Past Life Experience...and a New Recipe

    Aloha kakou!! First of all, glad to see that there are some people reading the blog. I know we only started this a few days ago, but I'm already getting some nice comments and emails...so spread the word everyone.

    So, let's start with this past life thing. Nothing mystical, but we all have history. With the pervasive spread of Facebook, depending on how much you, (or your "friends") wish to share or post, you cannot really hide from your past. Now, we ALL have some embarrassing things in our past, and pictures of our mistakes in fashion and hair choices or choices in boyfriends/girlfriends are on display for all to see. So, let me share a picture with you all.

    This is me. Now granted, this was a few years, and many pounds ago, but I think you can still see the resemblance. LOL. Next to me is a very good friend, and one of my mentors in the cruise business, Jim Ward. So, my past life secret, is that for a time, in the 90's, I was not a musician, but a cruise director. I know most people who read this will know what a CD is, but for lack of a better way of saying it, I was Julie McCoy. (Who by the way would have lasted 10 minutes in the real cruise industry) This picture is from the Royal Majesty, (part of the late lamented Dolphin/Majesty Cruise Line) and was taken in 1994. I was Jim's assistant, and we were up on deck of the MV Royal Majesty. I was Jim's number 2, and we had nicknames for each other. Jim was Jean-Luc, as in Jean-Luc Picard...the commander. I was a few things, Jim usually called me Wease...short for Weasel...I will not go into it. But my favorite was Rabbi. Besides being applicable pertianing to my faith, in some parlance, a Rabbi is someone who you go to to take care of business, who has connections in places. If Jim needed something done, he would turn to the Rabbi...we had a really great work relationship, and he was largely responsible for getting me bumped up to full time cruise director. There are many more pictures I could post (and probably will at some point) of this time in my life, but sufficed to say, I had an amazing time, met some great people, many of whom I am still very close with, and made connections that I still use to this day. Every now and then, I get an itch to go back into this part of the business, but a CDs job is so different then it used to be, that I don't think I could hang. It used to be 80% entertainment/20% bureaucratic and business things. Those numbers seem to have switched. No thanks.
  
    Tonight was a another first time attempt at cooking something local. Tonight was Chicken Long Rice. Here is the recipe:

Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds chicken leg quarters
3 (32 ounce) cartons low-sodium chicken
broth
1 tablespoon Hawaiian sea salt
1 (1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger root,
sliced
 1 large Maui sweet onion, cubed
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked bean
threads (cellophane noodles)
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 small head bok choy, chopped
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Place chicken, chicken broth, salt, and ginger into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 35 minutes. Remove chicken, and strain broth into a new pot. Discard the solids.
2.
Fill a bowl with hot tap water. Add the long rice noodles, and let sit for 30 minutes to soften.
3.
Stir onion into the broth, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Meanwhile, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and discard. Roughly chop the meat and set aside. Add the noodles, chicken meat, green onion and bok choy; simmer until noodles are tender.
4.
After the noodles have sat for 30 minutes, stir in the chicken meat, green onion, and bok choy. Reheat and serve.

    And how did it turn out:

  
Two things to admit...I forgot the Hawaiian Sea Salt, but I subbed in Kosher Salt...go figure LOL And I couldn't find a Maui onion...so a regular one had to do. Oh, and owing to the fact that there are only two of us, I halved the recipe. Leialoha pronounced it Ono!! (Hawaiian for delicious) I may have even got a Supah-Ono!!
    So, tomorrow, my mother-in-law Jody will be coming for a few days. She lives up the coast in Honoka'a and one of the mice things about living here, is that she is free to come on down and be with us. She is a great lady, who loves singing, dancing and having a good time. As far as mother-in-laws go, I don't think I could ask for better. So I am sure she will pop up in the next few days here in the the blog.

   Lastly, I am going to start "The Countdown" tonight. This is our countdown until we head to the Golden for another great season.

13

A Hui Hou,
Dave