Since coming back from Maui, I’ve found the cold weather in NYC quite shocking and have stayed inside, warm and cozy, living vicariously through Cathy Erway’s just-out book:  The Art of Eating In:  How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.

Actually, for someone who eats in, Erway goes out quite a lot.  First off, she seems indefatigable and bikes everywhere, so I got some vicarious exercise too.  But more to the point, I learned about a vigorous Brooklyn food scene that I knew nothing of before:  private dining salons (why wasn’t I invited?), cook-offs, and even more exciting, a huge group of young foodies who take courses on butchering and enthusiastically swap recipes and restaurant recommendations.

The title of the book doesn’t really tell it all.  Yes, the book is about the coming of age of a cook, but it’s also about passion, curiosity, and the hard work and time it takes to get really good at doing something.  It’s also a book about friendships and conviviality based on a powerful common interest:  Erway thinks nothing of meeting a friend for breakfast on her day off,  just to try the square doughnuts at a new, highly touted doughnut shop.

In addition to biking home at 3 in the morning when she’s had a few too many, Erway is rather fearless about trying new things:  joining freegans in their search for edible food in garbage pails outside of supermarkets, foraging for dinner in Prospect Park, making chili for 100 at a Cook-Off at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s chili festival.  She shares the details of these adventures with the detail of someone who digs deep and plays close attention.

Yes, this is another one of those books built on a successful blog by the same title, with occasionally too much the feel of a personal diary–Erway and her boyfriend break up at about the halfway point, when she loses her heart to blogging and he gets tired of eating in–but this tome has a very appealing rush of passion and sincerity.

What touched me most was that during her two years of eating in, Erway became more eco-conscious, recognizing how much less garbage and other waste she created by cooking at home rather than buying lots of take-out.  In fact, she now blogs about environmental concerns for the Green Pages of the Huffington Post and is the inspiration for the HuffPo green pages challenge to readers to eat in for one week beginning February 22nd.

Photo courtesy of desertusa.com

Since my current goal is to avoid the cold as much as possible this winter, The Sweetie and I are heading to Sedona, AZ on 2/14 for 10 days.

Little did I know when arranging a housing swap through homeexchange.com that there would be scorpions to look out for.  I’ve been to Sedona several times before, and the subject of scorpions never came up…

The first indication of this unexpected vacation challenge was embedded in the details about the gorgeous house we’ll be staying in.  The owner advised:

This is scorpion country.  Get in the habit of shaking out shoes before donning, and DO NOT walk around barefoot.  The scorpions are hard to find as they are tan/brown, are often 1” long and blend in with the carpet. There is a special UV flashlight (purple) on the kitchen counter (near the colored wire catch-all bowl).  This works well at night with house lights low. Scorpions fluoresce brightly and can be readily seen with this light with the lights down. If you wish, use the light outside, in back of the house to find them and see what they look like when fluorescing.

When I expressed some concern about the scorpions, the home owner passed along the following advice, which was not very reassuring even though written all in lower case, perhaps to minimize the issue:

as far as scorpions go…ideally, smash them against a hard surface (preferably outside, slate floor is next best choice…).  getting one outside?  i use the dustpan, steve often employs the vacumn cleaner.  we do a “sweep” our first night in the house & don’t worry about it the rest of our stay.  in all likelihood, you will not find or see one unless you make a special effort with the flourescent flashlight outside.

As someone who doesn’t like to kill things (with the possible exception of mosquitos and roaches), this info didn’t make me feel any better. And I gather from googling around that scorpion stings can hurt quite a lot. So I called for advice among my friends on Facebook.  There was a generous flurry of replies from various parts of the Southwest and Texas about how to deal with scorpions, or rather how to avoid being taken by surprise upon finding them in shoes, closets, cupboards, between sheets and bed covers, and in other intimate places.  I was quite surprised to learn that so many of my friends and colleagues live among scorpions and are on the lookout for them on a daily basis. Who knew?

Well, I am still looking forward to being among the powerful Red Rocks of Sedona, though I’ve been reading about how built up the town has gotten since my last trip about 15 years ago.  (During my first trip in the mid-seventies, there was virtually nothing but the incredible red rocks.)  And I’ve read that nearby Oak Creek Canyon still makes for a gorgeous ride.

Coutesty of www.medtogo.com

And regarding the scorpions, I console myself with info garnered from medtogo.com, that the odds are in my favor:  “Of the more than 1,000 species of scorpions worldwide, only 30 carry a toxin that may be fatal in humans. In the U.S., the rate is very low: one death from a scorpion sting occurs on average every two to three years.”

I’ll keep you posted if we have any encounters with scorpions.  We’ve decided to spend out first night near the Phoenix airport so we can make our entry into scorpion country in the daylight…

Maybe after our vacation I’ll look back at this post and think it was much ado about nothing.  Hope so.

I caught the following review accompanied by a lovely photo on obsessiondujour, posted on Flickr:

This recipe hails from one of my fave cookbook authors, Lorna Sass, and is from her Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, which is rapidly becomming one of my top ‘go to’ cookbooks. I’ve already all but destroyed my copy of Pressure Perfect from constant use, and I suspect this will suffer the same fate. Why?

Well, now that we have both a veg and a meat CSA, I rarely ’shop to cook’ these days. I’m generally finding myself instead looking in the larder and thinking to myself ‘hmm….whatever shall I do with 1 lb of ground lamb and a handful of leeks?’ (or something equally goofy) and it seems like no matter how odd the combo of ingredients I have lying around seems at first glance, one of these two books has EXACTLY the recipe I need, and they’re always great. If you want to add more whole grains into your cooking, but still make meals you and everyone you know will eat (ohai, did I mention there’s a toddler food critic in this house?), THIS is the whole grains cookbook to have.

This is her Bulghur soup with lamb and chickpeas, and the ONLY change I made was to use two cans of chickpeas rather than one. People, I didn’t even have to doctor her seasonings. I can’t remember the last time (if ever) I’ve been able to say that.

She also offers grain substitutions for pretty much every recipe, along with plenty vegetarian ideas and options.

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Wow, it’s tough being back in blustery New York after walking around in sleeveless dresses and basking in the Maui sunshine for a month.  (I know you’re having trouble feeling sorry for me.)

I am always grateful, however, that NYC is so sunny despite the frigid cold.

Needless to say, my thoughts are still on that other sunny island so very far away.

One day, when I was visiting a garden, The Sweetie hung out in the car listening to his I-Pod.  He looked up and this is what he saw.  The mongoose was introduced to Maui from Australia to control the rats (which were probably brought in by the ships coming to pick up sugar cane–just a guess) and have wrecked untold havoc on the local ecology.

Looks like they have learned to enjoy coconuts.

If someone made the point that all flowers are exceptional, I would back down immediately and agree.  But these particular flowers are exceptionally exceptional, in my not-very-humble opinion.

In MAUI’S FLOWER SPLENDOR, Angela Kay Kepler makes the unromantic statement that “Flowers in natural environments do not exist for us to enjoy…they have evolved to reproduce themselves.”  While that may be true, we get to enjoy them nevertheless.  What a fringe benefit to floral reproduction.

A few days ago, the Sweetie and I visited a 10,000-foot edible schoolyard garden planted by and for elementary school children in S. Kihei, Maui.

What a joy to be surrounded by robust pole beans, herbs, and tomatoes all planted by second and third graders.

We met with three dedicated members of South Maui Sustainability who have volunteered specifically to make this schoolyard garden flourish.  Afterwards we visited with three dedicated teachers who talked about how they are using the garden to educate the children not only about gardening, but about math, biology, and eating more vegetables.

Everything we saw and heard proved blatantly wrongheaded the argument put forth by Caitlin Flanagan in a recent issue of The Atlantic Monthly that learning to garden is a waste of time for children. (To access Flanagan’s article and Corby Kummer’s round-up of schoolyard gardeners rebuttals, click here.)

In this first clip, (courtesy of the South Maui Sustainability group), you’ll see how volunteers helped Kihei Elementary 2nd grade teacher Alana Kaopuiki create the school garden. The video features one of Ms. Kaopuiki’s science classes as they plant and weed a garden bed with training provided by South Maui Sustainability member Blaze (Gene Weaver) and Emily Goss, the committee chair for school gardens and the inspiration behind this project.

What follows are some informal videos shot by Michael Steinman during our visit on January 20, 2010.  In the first few clips, we have a tour of the garden beds by Kathy Becklin (SMS, Master Gardener, in blue); Nio Kindla (garden caretaker and professional chef, in black) and  Kirk Surry (SMS volunteer, in grey).  I’m the one in a sleeveless black top, listening intently and asking the occasional question.  You’ll hear about the challenges of growing in this particular environment, including the wind which you’ll hear in the background.  I comment on the similarities I experienced when volunteering in the children’s program at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one being that many children are afraid to get dirt on their hands.

In the last two clips, we continue indoors for a chat with teachers about the potential of the garden.  Included are Sharon Castile (third grade teacher, in green stripes); Alana Kaopuiki (second grade teacher, in grey and black stripes) and Roberta Kokx (third grade teacher, in black).

It surprised us to learn that despite the many farms on the island and the trees everywhere dripping with citrus, many of the children living on Maui don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and have no idea how they grow or where they come from.

It turns out that despite a long-standing agricultural heritage and the lush environment for growing, over 90% of the food eaten on this island is imported–yet another example of our food system gone topsy turvy.

Although much of Maui is still planted in sugar cane, the pineapple plantations are close to defunct and there is plenty of land for growing.  Trouble for these kids is that most of their parents work two jobs and have no time to grow their own food.

When one of the children was asked where a tomato came from, he replied:  “the supermarket!”

We feel reassured that with the continued dedication of the teachers and volunteers we met on this memorable visit, the answer to this question will soon be “the earth.”

I know how tasty whole grains are, but an unsolicited cross-species demonstration is a special delight.

Our Maui neighbor Chris told us about the handsome Muscovy duck who comes to visit several times a day, pecking on the glass door when it’s time for breakfast (and elevenses and lunch and so on), panting like a dog while impatiently waiting for Chris to feed him.  (Lucky owns Chris rather than the reverse.)

Now Lucky shows up to dine with us, and the Sweetie captured this interlude on video.  Lucky gave my brown rice a rave review by coming back for seconds.  Then he ate a few begonia blossoms for dessert.

We have a date for breakfast al fresco tomorrow!  Then we leave Maui and Lucky will be back to depending entirely upon Chris to feed him.  We’re planning to leave a big batch of cooked rice to give Chris a jump start with the extra snacks.

I’m going to miss Lucky when I’m back in Manhattan in a few days.  With a little luck, the blue jay that frequents my window box will show up and peck beneath the snow for some seeds.  I love being connected with the animal world.

P.S.  Can anyone tell me if Lucky’s tail-wagging is typical duck behavior, or does Lucky think he is a happy Dalmatian?

About two days into our time here, I began seeing a large, handsome duck wandering around the property where we’re staying.  He never came too close; neither did he rush far away when he saw me getting closer to take some photographs.

Last night we were invited for dinner by Chris, a very amiable Hawaiian who lives in another cottage on the property.  As Chris was frying some tempura (he’s a terrific cook and has been a chef at many fine restaurants on the island), there was a tap-tap-tap on his patio sliding door.  It was the duck telling Chris it was time for dinner.

We gave him some organic bluecorn chips, which he seemed to enjoy–though I’m not sure they were all that good for him.  This duck wags his tail when he’s happy, and did some wagging while munching on this new snack.

Chris told us that the duck showed up about two months ago and has been enjoying gourmet hand-outs ever since.  No surprise, his name is Lucky. He wakes Chris up every morning around 6:30 to announce that it’s time for some breakfast rice.

This morning around  8 a.m., he pecked on our door looking for a second breakfast.  He nibbled on some fallen begonia blossoms and then paddled off.

Lucky Duck.

I’m fascinated by spiders and am in awe of all the relentless work they do to spin their magnificent webs. There are thousands of Charlottes in Maui and I feel sorrowful every time I inadvertently wreck a spider’s web.  But none of them have SOME PIG! spun in large letters into their webs, so I don’t see them until after it’s too late and I’m brushing the fine filament off my shirt.

I don’t think E.B. White ever visited Maui, but if he did, I’m sure he would have figured out some way to protect Charlotte’s webs,  just as Charlotte figured out a way to save the life Wilbur the pig.

While we’re in Maui, we have a habit of stopping at every roadside fruit and veggie stand we pass. Usually, there’s lots of citrus, coconuts, passion fruit, and a mind-boggling diversity of avocados.  But recently at a small outdoor market in Kula, we happened upon some purple potatoes brought in from the neighboring island, Molokai.

Loving Peruvian purple potatoes which we often buy at the Union Square market in NYC, we pounced on these and they did not disappoint.  Here’s what they looked like before we cooked them:

We steamed them whole and cut them into thick slices to eat.  Molokai purple potatoes are sweet and very creamy, with a hint of chestnut flavor.  They are divine and needed no salt, butter, or any other embellishment!

I’m very drawn to crotons as houseplants, and I’ve managed to kill at least a dozen of them.  When the condition of my NYC apartment is compared to their growing conditions on Maui, I can see why.  They like bright sun, which I can offer them, but they also like cool nights, which I can’t.

I have a small croton growing right now in my apartment and if it doesn’t miss my tender loving care too much, it might even still be alive when I return in a few weeks, but it’s nothing compared to the large shrubs I see growing in many parts of Maui.

What fascinates me about crotons is the immense variety of leaf color and shape.  There are even spiral leaves.  Crotons seem like happy plants, but then again, most plants in Maui seem pretty pleased to be here.  I sometimes think that if I stuck my hand into this rich volanic soil, it would sprout more fingers or grow some leaves.

When I first came upon this magnificent speciment, I thought it was a most unusual flower.  Then I realized it was a group of seed pods opening up in a very flashy way.  I’ve had it on good authority from produce specialist Elizabeth Schneider and garden blogger/food writer Leslie Land that these little red seeds bursting forth are indeed annatto.

It’s an odd delight for a city girl to come upon an item she usually buys in a specialty grocery store.  Although I love the golden color and earthy flavor of annatto seeds, I don’t use them often in recipes since they are not widely known beyond Hispanic kitchens.

That’s a shame because it’s so easy to make annatto oil:  just steep the seeds in some olive oil and warm the mixture over low heat for about 20 minutes, then strain out the seeds.  Use the annatto oil to enrich the flavor and color of pilafs and to transport the taste of the tropics to an urban kitchen.

Quite by chance, I ran across the following observation by Antoine de Saint-Exupery:  “There is but one victory that I know is sure, and that is the victory that is lodged in the energy of the seed.”

When we drove out onto the small, dirt road to exit from out rental cottage, we practically bumped into these cows.  While most people associate Maui with sun and surf, there is actually a lot of cattle grazing in the upcountry area around Haiku where we are staying.  The small calf stared me down, but the large ones didn’t seem very interested.

Guided by out somewhat untrustworthy GPS girl, Serena, we were headed to the Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula. We arrived too late for the grand tour, but the baby kids were near the reception area and I spotted this one sitting in a chair with his buddy licking him like crazy.  Have you ever seen a goat lounging in a chair?  It was a first for me.

After buying some local goat cheese, lime relish, and mango chutney, we decided to wander some back roads and ended up in Io Valley where there are lots of feral cats.  Most of them look quite healthy since the owner of a nearby cafe feeds them regularly and visitors often give them leftover take-out.  (I saw one wolfing down French fries, oh dear.)  Here’s one tiger peeking at me through some gorgeous ferns.

On the way home to our rental cottage, we spotted some horses grazing in a pasture right off the road.  This was the first time I saw mynah birds hanging out on a horse’s back, no doubt feasting on the flies and other insects that enjoy horseback riding too.

I never thought I liked poinsettias, those predictable bright red flowering potted plants that appear every December and get limp by January.

But when I got to Maui, I began to notice how lyrical they are when planted in the earth and allowed to become the shrubs–what a great word, sounds Yiddish–they really are.

Today I visited the Enchanting Floral Gardens, an aptly named 8-acre garden that reflects the passionate gardening of a husband and wife team now in their late seventies.  There are tarmac paths wandering hither and yon through a garden of splendid plants, some of them flowering, some of them spent.  All interesting, exotic, and beguiling.

It turns out that Poinsettias are a member of the huge Euphorbia family of plants.  And who knew until reading MAUI’S FLORAL SPLENDOR by Angela Kay Kepler that “In 1820, Joel Poinsett, the first US ambassador to Mexico and an amateur botanist, became so enamored” of this plant that he shipped some cuttings back to his hometown of Charleston.

Since then, both the wild type and cultivars have spread throughout the tropical world, including this most blessed of islands, Maui.  I think I might like poinsettias after all.

After stocking up on good things to eat at the terrific (but very pricey) healthful store Mana in Paia, we stopped for a walk along the beach on the way back to Haiku.  We saw these beautiful algae islands seemingly afloat at the shore line:

Then we came upon many large stones sculpted by the waves:

On some of the stones there were clusters of shellfish.  Are they tiny limpets?

And then we watched a Biblical sunset…Just another ordinary day on Maui…

What you see above is a bouquet of cut proteas.

I’ve followed up below with some close-ups of different varieties.  I haven’t seen proteas growing in Haiku where I’m vacationing, but once you start the drive up the slopes of Haleakala, they being to appear and have the capacity to startle. Apparently, the soil and weather at higher altitudes replicates their native habitat in South Africa.

The shrubs (sometimes called trees) grow to be very tall, easily six to eight feet. On the way to Haleakala, I stopped to photograph some especially tall specimens in someone’s front yard and the home owner emerged to proudly show them off and talk proteas with me.  He also introduced me to his black turtle, Myrtle, who lives in a small water-lily pond under the protea trees. Then he took out his cutting shears and gave me three different varieties to take home, which I have in a vase in our little cottage. He said they’d last a few weeks and so they have.

Aren’t they amazing?  If you can’t resist seeing them with your own eyes, there are lots of places that will ship the cut flowers to the mainland for a tidy sum…

The picture really tells it all.

We picked up the puny pineapple on the left from a roadside stand in a heavily touristed area within a few days of our arrival on Maui.  It came from a box labeled Maui Gold and cost $7–at least $3 dollars more than we usually spend for pineapple in NYC.  The flesh was pale and dry, and the fruit had very little flavor.   We felt taken and pretty let-down.

Then, a few days later, we happened upon a little organic stand right down the block from where we are staying in the upcountry area of Haiku.  There were two huge, gorgeous pineapples for sale, reduced from $3 to $2 as they were at the peak of ripeness and had to be eaten ASAP.  There was a little money box and we gladly slipped in our $4.

These turned out to be the real genuine item:  Maui Golds.  The flesh was bright yellow and very juicy.  The flavor was essence of pineapple with just a hint of coconut.

What a reprieve, what a pleasure, what fun to get a taste of the genuine item, tasting of the earth and sweet, gentle breezes of Maui.

The Sweetie and I were on our way up to see the redwood forest in Poli Poli State Park, but we never made it.

On Waipoli Road we passed a breath-taking succulent and bromeliad garden the likes of which I’d never seen before.  I yelled “halt,” and the patient Sweetie waited as I began taking pictures of the eye-popping expanse of pink-blooming kalanchoe you see above.

As luck would have it, there was the master gardener doing some watering behind the gate.  When he caught wind of my enormous enthusiasm, I was invited to have a look inside.

Once the gate was opened, I felt as if I’d entered a wonderland of plants. Here was a gardener obsessed, and the result was a variety of bromeliads and succulents everywhere I cast my eyes. The color combinations of oranges, purples, and reds were as daring as they were alluring.  Many of the plants were in stunning antique Chinese porcelain containers, which the gardener imports and collects.

The happiness of the plants was everywhere apparent as all were robust and many were flowering.

I’ll save the gorgeous bromeliads for another blog and focus now on the succulents.   I’ve have some of them as potted houseplants in my Manhattan apartment and they muddle through, growing very slowly.  Here, in the perfect conditions of Kula, Maui, they expand as if on steroids, enjoying  bright sun all day and temperatures dropping to around 40 at night.  And of course, they respond to the doting attention of a gardener beguiled by their color and beauty, coaxing them on.

I love meeting people who are passionate about what they do, and this gardener is about as passionate as they come.  His succulents speak of a life well lived, a personal creation of a personal Eden.

There seems to be an endless variety of avocados growing on Maui.  The trees are dripping with fruits of various shapes and sizes, and the farmers markets offer at least 3 varieties, generally just plucked from the family tree in the backyard.

I have the impression that each tree bears a slightly different fruit, from watery to creamy and everywhere in between.  It’s hard to predict (at least for a mainlander) what size and shape will yield what type of flesh.

Today we’re going to chop up the large one you see here and make a simple salad of cooked brown rice, avocado, black beans, diced Japanese cucumbers (long, dense, almost seedless), and Frontera’s tomatillo salsa (purchased for an obscene price at Mana, the fabulous healthfood store in Paia and worth every penny).

We’ll set the salad on a bed of mixed greens we bought at a small farmers market in Makawao yesterday and eat it on the outdoor porch, the gentle breeze of palm trees swaying in the distance.

If this isn’t paradise, I’m not sure what is…

There are flowers everywhere on Maui.

In the upcountry area where we’re staying, on the slopes of Haleakala volcano, there are also lots of cattle grazing, occasional goats, roosters crowing morning ’til night, and many barking dogs protecting their owner’s turf when two walkers stop to snap a few pictures.

Here is a sampling of the most exotic flowers we saw on a short walk this afternoon.  (We won’t even mention the hibiscus and bouganvillia in every color imaginable.)

Aren’t they amazing? I hope the sight of them warms the chilled bones of my friends back home.

The Sweetie and I visited the Bailey House, the 1850s home–now museum–of a physician/missionary family on Maui.

Though the house has some interesting Hawaiian artifacts, European period furnishings, and Edward Bailey’s landscape paintings, the highlight of the visit for us was watching the chickens scratching around along the edge of the parking lot.  There are lots of chickens roaming around the island, and we are often awakened by the crowing of roosters, but this is the first time we saw the whole family, including some adorable chicks.

The Sweetie caught them in action on his Flip videocam: