September 2015 - Maui Thirty Magazine

Maui Fair Date Night

Thanks to free entry tickets from friends, Eddie and I had a date at the Maui Fair on Friday night. The county fair always comes around this time of year, and it’s nice to go every once in a while. I’m not much for spending a lot of money on rides or games, but I do like to see the student artwork and eat something dangerous. We picked Friday night when one of our favorite musicians, Willie K, was playing.

Arriving at the fairgrounds around 6pm, we navigated through the parking situation and walked a little ways to the entrance. First was the livestock and poultry exhibit. It was interesting to see the critters up close…a giant bull and multi-colored pheasants, among others. I did wish they had more space to roam rather than being confined to little cages. We took a brisk stroll through and hit the exit, finding ourselves right in front of the funnel cake cart.

There we found the junk food of my dreams, deep fried Oreos. They were hot and spectacular, lightly dusted with powdered sugar. I’ve only ever seen these at the fair, so I couldn’t pass them up. We split a basket and enjoyed every bite.

Hopped up on sweets, we moved on to the arts and crafts exhibit. The student artwork was impressive…it’s always fun to see what creative ideas kids come up with. From grade schoolers to teens, the artists show so much talent and whimsy. We checked out the crafts tables and the variety of produce on display, then walked along the lovely “orchidland” to the photo salon. Lots of interesting images lined the wall, and a beautiful display of live bonsai trees sat on the table across.

We headed over to the products and services tent and browsed through the goods, then decided it was time to get some dinner. I thought about having more deep fry, but figured I’d better play it safe with a Greek salad. Eddie went for it and got the BBQ pulled pork plate along with a bright blue frosty lemonade drink. Living on the edge, he also grabbed a pronto pup (deep fried hot dog on a stick).

We washed it all down with a bottled water and agreed to go check out the ferris wheel. The line was long, so I held our place while he went to get scrips. It felt like the ride didn’t last more than a couple of minutes, but we had a good time and took some great pictures. Walking off the platform, we could already hear Willie K jamming in the entertainment tent. We made our way over and caught most of his set, finishing off the evening grooving to the music together.

All in all, it was a pretty sweet date. We did spend a bit of money, but at least we saved $14 on the entry fee ($7 x 2). Here’s a breakdown: $5 parking, $4 deep fried Oreos, $5 frosty lemonade, $7 Greek salad, $7 BBQ pulled pork plate, $4 pronto pup, $2 bottled water, $12 ferris wheel ($6 x 2). Somehow we lost another $2 along the way…maybe we got the wrong change…$48 total spent. I imagine that a family bringing kids could drop a lot of dough over the weekend. Probably most kids wait for Saturday’s discounted ride pass Wristband Day.

To find out more about the annual fair, check out their website at http://www.mauifair.com

Growing up on Pele’s Hawaii (Big Island)

I’m not a fan of witnessing Pele (Hawaiian Goddess of fire) in action. I think she does a great job of being the fire goddess and I think she is supposed to scare us mortals.

I grew up on the Big Island in the 50’s. The only excitement there was eruptions. Didn’t matter where it was or what time of the day or night, I recall it was a must-see-immediately situation. When I was five, I was playing with my friend when her father heard of an eruption in the Puna area and he wanted to pile his family into the car and drive over there…in a hurry. In those days they had volunteer “Watchmen” who acted as the police in an emergency, and her dad was one of them. Sometimes he was given notice ahead of the general public on things like the newest eruptions. In this case he was told of an eruption in the Puna area. Her parents asked mine if it would be okay to take me along. “Sure, Wilma will probably enjoy the ride.”

It took less than an hour to drive out to Kapoho where the eruption was. When we parked the car we could see in the distance a house slightly tilted to the right, as if it was falling into a hole. Not many people were there to see the eruption because it wasn’t made public yet. The unusual thing about this one was it was taking place in an area that was not inside a crater. No one there had seen anything like this before.

We were able to drive quite close to the house. On the right side of the house was a small fountain of lava spewing out. The ground was rumbling and the vibration traveled up your legs and into the pit of your stomach. A five-year-old does not forget how that felt. We were parked in a large field. We got out of the car and walked as close as we could to the house. I could see cement steps leading up to the front door. Plants along the walkway on either side were still alive. Everything looked pretty normal, so normal that it looked like it could have been our house. I thought about how we had the same plants and the same color house.

When the adults were done looking at what we had come to see, we started walking back to the car. I remember it looked like we parked in a wide, open field. We could see the car, but now my neighbor couldn’t figure out how to get back to it. The ground had more cracks in it than it had earlier, and we couldn’t jump across them…we were five. So we took another route to the car and then discovered we couldn’t go that way either. I remember wondering if we were ever going home again. I sensed that my friend’s dad was getting worried. Finally after walking for what seemed like a very long time, we made it to the car and left.

The next day my father announced that we would all go to see the newest eruption. “No,” I said. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay at home. My parents ignored my panic…“of course you’re going.” I was very upset. I didn’t want to return to the very hot lava fountain and its rumbling sounds, and most of all I didn’t want to repeat that scary experience of not being able to get back to where we had parked.

Everyone in my family piled in to the car except me. I hung on tightly to the front door, then the car door, all the while screaming that I was staying home. No one understood what I was doing. Five-year-olds do not have the language to express fear…I was acting it out.

When we got to the eruption we were far away from the house with the lava fountain. By this time the house was tilted even further and the lava was still spewing. Civil Defense had cordoned off the house with yellow tape. We couldn’t park anywhere near that house, but I still refused to leave the car. Eventually, my story came out. I told my Dad that I had walked very close to the house. I told him that the lady had plants like we did (anthuriums) and then we had a hard time getting back to the car. He asked me to point out where we were when we had seen the eruption the day before. When I showed him how close we’d been, he got very upset. He agreed it was not a safe viewing spot. We should never have been that close.

When we got back home, my dad had a word with our neighbor. The whole experience felt so dangerous and volatile, and that kind of eruption outside of a crater rattled everyone. We all felt vulnerable that if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere…including our house.

I have never liked the sounds that Pele makes when she is in full production. She’s impressive alright, and to a small child the memory of being stuck out there so close to her fury made for many sleepless nights.

Lava flow on the Big Island (photo: USGS)

Scotti and Biscotti

From Mella’s Italian Kitchen: Maui

My sister Marie, who has been making delicious biscotti for years, finally shared her recipe with me a while back. Last week, I went on a baking frenzy and decided to make a variety of scotti and biscotti. You’re probably thinking, “I know what biscotti are, but what are scotti?” Well, here’s a brief piece of baking history…

Whenever cookies are in the oven, you can count on our family friend Sid to be there. I call him my sous chef because he likes to be in the kitchen watching over everything. The last few times I did my baking, he insisted on taking the biscotti out of the oven too soon. We would banter back and forth as I tried to explain the concept of traditional biscotti to him, but my lesson fell on deaf ears. “Biscotti are supposed to be hard so that they don’t fall apart when they’re dipped in coffee or any other hot beverage of choice. The word biscotti means twice baked,” I said. But the oven still opened up before its time. He just did not appreciate the intended crunchy, hard texture of a perfectly baked cookie.

In a final compromise, I simply shortened the second baking time to five minutes on the last batch of biscotti and gave them to Sid. He joyfully thanked me and proclaimed that he liked the “scotti” much better than the biscotti. Hence, the term “scotti” was coined. So, for those of you who prefer softer biscotti, you now have the option of making the lightly baked version.

Marie’s Almond Biscotti
6 cups flour (set 1/2 cup aside for flouring board)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped, toasted almonds
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ounces olive oil
2 tsp amaretto or rum (optional)

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients well. Add wet ingredients and mix until dough separates from sides of bowl. On a floured board, roll dough into five 2-inch thick logs (slightly flattened). Place logs on a large parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Slice each log diagonally into 1/2 inch thick strips. Separate strips slightly and bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes (for “scotti” bake for 5 minutes only).

Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Follow Almond Biscotti recipe, except:
Add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, decrease flour by 1/2 cup, increase sugar by 1/2 cup