Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hunauma Bay Snorkeling...and COUSINS!!!!

Friday we went to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkeling. We followed the wise advise we were given, and headed over to the park early. Definitely a good idea. What an amazing time we had!!! So many fish...so many colors!!! The four of us had a wonderful time, even though Tera and I were really clumsy getting used to our gear. Here's some samples of the different kinds of fish we saw:

Don't look too hard...no fish in this picture. It was just a cool shot of the bottom of the sea.

Sea Urchins hiding out in the rocks














Tera and I felt like such MAINLANDERS after we'd been in the water for an hour and then suddenly started feeling sea sick. Can you believe it??? We had to get out for a while. But it was totally worth it! We got out and found a surprise right next to our stuff...mongooses!!! They were so cute...but destructive too. And they ran away with some of our neighbors goodies. I wondered if the locals felt the same way about our excitement over the mongoose as we do when people come to our house and think it's neat to see a squirrel...those pesky little varmints!!!

Mongoose hiding out under the tree

That evening we had such a great time visiting with some cousins we hadn't seen in years. Adam picked us up at our hotel and then took us to where Dawn was waiting with leis for each of us and lots of yummy food. Our cousin Kelly changed his plans so that he could be there, and we enjoyed meeting him and some of their friends. Fun night!!! Thank you, Dawn and Adam and Kelly!!!

Sage, Kelly, Dawn, Adam and Tera...cousins.



Chocolate v. Vanilla



It isn't always plugged into my brain that I have a blog and need to post new entries from time to time.  Truthfully, I don't even plan ahead about what to write - mostly I just go with the "divine inspiration" theory (this can be greatly enhanced by a glass of wine).  The problem with that, however, is that it's hard to come up with photos "after the fact."

We drove to Durham last Friday to visit our youngest son Eric and were looking forward to one of those good family weekends since Andy (our eldest) was flying in from NYC.  And it was exactly that, except for the fact that my assignment was to cater a dinner party for 15 in Eric's apartment that evening.  After driving 6 hours to get there, we the catering vehicle arrived at 4:30pm.  Yikes!  Suffice it to say I pulled it off, but that's another blog (again without decent photos).  Suffice it also to say that I was exhausted by the time we drove back on Sunday.

So yesterday my alarm went off bright and early and I could barely make it out of bed.  I felt like I had been run over by a truck.  An eighteen wheeler.  I stumbled into the kitchen to get the day started and realized that it just wasn't going to happen.  So I took 2 Advil and went back to bed. 

And then I remembered I had promised to make lunchbox desserts for a trip we were taking on Tuesday to the Georgia Aquarium with a group of veterans from the VA Nursing Home.  Oh, crap!

I dragged myself out of bed, hit the grocery store and came home to bake.  (Never thinking to photograph any of it, I might add).  Coincidentally, a cookbook I ordered online had just shown up.  That would be "Ad Hoc at Home" by the chef extraordinaire Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Per Se fame.  I quickly flipped through it and came across his brownie recipe.

Brownies.  Okay, nothing special.  I have a recipe I've relied upon for years and it has never failed me (and it produces amazingly dense and fudgy brownies every time).  But this recipe had a different technique so I decided to be disloyal and try it.

Good call, Liz!  This rivaled my tried-and-true recipe.  (Of course, why wouldn't it?  Why on earth would my brownies be better than Thomas Keller's????)

But then, as usual, I decided to overthink the situation.  "Hmm," I thought, "not everyone likes chocolate.  Maybe I should bake something else as an alternative."  Can someone please tell me why I wasn't an overachiever like this when I was in school?

So I baked my favorite Cream Cheese Poundcake.  It's the one we used to make when I worked at Watershed and the baking method comes from Scott Peacock.  It's wonderful the first day (or the second or the third) but my favorite thing is to toast a slice or two for breakfast then slather with good butter.  Heaven!

I took all of it with me today on our sodden trip to the Aquarium.  It rained like crazy and you should have seen us trying to get all of these wheelchairs into the building without drowning.  We were soaked but it was a good time.  Made even better by those brownies and slices of pound cake.  Make them both and decide which one rules.  Chocolate v. Vanilla.

Sorry about the "afterthought" photos!



Brownies (adapted from "Ad Hoc at Home" by Thomas Keller)

3/4 cup all purpose, unbleached flour
1 cup good unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valhrona, purchased at Whole Foods)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 lb. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces
3 eggs (I used extra-large)
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (available at Whole Foods) or substitute 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 bag Ghirardelli chocolate chips, 60% chocolate

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper cut to overhang sides.  Butter parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside. 

Melt half of the butter in a small saucepan.  Put remaining butter in a medium bowl.  Pour the melted butter over the bowl of butter and stir to melt.  It should look creamy, with small bits of unsalted butter and be at room temperature.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes or until thick and pale.  Mix in vanilla.  On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the butter.  Continue until all are used.  Do not overmix.

Use a spatula to fold in chocolate chips.  Spread batter evenly in pan.  Rap on counter once to remove air bubbles.  Bake 4-45 minutes until center is just done.  Do not overbake.

When completely cool, invert onto a cutting board.  Cut into squares, as desired.

Yield:  12 to 16 brownies, depending upon how generous you are when you cut them.




Cream Cheese Poundcake (from Scott Peacock at Watershed)

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 eggs (at room temperature - you can achieve this by placing them in a bowl of warm water)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups sifted White Lily flour

Butter and flour a tube pan.  Set aside.

Place butter and cream cheese in electric mixer and combine well on low speed.  Add sugar and salt.  Increase mixer speed and beat for 10 minutes, scraping well two to three times.

Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.  When all eggs are added, increase mixer speed to high and beat for 1 minute until mixture is no longer grainy.  Reduce speed and add flour in 2 parts.  When just incorporated, add vanilla and blend briefly.  Scrape down sides and use a spatula to combine well.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Run a knife around center then bang once on countertop to remove air
bubbles.

Place pan in cold oven.  Turn temperature to 200-degrees and bake for 20 minutes.  Increase heat to 250-degrees and bake 20 minutes more.  Increase heat to 275-degrees and bkae for another 10 minutes.  Increase heat to 300-degrees and bake for another 50-60 minutes or until done and a cake tester comes out clean.  Let cool, then remove from pan.

Yield:  12 - 16 servings

(Oh, and in case of any of you faithful readers are wondering, yes I am still sticking to "the diet."  Didn't eat any of this, other than a small taste just to make sure it was edible!  I did that for you guys, of course!)

Reader Question: Peanut Butter

I received an EXCELLENT question this morning from a reader. She asked:


Q: I am trying to vary my snack routine, and I keep hearing that peanut butter is a great snack to enjoy on an apple or whole wheat toast. I have avoided peanut butter in the past because it has a lot of fat and calories, but I wanted to get a dietitian's point of view. I would love to see a blog post about the health pros and cons of peanut butter and recommend certain things to look for when buying PB to keep it on the healthy side. Thanks!


A: Firstly, I completely understand the confusion surrounding peanut butter and healthfulness. Peanut butter does have a LOT of calories and fat! However, peanut butter is actually a very balanced food item when used in moderation (i.e. 2 tablespoons). While a serving of peanut butter will run you 190-200 calories, you're getting a lot for the "cost" including plentiful amounts of monounsaturated fats (those are the REALLY good fats), polyunsaturated fats (good fats!), 8 grams of protein, approximately 4 grams of fiber, and a mere 1 gram of sugar. Natural peanut butter is cholesterol-free and low in sodium. Here's a nifty chart from the USDA on peanuts and peanut butter...



 There are a few things to be aware of when purchasing and using peanut butter, however....


- Buy natural peanut butter. Peanut butter containing "hydrogenated oil" or "partially hydrogenated oil" contains trans fat (that's the REALLY BAD kind). Buying a natural form of peanut butter insures that it is trans fat-free. Check your labels and ingredient lists to be sure!

- Measure your portions! Two tablespoons is a generous portion, but peanut butter is easily a food that can get a bit plentiful in portion sizing over time.
- When adding peanut butter to a snack, pair it with a low-calorie food item as to have a healthy snack that's relatively low in calories. Examples: celery, pretzels, crackers, fruit, etc.
- Every thing in moderation. No single food should comprise the bulk of your diet or nutrient intake.


Verdict: Thumbs up! Shop smart and watch portions as always! Personally, I opt for All-Natural Jiff.


As for the diabetic diet, I'm pluggin' along. Yesterday ended up like this:


Breakfast:
1 egg, cooked in Pam (0 carbs)

1 Arnold's bread thin (1 1/2 carbs)
2 Morning Star Vegetarian sausage patties (1 carb)
6 ounces low-sugar toffee cappuccino (1 carb)
     Total: 3 1/2 carbs


Lunch:
1 serving chili (1 carb)
1 banana (2 carbs)
baby carrots (0 carbs)
1 Vita Top Muffin (1 carb)
     Total: 4 carbs


Dinner:
2 cups chicken noodle soup (1 carb)
1/2 acorn squash (2 carbs)
2 tsp Splenda brown sugar (1 carb)
2 Tbsp Smart Balance Light (0 carbs)
     Total: 4 carbs


Snack:
6 wheat tortilla chips (1 carb)
1/3 avocado (0 carbs)

3 more days of diabetic dieting! Have a great night, thanks for reading!


P.S. Meredith: I am not a CDE...yet! I am working on racking up the hours to sit for the CDE exam and I work with a population where I see a LOT of diabetics. I hope to get become a CDE within the next 2 years and I am SO excited about it! As passionate as I am about weight loss, I LOVE working with diabetics. It is fascinating!


The Adventures of Chinaman's Hat

When we were young and living on Oahu, Mom would take us down to a beach not far from our house called Kualoa Park. Chinaman's Hat is a little island about 500 yards off the shore in Kaneohe Bay. I loved that little island, and remember wanting so badly to go out to it and explore. But for some reason I could never understand, Mom never would let me...I was 6 years old, after all, and that was almost grown-up! So of course one of the things on my "to see" list while in Hawaii was that beach and my beloved Chinaman's Hat. Only this time...I wasn't going to be satisfied with just looking at it from the beach.

Checking out our destination.

We walked most of the way out on top of the reefs. Thanks to Caleb and John for letting us take their camera with the underwater housing - we were able to take pictures.

Heading out...with the mountains behind us.


Almost there...

These flowered paths were lovely to walk through on the way up, in spite of the thorns that wanted to grab us.

The rock cliffs were a bit more difficult. But do-able. And soon - we reached the top!!!

The geological survey marker on top of the island.

Suze enjoying the view from the top.




It was amazing to be on the top. I've lived a dream now, and enjoyed every moment of it.

Getting up to the top required some scrambling and scratches. Of course it was worth it, but we knew getting down would be more difficult.

Dad was trying to find an easier route to the bottom, but when he got this far, it was sheer drop.



Mom's dad, Grandpa Bob, died before I was born in a diving accident. His ashes were spread on Kaneohe Bay, so Tera and I dropped some flowers from the island into the water in rememberance of him. We both wish we could have met him. He sounds like a wonderful man.


After the Chinaman's Hat Adventure we went to have dinner with the Armsbys and Crislers. Very fun to reconnect with neighbors from 30 years ago. Kari was Tera's best friend when they were three and four years old and they've infrequently stayed in touch after all these years. She has married a great guy and they have two adorable little girls and we had a delightful evening. Thank you so much for your hospitality and friendship. It's rare in our lives to have people that remember us from way back when. What a treat!!!


~ Sage