Home Again Part Five: Hawaiian Food

Monday, March 3
I don’t really remember what I did. Most likely chill-axing at home. Chris drove to my place in the afternoon, and with Mom behind the wheel, we rode through lovely Hawaii traffic to Young’s Fish Market to buy lau lau for dinner that night at Grandma’s.

Traffic.

The whole family, with the exception of Aunty Faye, came to dinner. My cousins grew even bigger and look even less like babies. (With the exception of Little Chris sitting in his old crib to watch television.) We ate the store-bought lau lau as well as kalua pork made by Gram. The meats were paired with poi and rice. And Grandma cooked a large pot of the chicken long rice I love. This dish is the Asian version of chicken noodle soup, consisting of thin rice noodles in a ginger-fragrant broth. I love family dinners, which are always homey and quiet. I eat until I’m stuffed, then lie around digesting. I brought along the board game Cranium, but everyone refused to play. I played by myself for a bit, but it turns out that solo board games aren't all that fun.

Green onion adds crunch!

Mom made dessert. Thick buttery crust goes well with layers of Okinawan sweet potato and creamy haupia.

Grandpa is eating a sundae-in-a-cup.

Everyone left around 8-ish, as it was a school night and the children had to study. Chris and I wanted to see a movie—well, I wanted a giant bucket of popcorn—but our top choice movies has already closed. We watched Casino Royale at home instead. It was the worst James Bond movie I’ve ever seen, but the microwave popcorn was delicious.