hawaii

we went on a vacation! we left home when it was 20 below and arrived in the magical land of hawaii, where it was 100 degrees warmer. it was sunny the whole time, as if mother nature had just set the weather on auto pilot and fell asleep. it was perfect hiking weather, perfect papaya-for-breakfast weather (squeezed with calamansi!), perfect sitting-by-the-water-turning-off-my-phone-reading-a-book-and-not-looking-up-until-a-man-rode-by-with-a-mai-tai-delivery-bike weather. we listened to the la la land soundtrack, ate donuts before supper, and sat on the beach with moses and alana with buckets o’ poke from the little kahuku superette.

it was exactly hawaii.

i acquired a new favorite hobby, floating. i learned the joy of lying in the water and looking up at the sky with no thoughts and fears aside from the possibility of my bum getting nibbled by fishies. and eggboy discovered the wonders of shave ice and haleakala. we watched the sunrise each morning with coffee and the newspaper and observed a nightly bedtime of like 8pm. we made a chinchilla friend in moses's mom's garden. i miss the spam musubi and the pineapple. i came home with a musubi mold though so watch out, i’m going to musubi everything. 

on the road to hana, instead of stopping to turn around where the road “ended” we just kept on going, and let our jaws drop at maui showing off. our phones didn’t work on that road, and the lighting was different, i felt like we were on another planet or in another time. the world could have gone all brigadoon on us and, nope, we wouldn’t have known.

it was such a wonderful trip. i'm officially one of the tannest humans in grand forks and i'm ready to get back to work but also counting the days until we get to go back to hawaii :)

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here were some of the places we loved most on this trip (to add to the list of places i loved on my last trip to maui and oahu):

koko head cafe // an adorable brunch spot with dumplings, bibimbap, congee, and a french toast that we didn’t get but it looked so epic that i’m regretting that we didn’t get it.

diamond head market // the site of eggboy’s first spam musubi! and, ugh, their scones are sofa-king good.

rainbow drive-in // nothing prepared me for how good their plate lunch would be. we got the mixed plate. i couldn’t stop eating it. even though i’d just had a malasada. even though i knew it’d probably give me a belly ache. so good. 

surfjack hotel // a super cute hotel in waikiki where we stayed for the first few nights! it is really hip but not painfully hip. just right. especially for an afternoon of playing jenga with alana and moses by the pool.

royal kitchen // jade brought us some of their manapua. sooo soft and doughy and good.

four seasons at ko’olina // a dream. we screamed when we walked into our room and saw the view. the beds were clouds, the service was flawless, the pools and laguna made me love going in the water. and all of the food was delicious, especially the pandan mochi donuts at la hiki. and there were poolside cake pops! i want to go here again and again and again. a huge mahalo to kim for making our stay there extra special!!! 

kahumana farm // an organic farm that employs homeless families and people with disabilities and supplies produce and eggies to a bunch of restaurants on oahu. so many things grew there that i’d never even heard of, and they had an awesome aquaponics setup. 

haleakala national park // eggboy and i did a lazy thing: instead of waking up at 3am to join the crowds for the sunrise, we slept in, drove up to the summit in the morning sun (what a pretty drive!), and then hiked the day away on the sliding sands trail. it was quiet and stunning and lovely and we weren’t exhausted like we’d have been if we woke up for the sunrise, so 10/10 would recommend this. on the way back down we stopped in the cute town of makawao for a smoothie. note to self: next time go on a day when komoda's bakery is open! 

paia flatbread company // we went here for pizza night and looooved the pesto pizza. the place reminded me of our town pizza parlor. quirky and fun! 

old lahaina luau // our first luau! we loved it. 

hana ranch burger truck // tasty burgers on the hana highway!

the road to hana // would definitely recommend. and i have some tips: the rental car company tried to get us to upgrade to a four-wheel drive for it but eggboy rolled his eyes and was like really? which made me a little nervous but it ended up being 100% fine in our two-wheel drive. eggboy's a good slow driver though, so it was a smooth ride, free of car sickness, and yeah, some of my favorite parts were after the highway ends. past that, it's gravel-y and narrow at times, but it's not too bad. they tell you to really load up on snacks and gas in paia before hitting the road, so we pretty much cleared out the mana market as if we were gearing up for the apocalypse. but in reality, we went through about 1/3 of a tank of gas and there were taco trucks, farm stands, and barbecue stops the entire way to hana lol. i'm not mad because you know how i feel about cute road snacks, but just so you know for future planning, you're not gonna die if you don't fill your backseat with bread before you leave. 

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-yeh!

macaroni's first egg!!!!!!

we hyperventilated for five minutes straight. and then omg-ed for five more. it was the greatest hanukkah present ever in all the land! one teeny tiny egg, too small for most of our egg cups and very lightly speckled. everything we've waited for since june (they grow up so fast!). we cuddled it and stared at it and finally decided that we should eat it ceremoniously, out of the egg cup we bought on our honeymoon.

we wanted a six-minute egg, but with such a dainty little specimen we reduced the time to five and it was perfect. firm whites, a yolk the thickness of honey. and its color! we kvelled so hard, we've never been prouder. is this what having an honor roll student is like? can i get a bumper sticker about all this? 

we spread our little egg onto buttered toast and sprinkled it with salt while the snow came down outside. it was tasty and bucolic af. now we're researching how to bronze the shell so we can keep it on our mantel forever and ever. 

we're so proud of you, macaroni!!

-yay!

bonfire eggs!

you wouldn't know it based on how much of a hermit i am now, but when i was a wee one spending my summers at sleep-away camp, i had an absolute favorite activity: outdoor cooking! all of the teachers were fresh out of the israeli army and they had cool tricks for making things like noodle kugel in a fire and the unexpected camper favorite, egg in a potato. i don't know if that was the official name, but that's exactly what it was. we'd sit around in a circle hallowing out our potatoes and then we'd put slices of american cheese in the bottom, crack in an egg, and then wrap it up with foil and throw it in the fire. i remember it taking a really long time to cook and getting really impatient and probably eating a raw potato, but it was still really good and super fun!

so because eggboy loves making fires (we just watched the francis mallman episode of chef's table and i think he has a new hero...), we had a fireside supper the other night, just the two of us, with some visits from macaroni. did i mention that macaroni are big enough to free range now?? we let them out in the morning and then they forage and hang out with the kitties during the day and then at night, they just magically return home to their coop! it is the cutest little thing. i am perplexed about what to do with all of the poop that's in our yard now, but maybe it'll function as good fertilizer??

anyway, this egg in a potato is a very fun activity. it's not the most precise way of cooking a potato and an egg--sometimes you pull it out of the fire and find a perfectly cooked egg but your potato still needs cooking, other times the potato is perfect but the egg's a bit too firm--but it'll still be tasty! top it with a bunch of cheese, make sure to bring a cute tiny bottle of hot sauce and a miniature tin of salt, and when it's ready to eat, run to your garden, yank out a few herbs, and garnish the suckers like the classy outdoor cook that you are.

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egg in a potato

ingredients

medium potatoes

salt

cheese

eggs

pepper

hot sauce, optional

fresh herbs, optional

clues

start a fire!

chop off the end of a potato (keep this end part, it is the potato's hat) and then use a spoon to hollow out enough space to fit an egg and some cheese. reserve the potato innards for another use, like potato soup, or feed them to your chickies. 

salt the insides of the potato and then crack in your egg and top it with cheese. place the potato's hat back on and then wrap it firmly in aluminum foil. carefully put the potato on the outskirts of the fire. use tongs to retrieve it after about 20 minutes. carefully open up the foil and then check for doneness--the egg whites should be cooked, the potato should be easily poke-able with a fork, and the yolks can be either runny or firm. if the whites are still runny and/or the potato isn't cooked through, rewrap the potato and put it back in the fire for a few more minutes.

when the potato is ready, top it with salt, pepper, hot sauce, and fresh herbs, if desired. let it cool slightly and enjoy!

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-yeh!

thank you, american egg board, for sponsoring this post! if you haven't checked out their eggcyclopedia, you should, it has a bunch of interesting facts! like, did know that brown egg layers typically eat more and their eggs are typically bigger? or that the fresher the egg, the less it'll spread in the pan when you fry it?? there's also less of a chance that a fresh egg yolk will accidentally break. hehe i'm becoming an eggspert.

sriracha egg salad

here are two equal and opposite reactions: making your own mayonnaise and then eating your own mayonnaise. that is, if you make it by hand, which is actually really satisfying and the best* thing that you can possibly do in the kitchen now that it's short sleeve season. 

*in addition to a whole bunch of other things, like kneading bread dough by hand...

it's also really fascinating to see with your own two eyeballs how mayonnaise really is just eggs and oil, and i think that makes egg salad extra funny. eggs coated in eggs. lol. you'd think eggboy would move mountains for the stuff, but he despises it. i told him how weird that is and his response was i'm not mayo boy, which is probably fair since i love olive oil but can't really do olives. 

and all that means is more egg salad for me. yay!!!!!!!

i love egg salad because: 

1. i'm 90,

2. it's so soft,

but it has to be severely mayo-y and salted ferociously, which you can do easily when you make it from scratch. and another thing that you can do easily when you make it from scratch is use olive oil in your mayonnaise, for a healthier option, and then eat all of it in the comfort of your own home without worrying that you're offending someone with the smell of hard boiled eggs.

i'm about to tell you how to whisk mayo by hand for this egg salad.

i know, i know, making mayo in a blender takes but one second. i know.

you can also buy mayo at the store. i know. 

but we're going to make it by hand because it's fun, it's good for you, and you might find yourself in a blender-less, mayo-less world one of these days and you need to know how to fend for yourself. the rest of this recipe is an easy peasy straightforward egg salad scenario that gathers sweetness and crunch from chopped onion and a bite from dijon and sriracha. (there's no celery here, i didn't want it here.) it's equally at home on crunchy toast as it is sandwiched between fluffy white bread, and if you want to just eat is straight with a spoon, you can do that too.

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sriracha egg salad

makes 4-6 servings

ingredients

1 large egg yolk

1 tb dijon mustard

1 tsp sriracha

1/2 tsp sugar

kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

1/2 c extra virgin olive oil

1 tb lemon juice

8 large hard boiled eggs

1/2 small white onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

clues

in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, mustard, sriracha, sugar, a good pinch of salt, and a couple turns of black pepper. continue to whisk, vigorously, and do not stop until i say. using your other hand, drizzle in the oil as slowly as possible. the oil stream should be the thickness of a strand of hair. once the mixture has thickened and become pale, you can increase the speed of the pour slightly. (how is your arm? do you need to switch hands? you can do that quickly.) once all of the oil has been added, whisk in the lemon juice. stop whisking. taste and adjust salt, pepper, and sriracha as desired. 

transfer the mayo to a small container. there's no need to dirty up another large bowl, you can just go forth and make your egg salad in the bowl where you just made your mayo. 

to do this, place your eggs in the bowl and use a pastry cutter to give them a rough chop. alternatively, you can chop the eggs with a knife before putting them in your bowl. fold in the onion and garlic and add a good pinch of salt. like i said, i like a severely mayo-y egg salad, so if it were up to me i'd stir in all of the mayo that we just made and be done. but i don't want to offend you, so start by folding in half of the mayo, and then add more as desired. reserve any unused mayo for anything you want. eat all of your egg salad at once! or within 3-4 days. 

enjoy!

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-yeh!

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thank you so much to the american egg board for sponsoring this post! check out their good egg project site to get to know the family-owned farms that are part of the board and read about their efforts to create sustainable, healthy, and comfortable environments for their chickens.