Made in Hawaii and afternoon tea

Hello all, it's the weekend!

I've actually done quite a bit this weekend, trying to pack in a lot of old favorite activities before school starts up for the fall. But I will go with the Made in Hawaii 20th Anniversary event and tea service my sister indulged both my mother and I in this afternoon.

Late morning found us heading downtown and severely lacking in parking. The Neal S. Blaisdell Center lot was full and I believe the overflow lot at McKinley High School was as well. (I'm not sure, I was reading "William Shakespeare's Star Wars" by Ian Doescher lent to me by my cousin. Star Wars in iambic pentameter. Very interesting indeed.)

We stopped off at a Ward complex lot and walked roughly half a mile back to the center. Tickets were $5 which we easily ate back in food samples! 

The Made in Hawaii event was held in the exhibition hall and arena of the Blaisdell and featured a host of local business ranging from Hawaiian food staples to shell earring trinkets and wood crafts to fine art. More than 500 vendors pitched their various goods to crowds over this weekend, Aug. 15-17.

Major local food staple.

We swung through the arena to start which held most of the foodstuffs. Lunch comprised a sweeping tray of exotic chocolate brownie butter, chocolate and potato chip cookies, taro bread, teriyaki jerky, macadamia nut-flavored tack, macadamia nut shortbread cookies, a wide assortment of chocolates, wasabi-infused brownie crisps, cool ginger tea and hot 100% Kona coffee. The arena also had live cooking demonstrations for each day of the event.

You wouldn't think to smoke meat with guava, but it's actually quite good!

Sill in the arena, these ocean-themed fabrics caught my eye.

Hawaiian Paradise candies had THE CUTEST Oreo cookie concoctions laid out on their table. My sister and I squealed over the little characters decorating the desserts. And their chocolate samples were to die for.

The Sugar Lips Cookie Company had the wasabi-infused brownie crisps which blew my mind. They start off sweet and then this burn kicks in shortly after you finish the sample. Absolutely delicious.

It wouldn't be a local kine event without a 'crack seed' vendor. This vendor was selling spiky red dragon fruit.

The Kona coffee vendor boasts that their 100% Kona coffee is grown on a single estate. I can't argue with the results.

After filling up in the arena, we all skipped over to the exhibition hall for a large selection of crafts. There were glass fusion pieces, gemstone jewelry, geode jewelry (I was particularly fond of these pieces, but not the prices), wood crafts, metal crafts, fine paintings, Hawaiian Christmas ornaments, silkscreen vestments, tropical plants, quilts, and a whole lot more. I was tickled by some of the more cleverly named businesses: Sew Sassy, Dressed'n case, and Bad Ash Pottery to name a few. The nice thing about attending the last day is a number of businesses will drop their prices to move their product. We scored big.

There were fewer food vendors on the exhibition side though Love's Bakery had a slot. I found myself perusing a lot of the quilting tables. I've been interested in making my own quilts for some time now but have lacked instruction. I DID make a Hawaiian quilt pillowcase with my mom in a 3-week class, but that's the extent of my knowledge.

I chatted up one vendor, Barbara Vasold of Quilted Images, who gave me a lovely piece of advice when I lamented the difficulties of applique: "You can make plenty of mistakes in applique, or as I like to call them, 'creative opportunities.'" I loved that! I can't wait to be a wizened quilting lady.

These colorful koi would go swimmingly with several of these garden decorations! 

I was fascinated by this metal piece of a metal figurine surfing a copper wave. 

My family and I were there a good four hours spying, spending, sampling...

All the way until 2:30 p.m. or so when my sister said it was time for us to go. She had a surprise for us and the reservation was at 3.

We walked back to the car with our purchases, yes we did buy the wasabi-brownie crisps, and drove farther east to Kahala. Our last hoorah as a family as it were. I had no idea what was in store and I was surprised when we hurtled out of Waikiki and its sprawl of hotels to an isolated hotel near Aina Hina.

Darcie pulled right up to the hotel agreeing that yes, we would have valet service, and we stepped onto the veranda of the Kahala Hotel & Resort. I had no idea this place existed until today.

She had booked us a 3 p.m. tea reservation where we were promptly seated and ordered two classic tea services for us and the royal tea service for mom. I chose a 'Blue and Yellow' tea which had chamomile, lavender and cornflower floral flavors; Darcie asked for a Dragon Pearl oriental fusion, and mom got a lilikoi-flavored tea. We all rotated flavors after draining our first cup. They were all delicious but I liked mine best.

The services came with scones topped with mango and clotted cream spread, four types of meat and spices sandwiches, and four types of decadent desserts. We all chatted over our hot tea and finger foods just enjoying the afternoon. The afternoon tea bridged my memory back to the Australia trip which was a delightful pang of nostalgia. I felt super spoiled. Thank you Darcie!

Afternoon tea. Something I wish America would participate in with as much vigor as Britain and Australia.

We also explored the hotel after that, which reminded me how people visiting Hawaii experience Hawaii. It was luxurious.

Whew, this seriously ended up being a very full weekend. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of it!

Happy Sunday!

Down the "lāpaki" Hole

Hello everyone, it's the weekend!

I actually went to the swap meet and 9th Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival today, but I'm going to pin my focus on the latter. (I will cover the swap meet on another day.)

I nearly forgot this festival was going on until I spotted another sign for a craft fair happening on Hickam. So after shopping the swap meet today, I met up with a friend of mine to check out the books and tunes.

The event was 'presented' by what I assume was the chief sponsor, the Bank of Hawaii, for Saturday and Sunday this weekend at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds near the Honolulu Hale. I was particularly eager since the event and parking were free. After emerging from the underground fight for parking, I saw a sprawl of tents with the information booth smartly placed closest to the parking structure.

I strode past the stage where Hawaiian dancers and singers performed on a stage and headed for the Book Swap booth, where my buddy Christine was waiting for me. There were a bunch of folks already perusing the book aisles looking for the next riveting read to trade their old tomes with and I was so sad I could not participate. If I had known to bring some old books I've already read, I would have eagerly traded for some new reading material.

I spy a Hobbit in the lineup. 

Christine and I found each other and agreed it was extremely hot and iced beverages were in order. We wandered to the end of the lawn where 'I'iwi Kona Coffee Co. had set up shop. (The i'iwi is that red honeycreeper with the probing beak in the background--so named for its "ee-ee-vee" call.) Our appraisal of the heat was confirmed when the shop keep said they were out of ice.

Their iced hazelnut latte was refreshing!

We waited out the ice by swinging by the Barnes & Noble stand, one of the only major book store chains left on the island, and chatted over the titles. Christine recognized one of her mentors on the front cover of one which I thought was really neat and beside it I found Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"--IN Hawaiian! Titled Na Hana Kupanaha a 'Aleka ma ka 'Aina Kamaha'o, which I believe roughly translates to 'Amazing Work of Alice in the Land of Wonder.' Taken with a grain of salt.

Alice's adventures blow my mind in an entirely new way.

Alice in Wonderland--IN HAWAIIAN! AHHHH!

So that was really neat to see. I notice there was this "Wonderland" theme with a number of the new books at the Barnes & Noble table. Alice surviving zombies. Another AIW spin off titled "Splintered." While I think it's great people enjoy Carroll's work so much, I would rather see what sort of wonderlands other people can create. You can't top a masterpiece, so craft your own that you're master of. Or translate an existing one into an obscure language. That works too in a lateral sense.

Still hot, Christine and I made our way back to the 'I'iwi and they had their ice! We each ordered their chilled hazelnut latte concoction and sat to sip and catch up on one of the many umbrella-ed tables scattered across the lawn. (Thank you for treating Christine!)

Afterward, we checked out the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and Hawaii State Public Library booths where I picked up a new [old] Celtic CD of the Narada collection and a number of brochures/flyers from the public library. I read a sign that if I flashed my library card I would get a goodie! So I did! Turns out they were out of goodies, but I was given a Hawaiian-decorated plastic bag to store my things. It actually came in quite handy.

We headed toward the publishing side of the 'house' and I got us sucked into the Mensa table loaded with books for $.50 - 2 and my eyes caught on the red and black spine of "Raptor Red" by Robert T. Bakker. The slug pulled a key word ploy on me in the form of Jurassic Park--and the book is told from a velociraptor's perspective. Moreover the cover has a holographic image of a raptor on it. Too interesting not to buy. Sold. SOLD!

I'll let you know how the book is.

After chatting up Mensa proctor, diver, and Dungeons and Dragons master Bryan, who encouraged us to get tested for Mensa admission (having to roughly score over 130 points), Christine and I finally made our rounds of the publishing tables. It's neat to note that a number of authors I saw on the Barnes & Noble table will actually appear for signings tomorrow.

I wanted to ask the local publishing houses like Bishop and Bamboo publishing how they choose their authors, but we were nearing closing time and I wanted to see what the other tables had on display. One table, I believe it was Watermark Publishing, challenged us to do that six-word memoir thing. So Christine and I did! Think you can pick mine out of the others?

I'm on here somewhere!

Christine pinned hers here. I particularly like the "Rage quit" one.

And so, with every booth closing up shop a little after 5 p.m., Christine and I tucked into a vanilla- and chocolate-flavored creme brulee each and a couple of madeleines while listening to music ala Christine as the sun set. It was a lovely afternoon.

Tomorrow? Hiking.

Happy Saturday!