Fern Grotto and Hanalei Bay

I gotta say for being 80 years old my folks are pretty tough! I think I get tired before they do! Either that or they are really good at hiding it, which I suspect is the case! While they are tucked safely inside their beautiful vacation home, Dan is at work preparing for Papaya's Community Appreciation Day. He has been going non stop since last Saturday. First, preparing for my folks visit and then being a tour guide while preparing for the bib Papaya's event. We have been having a great time with the folks as Phil and Simone have been fantastic taking care of the dogs since we're gone most of the day. Last night we got home at 9:30 and the dogs came running out of Simone's house, her trailing behind. She said they were all snuggled up on the couch after having eaten some Burger King! Talk about being spoiled! I'm grateful and Baxter has taken them in as protector! His kingdom now includes their house as well as ours and even past the panic! Today we will head over to Papaya's, they can see where Dan works and have a little fun. We'll have lunch at the Oasis before heading to the Kapaa beach park for the Coconut Coast Festival. From the website "Are you ready to immerse yourself in all things coconut? There is something for everyone at this year's festival: entertainment, cultural displays and experiences, shopping, history, games, cooking demonstrations, contests and food...did we mention the FOOD???" Mom will be stoked, she can't get enough coconut!! Tomorrow we are going to Oahu and hopefully meeting up with our friend Linda Holloway! So, here are some fun pictures of their stay so far.

We took the dogs to the beach

Mom still has it!

Dad loves watching him swim

Chickens everywhere!

 Mom being silly on the riverboat ride to the Fern Grotto

 They sang Hawaiian songs on the way there

 We walked on a beautiful, paved path through the rainforest

to the Fern grotto. Water trickled down from on high and sparkled in the sunlight.

You can see that water better here

before hurricane Iniki in 1992, the ferns covered the entire grotto

happy mom listening to the Hawaiian wedding song

Hawaiian wedding song player

Taro leaf

mega crazy huge vines

Ginger flower, if you squeeze it a liquid comes out that you can use as a soap, smelly great!

waiting

back on the boat

mom hits land

dad

 Tutu's Soup Hale

Curry Egg Salad on house made focaccia

Cashew basil Pate

me by a big tree

us under the big tree

mom and dad in the kitchen of their vacation home

mom getting her coconut on!

St. Regis Hotel

Looking at Hanalei Bay

Hanalei Bay

Hanalei Taro Fields

Coconut Shave Ice

Hanalei Town

Hanalei Bay

Mountains behind Hanalei Bay

Dad finds a coconut

20 foot faces this day!

Sunset begins

sunset over Hanalei Bay

Dragon Fruit

Dan brought home some dragon fruit yesterday. He was really excited; he likes to find local, exotic fruits to sell at Papaya's in Kapa'a. It was fun to eat! Besides tucking into something that is huge and looks cool, they taste really good. The little black seeds are embedded in a soft white flesh and they make little crunchy pops in your mouth. The flesh is mild, sweet and juicy. Chilled, this makes a perfect snack when it gets hot outside, and it was hot yesterday! 

I want to say aloha to some readers in Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Italy, Spain, France, India, Russia, Brazil, Egypt, Untied Kingdom, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Mahalo for stopping by! And Cindy: keep on keepin on, your dream will come true! It's amazing to me that this blog is being read worldwide; I've had over 800 page visits since May. Google now provides me with "stats" so I can see who is reading and what is being read. Pretty cool!!

Dan gave another computer lesson and showed his student how to take pictures and download them to his computer. They took a picture of this guitar that he wants to sell, hand painted by the seller!

Wednesday I was on KKCR, Kauai's community radio station. Jillian, to my right, was surrounded by graduates of her Seed to Table course. Steve is on your far left and AJ (a private chef) is next to him. We were all hot and dirty because we had just spent the morning harvesting for CSA and wholesale. A whole lotta veggies got harvested! We promoted Jillian's course and had a really good time! KKCR plays back the shows so tune in and give us a listen. Look for Kamran's  Garden Show on Wednesdays from noon to 1. But, for a taste of local Kauai you can tune in anytime, all you need is a computer and the internet!

Our boxes were full of beautiful produce

over flowing with vibrancy and color!

In addition to the CSA boxes we had to fill 4 wholesale orders. Papaya's, Tara Camp, Hukilau Lanai and Common Ground. Everything collided! We are short one key member; Eileen, who is on vacation until the end of September. With so many orders to fill, it was our biggest harvest yet. And, we had to leave 2 hours early to get to the radio station on time! Despite those odds everything went like clockwork! Yea team! This is the grid I created to keep track of everything, the # symbol signifies pounds. No # symbol means bunches.

We had some extra papayas that were a little too ripe so I made this recipe for papaya lime ice cream. Yummy!

Tuesday when I got home from the farm Dan had made this recipe with the chard that came in this weeks box. Ok, maybe I shouldn't wonder why my tummy isn't shrinking! But, how lucky am I to have a hubby who will make this kind of stuff? It was Deee-licious!!!

We are looking for another car. This one, being sold by a friend, is too expensive =(

When Shelsea and I have meetings for Island SOL Bakery, this is our office

and the view is of Anahola river.