Aloooooooooooooooooooooooooooha!

That means "Hellooooooooooooooooooooooo!" in Hawaiian

Just back from the Sandwich isles

SUN, FUN AND RELAXATION…

Here are some tidbits relating to food...

Mrs. Bloggerman and I enjoyed a nice breakfast on the lanai in the warm morning sun including scrambled eggs with macadamia nuts, Kona coffee, fresh pineapple slices and POG (passion-orange-guava) juice.

Hey...when in Rome...

In the gardens of the condo is what seemed to be the worlds largest onion growing.

ON KAUAI...we stopped off a Kauai Coffee Company and did the self-guided tour. They had free samples of all their coffee, a video explaining the operation and of course a gift shop.

Above is the soon-to-be coffee beans as small, fragrant flowers...not unlike jasmine.

The picker...or plucker...or finger-er...this machine travels down each path and straddles the bushes. The hundreds of fiberglass rods rotate and comb the coffee plants knocking off the beans

Kauai Coffee Co is a rare coffee company as they do it all in house...grow the beans, harvest, roast and package...and their coffee is 100% Hawaiian coffee, not a 10% blend like many Kona coffees.

Beans left over from last year I guess.

This is their sorter...the picked "cherries" (as un-hulled coffee beans are called) run through conveyor belts, gets washed which helps in the sorting as some cherries float and some sink depending on the ripeness.

3,100 acres of coffee.

Over near HANALEI BAY…we find TARO growing...and we all know what that is used for, huh kids?

That's right!...poi!

We mostly cooked for ourselves, but we did eat out on occasion

 such as this fabulous fried spam musubi

 Mrs. Bloggerman had at DA KITCHEN.

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 We had saimin (think Hawaiian pho) with house made noodles and some killer lilikoi chiffon pie at 

HAMUA SAIMIN tucked away in an industrial area of LIHUI

. We really enjoy digging for the non-touristy  places where the local know where the good (and cheap!) stuff is.

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We also shared a plate coconut ship at a roadside shrimp shack in WAIMEA

...yum!

Well...

...that's about it for now from HAWAII...

...think I'll pour me glass of wine...

...strum my UKE...

...sit back and enjoy the sunset...

Come A-Ti-Yi-Yippy-Yippy-Yay

Cookie...Bean Burner...Gut Robber...Belly Cheater are some nicknames given to old west chuckwagon cooks. It is said that Charles Goodnight was the father of the mobile kitchen as far back as 1866. Goodnight was a very successful Texas cattle rancher and needed a way to feed his men on the trail.

The staples of chuck wagon fare would be pickled items, smoked or salt cured meats such as salt pork, beans, coffee, perhaps potatoes and onions as they all kept well on the trail. What was a rarity are fruits and vegetables unless they were found along the way. If they were really lucky a nearby farm would trade for eggs or milk.

There are still ways to experience this old west way of cookery. The American Chuck Wagon Association has events one could attend. One of the largest is the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in New Mexico in October.

The Blogger Man family took part in a cookout a few summers ago. Although not a true chuck wagon experience...it was a great time. At the Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, they offer an "Old West Dinner Cookout". This is set down a trail from the main lodge. You either take a wagon ride through the sagebrush and lodgepole pines or like we did, a two hour guided horseback ride.

Disclaimer: After much searching, I was unable to locate our own photos...you'll just have to trust me that we went. So I will simply steal photos from the web.









When you arrive at camp...and attempt to regain your composure from sitting on a horse for two hours...a singer is strumming a guitar and singing western songs and...


...the cowboys/girls are around a campfire having and serving coffee.

Once everone has arrived and settled in, the dinner bell is rang. Hearty steaks with all-you-can-eat coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, chuck wagon corn, corn muffins, watermelon, fruit crisp, and assorted beverages are offered.

I was not able to find a definitive recipe for "chuck wagon corn", but I am assuming it is corn with red and green bell peppers added and perhaps some onion.

The return horse ride takes us back via the wagon road which is only about a half hour long. My muscles and bones appreciated that!

Back at the lodge, we sat on the porch on hickory chairs while people milled about. We finished the day with a beer and two fingers of Pendleton whisky.



Inside the main Roosevelt lodge the dining room offers what I would consider "western" food. Bison burgers, wild game chili, mesquite chicken, trout, ribs and all the fixin's.

One recipe is provided for their baked beans:

Our lodging for the night were in cabins next to the main lodge. The lodge itself doesn't have accommodations, only the cabins..."Frontier" (with a bathroom) and "Roughrider" (without). Ours were the later and was just fine...the rustic cabin, it's only source of heat was a small pot bellied stove all added toward a great family experience.