ahi tuna

  A few years ago my friend called on Valentine's Day afternoon to let me know her flight was grounded and she'd be stuck in town overnight.  Lloyd and I invited her to stay at our place and welcomed her to join us on the dinner date we had planned.  Thus began a serendipitous tradition that we've upheld ever since in which we spend Valentine's Day with out of town guests.  This year, my aunt, uncle, and three cousins happened to be visiting.  All seve

Next to Mexican (I have to stay true to my Texas roots), my favorite type of restaurant has long been Indian.  Between the bold flavors, the abundance of healthful options, the spiciness, and the warm naan, Indian food is right up my alley.  But two autumns ago, the unthinkable happened.  Lloyd and I travelled to India for a friend's wedding - which was, far and away, the most interesting experience of my life - and, totally out of left field, I got sick of Indian food.  I'm almost ashamed to publicly admit it, because I adore immersing myself in local cuisine whenever I

The last couple days have been busy beyond belief.  So this will be a speedy blog, featuring two speedy seafood meals.  For lunch yesterday I concocted a tuna noodle stir-fry by sautéing canned tuna, frozen lima beans, and sea asparagus in peanut oil (estimated time = 5 minutes) and mixing with cooked soba noodles (estimated time = 8 minutes).

It's been rainy and windy for about a week now on Oahu, so there was no fun in the sun over the weekend.  But there was still fun.  Yesterday after a girls' trip to the brand new Target (I'm fully stocked on inexpensive beachwear, for whenever the sun does return), I joined Lloyd on a drive up to the North Shore to indulge his fascination with wave watching.  It was chilly and sprinkling, but we stayed on the beach as long as we could, observing surfer after surfer brave the 30+ foot swells. 

Today for lunch I had the last bit of our delicious seared Ahi tuna and shredded cabbage.  I thought about heating up the fish, but actually really liked it cold.

The last few days I've had a look at the seafood chain from beginning to end.  On Thursday of last week I visited the Oceanic Institute (OI), a non-profit aquaculture research and development organization, just down the road on windward Oahu.  OI is an impressive place - the white shrimp they have been raising play such a big role in the seafood supply, odds are any shrimp you've gobbled up in the last decade or two is an OI descendant.  Here are the shrimp tanks (not a bad backdrop)...