Tag Archives: Hawi

Sticky Buns

Sticky buns in Hawaii

Recently, one of our local bakeries shut its doors taking with it our source of sticky buns. They were a favorite treat of ours, so my wife looked into making our own. She’s had good luck with recipes at onceuponachef.com and found a promising option there. Yesterday, I got to try it out. Actually, I started on Saturday as the dough needs a while to rise, but can be refrigerated overnight.

We immediately made a change to the recipe, subbing macadamia nuts for pecans. It is Hawaii after all. But the whole process went fairly well. I only had an 8-inch square Pyrex pan rather than the 9-inch square cake pan called for, and I think that’s why the buns were climbing the pan’s side when I removed it from the oven!

Sticky buns in HawaiiSticky buns in Hawaii
Before going in the oven and after.

I was also not prepared for the enthusiasm with which the buns shot from the pan when I inverted it onto a parchment covered tray. It got a bit messy, but the crucial question is, were they any good?

They were indeed. Soft and chewy, but crunchy with nuts. A sticky bun crisis has been averted and all is well, at least in this little corner of the world.

Posted for this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme, which is ‘Sweet.’ See more responses here. You can find the recipe here.

Mangoes down

Fallen mangoes in Hawaii
A mango tree in Hawaii

We’ve had some wild weather here this past week or so, the kind of wet and windy days that make even me feel sorry for people here on holiday. That’s not why people come to Hawaii.

On one of those days, the winds were so fierce, they stripped one side of the giant mango tree in the yard of all its fruit, together with several branches, and bounty of leaves. These photos show how the yard looked when I got home! The bulk of the fruit was still rock hard so that even the pigs didn’t venture out for them!

Fallen leaves in Hawaii

Neighbor

A Kalij Pheasant running in Hawaii

A couple of Kalij Pheasants have moved into the neighborhood. They spend most of their time at the unoccupied property next door, but wander up into my yard on occasion. When I went out to take photos, this one beat a hasty retreat.

A Kalij Pheasant running in Hawaii

New year, new well

A new water tank under construction near Hawi, Hawaii

Since the collapse and closure of the old Kohala Ditch, there’s been no reliable source of water for the many agricultural enterprises in the area. This is a new well and water tank under construction near Hawi, which is intended to help mitigate that water shortage.

Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card. See more responses here.

No Bike Tours

A sign alongside the road at Pololu, Hawaii

Pololu is at the end of the main highway through North Kohala. It was popular with bike tour operators who would drop their clients in Hawi for the 15 mile round trip to Pololu lookout and back. However, the stretch from Kapaau is narrow and winding and the shoulder is slim to non-existent. It also gets a lot of traffic with people keen to see the views without getting all hot and sweaty. So after some accidents and more near misses, people lobbied to have the bike tours banned. This duly happened and is, on balance, a good thing I think.

I did like this sign, about 100 yards from the road end at Pololu. It seems a bit late to warn about the ban, but perhaps it’s meant to discourage tour operators from driving their clients to the end of the road and having them cycle back!