Feasts of O'ahu

On my recent trip to beautiful O'ahu, I prepared my mind and my stomach for some unbelievable food.  It was my first time there and I made sure to have a handy list ready of the top places I wanted to visit.  With a lot of research under my belt and a few great recommendations from friends and family, I started my adventure.  

Classic Hummus

Like many others, one of my New Year's resolutions for 2015 was to eat better.  I didn't want to restrict myself from good food and create outrageous resolutions that I could possible fail and then feel terrible about myself so I decided to create small resolutions.  One of my weaknesses are snacks and anything crunchy.  So, it makes sense that one of my favorite go to recipe is garlic hummus.  It's flavorful and the satisfying and I hope you guys will like it as much as I do.

For the sake of time, I used canned garbanzo beans but feel free to start from scratch. Just knowing me, if it takes too many steps I will most likely never attempt the recipe again.  Now, though I have a set recipe, feel free to add or substitute any other flavors you can imagine.  Sun dried tomatoes, turmeric, paprika, or cayenne.  The list goes on and on.

Classic Garlic Hummus

yield : 4    total time : 5 min.

• Garbanzo beans, canned    -    2 - 15.5oz ea.
• Extra vigin olive oil    -    1/2 cup
• Garlic cloves    -    2
• Salt and Pepper    -    to taste

Drain and rinse the two cans of garbanzo beans under running water.  I find the liquid the beans are packed in can taste quite salty. 

I made the the hummus in my vitamix but feel free to to use your food processor.

Add your olive oil first and then add the beans.  Add your garlic cloves and blend.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve with crackers or vegetable sticks.

Enjoy!

The Walt Disney Family Museum

One of the favorite spots in San Francisco is The Walt Disney Family Museum.  Being a big Disney fan, I frequently come here to learn more about Walt Disney  and how he came to be.  Surprisingly, not many people know about this museum and there are also those that expect a Disneyland museum but this is a place about Walt Disney and his life.  I bought my tickets for this weekend to see the All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Trains and thankfully it was quite quiet for a Sunday afternoon.  The exhibit was beautiful with artwork of trains along the walls as well as a few train models on display.  Unfortunately, I was unable to take photos but I'll leave that as a surprise for those that want to see the exhibit in person.  If you're in the area and if you're a Disney fan, you must visit the museum and the special train exhibit while it's on display. Tickets are $5 on top of general entrance and the trains exhibit is on display until 2/9/15.

Here are a few photos to whet your appetite and I hope everyone is having a great start to this new year.

Christmas Wreath Cookies

These gorgeous cookies are definitely my favorite cookies for this holiday season.  The garnishes are endless and this is something your family, friends, and children can get in on and decorate with you. I admit I got a bit stressed out on whether or not I was about to get these cookies to look nice enough to serve but I was quite pleasantly surprised when I started decorating them.  It was beautiful and it hid all the imperfections on the cookies.  I got this recipe from Bon Appetit and you can substitute whatever flavor of shortbread you want if lavender doesn't work for you.  It's a great recipe that shortbread lovers will thank you for.

Raspberry Hot Chocolate

Here is a quick and delicious one for everyone! It's the last weekend until Christmas and instead of pushing and shoving for gifts in department stores, why not stay at home with a nice hot cup of raspberry hot chocolate?  That sounds so much better, doesn't it?

stilton blue cheese and apple scones

Dwalin: What is this?

Balin: I don't know. I think it's supposed to be cheese, it's gone blue.

I still have Hobbit fever after watching The Hobbit marathon a few days ago and I wanted to channel some of that into the kitchen.  In a hilarious scene in The Unexpected Journey, Dwalin and Balin raid the shelves of Bilbo Baggins when Balin holds up a wedge of cheese.  Unfamiliar with blue cheese, he tosses it off to the corner thinking it has gone blue. On a side note, who else wants a pantry like Bilbo?

Hobbit or not, these blue cheese and apple scones are amazing.  I find myself typically craving sweet and salty food combinations and this really hits the spot.  Feel free to substitute various dried fruits and other kinds of cheese that you have in you pantry for this recipe.

The Hobbit Marathon

 On Monday, December 15th, I got to watch the premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies!!! As I've said in previous posts, my love for Tolkien and his stories go deep and when I saw the chance to see The Hobbit movies in the IMAX theater, I jumped at the chance.  I was in heaven!  I was surrounded by Middle Earth enthusiasts like myself in the first marathon showing of the three movies.  I'm not going to go into reviews or anything like that because I want everyone to experience the movie without somebody's point of view in the their mind.