It's not hard to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to go to the Kapi'olani Community College's Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings. It's not hard if you can imagine the delights that await you. There's a carnival atmosphere to it-enticing smells of breakfast plate lunches, mellow sounds of the guest musician, ("Days of our Youth" being sung this morning) free bites of exotic treats (hearts of palm, kim chee portuguese sausage) and many, many happy people standing patiently in line or checking out the extremely fresh produce. One row of tents, out of the three rows for vendors, is all prepared food. You can pick up a Thai coconut curry plate or bananas with sticky rice bundled in ti leaves and turn around and buy a Ziploc bag of braised beef shanks to warm up for dinner.
I "harvested" Dean's Greens, a mixture of a dozen or so varied greens from Waimanalo, huge Kula Country strawberries from Farm Fresh Hawai'i, teeny baby roses from Hiraoka Farms and a cream cheese blueberry scone from the KCC students. So, where do the whales come in? Be patient.
After checking out every vendor I have my own little tradition. I drive home to Kailua the long way, i.e., around Makapu'u. Not far from Hanauma Bay there is a lookout where you can park your car and you are just 10 feet from the edge of the cliff. That's where I have my breakfast of coffee, strawberries, the scone and a sweeping view of the Pacific.
I was blessed. Today, the whales were putting on a show. I call it whale soup. They cavort in a pod, spraying the air with their blowholes, slapping the water with their tails. For a brief heartstopping moment I counted 6 plumes of spray. I whipped out the binoculars that I always carry in the car and for a brief couple of minutes I'm out on the water with the whales! When the opportunity to see whales up close arises, you forget everything else, who you are, where you are and you just concentrate on focusing the binoc's lens.
The pod moved slowly from left to right along the coast, coming up for air about every 15 minutes. At the closest point they were only about a mile offshore. I saw two fishermen stop from checking their lines to stare at the parade of whales majestically going by.
It seems there are many times during the week when I pause to offer thanks to God for living in Hawai'i and being able to enjoy this abundant life.
-the foodie wahine
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Information on the Hawai'i Farm Bureau's Farmers' Markets can be found at http://www.hfbf.org
Copyright 2007 Anything to Eat. All rights reserved.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
People's Open Market in Kailua
Aloha! I like the idea of Consuming Life, gulping it all down, that is why I named the blog Anything to Eat. This blog will be about much more than just food. I was born and raised in Hawai'i so all of my writing is infused with my love of this place and its unique lifestyle. I am very excited to publish my first post to this spankin' brand new food blog.
My community, Kailua, is located on the island of O'ahu in Hawai'i. We have a great farmers' open market in Kailua every Thursday morning between 9 and 10 a.m. next to Kailua Intermediate School. It's sponsored by the C and C of Honolulu and has about 20 vendors on average. There is another farmers' market sponsored by the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation held on Thursday nights in Kailua. The evening market has produce, like the morning market, but also takeout food, preserves, baked goods and even entertainment. Enough with the preliminaries, let me take you to the morning market.
At 9 a.m. sharp, a horn sounds and suddenly there is a spurt of activity at all the vendors' tables. Early buyers have been checking out the produce since 8:30 but nothing can be actually purchased until 9. You will be gently notified if you have accidentally touched someone else's stash. You can tell if someone has gathered a stash because he or she will have created a little mound of fruit or vegetables and will have subtly shifted their weight so as to be protectively touching the mound.
The smells of pungent basil and im sai, Chinese parsley, waft towards you as buyers sift through the bundles. The activity at this open market has become much more enjoyable, less crowded and far less frenetic since the evening farmer's market was started in Kailua. Now, on Thursdays, Kailua residents have two cracks at fresh produce.
My community, Kailua, is located on the island of O'ahu in Hawai'i. We have a great farmers' open market in Kailua every Thursday morning between 9 and 10 a.m. next to Kailua Intermediate School. It's sponsored by the C and C of Honolulu and has about 20 vendors on average. There is another farmers' market sponsored by the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation held on Thursday nights in Kailua. The evening market has produce, like the morning market, but also takeout food, preserves, baked goods and even entertainment. Enough with the preliminaries, let me take you to the morning market.
At 9 a.m. sharp, a horn sounds and suddenly there is a spurt of activity at all the vendors' tables. Early buyers have been checking out the produce since 8:30 but nothing can be actually purchased until 9. You will be gently notified if you have accidentally touched someone else's stash. You can tell if someone has gathered a stash because he or she will have created a little mound of fruit or vegetables and will have subtly shifted their weight so as to be protectively touching the mound.
The smells of pungent basil and im sai, Chinese parsley, waft towards you as buyers sift through the bundles. The activity at this open market has become much more enjoyable, less crowded and far less frenetic since the evening farmer's market was started in Kailua. Now, on Thursdays, Kailua residents have two cracks at fresh produce.
This may be the one opportunity weekly for you to talk story with your own neighbor or just as likely, chat with a Southern transplant about how to cook fresh Lima beans (boiled, with fatback). "Ayy, how's your mango tree doing?" "Where you last week? No see you." I always buy something from Linda, a vendor, simply because she is always so friendly and sweet-"Mama, I save for you 'til you all pau shop."
Much of what you see may have been picked before sunup. The eggs may have been laid hours ago. Don't forget, all money from the purchases stays in Hawai'i.
You can find everything here that would be available in a regular supermarket but there's always so much more: gai lan, chayote, Meyer lemons, guavas, liliko'i, mountain apples, gobo, fresh red ginger, herbs... A lively discussion will instantly start up if you ask out loud how something is cooked or how to choose the best.
I came home with bags of green tomatoes, round onions, sweet potatoes, 2 bunches of half-ripe apple bananas and 2 Japanese cucumbers. Have you ever had green tomato preserves? As you know, tomatoes are fruit and their preserves are sweet-sour with a pleasant crunch. One caution, the tomatoes have to be green and hard without a trace of red or pink. Following is a recipe from the book, "The Gift of Southern Cooking" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003) by two of my culinary heroes, Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis. I've halved the original recipe. Other heroes include Julia Child, Mama Dip and the wonderful kupuna (elders) of Hawai'i.
Green Tomato Preserves
2 pounds green tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 lemon
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Put the tomatoes and lemon into a nonreactive Dutch oven or heavy pot. Pour the sugar and salt over, and let sit for 2 hours or overnight, until the sugar has begun to dissolve in the bottom of the pot and the tomatoes begin to give off their liquid.
Stir the ingredients well, and heat slowly until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer, uncovered stirring often, until the tomatoes are soft and yielding and the mixture is somewhat thickened- about 20 minutes. Put the preserves into sterilized canning jars. Refrigerate, or process, following the manufacturer's instructions.
Makes about 5 cups (2 and 1/2 pints)
This is 'ono with biscuits or a shrimp coconut curry entree.
-the foodiewahine
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Farmers have a weekly venue to sell their produce without a middleman. Buyers have access to fresh and varied produce up to 35% less than a supermarket. Schedules, dates and locations for People's Open Markets sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu can be found at http://www.honolulu.gov/parks/programs/pom
The Hawaii Farm Bureau's Federation has three weekly farmers' markets around O'ahu which may also include agricultural products, plate lunches, preserves, baked goods and entertainment. Their website is http://www.hfbf.org/
"The Gift of Southern Cooking" can be purchased at amazon. com, local bookstores or other online book sites.
Copyright 2007-2008. Anything to Eat. All rights reserved. This material and all material on this site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The author disclaims all liabilities in connection with the use of the information contained within.
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