood the show. Our meals usually have a theme and we have done all kinds of great ones, from Mexican, Tapas, Mezes and this week for the finale, all stops were out, we had a Ragin' Cajun dinner complete with Swamp Juice and a Chocolate Cake with blood red frosting! And this, being the finale, we also dressed up as our favorite characters from the show.

Some of the costumes were priceless!

Here is Wes in his "Sookie Look"

Joey, Janet, Keith and Bonnie schmoozing after too much swamp juice!

Maria as Maryann

Noel as Lafayette... interesting necklace!

Oh Mercy!!!!

Arrested for indecent exposure!

Did I say I love our True Blood Ohana? I really do, they are such fun friends!

More pictures to come in Part Two

Damon Tucker Turns 40

He may look like a kid and sometimes he acts like a kid, but there is now proof he is "over the hill". Yesterday Big Island Blogger Damon Tucker turned 40.

Happy Birthday Damon!

We caught him at the Big Island Internet Soceity Meet and Greet at Big Island Pizza yesterday. I made cupcakes and we (about 40 Big Island Bloggers/Internet Aficionados) sang Happy Birthday to Damon and passed around the free beer donated by Hilo's own Hawaii Nui Brewing Company . Damon's mother showed up and I got a picture of them together and Damon had a rare smile on his face, almost as big as the one he had when trying to blow out his candles and then realizing that they are the kind that do not blow out.

I threatened that I had put Aloha Arlene inside a giant birthday cake for him but she was a no show.

For those of you who do not know Damon, he is the founder of a prolific blog about the Big Island of Hawaii... and of course about Damon. He also created FBI Blogs, a compilation of blogs for and about the Big Island by bloggers who live on the island of Hawaii. Damon tirelessly promotes the big island blogs and has done a great deal to create camaraderie amongst fellow big island bloggers. Damon lives in Puna with his wife five year old son. Happy birthday kid and thank you for all the work you have done. Just remember, 40 is the new 20.

Kaiser Rolls and BBQ

BBA Challenge: Kaiser Rolls (aka: New York hard rolls, bulkies or Vienna rolls with a distinguishing star pattern on the top.)

My Bread Baker's Apprentice book is flour covered and starting to show wear, but it is the kind of wear that all of my favorite cookbooks develop over time.

I did this formula "out of order" because I needed the Kaiser Rolls and good ones are impossible to find in Hilo. This one needs a Do-Over. The rolls were awesomely delicious, but that is where the similarity ends. My Kaiser Rolls were a double recipe, which presented a few challenges, such as fitting in the mixer. I met that challenge by dividing the dough after the addition of the Pâte Fermentée. The real problem was in the density of the dough itself. I know it needed more hydration. The formula is on page 175 of the book.

Here the Pâte Fermentée is cut and ready to be added to the dough

To do this formula, you need thePâte Fermentée (old dough) to be made a day ahead. It is a simple moist dough that rests in the refrigerator for further fermentation. This method is becoming a theme with Reinhart's formulas.

I am not blaming the formula for my personal disappointment in the resulting Kaiser Rolls, not in the least. But I did find one element missing. The formula suggests spraying the rolls (as well as the the oven walls) with water, and that is all well and good, but the picture of the rolls showed very shiny and browned crusts, to me it looked like they had more than just water on them, maybe an egg or milk wash.

I used a kaiser cutter, obtained online because that is another impossible thing to find in Hilo. Maybe I made my cuts too deep. When resting, the buns are actually turned upside down to rise. But when baking, they are cut side up. Mine rose to the occasion in such a way that they developed points, as in a crown. They were not at all ugly, but certainly nothing like the rolls in the photo, or any Kaiser Roll I have seen before.

The upside down rolls in their final rise

Having said all of that, they were delicious and the fact that they were sturdier made very good messy sandwiches!

Crumb Shot

On Saturday I smoked a beef brisket for a party we were having here. Friday I flew all the way to Honolulu and bought the brisket at Whole Foods because brisket is another cut of meet that is not found in Hilo. Oddly, corned beef (made from brisket) is a year round staple here because of the Scots who once lived among the Hawaiian people and intermarried with royalty here. But the plain old ordinary cut of brisket is nowhere to be found here. Since my trip to the "big city", a friend in Honoka'a (45 miles north of us) informed me that she is sure her butcher could get me one. Next time, that is where I will go!

We had some leftovers and I made sandwiches with the brisket and home made BBQ Sauce. The sandwiches were awesome... really wonderful. So, all is not lost. Here is the recipe for the BBQ sauce. It is based on a recipe by Chef Dean Fearing (one of my favorite chefs) of the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, TX. I made a few tweaks after making the basic sauce giving it a bit more of a kick and balance of flavors. It is a sweet, tangy spicy sauce that has a tomato base. Here is my take on his formula:

Best Barbecue Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
• 4 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 4 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup maple sugar (you can use real maple syrup if you cannot find the sugar)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt (regular salt is fine if you don't have some of my smoked salt)
• 1-2 teaspoons of ancho chile powder
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons hot red pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the ketchup, brown sugar, maple sugar, vinegar, mustard, Ancho powder, Worcestershire, hot sauce, cayenne, and liquid smoke and bring to a boil. At this point taste the sauce and make flavor adjustments to suit your taste. It should be (in order) sweet and spicy with a tart finish. It should not taste extremely smoky, but you can add a bit more liquid smoke if you want it smokier. Since I usually pair this with home smoked foods, I don't like to have much smoke in my sauce. This sauce keeps well because of the high vinegar content.
Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and the flavors marry, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly before serving.
Yield: about 4 cups
The sauce is great on anything grilled and I have seen people eat it with a spoon on occasion!