The Hungry Engineer

02 July 2008 - Our Big Island trip had been pretty hectic, so we took it easy the next morning and headed over to the Kona airport to hop our flight to Maui. I guess I hadn’t really thought about what sort of aircraft we’d be flying in, but it was a small propeller plane. I was again in the front row, so I got to see tons of neat stuff, not the least of which was the fun instrument panel. The flight was nice, and it was fun picking out the islands as you flew into Maui. We were treated to a very nice view of the Molokini crater (where we’d be snorkeling in a couple of days).

01 July 2008 - We woke up early in Hilo and went for our helicopter ride. Given our luck, of course, our flight was delayed (two passengers had showed up late).

30 June 2008 - It was pitch black and very voggy (not a typo) when we arrived at the Volcano House last night (just inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), so we didn’t see the caldera of the Kilauea volcano till the next morning. Sean and I woke up early to go to the Jagger Museum to partake of their overlook at Halema'uma'u crater (within the Kilauea caldera). While it was belching smoke and looking sufficiently primeval, we had gotten there a little too late to see it glowing in the darkness. No worries though because as the sun rose, the far wall of the crater and the belching smoke were beautiful in the morning light.

29 June 2008 - After a night of fitful half-sleep, we woke up early to call the baggage number to see when we’d be getting our suitcases. Sean spoke with them at length (after making it through their hearing-impaired IVR), and the end result was that they had no earthly idea where our bags were. Our collective mood sank a little, but we were determined to enjoy our vacation so we bucked up and drove out to a Wal-mart we had spotted on our way in from the airport to acquire some clothes and a few toiletries that would make our vacationing lives more bearable.

28 June 2008 - The long-awaited, much-planned Hawaiian vacation began. Getting to Hawaii wound up being ~interesting~ for us. It all started off smashingly enough. We left the house on time and arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight was to depart. No sooner did we print out our boarding passes, however, than we noticed that our flight would be two hours delayed.

Beginning early tomorrow, I will be working my way through Hawaii for the next couple of weeks. My intention is to continue to post while I’m there, wi-fi gods willing, but just in case I can’t, please know that I’ll return with gobs of post material and hopefully some good stories and great pictures too (I’m looking at you, spouse of mine). Aloha!

At the end of this week, my husband and I will be heading to Hawaii with his parents and sister. In preparation for our trip, I’ve been doing some research to make sure we get a good sampling during the two weeks we’ll be there of the foods that make Hawaii … well, Hawaii. After all, it isn’t all spam, pineapple, and mai tais. There’s a rich culinary diversity in Hawaii that I cannot wait to explore. For starters, there’s the traditional luau food. Naturally given it’s proximity, there’s also a wide range of southeast Asian food. Evidently there’s a pretty significant Portuguese population and their food is fairly widespread as well. There is also Hawaii Regional Cuisine, a movement to use local ingredients in creative and beautiful preparations. Top that off with a variety of crazy local concoctions (loco moco anyone?), and how about the plethora of super-fresh seafood and interesting tropical fruits to field test. Supplement all that with the random food we stumble upon while we’re there, and I’m expecting to be well fed during this trip.

When you hear the name Dan’s Hamburgers, you naturally think you should go there for the burgers. And that’s true, you should definitely go there for the burgers - they’re some of the best in Austin. However, Dan’s also serves up some lip-smacking good breakfast food, and every once in a while, I get a craving for their biscuits and gravy.

If you’ve been reading here the past few weeks, you know that I have a new cookbook from which I’ve been trying various recipes. The book is called Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook’s Essential Companion, and for the latest installment, my husband and I chose a more interesting recipe. This evening, I made Oil-Poached Halibut with Gribiche and Poached Egg.

Mexican food makes me happy. The flavors can be spicy, but that spiciness is often merely the leading or trailing edge of some very interesting and intense flavors. One of my favorite examples of this is a good tomatillo-based salsa verde. In its mildest preparation, it is wonderfully bright and tart. On the other end of the spectrum though, thanks to the inclusion of serrano chiles (or similar), it can be a mouth searing delight. An iteration of salsa verde appears in the most recent edition (on my magazine, it says August 2008, online it says July 2008) of Cook’s Illustrated magazine as part of a recipe for Enchiladas Verdes. Given my nearly absolute faith in the folks at Cook’s Illustrated, I lost no time in gathering up the ingredients and getting into the kitchen.