Farmer's Market in Hawaii - Part 2

On Saturday, I took my first trip to the KCC Farmer's Market.  You can read all about it here, if you'd like!

Believe it or not, I didn't just eat and take photos while I was there.  I bought some great stuff, too.

Let's play a game!  I'll show you what I bought and you guess what I made using these ingredients:

Beautifully colorful little tomatoes.  What's the difference between cherry and grape tomatoes anyway?

Red, orange, yellow, and purple!

Farmers Market in Hawaii - Part 1

It's Saturday, woooooo hooooooo!  (Well, it was Saturday when I started this post!)  Saturday morning is the best part of the weekend if you ask me - you have no worries, can finally relax and enjoy a nice cup of coffee knowing that you have the whole weekend ahead of you.  This Saturday I woke up at 8 am. 

What should I do before going to work at 1 pm? 

Go to the Farmer's Market, of course!  I'd been meaning to go for at least a year now.  The particular Farmer's Market I had in mind (at KCC - Kapiolani Community College) opens very early in the morning and closes at 11 am.

Red Velvet Mini-Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I hinted that I had a BIG life change in the works.  Well, now I can tell you the BIG news: I got a new job!  After 3 years at my former job I was ready for something new, different, and less stressful.  This new job is all of that, less hours, and more money!  I'll have more time to enjoy living in Hawaii, try to get a tan, and cook and blog, of course!  To celebrate my BIG life change, I decided to make mini red velvet cupcakes!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me tell you that I don't like baking.  Baking makes me feel frustrated, incapable, and defeated.  I'm immediately flustered and panic at the slightest hiccups while attempting to bake in the kitchen.  Baking only happens because my sweet tooth demands it!

For example, before making this recipe I opened the (very high) cabinet that contains all the baking ammunition - sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, food coloring, etc.  I pulled the things I needed down and put them on the counter.  These items were not placed neatly in one area upon being removed from the cabinet, they were all over the place.  I found a bag of sugar that contained less than a single cup of the small, sweet substance, and I needed 2 1/4 cups.  I went ballistic!  It was past 8 pm and the next day was my very last day at my job, I needed to have homemade cupcakes.  End.Of.Story.  Now in a state of major panic and self-pity, I begged Bryce to go get sugar for me.  He was comfortably lounging on the couch and looked at me like I was asking him to part the Red Sea.  So, I took my pity party to the car, then to the grocery store for more sugar.  I ended up also buying pre-made cream cheese frosting so that I'd be able get to bed at a reasonable hour.  I returned home with a forced positive attitude, I had everything I needed and was ready!  Back into the kitchen I went with the sugar and frosting in hand.  That's when I saw the HUGE bag of sugar sitting on the counter.  >>Sigh<<  I was so eager to panic that I didn't look around to see that I, in a moment of prior wisdom had acquired, had a back-up sugar!  If you need sugar you now know who to ask.

I started making my I-got-a-new-job-but-I'll-feed-you-one-last-time cupcakes for the office around 9 pm, using a Red Velvet Cupcake recipe from Better Homes & Gardens.  

Red Velvet Cupcakes

3 eggs (room temperature)
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons red food coloring (an entire 1-ounce bottle)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk - I didn't have any so I made "buttermilk" using milk and white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 350F.  Line mini cupcake pans with paper liners.  My apologies, I don' t know how many cupcakes this recipe makes.  I made 24 minis and a small cake!

Combine flour, cocoa powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.  Hey... salt wasn't on the ingredient list!  I'll add it. 

In another bowl, beat butter for 30-seconds on med-high.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat until combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating batter after each.  Add the food coloring and beat on low to combine.

Side note on the food coloring - I was shocked when I found out that red velvet cake is red because of dye.  Anyone else?  It almost takes away all the fun, until you realize it's cuter than your average cake, delicious, and still contains chocolate!  My red food coloring wasn't completely full so my "red" velvet was more of a reddish-pink velvet.




Next, add flour mixture and buttermilk - alternately - to the egg mixture, combining on medium-low after each addition.  In the smallest bowl you own, stir together baking soda and vinegar, then add that to the batter and beat until just combined.


See - mine is pink!

Spoon, scoop, or pour the batter into the mini-cupcake papers, filling about 2/3 full.  This photo demonstrates how awful I am at making each cupcake equal in size.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.  I swear that each cupcake is a totally different size!

Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.


I put the cream cheese icing into a ziploc bag and plopped a tiny bit of icing on each.  The icing distribution is almost as inconsistent as the cupcakes!  They still managed to be cute, despite my lack of equality.

The cupcakes and I ventured to our last day in the office (first and last day for them).  Needless to say, they were much more well-liked than I was!  Just kidding.  Everyone is just upset because they're going to miss me, right?

After 3 years with my very first "big girl job", I hope I left lasting impression filled with memories of hard work and a positive attitude.  If I didn't, I hope they remember me by these adorable sweet treats!

Pink Bakery Doughnut Holes

Throught my childhood, my Mom would get the best doughnut holes in the world for special occasions where there were many children who needed to be fed.  Birthday slumber parties and early morning volleyball tournaments always meant doughnut holes from the "little pink bakery" a mile or 2 away from our house.  The side of the house-turned-bakery simply reads "fresh donuts."  [Donuts - are they serious with that spelling?!]  They bake during the wee hours of the morning and are only open until they sell out, keeping it simple!  As an adult, I found out that this little pink bakery does indeed have a name, Better-Maid Donut Co.

Earlier this year it was featured in the local Pittsburgh newspaper and I was made aware that doughnut holes were absolutely necessary during my July trip home.

My trip was short - just 5 days - and Saturday was the day of Grandma's big party at my parents' house.  Hotel Anderson was jam packed and I woke up at 8:30 am, smooshed on the love seat.  The first thought to cross my mind was "Is it too late for doughnut holes?!"  I jumped out of bed off of the mini-couch, and found that my Dad was awake, too.  "Dad, can we go get doughnut holes?!"  I don't know why I asked permission, maybe I thought I was still too young to drive and pay for things... Well, he said yes and we took his spiffy new Mustang convertible (that's a totally different story!) for the 3 minute ride.

The good news is that the doughnut shop remained exactly as I remembered it.  The great news is that the OPEN sign was shining brightly! 

The inside smelled delicious! There were, of course, plain doughnuts. Thank you, plain doughnuts, for providing my doughnut holes for all these years! (Sorry I've never tried you, just reaped the fruits of your labor.)

There were so many other delightful sweets there!  They looked so delicious, but we came for one thing and one thing only.

 

Then we saw the glorious doughnut holes, clumped together on the cooling rack with their dripping icing stuck in time surrounding. 

That was the last photo that was taken.  Our whole family, myself included, attacked the box of doughnut holes!  We all enjoyed them with coffee on that Saturday morning and managed to snack on them throughout the next 2 days. 

Surely, this bakery will still be the same, steadfast, doughnut making wonder that it always has been the next time I travel home.  I'll stop by to make sure though :)

They say to live with no regrets... but if I had the chance to go back in time I'd celebrate the 18 birthdays of my life that I spent in Pittsburgh with candles in these doughnut holes, instead of cake!

Pittsburgh's Trader Joe's, N'at

After consuming 16 boxes of Trader Joe's Australian Strawberry Licorice that I had shipped to me by mail from various relatives living near a TJ's store, I finally made it to a Trader Joe's Store for the very first time!  My Mom thought I was insane (more than usual) when I added a grocery store to the list of things to do during my short visit home to Pittsburgh.  She, My Sandy, and I braved the nasty Pittsburgh heat and humidity and went to Trader Joe's!

They even painted this cute welcome sign, just for us!

I, too, questioned my sanity - wondering if I'd be experiencing a typical, cookie-cutter, chain store after all the building anticipation.  Trader Joe is a clever one and the store SCREAMED Pittsburgh!  I was in Burgh, and food, bliss.  

Steelers emblem in the wall, 6 Lombardi trophy's above, Steelers clock... awesome!  Also, I'm sure there's no other TJ's in the world with 6 Lombardi's!  Had to throw it in there :)  WOO HOO football is back on!

Much of the decor in the front of the store is beachy-fun and there are several parrots.  This particular parrot is a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and his little ball cap made me laugh out loud!  Does that make him a Pirate Parrot, too?

2 of 3 Burgh sports teams - covered.  Next up, bridges!  They're everywhere around tahn and around TJ's!

They're even labeled!  Here's the 16th Street bridge, how cute?

The Fort Pitt bridge.  This bridge is my favorite - if I'm on it that means I'm either on my way to the cabin or to Penn State!



The 9th Street Bridge.  This one is next to PNC Park and actually got a great photo of the real bridge at a Pirate's Game.  Want to see?

I thought you did :)  Here's the 9th Street Bridge at night.  Pittsburgh is so charming!

The unique Smithfield Street bridge is in the produce section!  Speaking of unique - do you see all those tomatoes there on the bottom shelf?

That's where I found these Brown Tomatoes!  Have you ever seen or heard of them, or made anything with them?  I didn't have time to experiment in the kitchen while I was home and passed on the opportunity to have my very own Brown Tomatoes.

This baked goods sign, made to mimic the point where the 3 river meet downtown, is so fabulous!  I'd buy one for myself if it were an option!  The pie fountain is the best part.

I bought one of the skinny baguette loaves from the side and made strawberry, feta cheese & mint bruschetta with it!  I took a picture, but... it's better left up to your imagination :)  It was delicious, although not pretty.

We got some chocolate covered blueberries, green figs, and these dried green beans.  They were just ok, I wouldn't buy them again.

This garlic naan bread was so good!  I topped it with hummus or cheese and put it in the toaster oven for a minute, YUM!

Trader Joe's was even better than I expected, overall!  The prices were very reasonable, too.  I was sad that I barely got to eat any of the food I bought from TJs and wish Hawaii could get our very own store!