it's the little things

Remember last month I found JIF?!

Well, on a recent trip to Takeya, I found a bigger jar!

The price was a little higher, like a dollar more, than the smaller bottle but at least I now know that "normal" sized jars exist here.

How is your week going? 

pb m&m's

I really like peanut butter.

But, it can be hard to find here because it isn't too popular.

So, I was really stoked to find some stores bringing in Peanut Butter M&M's...whoo.

I think I've bought 10 of these single serving bags already...eep!

daily stuff

I'm still trying to get adjusted to the time difference...

Before I went to Hawaii, I had put a couple of Happy Camper Bagels into the freezer thinking we could eat it for the New Year...

It came in handy the day after coming back from Hawaii for breakfast.

I brought home a bottle of Wild Friends' Gingerbread Peanut Butter (reminds me of the Chai Peanut Butter from Big Spoon Roasters).

My aunty also gave us a bottle of Trader Joes' Pumpkin Spice Cookie Butter. (think of a thick pumpkin pie filling with crunchy cookies here and there...Thank you!)

We preferred the Gingerbread PB over the Pumpkin Spice...

I'm glad we got to try both.

peanut butter chicken summer rolls

With the 2 remaining pieces of peanut butter chicken, I thought I would make sandwiches with them.

Then I remembered I had some rice paper in my pantry and made summer rolls instead.

I added some lettuce and some julienned carrots.

The size of the rice paper was small, so I cut the chicken into 3 strips each and made 3 for each of us.

Simple and so good.

No extra sauces were needed as the chicken was really flavorful.

I'd definitely make this again!

peanut butter chicken salad

I saw this on Jalna's blog and scribbled down the recipe to try.

Anyway, this recipe was so easy to do, I just marinated it the night before and popped it in the oven before dinner.

I turned this into a salad. Was so good.

Here's the recipe if you want to try.

Costco's Peanut Butter Marinated Chicken Thighs : 4 servings
4 chicken thighs
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon crushed chili flakes (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water

Wash and dry chicken, then score to ensure the marinade penetrates the chicken
Pour all the condiments into a re-sealable bag and massage.
Marinate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours
Preheat oven to 350F (180C), bake on parchment paper for 30 minutes (boneless skinless), 40 minutes for bone-in (or until meat thermometer reads 165F)

NOTES: I used 1 boneless skinless breast instead of thighs and sliced it into 6 pieces (I didn't score the meat).

I also cut this marinade back using 1 clove garlic, grated.

My peanut butter doesn't have sugar in it, I used 1/4 cup.

And since this recipe calls for brown sugar I just put in 2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed).

I used 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons water.

The crushed chili, I just measured by cupping my hand.

I also used a whole lime because it didn't have that much juice or zest...boo!

I mixed the marinade before putting the chicken in. The recipe says to massage, but I had put my chicken into a ziploc container, so I flipped the chicken over in the marinade every time I opened the refrigerator door and remembered.

For the salad, I used lettuce, carrot, zucchini, red bell pepper & onion...oh, and some curly parsley.

I sauteed the zucchini, red bell & onion in some olive oil.

I left the carrots raw for crunch.

I drizzled some of the drippings from the baked chicken onto the salad then topped it with the chicken (I used 2 pieces for each person).

With the remaining 2 pieces of chicken, I'm thinking of shredding it to making sandwiches with it.

This was easy and delicious. Kinda like satay chicken sticks.

I think the next time I make this again, I will bake it in a dish, so that I can keep more of the sauce, to pour on rice!

good neighbors' fine foods

I am not too sure how I found out about Big Spoon Roasters, but I was happy to find them being sold online by Good Neighbors' Fine Foods in Tokyo.

I bought the Chai Spice Nut Butter. They also sell June Taylors preserves, so I bought a jar of her Seville Orange Marmalade.

If you like Chai, you will enjoy this nut butter.

Nice balance of spices and just a tad sweet.

The marmalade is really dark and thick, and there is so much fruit in there...love it!

Both are made in the USA but I didn't think I could find them in Hawaii, so I am glad I was able to find them here.

What are you enjoying these days?

earth balance

While I was in Hawaii, I came across this...Earth Balance's coconut & peanut spread.

It is a little sweet from the agave, there is a hint of coconut from the coconut oil and since I bought "crunchy"...lots of peanuts.

You need to take it out of the refrigerator to get soft before using, but I really like this.

Is there anything you are enjoying at the moment?

hawaii plays tourist

Satoshi was here for about 5 days and we got to play tourist a bit.

On Tuesday, we headed to Haleiwa, he really likes this area.

We checked out Ted's Bakery, which is known for their chocolate haupia pie.

I had heard that they also served plate lunches, so I figured we could pick something up then eat it at the beach.

Well, I didn't know that they only serve breakfast in the mornings (your website should note that somewhere!)

So, we ordered a Loco Moco for Satoshi...$9-something.

He said he enjoyed it.

Portuguese Sausage & Eggs for me...$8-something.

I liked this but thought these weren't really hash browns...

And their chocolate macadamia cream pie...$3-something.

I didn't quite read the label when I took it from their refrigerator, so that is why we missed the one with haupia.

Um, the food is decent here, BUT it took over 30 minutes for us to get our food!

If anything, I would go back for the pie, but probably for nothing else.

It was nice eating under the trees at Sunset Beach though...

After brunch, we headed back to Haleiwa town and spent some time at Coffee Gallery.

An iced French Roast (cold brewed) for me and a Haleiwa Blend for Satoshi...$3-something for both.

Free Wi-Fi was a plus...overcharging me for this coconut macaroon (which I didn't realize until afterwards...not cool!) was a double minus.

I purchased the macaroon for my mom because she loves coconut and she enjoyed this, I'd probably go back for the Wi-Fi and coffee though...

Then as we drove through Waialua, a sign caught my eye... "coconut peanut butter".

We checked it out and I found that North Shore Goodies also makes a chocolate coconut peanut butter.

Chocolate, peanuts and coconut, that's it. How can you go wrong with that?! No sugar added too...$7-something

We got to sample both and they were delicious, can't wait to slather this on a bagel or melt some to drizzle on vanilla ice cream!

Despite the minuses, the weather was wonderful, we contributed a little to the economy and Satoshi got to see some of his favorites sights in Hawaii, in essence it was a good day.

Ted's Bakery
59-024 Kamehameha Highway
Sunset Beach, Hawaii
Phone: 808.638.8207

Coffee Gallery
66-250 Kamehameha Highway
Haleiwa, Hawaii
Phone: 808.637.5571

North Shore Goodies
67-292 Goodale Avenue
Waialua, Hawaii
Phone: 808.637.5415

national s'mores day

According to the latest issue of "Honolulu Magazine" the 10th of August is National S'mores Day.

I didn't have a chance to make some, so I instead decided to drool over some photos of some I've made in the past.

This one is "traditional" but using dark chocolate instead.

And this one is with the addition of peanut butter.

Happy S'mores Day everyone!

things I'm liking (disliking)

Starting with disliking...I had seen this on Candy Blog and wanted to try it.

Well, big disappointment.

The chocolate was bloomed, on top of that the peanut butter was dried out, almost chalky..blah!

I thought maybe it had to do with the expiry date...nope, that was fine. I guess it just didn't travel too well over the Pacific.

Moving onto liking...If you look at my posts on beer, you'll see I prefer the dark beers.

I recently spotted this dark chocolate bar and had to try it.

Vosges' Smoke & Salt Caramel Bar is delicious.

Using Rogue Ale's Chocolate Stout, Alderwood smoked salt, burnt caramel and 70% dark chocolate, the bar has a nice snap and the caramel that oozes out is dark too.

I like the balance between sweet and salty.

Also liking this sesame candy by Joyva.

It is very hard so I would suggest breaking off little pieces and letting the hard candy melt before chewing on the sesame seeds.

And lastly, these Munchies. Jalapeno Cheddar, get ready for orange fingers and the spiciness tickles the back of your throat.

What have you been liking?

ideas

Got this idea from Pinterest, but I ran into a couple of problems...

My bell pepper was too small and my eggs too big...

I flipped them over to make the eggs, over easy.

Still this was good with a toasted bagel.

Another idea I got from Pinterest, was for oatmeal.

I tried the peanut butter and jelly version...my peanut butter is the natural type so it isn't sweet and the jelly I used was my favorite, guava, the combo was kinda funky...I think I may stick to my original way, just adding dried fruits.

made in usa

A great food find at Kaldi Coffee recently...natural peanut butter.

Peanuts and sea salt...that's it.

Be sure to mix it well as there is oil from the peanuts on the top.

Even after mixing, this was a little more liquidy than I am used to, but delicious all the same.

Also, it isn't creamy, it is crunchy. The bits aren't all uniform in size which makes it more unique.

It's made in the U.S.A., maybe not a good carbon footprint, but it is as natural as you can get with peanut butter.

hawaii drinks

The peanut butter brain freeze at Blue Hawaii Lifestyle used to be a secret on their menu.

I found out about it on Twitter awhile back and wanted to try it.

I finally got to the other day, it is a little sweet a little salty has a hit of coffee and would be even better with a hit of chocolate...US$3.93 (with tax)

This sort of reminded me of the ono ono shake at KC Drive Inn, except this one didn't have the chocolate....Chocolate please!!

Blue Hawaii Lifestyle
Ala Moana Center (near Nordstrom)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.949.0808

p.s. If you read our blog in a reader, you may not have been able to check out the new "bling" I added to the header...tell me what you think.

p.p.s. got an email from Satoshi saying that it was so hot he had to sleep with the air conditioner on all night...you know, Japan is trying to conserve energy in order to make up for the supply that the closed nuclear power plants used to produce?? Well, I say, use that air conditioner, it is definitely better than having heat stroke!

tate's peanut butter squares

The last day of January was super cold! I think the high was like 4C (39F), walking to the supermarket, my feet felt like it had frozen along with my nose.

Starting today, the temps are supposed to get up to double digits, meaning 10C (50F) we'll see, the weather dude has not been to accurate.

I had been seeing different recipes from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook on the blogosphere and bookmarked this one to try for Peanut Butter Squares.

This recipe was really easy and tastes just like a peanut butter cup.

I cut the recipe way down, to like a fourth.

It was a good way to use up some peanut butter and dark chocolate that I had in my fridge. (I combined some 60% with some 70% chocolate)

After chilling it for the 15 minutes, the peanut butter part was on the soft side and the chocolate on the hard side.

My pieces came out a bit messy looking, but they were addictingly good and I'm glad I only made a small batch!

mini mini

Recently we've had some rainy (and cold) days.

When I know in advance that the weather will be rainy, I usually stock up on groceries and stay indoors (sometimes I even stay in my pjs).

For one rainy day, I made mini peanut butter chocolate cups.

I've seen what I think are tedious versions where you "paint" the inside of the cups with the chocolate.

I wasn't about to do this, so I did it "lazy man" style...dollop of melted chocolate (60% + a little milk chocolate) at the bottom, dollop of peanut butter, dollop or two of melted chocolate, put into refridge to cool.

This was good but next time, I think I should add a little more peanut butter.

For another rainy day, I was flipping through a magazine and got the idea for this one.

Chopped up cookies and chopped up pistachios. The original recipe called for butter and some cream, but I omitted them (because I didn't have cream and didn't want to add the butter. The butter was to make a "crust" with the cookies and cream to make the chocolate rich and more like ganache.)

Instead I melted some 80% dark chocolate and poured them over the bits of cookie and nuts.

I'm making both versions again. They were delicious and the perfect size.

*Today is Showa no Hi (Showa Day) It used to be called Tenno Tanjoobi (Emperor Hirohito's Birthday) but after he died, it was then changed to Showa no Hi. It is also the start of Golden Week.