Turkey, Sushi, and family

What do you see on your table on Turkey Day? If you live in Hawaii, it could start out with something like this.

We were invited over to Menehune Man's sister's house. She always works hard to put on a spread for family. Our dinner consisted of Turkey, Ham, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, carrot souffle, cranberries of 3 varieties, sushi, sashimi, poke, weiner wraps, ceviche, chips, 5 pumpkin desserts and an apple crisp.

The guest list is almost as varied as the food. A few years ago, in order to share the holiday with her husband's children, my sister in law started inviting his ex-wife to join us. I really admire her for this because not everyone could do that. But it works! And all their kids and grandkids are able to share the day with both of their parents without feeling divided.

My 90 year old mother in law enjoys watching football. She knows all the teams, players and can tell you what game will be on what channel on what day! She is so sharp still.

My brother in law flew home from Oahu. I think at one point I saw him and MM and one of the kids all snoozing. My nephew who recently moved to LA called and chatted for a bit to be part of the festivities.

Oh and the Buddhist Minister and his wife joined us as well. I believe it is the 3rd year. Mrs. always brings her carrot souffle which is delish! I thought it was so funny when they told me how they had met at a Karoke bar and later married. He is Japanese, from Japan. She is caucasian. One of the grandchildren said she wanted to "Thank Jesus" for the food, but this didn't bother the Buddhist Minister. He simply said, "it is good to be thankful.", and encouraged her to say "two prayers". Kudos to him!

It was nice being with family for the day. That is something I do miss. I miss my own family. I miss the way we interact and kid each other. I miss the way dad teases my mom and how she always predictably reacts! "Gene!" I miss eating, resting, and eating again! I miss my mom's sour cream lemon pie and fresh huckleberries. I miss my dad's homemade wine that he is so proud of. I miss my sister and my brother and maybe even his dry sarcasm! It has been more than 2 years since I have seen my family. I hope to remedy that in the next few months. Life gets so busy at times but sometimes you just have to make the time to do the things that matter.

Jackie Rey's Restaurant keeps giving

I just wanted to give a shout out to the great folks over at Jackie Rey's in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It is one of my fav places to eat all year around. But something they have become well known for is their generous spirit during the holidays. Tomorrow, they will be closing down their regular eats and offering free dinner to anyone who for any reason may want to join them. In the past they have served as many as 400 dinners (according to my sources) but this year, with so many out of work in the area, they are expecting around 800 turkey lovers!

This is available to people with children, homeless people, lonely people...etc. So if you are in the area and can help out in any way via volunteering today doing prep or tomorrow serving, bussing, cleaning up, please do what you can. If you want to help, give Anna a call at 808-327-0209.

Life often goes around and comes around so do what you can, when you can. You never know when it may be you on the other end of the serving line.

a hui hou

November update

So, despite my little "mishap", we had a fabulous show on Saturday at the Old Airport. I wasn't sure what to expect because they had a change of venue this year and I was afraid we wouldn't get the foot traffic, but the plentiful free parking seemed to have lured in both the locals and tourists alike! There was a nice mix of both!

About my "mishap"...

Well, I was scurrying about setting up my booth on Saturday morning...hanging xmas stockings for display etc. While cutting the ribbons to hang the stockings from, I missed the ribbon and took a BIG bite out of my finger with my Fiskar scissors. Not nice sharp-edged pointy scissors...but thick, blunt-edged, (yet sharp), scissors.

note* this may be a good time to have the squeemish leave the room.

I knew immediately that it was a bad cut. I felt the force with which I had tried to sever my finger! That and the fact that blood pumped out of my finger in tune to the rhythm of my heart.

I was so glad that I had already set up my silk tissue totes to sell because I knew I couldn't wrap the finger in burlap so I grabbed one of the packs of Kleenex out of a tissue tote and wrapped my finger tightly. The girl next to me offered me her chair because she said the color all drained out of my face and she thought I was going to hit the ground! Someone offered me a band-aid but I knew it was too bad for a little band-aid. But I wasn't about to leave before my show even started and go to the ER. I had worked too hard preparing for that show! So I just got fresh tissue, wrapped it tight and held my clenched fist close to my body above my heart for most of the day.

When we got home, it took a bit of soaking before I could get to the wound and see how bad it was. The scissor blades are so wide that even though I didn't actually cut a chunk of flesh away, it had left a crater in my finger that would not close up. So I let Menehune Man finish his cigar, since I had lasted that long already, and then had him drive me to the urgent care.

In the end, the dr. didn't want to put stitches in because he said there was nothing to "stitch it to". I hope I made the right decision to accept his opinion. To tell you the truth, he didn't instill much confidence in me for that clinic. It seems that the first two dressings that he requested my finger be wrapped in, the clinic had quit purchasing due to the "cost" so in the end, he had his receptionist put on a ....BAND-AID! That is a $100 band-aid! And no, they do not accept my insurance!

Later, in talking to some friends who had also gone to that clinic, I have decided to not ever go there again. This is simply my own opinion, feel free to form your own, but I would not go to the Keauhou Urgent Care unless all other options were not available.

Luckily I finished my big order that was due today. Menehune Man and I delivered 225 bags to a local hotel for a big group that will be staying there in a couple of weeks. What a relief to have that off my plate! Plus it was very nice that they had the check ready and waiting for me as well!

I am also shipping off a box of bags and xmas stockings to Oahu today to the Na Mea (Native Bookstore) in Ward Warehouse. We will see how my new Kaloko bags do in Honolulu. They are small zippered bags that have coffee bag burlap on one side and fabric on the other. They have an adjustable strap that can be worn across the body, over the shoulder, or around the waist like a fanny pack. I have been using mine for about 3 weeks and love it. It holds all the necessities.

That is all for now.

A hui hou

Kona Coffee Festival 2009 continues

Well, I am up before the sun this morning getting all the last minute things finished to take to my final show of the year. Menehune man took the day off from his regular job to help me with my booth today. I worked hard this week and made up several little bags that were so popular last weekend at the gallery. Some are made from kimono and obi, the others are coffee bags. Some have shoulder straps, some just wristlets. They are the perfect size for a cellphone, lip gloss, credit cards and sunglasses. Grab and Go!

So anywho...if you are in Kona today, stop in and say hi. I am giving a free gift to anyone who mentions that they read about the show online. My booth is in a new location this year. We will be under the tents at the Old Airport Beach Park Pavilion. The Kona Coffee Festival parade starts at 9am at Huggo's and ends up at the Pavilion. There is lots of free parking and many other booths to see as well. See you there!

a hui hou

Holualoa Coffee and Art Stroll 2009

What a fabulous day! First of all, thank you so everyone who stopped by the Pacific Islands Gallery for my trunk show today. Since the gallery is a little out of the way, I didn't know what to expect as far as traffic. I met some great people today from all over the world including Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Korea, Japan, the mainland US and even lots of locals. Big Mahalos for supporting the local farmers and artisans. It really does mean so much to us.

Janet Lipps went all out today for her gallery. She hired a top notch musician who kept us all entertained throughout the day with his Flamenco guitar.

King Coffee was on site freshly grinding and brewing up their coffee and there was even a local artist working her magic on canvas.

Menehune Man helped me set up early this morning. I love it when my man does some heavy lifting! Then, once it was set, I pretty much I sat on the lanai all day, sipping coffee, chatting with visitors and realizing why I love living here so much. It is definately a package deal.

Right now I am trying to figure out why I am so tired after a pretty easy day. And alas, the diet is on hold tonight! Its a Digiorno pizza and a Guiness beer for dinner for me! I actually think that the entire pizza may be in danger....fair warning!

Now I am headed back to the Sweat shop to start all over again for next Saturday at the Old Airport. See you there!

Hapa Hale

I want to send a big Mahalo out to Leigh at Hapa Hale who reminded everyone about my upcoming trunk show. Check out her weekend spotlights here: http://www.hapahale.com

As a reminder, tomorrow, I will be at Pacific Islands Gallery and gift shop, from 9 am - 3pm.

Now back to the sweat shop so that I have some products to share!

a hui hou!

Coffees of Hawaii

I just had to share these bags with you that I made yesterday because...well, because of the "too cute" factor! I now sew for Coffees of Hawaii on the island of Molokai and this shipment will go out to them tomorrow. Molokai is known for its mule train that ventures down a steep hill to Kalaupapa. So one of their bags is "Mule Skinner Coffee".

These Christmas stockings are just very cute. I made some as sets and others are one of a kind so that if a family wants to buy one for each kiddo, they will know which one is theirs!