Hawai'i Day Ten: Muffins, Huli Huli, and Sushi

After waking at 5 am, getting dressed, and walking down to the water to watch the sunrise - only to realize it was so overcast all the way to the horizon that we wouldn't be seeing the sunrise and were just getting drenched, we went back to bed.

When I got back up at 8, I had a poha berry banana muffin, and can report that they turned out great. Though I only used one banana in the batter, it's definitely noticable, and punctuated by the tart sweet poha berries.



For a quick, light lunch before our massages at Kalani, we each had a little 'slider' of char sui pork and avocado on a sweet roll.



My massage was great - 2 hours long - and I highly recommend Michael Ceraso, who has been my massage therapist all three times we've visited, and is amazing. This time, he used a 'Thai soup' of turmeric, lemongrass, and other herbs and spices that he had steaming in a rice cooker, which he used on my back. It felt and smelled great.



So by the time we were done with our massages, we were both pretty hungry. I was actually craving sushi (and Thai food) during my massage, so we ran back by the house and grabbed the reusable grocery bags we bought at Island Naturals in Pahoa - including an awesome insulated one that zips shut. Island Naturals is a pretty sizable natural food store with a ton of vegetarian and vegan food, and has been around longer than Malama Market. When I was in the area years ago (about the time I met Dan) with our friend Gary, he and I bought all our food there. They have a great deli of fresh, pre-made food, including really amazing desserts that Dan & I ogled today.



But I digress. We made our way to Malama Market and picked up stuff to make some ahi and surimi (fake crab) sushi, some beer, and the stuff we need to make some kalua pork at home - because I just can't get enough of it. We also bought a pre-cooked huli huli chicken to nosh on while the rice cooked for the sushi, because we were just that hungry.



Once home, we dug into the huli huli chicken and got the rice cooking. Huli is the Hawaiian word for "turn" for "flip", thus huli huli chicken is a rotisserie style chicken with a sweet coating. After we each had a little chicken to tide us over, I got to work making the sushi.



I made three rolls using combinations of the following ingredients: ahi tuna, surimi, avocado, cucumber, toasted sesame seeds, wasabi mayo, macadamia nuts, and hot sauce. I even pulled off making an inside-out roll coated in sesame seeds, which I'd failed at my last attempt. After the delicious rolls Anna & Jason made for the last Memento meal, I was inspired to try again - and was much more successful. Still a little lopsided, but they held together long enough to eat them.



(Dan's writing all about our trip over at our other blog, The Dans In Hawai`i, so I'll just stick to writing what I know: food.)