ted's

A generous slice of Ted's chocolate haupia pie.

Reduced for whatever reason from US$2.79 to US$1.

Add on Mom's senior discount...pay US$.95

Even though the crust wasn't crisp or flaky, it was still delicious and a really cheap eats...

verrine

There are desserts that are popular in Japan now called verrine. I couldn't find much information on this, but have a feeling it is anything layered (sweet or savory) into a glass.

With my leftover haupia and some sweet potato, I tried making a verrine of a sweet potato haupia pie.

For the sweet potato layer, I mixed 1/2 of a skinny sweet potato with 1 tablespoon of plain yogurt in the food processor.

For the mac nut & cookie layer, I whizzed some mac nuts with some vanilla flavored cookies.

This dessert was delicious, not too sweet or rich like the sweet potato haupia pies we have in Hawaii (Satoshi thought it should have been sweeter). Too bad I didn't try making haupia when I had beni-imo (purple sweet potato) from Okinawa, would have made the dessert look more colorful.

Hope you have a nice weekend.

from parsley comes...

The weather has been gradually getting cooler. Not humid as much and bearable. The plants apparently appreciate the cooler weather too because my Italian parsley got really bushy.

After the downpour on Friday morning, I decided to seek out lunch and go grocery shopping.

Since I had potatoes, I thought I would use part of the parsley for potato salad.

Cooked 3 small potatoes until tender then peeled them and cut them kind of chunky. Cut a bit of onion and grated it.
Sliced some cucumber thin and added salt and let them sit for 5 minutes then rinsed and squeezed them.
Added 2 slices of crispy bacon, broken up into bits.
Added 1 tablespoon of sweet pickle juice, 2 teaspoons mayo and several tablespoons of Penzey's Green Goddess dressing*
Chopped up a little handful of parsley.
Mixed well and chilled until dinner.

*I got part of the Penzey's Green Goddess dressing mix from my mom when I was home earlier this year. The mix is easy to put together, just some vinegar, water and yogurt or mayo. I used yogurt. We've been enjoying this dressing with cucumber and carrot sticks.

From my rice connection, I also received some eggplants (thank you!), so I decided to use them and some carrots in this recipe. My food processor is really teeny so it took me several batches to blend the soup, and there were some chunks that missed out on the food processing, but it was great, especially with some toasted sesame bread.

For dessert, I melted some dark chocolate to drizzle pour over some haupia...whew! that was a lot of food, but it was all good.

Satoshi is at work today, so it is just another day at home for me, hope you are enjoying your weekend.

what I did...

I wanted to share with you what I did with a can of coconut milk.

Earlier this year, I found some tri-colored tapioca at the gourmet supermarket. When I saw this, I immediately thought of coconut pearls, the dessert you get at some Chinese restaurants in Hawaii.

I love this dessert. It is sweet and coconutty. Most times when you get this at the Chinese restaurant, the bowl is ice cold and so is the "soup"...delicious.

I googled and found a recipe on the Internet. It sounded easy. It was, once I prepared the tapioca.

Get this, the package said I could boil the tapioca for an hour or soak the tapioca overnight then boil them to the softness that I wanted....I chose the boiling for one hour.

Doesn't the tapioca look like candy? I loved the colors. (This was my first time with tapioca, is it supposed to have a chewy center? It reminded me of mochi.)

So, with the can of Chaokoh coconut milk, I decided to be oinky and make two desserts out of them (because two is better than one!).

the first...coconut pearls...the second...haupia.

Haupia is a coconut pudding served in Hawaii. My favorite combination is haupia with chocolate, preferably with a flaky crust...yum!

Here's both recipes if you'd like to give them a try.

Coconut pearls adapted from the Internet (makes about 6: 1/2 cup servings)

1/2 cup tapioca, follow package directions
1-1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 cup coconut milk

After cooking your tapioca, get the "soup" ready.
In a pot, add the water and sugar and heat until sugar dissolves.
Add the milk and warm.
When warm, turn off heat and add coconut milk.
Chill mixture and tapioca separately for at least an hour.
Add tapioca just before serving, as it will turn mixture bitter.
Serve as is or with diced fruits like honeydew or cantaloupe.

Haupia adapted from "Sam Choy's Sampler" (2 "Sam" portions or 8-10 "Kat" portions (about 2 teaspoons each))

1 cup coconut milk
2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt

Mix everything in a pot until sugar is dissolved.
Heat on medium stirring constantly, use a whisk to make sure everything is incorporated without lumps.
When the mixture begins to thicken, turn off heat.
You can serve warm or chill for at least an hour.
Good with fruits too.

NOTES: For the coconut pearls, the original recipe states not to boil the coconut milk as it will make the "soup" very oily. The haupia is the real deal! beats those NOH haupia packets. Overall, both recipes were delicious, easy and fast!

"new" waikiki

If you haven't been to Hawaii lately, Waikiki is getting a MAJOR face lift. Older hotels have been torn down, new ones are coming up. There is even a condo produced by Donald Trump which I've heard sold out within the first few hours of coming onto the market! It is kind of chaotic with all the construction going on.

Today, I was in Waikiki lunching with my friend, Carroll. She took me to Atlantis Seafood & Steak. This restaurant and other retail shops and eateries sits on the grounds of the old Waikiki 3 movie theater.

The restaurant has a lanai area with tables and ceiling fans. Perfect for hot Hawaiian days.

For starters, I had a salad. I still can't get over the portions here in the U.S.! but, I loved the thinly sliced beets on top.

My main dish was fish moco--a variation of loco moco. They grilled mahimahi (dolphin fish) and topped it off with an over-easy egg and their original gravy. I think it could have be served without the benishoga (red ginger) on top, though.

And for dessert, coconut haupia pie. Haupia is a local dessert that is the consistency of hardened gelatin but tastes like coconut. This was served with raspberry and caramel drizzles.

Everything was delicious and of course, the company and conversation was great!


And in the early evening, while riding on the freeway, we were able to catch a bit of paradise...a rainbow.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Atlantis Seafood & Steak
2284 Kalakaua Avenue Suite 201
Honolulu
Phone: 808.922.6868