Baked Curry Puffs

This was  my  maiden attempt at making  baked curry puffs and although it entailed a lot of standing, dividing and rolling out the dough, wrapping, etc. it was all worth the effort when everybody gave the thumbs up! 
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Date and Walnut Beer Bread

Of late, you must have noticed that I've quite a number of  'booze' posts in my blog.  Well, I was doing some cleaning up of my fridge not long ago and stumbled upon some cans of beer and stout lying idle in the cool comfort of the fridge.  Being a naive teetotaller I didn't realise that these booze do expire just like other foodstuff until I turned them over while rearranging them.  Gosh, they're going to expire in two months time and what am I going to do with them!  Fret not, I told myself, surf the net and that's exactly what I did ..........
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Last leg of my holiday ~ Hawaii

We took a drive along the beach, passed by Waikiki but as it was so crowded, didn't stop to take pictures.   This is wind-surfing at the Kahala Beach Lookout.
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Black Glutinous Rice Chiffon Cake

Black glutinous rice chiffon cake has been on my 'to-do' list for quite a while.  Well, I finally managed to make it using a recipe from  Anncoo Journal but have adjusted the recipe to fit  my 23 cm chiffon pan.

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Chinatown and local food ~ Honolulu

Before we went shopping at Ala Moana Center, the biggest shopping mall in Hawaii, we stopped by U-Choice Inn for breakfast ......  
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Grapefruit Cupcake

Made these cupcakes quite some time back but only  managed to put it up now.   I rarely dress up my bakes but in this case thought that  a little bit of light glazing will enhance the flavour as grapefruits are reputed to be sour.  The cuppies were soft and fragrant and disappeared within a day.....
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Haleakala ~ 'House of The Sun'

We spent 3 nights in this quaint cottage in Makawao which is near for us to travel to Haleakala National Park.  This is the Rainbow Bridge House  but I like to refer to it as the 'Sun Cottage' because of the image of the smiling sun on the facade of the cottage.  This cottage is nestled in the Eucalyptus forest of Upcountry Maui, full of pristine green lush.  Each morning we were greeted by the symphony of tropical birds and fresh mountain air and we had total privacy.

This is the view taken from the loft of the cottage.

Haleakala,  in Hawaiian, the 'House of The Sun' rises 10,023 feet above Maui's coastal areas, a massive shield volcano that doubles as an easily accessible visitor destination and a drive up to see is a definite must for any Maui visitor.

This picture is not a crater or caldera, but an erosional depression or erosional valley created by wind, rain, freezing and thawing over many thousand years.

• The volcanoes that make up all of the Hawaiian islands are shield volcanoes and have a large round shape and many eruptive sites.
• A long time ago this mountain was approx. 3000 feet taller than it is today but erosion has shortened it.
• The valley here is 7.1/2 miles long and 2.1/2 miles wide and 3000 ft deep.
• In the centre there are a number of cinder cones that were each once an eruptive site over many years.
• Those eruptions occurred between 1000 to 5000 years ago.
• The valley was much deeper before that period of eruption.
• That lava filled in some of the erosional valley.
• Since then a lot more erosion has taken place.

Haleakala Visitor Centre... See the lady ranger with the hat on the left next to the board?  She'll be delighted to answer your questions and explain to you all you want to know about Haleakala.

The summit @ 10,023 feet

Ahinahina (silverswords) is a unique flora that thrives in Haleakala's volcanic areas.  They have shallow roots that allow them to tap moisture in the porous, loose cinders and long tap roots that anchor the plants in high wind.

Dense covering of silvery hairs on the leaves helps preserve moisture and protect the plants from the intense, high-elevation sun.

Can you spot the white objects on the top right hand corner?  

These are the  Haleakala Observatories

As we made our way down from Upcountry, we passed many gorgeous slopes of lavender fields at Kula and we visited one.........

Alii Kula Lavender Farm is located 4000 feet elevation on the slopes of Haleakala crater.

We paid  US$13 per person  for a guided tour so we knew what we were looking and smelling at.  As she went along, the guide snipped off cuttings of the different varieties of Lavender and other flowers grown on the farm.

The fields are not large with different Lavender varieties and most of the plants have been harvested.

 Spotted a Chameleon on the branch of a tree, much to our delight.

Can't resist taking a picture of this flower ..... no idea what's its name! 

Update :   A reader just said that this is a Protea.



The farm is somewhat like a small botanical garden with a number of succulent plants and here is a peach tree with peaches in full bloom.



Interior of the souvenir shop

We had a bite of the Lavender scone (had to heat it up in the toaster oven ourselves) and of course a sip of the Lavender Tea, and their Lavender Brownie.



  

  

A small bouquet made from the cuttings we had from the Lavender farm.

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