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Food

My Day with @NotQuiteNigella

I was so tickled when I got a tweet that my Twitter friend Lorraine was to be on Maui for 5 days and would love to meet me. I’d been following her awesome food blog Not Quite Nigella since 2009. She is highly creative and a total inspiration. She’s also gorgeous! I told her I’d…

A Day at O’o Farms

Last week we took our guests to O’o Farm for their wonderful farm to table tour and lunch. We were met at the bottom of the hill by the amazing Richard Clark who planted everything on the farm. They grow everything from coffee, artichokes, asparagus, Chinese greens, lettuces, chard, cucumber, herbs, heirloom tomatoes, lemon hot chili peppers, cilantro, kohlrabi, nasturtiums, raspberry, strawberries, wild pohaberry, figs, kaffir limes and more. It’s an amazing experience to be surrounded by a working farm in such beautiful order. He was sophisticated, intelligent and passionate about the farm which is owned by Pacific O and I’o Restaurant in Lahaina. This basket of greens and red leaf lettuce, Chinese peppery greens, carrots, society garlic chives is ready to be delivered to Chef JJ for our lunch. JJ had prepared tofu that had been seared and sautéed for ninety…

MauiGrown Coffee Kaanapali Roast

Getting ready to share Kaanapali’s Agricultural Beauty at #KFreshMaui on Saturday, September 1, 2012 9-Noon We’re hosting the Farm tour for 50 people, mostly media persons who have come to write about the Ka’anapali Fresh Culinary Event. James “Kimo” Falconer is responsible for resurrecting the farm and establishing the brand “MauiGrown Coffee” in 2003. He’ll be on the farm to meet everyone on the tour. Can’t wait to get Into the field and see the coffee trees ripe for harvest. We’ll be sampling coffee cherries in the Maui Mokka section of the Kaanapali Coffee Estates. Maui Mokka is gaining world wide recognition. These are coffees packaged and ready to ship at the MauiGrown Coffee Company Store in Lahaina by the famous Old Pioneer Mill Smokestack. There are four types of coffee grown on the 500 acre coffee estate. Red Catuai,…

Gardening For Life

As a self-taught gardener I learned by experience that any soil can be improved. The secret is to amend… amend… amend… I learned that early from reading Organic Gardening magazines in 1978. I also learned that it was possible to garden without poisons or fertilizers. When someone tells me they have clay soil, sandy soil or rocky soil, I can tell you that I’ve seen it all. I’m not a Master Gardener but I know how to plant and to be a good gardener you must start with the soil. No matter what type of dirt I’ve encountered, by adding compost, mixing potting soils or top soils to the existing soil helped me achieve a rich loamy medium in which to plant. My compost piles have always been created by digging a hole one foot deep and three feet wide….

Maui Preserved

Tonight’s guests at Slow Food Maui‘s Taste Education series were Anthony LaBua and Maleta Van Loan of Maui Preserved. They’ve created a wonderful brand that supports local farmers and inspires creativity in the kitchen. Their first product, a Hawaiian Chile Pepper Sauce was created in 2010. They established their commercial kitchen in Haiku and since then have developed a line of products including spicy pickled pineapple spears, pickled beets, onions, Pohole (fiddlehead fern shoots), pickled strawberries, pineapple Thai Chili spread, and a Mexican Gherkin pickle. They acidify with either apple cider vinegars or a green tea brine. Mexican Gherkin was bright and crisp. The Pineapple Sweet Thai Chile spread had some heat and was delicious. Anthony talked about chef inspired products, sustainability, the demand for local food that could be preserved, food security and keeping the culture alive with new…

More of #MauiPie

As you can see, our celebration of Pies at Kula Country Farms was very popular… There were even more pies to follow these beauties. I was hoping for more pizzas and again didn’t get a chance to taste this one by @daniakatz because it’s difficult to eat that much pie! But it’s fun to see it all come together with everyone in their country spirit on Maui. There were some gorgeous two crust pies that I didn’t get close ups on, darn… it happens so fast with guests arriving… Putting out pies… Meeting, greeting, hugs, photos, talking story and all on a beautiful mountain farm overlooking the sea… look at these local strawberries from Kula Country Farms… @daniaedibleHI is responsible for putting the #MauiPie TweetUp together with Teena Monden of Kula County Farms here. I helped to tweet it and…

Kailua Morning

Today I had the pleasure of meeting my twitter and Facebook friend Marianne Schultz @DaMews in Kailua. She’s good friends with Camille of Camille’s on Wheels. (excellent foodie) Here holding mango pie. Marianne, Koele and me at Camille’s Camille @Camillesonwheel LOL 1 wheel We sampled grilled cheese with roasted pablano chiles on Hawaiian Sweet Bread that was fabulous and teriyaki soft taco with an amazing slaw that complimented everything with its sweet mirin mixture. Michael and Camille… Camille l be featured on The Food Network show Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins with Guy Fieri July 30th at 7:30 PM To top everything off Camille had baked Mango Pie that was delightful. She insisted I take a piece of pie to @AlohaBruce (my next stop) in Hawaii Kai. I had a wonderful day visiting friends…   Hawaii is the best place not…

Maui Coffee is happening!

  I know it’s been a while but here we are with a beautiful visual of our recent West Maui Coffee Tour. I was asked by Stephanie Hua of @lickmyspoon to share our West Maui Coffee Tour. She was here for the Kapalua Food and Wine festival and she will feature us on her blog….

Kupu Maui Pop-Up Brunch

April 19, 2012 Dania Katz, Chef and farmer James Simpliciano and Chef Jenna Haugaard made their dream come true… They created the first Kupu Maui Pop Up brunch event at Ali`i Kula Lavender FarmInspired by other Pop Up restaurants in Honolulu like “The Pig and The Lady”, Dania was determined to pull it off on…