omiyage

If you travel back and forth to the Islands every year like I do, getting something "original" for omiyage (souvenirs) can sometimes be tough.

This Hershey Kiss has been on the market for about 2 years now, but this was the first time I'd actually found them in the stores (I guess I wasn't looking hard enough).

It is a great item because it is only sold in Hawaii.

I got this at Don Quijote but have also seen it at Target, Longs Drugs and other stores around Hawaii.

hawaii cooks & eats

Made some chicken for dinner yesterday. Got the recipe from the May 2007 issue of "Body & Soul" magazine.

Super easy and delicious.

Macnut Crusted Chicken Breasts adapted from "Body & Soul" : Serves 4
1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/3 cup macadamia nuts
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
ground pepper
1 large egg white
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 oz each)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Lemon slices for serving
Green salad

Preheat oven to 425F(220C).
Whiz panko, nuts, cheese and pepper in food processor until fine.
Beat egg white.
Dip chicken in egg white then into crumb mixture.
Heat oil in nonstick pan on medium heat.
Lightly brown both sides for 1 to 3 minutes each.
Put onto foil covered pan and bake for 8 to 12 minutes.
Serve with lemon and salad.

NOTES: The chicken breasts in Hawaii/U.S. are HUGE! depending on the size of your chicken you may need to make a little more of the crumb mixture. I didn't add salt because my mom is watching her salt intake, but if you want to season your crumb mixture and the chicken with salt...go for it! With the Parmesan in there though, it didn't need extra salt. I think I may try making chicken nuggets/strips the next time.

Enjoy!

foodie staff party (part 2)

You may or may not remember, last year we invited Satoshi's staff over for dinner. This year, Satoshi changed departments and now has 30 people in his section rather than the 12 people he had last year.

So, as a thank you for all their hard work, we invited 10 people each over 2 Sundays and a Saturday. Luckily, it is Obon season (the season to visit your ancestor's graves), so many people couldn't make it, so instead of 10 people each over 3 days, the amount decreased to about 6 people each over the 3 days.

Here's our menu:
Kamaboko Dip with Crackers
Spicy Soybeans
Bulgogi
Beer steamed clams with garlic bread
Spicy Poke

And for dessert: Macadamia nut shortbread with Ginger-Pineapple Sorbet
This was the first time for me to make these two and boy, was I glad I did. The shortbread was easy to put together and came out really flaky and buttery. As for the sorbet, you don't need an ice cream maker (which I don't have anyway) just mix well and let the freezer do the rest of the work.

Macadamia Nut Cookies from Wisteria Delights
1 cup butter (226.7g)
2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2.5 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Cream butter and sugar.
Stir in vanilla.
Mix in flour, salt and nuts.
Shape into 2 rolls and chill for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
Cut into 1/4 inch slices.
Bake on ungreased sheets for 12-15 minutes.

NOTES: I had to bake mine for about 25 minutes total since they didn't get very brown after 15 minutes.

Ginger Pineapple Sorbet adapted from Sam Choy's Sampler
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice (118 ml)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 pint cream (473 ml)

Mix ingredients. Place in freezer until partially frozen, then put in a bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Return to freezer until frozen.

NOTES: After grating a 1-inch sized piece of ginger, I only had 1/2 a tablespoon, so I chopped up some candied ginger to make up the other 1/2 tablespoon. I also put everything into a ziploc container and mixed it up. I put the container into the freezer and waited 20 minutes, then mixed everything again and put it back to freeze. This sorbet was more like ice cream rather than the sorbet that I was used to, the pineapple flavor was strong, so the bits of candied ginger helped add another texture.

I think everyone had a nice time, oh, and there were no leftovers.

Have a great week.

comforts of home

Well, I've been home for about 3 days and I think Satoshi and I have talked about 15 minutes tops! He is very busy and comes home very late, then goes to work very early...sigh.

Since he didn't need dinner last night, I decided to try something new. I had bought these sardines in olive oil when I was home. I thought it would be good if I roasted them with some veggies, garlic, capers and herbs.

I was right, the aroma from the oven was heavenly and it tasted great.

For dessert, I had a chocolate macadamia drink made by Doutor (a Japanese coffee maker) who teamed up with Hawaiian Host--which I think was Hawaii's first chocolate macadamia nut candy maker. (I found this at the convenience store) Gosh, this tasted just like eating one of their candies! Creamy and nutty. Delish.

Hopefully I can get adjusted to spending a lot of "me" time, though with Blogger being down a lot recently, it is a bit hard. I guess I should start reading all those books and magazines that I brought back with me.

Have a great weekend!

comforts of home

On a cold, blustery day, nothing beats mom's cookies.

She would make them for our birthday party goodie bags, Christmas give-aways and exchanges, and recently for church bazaars.

Our dining room area would look like a factory with baking racks on the dining room table and cookie sheets anywhere they could be placed--on chairs, other tables....Of course, when she made her spritz cookies, we would have to help put the sprinkles on them. (At the time, I rebeled helping, but now I look back and am glad to have such nice baking memories with her.)

She had the "gun" like gadget that pressed out her spritz cookies, which I could never get the right pressure to get them out--she had the special touch.

Earlier this year, we celebrated my grandmother's birthday, which I posted about here, I hand carried these cookies back to Japan and put them into my freezer.

Recently, I took a couple out for us to eat, warmed them up in a low heat oven, put some mac nut ice cream on the side and voila! comforts of home!