Thar She Blows!

I've been absolutely crazily obsessed with the Humpback Whales that are cruising in Maui waters for the winter.  After watching them longingly from afar, I finally got out into the water to see them a little more close up.

My girlfriend, Ashley, got us aboard the Pacific Whale Foundation's 6:30 am whale watch.

You guys, I haven't been up before 10 am in a long, long time.

I thought my soul was going to crumple and turn to dust when the alarm went off this morning at 5:30, but I hauled myself out of bed and layered up.

{leaving harbor}

{looking out towards Lanai}

{soft pink hues of the sun about to rise over the West Maui Mountains}

{me and Bad Ash sporting our college hoodies}

{Guys.  I watched the sun rise today.  That's a huge deal.  Not only was I there to witness the sun coming up, but I did from a boat out on the ocean while watching whales.}

{me incognito}

{whale tail!}

The whale action was pretty light this trip.  We came across a small competition pod (two to three male whales competing for the attention of a single female whale accompanying her calf).  I wanted to focus on watching the whales versus taking photos, but I did take a few short videos which I'll post here later.

After we got back to the harbor, Ashley and I hit up my favorite breakfast spot, then I came home and crawled back into bed.  And this was all done before 10:30 this morning.  Amazing.

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Pesto Part 2

We had a decadent weekend of eating (Lahaina Pizza Co., Kimo's and Sansei's), so now that our "Monday" has approached, I'm back on taking it down a few notches and eating home cooked, healthy meals.

For today's lunch, I busted out the homemade pesto I made yesterday and popped it on top of whole wheat angel hair pasta.  

I made sure to reserve about a cup of pasta water to work into the cooked pasta and sauce to give the sauce a little more "oomph" and mixability (yup, I just made up a word).

And nothing screams deliciousness more than diced tomatoes and freshly grated Pecorino cheese on top of pasta.

Monday has never tasted so good!

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Pesto

I'm trying to attempt one new recipe every week (panko-crusted salmon last week and meatballs the week before that), and since my basil is going off like crazy, I decided to make some homemade pesto.

I followed this recipe that I found online.  I loved that it called for walnuts versus pine nuts.  Most traditional pestos use pine nuts, which are crazy expensive--especially on Maui.

{gathering the ingredients}

{a cup full of organic home grown Thai Basil}

{blending everything in the food processor until creamy and smooth}

{saving the pesto for lunch tomorrow}

Bryan and I met with friends for lunch already today, and we have dinner plans out for this evening, so we're going to have wait until tomorrow to dig in to the pesto.  I'm planning on making whole wheat angel hair pasta topped with pesto and a diced tomato.  I saved a sprig of basil from the food processor, so I can garnish our plates.

But, of course, I did take a taste, and I'm loving the creamy texture--and even better, it's way less oily than other pestos I've had.  The avocado creates an amazingly smooth texture to the pesto, and you can half the amount of oil that is typically used in most traditional pesto dishes.  Yum!

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Coconuts!

Our coconut trees in the backyard got trimmed today.

The guys shimmied up the trees aided by a flexible wraparound platform that could swivel around the tree trunk while they worked.

The first tree that got trimmed is right outside our kitchen window.

Our next door neighbor, James, was absolutely enthralled by the goings on at our house.

Alex working on the second, bigger tree.

They trimmed the branches and then lowered the coconuts down by rope.

Only a small part of the overall haul of coconuts harvested at the house.  

This is the first time in over 6 months that these trees have been trimmed, so the guys were telling us that the coconuts were a little old and the trees were a little unhealthy.  They said if they keep coming back regularly, the trees and the harvest will be healthier.

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Friday Fun Day

A few snapshots of my day before heading into work...

{T-Bone}

{Taking the Vespa into town for lunch}

{Riding double down the hill on the Vespa}

{Cilantro sprout}

{Chives!}

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100 Wines

My girlfriend and I took advantage of our joint night out, and we went out to dinner to one of our favorite haunts: 100 Wines.

The restaurant is over at Lahaina Gateway, attached to the fondue chain Melting Pot.  

The interior evokes an Old World European bistro or tavern.  There is a glass walled wine room directly behind the host stand as you first enter the restaurant, and then as you are led into 100 Wines, you walk past two huge wood tables stacked with wine bottles.

The restaurant wants to encourage guests to choose their wine not just by perusing the wine list, but by going over and examining the bottles themselves.  They want you to pick a bottle up, look over the label and see what calls out to you.

We chose the Palmina, a Dolcetto from Santa Barbara, California.

It was delicious, and I look forward to ordering it again.

100 Wines specializes not only in their wide selection of wines from all over the world, but also their array of tapas.  

One of the more popular items to order (and one of my favorites as well) is the Brussels Sprouts served with prosciutto and a balsamic glaze.

We went off-book this visit, and instead of ordering our old favorites (buh-bye Brussels Sprouts!), we ordered a whole bunch of new things.  We started off with the Creamy Polenta (which is different day to day based on the chef's whim) done with Chicken and Pumpkin.  We also ordered two tartines (open-faced sandwiches): the Croque Madame (topped with a fried egg) and the Provencale (prosciutto, goat cheese with honey).

And of course, we got dessert: the Menage a Trois--ice cream served on a peanut dust (crushed peanuts rolled with sugar), caramelized bananas, and a pot of S'mores (Nutella layered with graham crackers and toasted marshmallows).

I know that you are disappointed there are no photos of the food, but everything came out looking too good that I had absolutely zero will power to pause before eating to take pictures.  I hope you all forgive me.

Let me offer a photo of a forlorn T-Bone as an apology: 

Adorable.

It's been a fun weekend, and I'm loathe to go back to work tonight.  Thankfully, I've got a few hours before I have to go in, and Bryan and I are heading out for Mexican food.  Maybe I'll take a few photos there...

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Omelette

I've been all about the Greek Yogurt lately--which is kind of hysterical to me, because I'm really finicky about yogurt.  I used to really hate it, and I will never, ever eat any kind of yogurt straight out of the tub.  It needs to be masked with several other ingredients...or taste like vanilla pudding, and even then, it still must be layered with fruit, granola and honey.

But, I've been all about using plain Greek Yogurt as a topping.  I've used it as a sour cream substitute, as a topping for salads, and most recently, on top of an omelette that I made for lunch a few days ago.

And on Wednesday night, I used Greek Yogurt to make this delicious mashed cauliflower dish.  It served as a great side for the panko-crusted salmon I made for Bryan and me.

I've been having a great time cooking up new recipes (the salmon and cauliflower this week, the meatballs from last week), and I want to continue this cooking streak.  I want to tackle a new recipe once a week.  Pinterest is a great launching board for finding new recipes.  I recommend you give it a try!

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