If you don't know what it is, kālua is a traditional Hawaiian way of cooking that uses an imu or underground oven. The result is a tender, salty, smoky-flavored meat that is served shredded. Kālua pork is usually the main dish at luaus. (Go here for more info.)
When I got my kālua pork, I decided to have it for breakfast with some fried eggs and freshly-cooked rice. I don't know if they made this the traditional way, but it's very onolicious.
kālua pork, fried eggs, and riceThis morning's meal is just the latest in my current semi-obsession with Hawaiian food. (Modern Hawaiian food is a combination of the cuisines of its many immigrants -- e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese. More info about Hawaiian cuisine here.) Quite recently, I discovered that there is an L&L, a Hawaiian food franchise, within walking distance from my house. At first, I just thought that it's something to keep in mind, especially when I want barbecue or noodle soup (saimin).
Well, lately for some reason, I've been really into chicken katsu musubi and can't seem to stop craving it. Musubi is usually made with Spam, but I find Spam too salty. But the chicken katsu version? Fried breaded chicken with a little of the sweet katsu sauce, along with the rice and nori (dried seaweed) -- yum! (I don't have a picture because I never thought I'd write about it. Plus, I eat it right away.) I've been getting the katsu musubi mostly but have also gotten the mixed plate and the saimin once in a while. While this food is delicious, it really is a bad thing that I'm so into it right now because it's not exactly the healthiest of cuisines, and I'm not very good at moderation, especially when it comes to food.
Another reason that I've been thinking a lot about Hawaiian food lately is that there's been a number of gatherings at the library in the past couple of weeks, and King's Hawaiian desserts were present at all of them. (Granted, King's is really based in Torrance now, but I still think of it as Hawaiian food.)
A couple of weeks ago, we had a baby shower for one of our medical librarians. I didn't have the energy to make anything (which is usually the case), so I just went to pick up a cake. Though my favorite is the chocolate dobash cake, I thought the colorful paradise cake--a chiffon cake with 3 flavors: guava, passionfruit, and lime--would be more appropriate for a baby shower. Here's a photo taken by one of my library IT/photographer colleagues:
paradise cake, photo by Jonathan Wilson
Beautiful, isn't it? I can tell you that it tastes just as good as it looks. If you don't know chiffon cake, it's a very light & fluffy kind of cake and, with the fruity flavors, it's almost like you're eating something healthy. It turned out that I made the right decision in buying that cake because 1) it is the favorite of our pregnant guest of honor and 2) my colleagues at the Biomedical Library already know about it and love it, and they were very appreciative of my bringing it.
Last Wednesday, for my colleague's retirement party, I again brought stuff from King's. I had intended to buy paradise cake again, but the person serving me made a mistake and gave me a haupia (coconut milk) cake instead. This is not a very good photo, but at least you get the picture (hah!).
haupia cakeI also brought a chocolate haupia pie because I wanted that coconut-y flavor (not knowing, of course, that the other cake was also haupia-flavored). This picture came out much better (I took it, that's why. Haha.)
chocolate haupia pieBoth desserts were very good (as were the other goodies at that party). I was just sad that I couldn't come in the next day to partake of the leftovers. Probably just as well.
On Friday, there was another retirement party. I didn't bring it, but they had paradise cake and paradise bundt cake (no icing) there.
So, as you can see, Hawaiian food has been a big part of my life lately. That's the great thing about living in California: you can pretty much get any kind of cuisine you want. And it helps that I live in the South Bay, where there is a big population (relatively speaking) of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. I usually don't even pay it a second thought, until someone like a fellow librarian from the Midwest mentions on Facebook that she'd probably like Spam musubi, in conjunction with an article she was sharing of a Hawaiian restaurant opening up over there. When I asked her if she'd never had it before, she said she hadn't. So, even though it's bad for my waistline, I should thank my lucky stars that I have access to such good and varied food.
On Friday, there was another retirement party. I didn't bring it, but they had paradise cake and paradise bundt cake (no icing) there.
So, as you can see, Hawaiian food has been a big part of my life lately. That's the great thing about living in California: you can pretty much get any kind of cuisine you want. And it helps that I live in the South Bay, where there is a big population (relatively speaking) of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. I usually don't even pay it a second thought, until someone like a fellow librarian from the Midwest mentions on Facebook that she'd probably like Spam musubi, in conjunction with an article she was sharing of a Hawaiian restaurant opening up over there. When I asked her if she'd never had it before, she said she hadn't. So, even though it's bad for my waistline, I should thank my lucky stars that I have access to such good and varied food.
