A Taste of Hawaii
One of my favorite memories from our honeymoon was our hike to Hanakapi'ai Falls in Kauai. We jokingly refer to it as the "Honey-can-I-pee Falls" because A~ must have stopped half a dozen times along the about 8-mile hike (round trip) to surreptitiously relieve himself out of view of other hikers. I really can't believe I let him convince me to go hiking on our honeymoon, but at the end of the day, I was glad we did it.
The hike starts at Ke'e Beach. The trail cuts into the side of the mountains along the Napali Coast, which is breathtaking.
There aren't a lot steep inclines in the first half of the hike, but there is plenty of loose footing, and the sun beating down on our unprotected heads didn't make things easier. I had a visor that kept me from getting sunburned, but you could still fry an egg on top of my head. Our giant bottles of water also weighed us down. (A~ tried to help by drinking and expelling as much as possible.) I think every ounce I drank just evaporated out of my pores. Anyway, about 2 miles into the hike, the trail leads to Hanakapi'ai Beach, which was a damn good thing, because I was pretty tuckered out.
I remember how hot it was, how good it felt to dip my hands into the cool stream trickling from up the mountainside out to the ocean. We rested a while on the sand, rehydrated ourselves, and snacked on delicious spam musubi that we had picked up at the local 7-11. Then, before we could start to get sore or change our minds, we made our way up the remaining two miles to the falls. This half of the hike is not a joke - the trail is unmaintained, unmarked, slippery, muddy, steep with numerous stream crossings, and you're surrounded by the smell of rotting jungle growth. I just kept plugging along ('twas a good thing I was in shape back then), my spirits lifted every time we ran across people coming down from the mountain. "It's so worth it!" they would say. They were so right!
The water was icy cold. And I mean icy.
There's little me - still couldn't get the whole waterfall, which is about 100 feet high, into the picture.
At one point, Adam swam out to almost under the thunderous falls for a photo op. We discovered later that this was a retarded maneuver - pebbles can be hurled down by the falls, straight through your skull. That's right. Just like if you dropped a penny off the Empire State Building. Ok, maybe not that bad, but you get my drift. Of course A~ is pebble-free today, although a pebbled brain would explain a lot. ;P
Memories of our little hike to the falls surfaced today because I made spam musubi. The only time I have had it was at Hanakapi'ai Beach. Mmm mmm yummy - the only way to eat Spam! If you want to try one of Hawaii's beloved snacks, check out the picture-heavy Spam Musubi How To.
1. Make some sushi rice. For about 10 spam musubi, you need to start with 3-4 cups of uncooked sushi rice (depending on how thick you want your rice layer to be). Cook the sushi rice in your rice cooker or on the stove according to instructions. When the rice is done, place it in a large container (or a wooden sushi tub if you have one) and add in some rice vinegar to taste. I used about 8 tbsp. of rice vinegar for 3.5 cups of (uncooked) sushi rice. Gently mix the vinegar into the rice and then set it aside to cool. If you have a fan, or a helping hand, fan the rice as you're mixing in the vinegar and it will give the rice a nice shiny texture. I didn't have either, and they still turned out ok.
2. Slice up a big can of Spam. You can try using the lite version, but the regular Spam will give you the most authentic results. I sliced my Spam into 10 slices - some people like to make theirs thinner.
3. Add the Spam slices to the marinade (1/4 cup oyster sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup sugar mixed well) and let sit for 5 minutes.
Oh, how totally unappetizing. It will get better...promise!
4. Fry up the Spam until almost crispy on the edges. Make sure to allow the marinade to drip off before adding to the pan, and use a medium to medium-low heat to keep the Spam and marinade from burning.
5. Get some toasted nori sheets and cut them to your desired width. I like the seaweed to cover most of the musubi, so I cut each sheet into thirds, with some left over. Lay down a sheet of nori, shiny side down. Then place a spam musubi mold on top. Spam musubi molds are available online for $5-$10. If you don't have a musubi mold, you can mold by hand (have cold salted water on hand to keep the rice from sticking to you), or you can make yourself a mold from a mini-Spam can. Use one of those can openers that doesn't leave sharp edges to cut the bottom off of the can and you'll have the perfect sized mold for making musubi.
6. Add rice into the mold to the desired height. I like to have at least an inch of rice, sometimes more if the Spam slice is a bit thick. Even the rice out. Then {optional) sprinkle on some furikake for added zest. The furikake that I used is a sesame seed, bonito flake, seaweed mix, but you can use whatever you like. You can also use black and/or white sesame seeds.
7. Using the flat piece of the mold, press down onto the rice, then continue pushing down on the rice as you pull the rice mold upwards, leaving a little rice block on the nori.
8. Top with a slice of Spam.
9. Fold one side of the nori over and stick it to the Spam. Fold the other side of the nori up and over. You'll need to wet the nori a little to get it to stick to itself.
10. Then, voila! Spam musubi! Repeat the process, rewetting the mold (or your hands) before each new musubi to keep the rice from sticking.
Once the Spam musubi have cooled off, you can wrap them in saran wrap for a quick snack on the go.
Enjoy!
The hike starts at Ke'e Beach. The trail cuts into the side of the mountains along the Napali Coast, which is breathtaking.
There aren't a lot steep inclines in the first half of the hike, but there is plenty of loose footing, and the sun beating down on our unprotected heads didn't make things easier. I had a visor that kept me from getting sunburned, but you could still fry an egg on top of my head. Our giant bottles of water also weighed us down. (A~ tried to help by drinking and expelling as much as possible.) I think every ounce I drank just evaporated out of my pores. Anyway, about 2 miles into the hike, the trail leads to Hanakapi'ai Beach, which was a damn good thing, because I was pretty tuckered out.
I remember how hot it was, how good it felt to dip my hands into the cool stream trickling from up the mountainside out to the ocean. We rested a while on the sand, rehydrated ourselves, and snacked on delicious spam musubi that we had picked up at the local 7-11. Then, before we could start to get sore or change our minds, we made our way up the remaining two miles to the falls. This half of the hike is not a joke - the trail is unmaintained, unmarked, slippery, muddy, steep with numerous stream crossings, and you're surrounded by the smell of rotting jungle growth. I just kept plugging along ('twas a good thing I was in shape back then), my spirits lifted every time we ran across people coming down from the mountain. "It's so worth it!" they would say. They were so right!
The water was icy cold. And I mean icy.
There's little me - still couldn't get the whole waterfall, which is about 100 feet high, into the picture.
At one point, Adam swam out to almost under the thunderous falls for a photo op. We discovered later that this was a retarded maneuver - pebbles can be hurled down by the falls, straight through your skull. That's right. Just like if you dropped a penny off the Empire State Building. Ok, maybe not that bad, but you get my drift. Of course A~ is pebble-free today, although a pebbled brain would explain a lot. ;P
Memories of our little hike to the falls surfaced today because I made spam musubi. The only time I have had it was at Hanakapi'ai Beach. Mmm mmm yummy - the only way to eat Spam! If you want to try one of Hawaii's beloved snacks, check out the picture-heavy Spam Musubi How To.
1. Make some sushi rice. For about 10 spam musubi, you need to start with 3-4 cups of uncooked sushi rice (depending on how thick you want your rice layer to be). Cook the sushi rice in your rice cooker or on the stove according to instructions. When the rice is done, place it in a large container (or a wooden sushi tub if you have one) and add in some rice vinegar to taste. I used about 8 tbsp. of rice vinegar for 3.5 cups of (uncooked) sushi rice. Gently mix the vinegar into the rice and then set it aside to cool. If you have a fan, or a helping hand, fan the rice as you're mixing in the vinegar and it will give the rice a nice shiny texture. I didn't have either, and they still turned out ok.
2. Slice up a big can of Spam. You can try using the lite version, but the regular Spam will give you the most authentic results. I sliced my Spam into 10 slices - some people like to make theirs thinner.
3. Add the Spam slices to the marinade (1/4 cup oyster sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup sugar mixed well) and let sit for 5 minutes.
Oh, how totally unappetizing. It will get better...promise!
4. Fry up the Spam until almost crispy on the edges. Make sure to allow the marinade to drip off before adding to the pan, and use a medium to medium-low heat to keep the Spam and marinade from burning.
5. Get some toasted nori sheets and cut them to your desired width. I like the seaweed to cover most of the musubi, so I cut each sheet into thirds, with some left over. Lay down a sheet of nori, shiny side down. Then place a spam musubi mold on top. Spam musubi molds are available online for $5-$10. If you don't have a musubi mold, you can mold by hand (have cold salted water on hand to keep the rice from sticking to you), or you can make yourself a mold from a mini-Spam can. Use one of those can openers that doesn't leave sharp edges to cut the bottom off of the can and you'll have the perfect sized mold for making musubi.
6. Add rice into the mold to the desired height. I like to have at least an inch of rice, sometimes more if the Spam slice is a bit thick. Even the rice out. Then {optional) sprinkle on some furikake for added zest. The furikake that I used is a sesame seed, bonito flake, seaweed mix, but you can use whatever you like. You can also use black and/or white sesame seeds.
7. Using the flat piece of the mold, press down onto the rice, then continue pushing down on the rice as you pull the rice mold upwards, leaving a little rice block on the nori.
8. Top with a slice of Spam.
9. Fold one side of the nori over and stick it to the Spam. Fold the other side of the nori up and over. You'll need to wet the nori a little to get it to stick to itself.
10. Then, voila! Spam musubi! Repeat the process, rewetting the mold (or your hands) before each new musubi to keep the rice from sticking.
Once the Spam musubi have cooled off, you can wrap them in saran wrap for a quick snack on the go.
Enjoy!