Hawaii

'Aina Holoka'i (Feast for a Seafaring Voyage)

Grady G. (original recipe)

I'm not sure the best way to introduce this topic. I think it may have been born out of the Birther movement. I suggested, rather than lie about Obama's birthplace, they should seek to annul Hawaii's statehood -- Hannulment -- thereby making Obama's presidency illegal. I'm not going to go deep on this history, but I did look up the exact year Hawaii became a state, which was 1959, not all that long ago. I guess you'd have to go back to the turn of the Twentieth century, when "American and European businessmen overthrew the monarchy" (Wikipedia) and the territory was annexed by the U.S.. I'm not exactly advocating for Hannulment, I doubt it would be widely popular and would probably only complicate things, but maybe there is something to it, I am not really well-versed on the issues, it's an interesting idea with a catchy name. It is potentially problematic for my campaign since I was born in Hawaii too. I'm told my first foods were papaya and poi.

I've visited since. If memory serves me, I returned and spent my 7th birthday with you, where I received a Swiss army knife as a gift. We were often away from home on my birthday because it falls during winter break. As a beautiful and possibly the most liberal state, I've always taken great pride in my birthplace. Ukulele is fun although I can only play two songs by memory.

This recipe is something. If you check out the pdf entry, you will see what I mean. Lunchtime? I'm not sure he understood the assignment. But I see what the judges saw. I will work with this!

I would have tried to follow the instructions but it's a lot and there is no picture because the photographers made up a dumb excuse. And we just made a lot of food similar to this, so let's jump off of the boat idea and try a dilly steamboat in a deconstructed pesto sea.

Strawberries aren't very tropical so instead I'll make a simplified version of a smoothie I used to make all the time, with mango and coconut.

Ocean

• 1 tsp. Pinenuts

• Oil

• 1 7.5-oz. can Chickpeas, drained

• 3 cloves Garlic

• 1 Scallion, chopped

• 2 cu. Baby spinach

• 1/4 cu. Basil, coarsely chopped

• Pepper

Steamship

• 1/4 cu. + 2 Tbs. Water

• 1/4 tsp. Olive oil

• Pinch of Salt

• 1/4 cu. Couscous

• 1/4 cu. frozen Peas, thawed

• 1/4 cu. Cashews, soaked overnight

• 1 Tbs. Water

• Juice of 1/2 Lemon

• 2 Tbs. fresh Dill

• 1 clove Garlic, chopped

• 1 1/2 tsp. Nutritional yeast

• Dash of salt

• Pita

• Marinated Artichoke hearts

Smokestacks

• 1 1/2 Tbs. ground Flax seed

• 1/4 cu. Water, plus more to thin

• Walnut oil

• 3 Hearts of palm

• Chickpea flour

• Panko breadcrumbs

Papaya Boat

• 1/2 Papaya, seeds removed

• 1/4 cu. Pineapple, diced

• Blueberries

Tropical Smoothie

• 1 cu. frozen Mango

• 1 Tbs. Goji berries

• 1/2 cu. lite Coconut milk

• 1/2 cu. Orange juice (I used blood orange)

• Pinch of Cayenne pepper

Preparation

For the ocean: Toast pinenuts in a dry pan, about 3-4 minutes. Heat oil in a large pan. Add chickpeas and cook over medium heat about 3 minutes. Then add garlic and scallion and cook 1 minute longer. Add baby spinach and basil. Cook 2 minutes, then season with pepper.

For the steamship: Bring water, olive oil, and salt to a boil, then add couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let sit 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and stir in peas. In a blender, blend cashews, water, lemon juice, dill, garlic, nutritional yeast, and salt until smooth. Stuff a pita with artichoke hearts, then couscous mixture. Pour cashew-dill sauce inside and over the boat.

For the smokestacks: Thoroughly mix ground flax into water and set aside for several minutes. Thin with water, whisking, until it reaches the consistency of egg whites. Heat a small pan with a generous quantity of oil. Roll each heart of palm one by one in chickpea flour, then flax egg, then breadcrumbs. One at a time, fry on one side for approximately 1-2 minutes, then turn over using tongs and fry another 1-2 minutes.

For the papaya boat: Fill papaya half with pineapple and blueberries.

For the tropical smoothie: Blend all ingredients.

Discussion

A feast indeed! I didn't think the smokestacks would be worth the effort but they were pretty great. I wish I'd had some marinara sauce to dip them in (or maybe retain some of the cashew-dill sauce).

This was an interesting inflection point on my journey, coming right after my Super Tuesday visits and before a fairly grueling slate of later-March contests. By virtue of being fairly complicated, it took me a couple of days to pull off this meal. It feels vaguely poetic, that I would fly away to Hawaii, land of my birth, for a tropical getaway, a time away from the mainland to reflect on where we've been and to gird ourselves for the voyage yet ahead. Soon it will be back to the hustle and bustle, we're headed to the Deep South where we will recall the tropical ocean breeze and my politically destabilizing respite in your enchanting Pacific archipelago.

Virginia

Hawaii The most recent U.S. state

Georgia