It rained buckets last night. Nothing like a tropical shower. You can smell it coming before it lets loose, and the air becomes cool and moist. We had a good view from here of the clouds moving from Haleakala to Kihei and then over our heads at just about sunset. It lasted an hour or so, and the sky became dark with the clouds and the night. Before we went to bed, the dousing moved on and the stars were bright.

It was cool enough to sleep with just the ceiling fans going, so with the a/c noise abated, I fell asleep listening to the surf and the geckos chirping on the lanai.

Last night's chicken soup was very good.

Just having the carcass and no canned stock to build on, I decided to carmelize the onion first and set it aside. I deglazed the bottom of the pot with some white wine. Then I put the bones and water in the pot with Johnny's Seasoning and pepper (all I have in spice inventory). It simmered all afternoon. The fresh stock cooked down nicely to about a third of what I started out with. I added the chicken meat and vegetables (including the onion) to finish.

That works. I'll do it again. Carmelizing the onion made all the difference between bland and delicious.

We feel better now about eating the cocoa mochi and banana lumpia that Carmen brought us.

Alexander and Baldwin Sugar Museum is on the activity list today. There is just the one sugar mill still working on Maui. Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company in Sprecklesville (of course) is long gone, and the Pioneer Lahaina Mill closed about 1999.

I haven't read much about HC&S, but A&B is a major presence here on Maui. Sugar is only one division, most of the company's focus is real estate investment and development.

These sugar companies built the irrigation systems back in the mid 1800's that are still in use today. You can walk a trail in the Waihee valley and see the concrete ditches and siphons that have changed very little since those days.

I think the girls will enjoy the museum situated alongside the working mill. It is in the house formerly belonging the the plant superintendent, so they can appreciate the architechture of the day. Lots old equipment on the big lawn to walk around, and the old ways are documented with pictures and personal stories inside the plantation house.

Not much to do to get ready for the flight home. But we can't go anywhere until we shower and dress.

I'll make the first move.

Judy and Fran are out on the lanai reading paperback novels. I have a Michael Crichton I'm trying to get interested in. It's called Five Patients, and it must be the precursor to the television series, ER.

Last year, ER was the series rerun of choice for my insomnia occurances. I could watch three ER episodes most of those nights without having to search around through the informercials for satisfactory content. Billy Mays' shouting does not soothe me, but the resolution of ER's dramas can bring a sigh of relief and rest. Chicago Hope Hospital must have been blown up four times, hostages taken at gunpoint twice and I also learned how dangerous medical helicopters can be. One doctor got his arm severed by the blades, and months after he recovered from that, another one fell out of the sky and crushed him.

Everybody brought to ER gets entubated.




With all that hell breaking loose somewhere on a Hollywood set or in someone else's imagination, it's a relief to fall asleep in the quiet of my cottage on Miller Road.


Crichton has a good voice. I think I can finish this book. He's best known for Jurassic Park. That's not the kind of book I would read, but I gotta say the movie is one of my favorites.

Today we will go buy supplies for the condo that Carmen has requested. It shouldn't take very long, then we'll come back here and look for shells on the beach. There are little teeny tiny ones that wash up along the breakwater, and I have a collection in a glass container that I leave on a kitchen shelf. I add a few each time I'm here, and so do some of my guests. I think it's interesting that people who are strangers to me contribute but do not remove any.

There is still some good in mankind.

Yesterday we drove to Paia, then Makawao and upcountry past Kula to the winery. In Paia, I bought a shark suit for one of the dogs. Very silly, but irresitable. I see while on-line looking for a photo to post here, that I could have bought one at Target for about half the price. And that is how you explain the "tax on paradise."





It's our last night here. Traditionally, it's chicken soup night. We made three meals out of that whole chicken I baked a few nights ago. Quite a few leftovers can join the carcass in a big pot and it makes the heart glad waste is minimized.


We leave for home tomorrow on the Northwest Airlines red-eye. It lands in Seattle at about 5 a.m. I bought those tickets because they were $340 roundtrip at the time Hawaiian was advertising $475. Wouldn't you know the following week they matched at $340. Ah, well, so far no one is complaining, but the moaning should start about three hours into the flight when the flight attendants and small children keep us awake.

I brought my small children on airplanes, so I'm paying dues now, I guess.

And when I get home, well-refreshed, I have an interview at Island Hospital. It's just for volunteer work in the gift shop, but there are openings from time to time in admitting. From there, I'd like to look around for an executive secretary position. Gotta start somewhere, and I think this is pretty good.

But this morning, a very beautiful one on the island of Maui, I won't think too hard about going home just yet.

When we finally got going yesterday, it was decided we'd walk to the village shops and look around.

It's a tough economy as everybody knows, and I was sad to see Moonbow Tropics half it's former size, the candle and soap shop gone, and several empty spaces awaiting leases. The Maalaea Grill is doing well. It's had some starts and stops. The original owners sell it, then repossess and restore it, and sell it again.

Fran bought a very pretty palm tree pendant from the jeweler. We had ice cream cones for lunch. You have to work fast on your ice cream in Maalaea. With the winds convecting the 85 degree heat, you must turn it as you eat it. Quickly now, or it's running down your hand in rivelets.

We might as well ride the bus to Lahaina. There it is. It's $1 each way, no worries about parking, and if we have a mai tai, no worries about Maui's favorite local revenue raiser.

Not alot to say about the shopping in Lahaina. Retail dominates the scene, but there are still historical sites you can spend a day exploring if you choose. My favorite is the Wo Hing Museum. It was sort of a men's social club and religious temple, all-in-one. It was closed yesterday, so I didn't get to walk through it, but I think the history of the Chinese immigrants is one of the most interesting

They came as laborers, but put their highest priority on educating their children. As the generations passed, there were fewer Chinese in the lower classes and more in business and leadership. In the earliest days when Chinese women were few in the islands, the Chinese men intermarried with Hawaiian women, and their cultures have blended in subtile ways

The stories of the whalers and the missionaries are well-documented. The old church buildings, some constructed of lava bricks, are worth walking through. Some hymnals are in two languages; English and Hawaiian. It seems the old language is kept alive in the old Congregational (or Anglican) services, even if it has not been conversational language for many years. You can hear some Hawaiian words in the local "pigeonspeak" if you listen closely.

But this trio of ladies was in Lahaina to shop. We left no stone unturned, but only bought a few ounces of goods (not pakalolo, silly reader... clothing items!).


My big thrill was a hula demonstration in the courtyard under Moose McGillicudy's. A man played percussion while groupings of different ages danced. Looking closely at the man, I recognized him as Keali'i Reichel, one of my very favorite Hawaiian musical artists. Hey, Fran and Judy: that guy is a big star here! Not appearing as a big star today, but as kuma hulu, or teacher. His pride of the day was showing his students off, and he did not introduce himself. I did not blow his cover, of course.

There was some confusion and desperate thinking as it got dark and no one knew when the last bus back to Maalaea was. But there was no finger pointing, and we were able to get a schedule that reassured us we had not missed the last ride.

As I write this, Judy and Fran are on the lanai. I made cowboy coffee again, and they sip it and smoke their Marlboros, huddled together. They look like two little girls in a sandbox.

There is nothing so valuable in this world as good friends. I love the way I look reflected in their eyes. At this time in my life, with the major changes in progress, it's such comfort to be far away from home and so well-cared for. It's just a week, but it's a therapy that will keep me strong enough to tackle some hard work in the weeks or months ahead.

We've seen the eagle ray and the monk seal perform in the harbor these mornings. I don't see them every visit, and maybe I can believe they are here just for us. The local fishermen cast their lines into the water, the canoe club paddles by, and the tour boats come and go. "Freight Trains," a southern ocean swell famous for it's speed, is coming up and there will be surfers to watch in the next hour or so. It's just outside the breakwater, and we have the prime seats.

I invited Tim over for dinner. He has a new love interest who is very pretty and nice. When he introduced me to her, we chatted awhile and talked about getting together, and I told her to be sure and feel welcome. He called me the next morning and said, "Thank you for that. You made me look good and this one is real special to me."

Glad I could help!

I'm off to enjoy an abundance of nothing to do. If you can imagine such a thing, it does exist here.

After three nights in the condo on Maui, we feel like we are at home here.


Yesterday the three of us drove to Wailea to look at the Beautiful Resorts, and found parking prohibitive all all except the Four Seasons. You'd think as much as places like that enjoying sucking up money they'd make it easier to get it to them. The Grand Wailea has a lot that sits out in the hot sun with a gate and attendant. Are we supposed to pay to park here? There is no sign indicating terms. There is valet parking, but is that just for hotel guests? Again, no sign indicating terms.

The Four Seasons lets you park in their garage for two hours. That works.

The lobbies and grounds are splendid. The shops are dazzling. I looked at a three carat pigeon's blood ruby in a platinum setting with pave diamonds and said wow. You just don't see that color and size anywhere, they are becoming so rare. The lady said I could put it on. Such a thrill. I told her, I can't have this, you know. She said it's quite alright to play and entertain myself. How much is it, I asked. $55,000.00 she said.

I showed her the quarter-carat ruby I wear lately. It's the same color as yours however small, but I'd rather have a tiny good one than a larger pinkish one. We smiled at each other and became sisters.

A ruby of the quality I beheld can cost ten times what a diamond of the same size and quality would cost.


La de dah.

We drove back to the condo via Kihei Road so we could see the tourists all jammed together around the chaos that makes up the small town. The beaches of Kihei are the best on the island, though. Kamaole III is my favorite. We stopped at Five Palms and had a cocktail, then pushed onward.

Dinner on the lanai here is so sublime. And I have galley slaves. I cook up the supper, and my friends clean up after me. I feel so powerful.

This morning the coffee maker quit, and those silly women sat out on the lanai trying to absorb caffeine from Coca Cola. That just doesn't work. Here, I said, is a sieve and a coffee filter. You can heat water to boiling on this electric range here and pour it through the sieve into a pot.
Judy and Fran are so easy to amaze.

Today we have no plan. We'll see where the steed named Pontiac wants to go.

This is all so doggone relaxing I can't put it into words!

We Can See Lanai from the Lanai

This is the second ful day on Maui with my friends Judy and Fran. The weather is perfect, although there is heavy rain in the pali valleys. That's where the flash floods are that you see in the weather reports. The floods dash the hopes of any would-be hikers, but that's not us, so we don't care.

I see heavy clouds over Haleakala, too.

Yesterday we bought new outfits at Macys, stocked the kitchen, and took a king salmon to my housekeeper, Carmen. She takes wonderful care of this condo and nothing makes her happier than a whole fish (well, it's been beheaded and gutted).

Carmen has a large household. Like many Filipinos' homes, her roof covers her husand and herself, along with both of her grown children and their young families. She is a very energetic and thoroughly good person, a rarity, and I am so fortunate to know her.

We found mango and pineapple dessert in the refrigerator on arrival. And we casually asked about banana lumpia and cocoa mochi... I bet it they magically appear, still warm.

We have been out for a couple meals, but we'll mostly eat in. The views from the lanai are unbeatable, and this kitchen is good.

This afternoon we'll wander the elegant hotels on the Wailea side. It costs nothing to be there and take it all in. The Four Seasons and Grand Wailea are really over the top. I haven't traveled the world, but I'd bet it would be hard to find any places more elegant than those.

Tomorrow might be a boat ride. I found my friend, Tim, at the Maalaea Grill last night. He can fit us into a tour on the Hokua that isn't full and we get a good discount. I refer lots of business to him. How to describe this guy? Certainly one of the "local color." He's a bit rotund and plain, but he always has women around him. They really like him. He's mananged to stay a life-long bachelor and has that joy de vivre that most of us never quite grasp. Good on ya, Tim.

With luck, we could get an invite to one of his poolside dinners. Fresh caught ono or whatever's running. Everyone brings a side dish and beverage... so nice as the sun sets and the tradewinds blow gentle.

Beyond that, no plans. And that's the way to be. We will enjoy the comfortable chairs at the expensive hotel lobbies, watching the typical tourist scramble for activities that stress them out and empty their wallets.

Let everyone have a great time, including the timeshare salesmen, the service workers and the vendors at the gift shops!

It's Too Darned Hot!

I wonder how many blogs started with that title this week in western Washington State? We've had record temperatures here. It was over 100 degrees Farenheit in Seattle yesterday. That's never happened before.

We had record freezing temperatures last winter.

"Where's our global warming?" people were heard to say, "We can use some of that warm."

Well, now we have it.

Evenings are the worst. The kitchen is the last place I want to be with the sun coming through the bay windows. Appetite is low and it's contrary to nature to bring more heat in through the cooking devices.

The first night I waited until the sun ducked behind Scimitar Ridge, but it was almost 9:30 by the time dinner was over. The second night I wangled dinner out at an air conditioned restaurant. The third night, and it must have been the hottest in the series, I looked at John and said we should cook as much of dinner as we could on the outside grill. That's what steaks are for, and I'm glad I bought the little grill "wok" thing with holes in it. It handles vegetables real well.

You can only play the air conditioned restaurant card about once a week, so I am happy to say this evening is the coolest one lately. It's only 82 degrees outside and 86 in the kitchen.

I did sneak down to the Majestic to visit with my oldest son late this afternoon. We sat in the air conditioned lounge, had cold drinks and watched the new mail drop across the street from our table. It used to be in the one-way alley way between the city hall and the post office bays. It was a great driver's side approach, but somebody worried that although it had been in the same place for twenty years and nobody could remember any wrecks, that there might be one some day and they should move it. Now it sits on the kerb of 5th Street with a passenger-side approach and cars are coming from both directions to get at it. Not everyone thinks to bring a passenger.

One of these days, the right hard-head in a hurry will make the front page of the newspaper.

Not much to do in a small town on a very hot day.

Dinner is in the oven. Just a chicken and some potatoes, nothing fancy. I can sit way in the back of the house, in the dark den with the window fan. Sipping an iced tea, I can even stay awake.

The teenager, Ross, just returned from town with some guys who said they want to swim in the pond. They stood on the dock in their shorts, all ready to plunge, when someone pointed and said, "Leaches." Those are fire newts, but there's no telling some people.

They ruined the supersoakers on the Fourth of July by pouring kerosene in them to make shift blow torches. The kerosene dissolved the threads and soft plastic fittings rendering them useless. Bad planning.

So now they're in the game room playing pinball, and that may be better than leaving wet towels all over the hardwood floors. I'll leave it alone.

No real complaints, though, about the high temperatures. There is entertainment in watching news stories of people scrambling to find air conditioning units at premium prices (as soon as they're installed the temps will be back in the 70s). Some will flood their basements with portable swimming pool mishaps.

I think most people will find a way to lay low or have fun.

I'll wait for the sun to dip behind Scimitar and take a peddle boat around the pond. Maybe I should get one that looks like this:

Chicken Parmesan My Way

I like to cook. I like to look through cookbooks and study recipes. Certain details, ingredients, appearances get my attention but I can't say I follow any directions step by step. That's why I can make dinner courses but I'm no good at baking. Baking, you see, is more like chemistry. If you don't get every measurement just right, you can fail miserably.

I've tried about twelve different ways to make Chicken Parmesan and haven't had much success. It comes out chewy and tough, or the breading comes off in the pan, or it sticks to the pan. Even following the directions to the letter, it falls short of delicious.

But this works for me:

One pound of ground chicken
Two slices of provolone cheese, cubed with a knife
Three slices of proscuitto ham, cut up fine
About 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic powder, ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil, maybe a little oregano
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian)
1 teaspoon dried or fresh parsley

You don't need salt, there's plenty in the proscuitto ham.

Mix this all up in a bowl. It's going to be kinda wet, even with the addition of the bread crumbs.

On a cutting board or other clean surface make a 3" circle of grated or shredded parmesan cheese (I used Kirkland Reggiano). Drop a big spoonful of the meat mixture on top of the parmesan and form a patty. Top the patty with more parmesan. You should get four or more patties out of the mix.

Shuffle it into a medium hot non-stick skillet. No oil needed.

Let the patties brown pretty good before turning them. Once brown on both sides, turn the heat low and let them cook through (nobody likes medium rare chicken).

In the meantime cook whatever pasta you like and whatever sauce you like. I like to use spaghetti or fettucine. When I'm lazy, I use jarred sauce like Contadina Marinara.

Here's the magic: the parmesan cheese on the outside of the patty gets brown and crispy. It won't stick to the non-stick skillet, but it'll hang onto the meat really well. Also, ground chicken with cheese and ham stirred into it will not get dry. Chopped meat, having practically been chewed for you, is always tender.

You could add chopped green pepper, fresh onion and/or garlic, or a little dried red chile, or black olives if that sounds good. There are many ways to vary the recipe.

This is what the plate looked like tonight:



I haven't seen this recipe anywhere... maybe it's one of those rare original ideas. I got the idea looking at cheeseburgers frying in a skillet.
You can use extra lean ground beef, too. The Dakota beef at Costco is especially good. I mix a beaten egg, a couple teaspoons of Worchestershire sauce, garlic, pepper, and grated cheddar cheese into it. No bread crumbs. Then I pat blue cheese crumbles on the outside. Baked red potatoes and corn on the cob would be good with this, I think.
Buon Appetito!