The Most Fragrant Necklace

My last blog entry talked about my recent trip to Hawaii, and the traditional Kalua Pork that we ate while there. There is even a delicious 3 ingredient recipe for Kalua Pork that received rave reviews at my house. If you have tried it, I hope you liked it as much as we did.

Ever since our first trip to Hawaii, I have loved the fragrance of Plumeria flowers. Whether they are pink, yellow or white, most of them smell absolutely wonderful. To me, their fragrance will always remind me of the islands and the first lei that my husband bought for me on our honeymoon.

On our way to our first Luau, Dan bought a beautiful lei made up of 35 – 50 white and yellow plumaria blossoms. The fragrance was heavenly, and I loved having it around my neck……..for the first hour or two.

The perfume of large number of plumaria flowers can actually be overpowering. I found the best way to resolve the super strong fragrance, and still let Dan know how much I liked his present. This was by taking the lei off from around my neck and wrapping it several times around my wrist. Now I could enjoy the fragrance, it wasn’t too strong but just right, and I was still wearing this lovely gift.

It wasn’t until a later island visit that I learned how to extend the life of any plumeria or orchid lei. I was told to spray it lightly with cool water, put it in a plastic bag, leaving the bag slightly open at one end. The directions then instructed me to wrap a towel around the plastic bag and place the whole thing in a cooler or refrigerator. By following these directions, I was able to wear my subsequent leis several more times. In fact, they lasted about a week, with the orchid leis sometimes lasting even longer than that.

Coming back to my home in Tampa, I brought several cuttings of Plumeria, or as they are called back here on the Mainland, frangi-pangi. They were really easy to root and several of them have grown to be large trees with a trunk circumference of 8 – 10 inches. They really do not like the frost, however, and even though I live in central Florida, I need to be protect them during the winter.

So far, I haven’t had enough blossoms all at one time to make my own lei, but I do cut the flowers and bring them into the house to enjoy that wonderful natural Hawaiian perfume.

One Yummy Pig

I know that we usually talk about fruit or vegetables on this blog, but earlier this month, my husband and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Hawaii. This actually wasn’t our first trip there. Our previous visits included our honeymoon and a trip for one of our sons who was married there.

However, we had not gone to a Luau since our honeymoon, and we thought it would be fun to do again.

My memory of the first Luau dinner was lots of fresh fruit, delicious tropical drinks, very good Kalua pork, and purplish wallpaper paste, or as they billed it, poi. I apologize to all the poi lovers out there, my palate just is not refined enough to recognize the subtle nuances of taste and flavor in the poi that I have had.

This year’s Luau was very similar. The food was delicious; the entertainment was a combination of my husband being part of the onstage hula lessons and a very good ‘history of the Hawaiian people’s arrival to the islands’ with wonderful Hawaiian music.

The focal point of the dinner was the roasted pig, ceremoniously unearthed from his underground oven or Imu, and carried to the carving table. It was delicious, tender, moist and flavorful. My husband loves this ‘other white meat’.

When we returned to the Mainland, I decided to try my hand at cooking Kalua Pork…..but without the underground cooking. On the web, I found an excellent recipe that had only 3 ingredients (including the pig) and lots of rave reviews. I did have to purchase Hawaiian Salt, all the reviewers who used either sea salt or regular salt said the meat was too salty. Hawaiian Salt actually includes some clay with the salt (there’s my piece of earth in the recipe).

I tried the recipe last week and it was delicious, just as good as that which we enjoyed at the Luau. So, for all of you who want to try a bit of Hawaiian pork at your home, without digging up your backyard, here are the directions I followed:

1 6 lb. pork butt

1 to 1/12 Tbs. Hawaiian Salt

1 Tbs. liquid smoke

Pierce the pork butt all over with a knife or fork

Rub the Hawaiian Salt and liquid smoke into the meat

Place meat in your slow cooker set to low heat

Allow to cook on low for 16 – 20 hours

Remove from cooker, shred the pork and serve with rolls, if desired.