Alright, editing the pai’na video went way faster than I expected. The hardest part was finding creative commons Hawaiian music. I had no idea it’d be so tough! Thanks to slackandsteel for your song “Hula Blues” and licensing it under creative commons. Thanks to my dad who videotaped any of the kitchen shots while I was delegating! My only leftovers left are haupia pie and kalua pork (which I think is going into summer rolls for dinner tonight!).
I’m still on vacation, and recovering from both vacation and our pa’ina on Saturday. Our apartment is so messy with suitcases, boxes of condiments and seasonings, laundry and bags of dishes all over the place to be unpacked and put away. Eric and I started the cleaning today, but our apartment is about 87 degrees (with an air conditioner) which is still 10 degrees cooler than outside so we can’t complain too much. Poor Eric was pouring sweat trying to wash dishes with hot water. So finally we decided we’d made a good dent and would go to his parents’ house (which is about 75 degrees) to do some laundry and pick berries. His mom has raspberry and blueberry bushes at the side of the house.
Every month Foodbuzz asks its featured publishers to submit proposals for an event for 24, 24, 24. I have been wanting to throw an authentic luau or pa’ina since moving from Hawaii to Washington, so a little over 3 years now. But it’s expensive to do! So this month, I decided to submit it as a proposal and was absolutely thrilled when they chose me. Then I realized that we would be getting back from vacation three days before the required party date, which left me only two days to get everything ready. I began making tons of lists of recipes, ingredients, stores, music and more to prepare. Thankfully, the party was a huge success, with a great mix of family and friends, some of whom are also from Hawaii and were excited to get some ono grindz (good food!). We even got to wear our super cute matching touristy outfits that people on the mainland don’t know are touristy! Here’s my original proposal to Foodbuzz.
I know, I’ve shared zucchini fritters or pancakes on more than one occasion. But this time I made it all with fresh ingredients and the taste is even better! In the past I’ve made them with dried parsley and dill, which is still good, but the fresh herbs just take these to the next level.
This is one of those Asian dishes that is so simple, fast and easy to make that you can’t believe what a punch it packs. Each bite starts with the crisp crunch of summer, followed by the clean tang of rice vinegar, and finishing with a spicy kick like a taekwando match in your mouth. As your mouth soaks in the burn, you quickly take another bite to cool it off and experience it all over again. Yeah, it’s that awesome, with only a few ingredients. It only takes about two minutes to make and is perfect as a side salad, or a slaw on top of Korean BBQ, and I love bringing it to parties because people freak out about it being zucchini “noodles”. If you don’t want it as spicy, use less red pepper flakes or skip them all together.
