Disney World Waffle Sandwiches

In November (2014) we made a family trip to Disney World in Florida. What began as two Grammies and my Mum (a non-Grammie) chatting over breakfast about bringing their grandkids to Disney one Sunday morning rapidly turned into a gang of 15 family members! With just 5 kids and 10 grown ups, we traveled from Hawaii, Washington, and Pennsylvania. There were Mommies and Grammies, Aunts, Uncles, Godparents, siblings, and cousins.

Olympia and King Solomon's Reef

Ohhhh blogs - they an ever changing beast, aren't they? As people bloggers go through different phases in life they often decide to rename or refresh their little corner of the internet, or start a new blog altogether. I feel 100% confident in my decision to focus on food and the memories tied to sharing food with loved ones and I don't think that's something I'll ever lose interest in. Everyone eats everyday and there's no changing that! 

Something I'm striving for here at Aloha Yinz Mangia is a better balance of recipe posts and adventures outside of my own kitchen. I'm not afraid to admit that reading food blogs isn't always the most entertaining thing to do. Sometimes you're too hungry to even look at food. Other times you just need a recipe and don't read all of the other fluff. There are even posts worth reading which contain a recipe that you know you'll never make, but you'll read and enjoy regardless. 

I love reading blogs and writing this little blog, my friends. Capturing meals and memories will never grow old, although sitting at a desk at 9 pm after having done so for 8+ hours earlier today isn't always a walk in the park, I'm always happy when I've posted another adventure or shared a delicious recipe.

All of that leads me to tonight's post. Lisa and I both began working aboard the Battleship Missouri (aka USS Missouri, Mighty Mo, BB-63) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the exact same day. She's loud, fun, and doesn't sit still so naturally our 8-hour-shift of orientation was made more fun as a result of her presence! We rode the shuttle bus onto base for weeks together while waiting for our background checks to go through, entertaining each other all the while! If there was ever a day where Lisa and I didn't quote Mean Girls together, I'll skip the Spring Fling. She eventually moved back to her hometown of Olympia, Washington and Bryce and I were able to visit with her a few weeks ago during our first trip to the Capital City.

Posing with that sign seems so sadly ironic for friends who met in Hawaii

Banana Chocolate Chip Waffles

Ladies and Gentlemen: Let's get ready to wwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaffffffffffffffffffffffffffllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeee!

You may remember rounds 1 and 2 of my match with waffles from a few years ago that resulted in a tie. Most recently the round with chocolate waffles ended in my favor.

I'm more than happy to report that we now have a winner by KNOCK OUT... and it's me. 

Last Sunday Bryce and I enjoyed a wonderful morning and breakfast together before I headed to work. I'd been planning on making waffles but failed to remember that we were out of eggs! When Bryce returned from his run to the store for eggs he also brought bacon and juice in tow.

New Year's Day Chocolate Waffles

Happy 2013!

Because I'm an Event Manager, I was working on New Year's Eve instead of sleeping on my couch while fireworks went off around me. My night at work was spent being fully entertained by live bands, musical theatre acts, a stilt walker, human bird puppets, a vintage plane fly over, and so on. There's no way I could have paid for or attended a more exciting evening elsewhere!

Regardless, I woke up on January 1 feeling hung over after just 5 hours of sleep. My feet were sore from walking around the event/premises and all of my muscles hurt from a "free" 1 hour consultation with a personal trainer at our new gym. Please don't worry, I'll never go fitness crazy and try to be on a real diet! My body was in rough shape and I was wide awake, despite being exhausted. That called for a filling, fun, and indulgent breakfast: chocolate waffles!

A hot cup of coffee, recipe displayed on the iPad while music played simultaneously, and gadgets and ingredients galore. That's my happy place :)

Blog 1st Birthday Brunch Party

To celebrate 1 year of Aloha: Yinz Mangia's existence, I decided to throw a party.  Yes, it's a bit of overkill to throw a blog it's own birthday party, but I'm totally fine with that.  It crossed my mind that I might have some friends who read my blog and see all the things I make but have never actually graced their taste buds with my cooking!  So, instead of finding out which friend that may be, I invited them all over for a blog birthday brunch!

Winning vs. Waffles

The contenders: 

Ang - 25 year old, female human with little patience for baking

Ciusinart Classic Waffle Maker - Brand new from Macy's with a buring desire to create delicious waffles

Round 1:

The waffle maker was requested by Bryce, as a birthday gift.  I was glad to oblige and for our household to have another cooking gadget/appliance, of course.  The day after his birthday we had planned to go out for a nice dinner.  He ended up getting sick so we decided to stay home and have breakfast for dinner a la the new waffle maker.

(DING DING)

Ang started strong, prepping the waffle batter from scratch using the Better Homes & Gardens recipe.  The usually trusty book directed her to pour 1 cup of batter onto the iron, leading her to failure.  The Waffle Maker's instructions clearly state use 1/2 of a cup for a waffle.  So, 1 entire cup's worth of batter overflowed out of the Waffle Maker and all over the kitchen counter resulting in THE WAFFLE MAKER'S FIRST VICTORY!