Category Archives: Food

Omelet bar at Honey’s in Kaneohe

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Friends hosted their mother’s 90th birthday celebration Saturday morning at Honey’s, the little restaurant located downstairs at the Koolau Golf Club in Kaneohe.

The party featured its own omelet bar, where a cook prepared made-to-order omelets. The setting is nice, the food was good, and the omelet bar provided quite a show!

I believe there’s a minimum number of guests required before they’ll throw in the omelet preparation, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Here, for your enjoyment, is my omelet as it was created.

A few photos of Auckland

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I was going to edit this down to just a few photos from our trip to Auckland, but decided that if I wait for the time to do that, nothing’s going to be posted. That means there are about 60 photos in this collection, but you can skip through them pretty quickly. Nothing special in these photos, but they do give a bit of a feel for the area. And did I mention food? Yes, some food shots snuck in there as well. And we were fortunate to have almost perfect weather, with just one cloudy day that brought a few brief showers.

So if you’re interested in a quick look around the central part of Auckland, just click on the photo below to get started. By the way, it shows the building where were were staying, although we were on the opposite side facing the waterfront.

The photo gallery is a product of Adobe Lightroom, and I haven’t used this particular function before.

Photos of Auckland

It turns out that this version requires “flash” to run. If that doesn’t work for you (it won’t play on an iPad, for example), then use this link instead for a standard html version.

All photos taken with a Canon G7x, now my favorite walk-around camera.

Several meals from a leftover ham bone

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I wish all leftover meals were this good!

Using leftoversRelatively early Tuesday morning, I pulled a ham bone out of the freezer and put it in our big, cast iron dutch oven. I think we made the ham for a family party just after Thanksgiving, and it’s been taking up room in the freezer since then. Covered with water, or as close to covering as I could get given the dimensions of the pot. Brought it to a boil, and then let it simmer for the rest of the morning. By now, any leftover meat was starting to fall off the bone.

Soon after lunch, I started adding kale into the pot, along with some garlic and pepper. As the kale cooked down, I kept adding more. Eventually I added all of a good-size bunch, and later added some mixed greens that was heavy on spinach.

Sometime around the 6 p.m. news, I put in some carrots and celery, followed by a can of garbanzo beans, after draining and rinsing.

Once the carrots were cooked, this fine soup was ready for the table.

Served with whole wheat french bread and a plate of tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, and avocado. The glass of red wine didn’t make it into the picture. It was fabulous, and oh so simple. All it needs is time. We enjoyed it two nights in a row, and there’s enough left for a lunch.

And, as usual, click on the photo to see a larger version.

Challenging obesogenic factors in our communities

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My Hawaii Monitor column this week at Civil Beat (“Hawaii Monitor: Let’s Tackle the Public Policies Promoting Obesity“) was a result of my participation in a recent panel put together by the folks who have organized the two “Value of Hawaii” volumes.

I was very impressed by the presentation made by Dr. Keawe’aimoku Kaholokula, chair of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the UH Medical School. I learned a new word in the process–“obesogenic,” referring in this case to social and environmental factors which promote obesity.

Kaholokula traced several types of research that have been identifying those environmental factors. We’re all recognizing that obesity is a condition that has huge collective costs, yet we tend to look at it as a problem of individual choice.

“Before focusing on lifestyle choices, we have to give people those choices,” Kaholokula said. “People don’t choose to be unhealthy and die early. They are forced into early death by economic and environmental circumstances.”

In any case, beginning to conceptualize obesity as more than a collection of individual lifestyle choices seems to me very important, as it allows us to begin to identify social policies that can contribute to alleviating this crisis.

I suggested a few, but obviously this is fertile ground for planning.

The city and state could be upgrading recreational and park facilities in underserved neighborhoods to eliminate ethnic and income differentials. And how about safer sidewalks and streets to make walking more inviting? Could zoning regulations prohibit fast food outlets from opening near schools, just as we regulate other kinds of businesses? How about tax breaks for grocery stores that operate in neighborhoods that otherwise lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables? Do schools in your neighborhood offer an hour of physical activity to students daily, as called for by the Institute of Medicine, or are those programs victims of budget cuts?

I’m afraid the column didn’t get much traction from readers. It’s just not as sexy a topic as the latest political maneuvering. Too bad. It’s a pretty vital issue.