Morning Session

Boxee

The long awaited boxee software for Windows was finally released. I installed the software and...I don't get it. I think is designed for crappy internet programs to be watched on your TV instead of your computer screen. It crashed my computer after a thrilling episode of "hot russian chick tells you about the origin of words".

Hulu put the kibosh on their programs being viewed on Boxee and instead are releasing Hulu Desktop to compete with this junk box. This might be good for poor people who can't afford cable but other than that...lame. Wait for the beta version.

What I'm Drinking

What I'm Baking

Costa Rican Mango Bread by some retired expat

Above all Mango is my favorite fruit. Whether eating them fresh after peeling the skin, or added to a fruit salad, mixed with yogurt, or made with this wonderful Mango bread recipe, I simply love the king of all fruit. I just purchased almost ten pounds of mangos for $1.85 at a local outside market in Costa Rica. In the States that would be the price for one mango not ten pounds of mangos!

Please Note: Shawn & Jesse Inslee have an enormous Mango tree in front of their club house, so mangos are completely free...hundreds of them. Take that retired guy!

The Himalayas are the origin of the mango, the history of mango cultivation goes back for 4,000 years. Mangos are a sub-tropical fruit, and more mangos are eaten fresh than any other fruit in the world. The enzymes in mangos are tenderizing as are the enzymes in papaya. Mangos help to lower cholesterol, the fiber content is a wonderful aid to digestion regularity and they are rich in the vitamins A and C, and several minerals.

They provide more carotenoid than other fruits and are also low in calories. They will yield slightly to pressure when ripe. Ripe mangos may have a variety of colors, being red, through orange, yellow, to green when ripe.

As with other similar fruits, unripe mangos may be kept in a paper bag for a few days to entrap the ethylene gas that is naturally generated, promoting the ripening process.

You will want to share this Costa Rica Mango Bread recipe with all your friends and loved ones once you taste the sweet savory flavor. I am retired in Costa Rica and never would have appreciated the incredible taste of mangos if it were not for me living in this wonderful country. If mangos are not available in your area during a certain time of the year you can substitute bananas for the mangos, it will produce great banana bread as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups-good quality flour

• 2 tsp-baking soda

• 2 tsp-baking powder

• 1 tsp-ground cinnamon

• 3-eggs

• 1 ½ cups- sugar (natural sugar is available)

• ¾ cup of sunflower oil

• 2 cups of mashed mango

• ½ cup of raisins

• ½ cup of shredded coconut

• ½ cup of chopped walnuts

Instructions:

Use a large mixing bowl to mix all ingredients thoroughly.

First beat eggs, then add sugar and oil. Mix well and then add fruit. Stir in dry ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Pour mixture in a greased 9 in x 13 in Pyrex pan or baking pan of your choice.

Bake for 40-60 minutes. Using a wood toothpick test the bread to check it for finished baked consistency. If the bread sticks too much to the toothpick it needs more time, also keep an eye out on the color, it should be golden on top.

Cool in the pan and when cool cut into nice size slices and enjoy with some fine Costa Rica coffee.

What I'm Cooking

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Tahini Serves 6

The chicken is most flavorful when grilled over a wood fire, but also tasty prepared on an indoor gas grill or under a broiler. Adapted from "Moro: The Cookbook" by Samuel Clark and Samantha Clark (Ebury, 2001).

• 2 tablespoons tahini

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 3 garlic cloves, minced to a paste with kosher or sea salt

• 1 teaspoon Spanish pimenton de la Vera (smoked paprika) or other paprika

• 1 teaspoon toasted and freshly ground cumin seed

• -- Juice of 1 large lemon

• 6 bone-in or boneless chicken thighs, skin on

• -- Kosher salt

• 1 bunch Italian parsley or arugula

• 6 lemon wedges

Instructions: In a large bowl, combine the tahini, extra virgin olive oil, garlic cloves, pimenton, cumin and lemon juice, stirring until blended. Add the chicken thighs and turn to make sure they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.

Preheat a gas grill or broiler. If broiling, position the rack about 10 inches from the heat.

Season the chicken on both sides with salt. Place chicken skin-side down on the grill or on the broiler pan. If grilling, cook until the skin is well browned but do not allow it to scorch; if broiling, cook until the flesh side is well browned. Turn the chicken and cook on the other side until the juices are no longer when pink when the thigh is pierced with a knife and, if broiling, until the skin is crisp. Total cooking time is about 20 minutes - a little more for large bone-in thighs, a little less for boneless chicken.

Serve chicken on a bed of Italian parsley leaves or arugula. Accompany with lemon wedges.

MeGlobe

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The Great Lahaina Fire!

At 2:30am we awoke to a lack of electricity(needed to keep our fans going) and a slight whiff of BBQ. The local people love to BBQ with Kiawe charcoal...a wood similar to mesquite. We went downstairs banging around in the dark until we found the flashlight that Jason bought us. We randomly walked out the front of the house and saw the apocalyptic glow of a large fire right across the highway from us.

Our apartment complex is a thin sliver of development on the ocean side of the highway. Above us is undeveloped Kiawe brush merging into the west Maui mountains. The klaxon scream of every emergency vehicle in twenty square miles was assaulting the unusually dark highway across from our building. I decided to grab my camera, a flashlight, and my cruiser bike to dangerously slink down the highway for a better look...

An electrical transformer blew out half way up the hillside causing this large ring of fire to start spreading out among the Kiawe brush.

The flames shot up about twenty feet as you can see by the speck of a firefighter battling the inferno.

Monday Session

Monday Session

After days of big surf it finally dropped to tranquilo levels.

Haleakala National Park

Looks tropical ya fukka

Shoulder High Hot Sands Swell

Another stolen wave, paddles are cheating.

Jesse digging in.

Jesse digging out.