We had a wonderful time on the Leeward side of the island. I think everyone can agree that these meetings are some of our favorite. As well as having our September meeting we also got to meet our sister book club from the Kailua area. It was great to talk to the other club and see what they had been reading. Both book clubs picked “Audition” by Barbra Walters as their September pick. We were all surprised that only a few of us had finished the entire memoir. But everyone that picked it up agreed it was very interesting and those of us who hadn’t had a chance to get it still plan on reading it in the future.

The food, as always, was amazing. We were lucky enough to have a variety of foods made from recipes given to the library as part of the Smithsonian exhibit. At the end of our get-together we all got copies of the library’s recipes as well as huge plates to take home to our families. Lucky them! We watched the sunset, sipped sangria and talked about books into the night. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening!

If anyone forgot to pick up a copy of the recipes or has lost their copy I’m going to post them on the site. (I have already misplaced a few recipes so I’ll put up as many as I have as well as the recipe for white wine sangria.) Don’t forget that the Kapolei Library’s Smithsonian exhibit and programs will be going on through October 11th. Information on these programs can be found at http://www.librarieshawaii.org/pdf/KI+flier_lds[1].pdf

The next programs are;

Local cookbook author Wanda Adams, Tuesday September 30th at 7pm

Ma’o Organic Farms, Tuesday October 7th at 7pm

Local cookbook author Betty Shimabukuro, Saturday October 11th at 10:30am

We haven’t picked our next book yet but I’ll be sure to post it just as soon as we do. We made a couple changes for our next meeting. Because of the holidays we decided to meet Sunday November 9th instead of the end of October. We are also going to try the Big City Diner in Waipio instead of the one on Pali Momi. Directions for this location can be found at http://bigcitydinerhawaii.com/locations.asp But we will still be meeting at 10:30am.

The recipes from the library we were able to try on Sunday were; “Jenn’s Kim Chee Turkey Burgers” which was made into a meatloaf, “Gloria’s Cornbread”, and a great make your own sushi dish.

Jenn’s Kim Chee Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

1 small bottle kim chee, best quality 2 eggs
½ cup green onions 3 slices whole wheat bread moistened with water
1 small onion, chopped 2lbs ground turkey
1 tsp garlic salt hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor except ground turkey, and sauces
2. Add turkey and pulse
3. Form into patties and fry in a little oil
4. Make sandwiches (with Swiss cheese and multigrain hamburger buns)
5. Finish with a little of both sauces on top (recommend adding cucumber slices, lettuce and tomato

Gloria’s Cornbread

Ingredients:

3 cups Bisquick 3 eggs
1 cup sugar 1 cup butter or margarine melted
6 Tbsp cornmeal 1 and ½ cups milk
¾ tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. In separate bowl mix together eggs, butter and milk
3. Add dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Add vanilla (optional)
4. Place in greased 9” X 13” pan
5. Bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes

The following recipes were not served at the Sunday meeting but are still from the Library

Aloun Farms Ewa Sweet Salsa

Ingredients:

6 large red tomatoes 1 large Ewa sweet onion chopped
3 ears of Aloun Farms Ewa sweet corn 1-2 cloves of garlic minced
1 bunch of Chinese parsley chopped Juice of 1-2 limes
3 stalks of green onion chopped 1 Aloun Farms green bell pepper chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
jalapeno pepper minced fine, seeds removed (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash and prepare vegetables and herbs. Put in large mixing bowl
2. Cut kernels from ears of corn and add to bowl
3. Add juice of limes
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Add jalapeno if you like your salsa spicy
6. Let sit for 1 hour before serving

Susan’s Shoyu Chicken

Ingredients:

4lbs chicken thighs ¼ cup sugar
¾ cup Shoyu 1 cup water
4 slices fresh ginger

Directions:

1. Bring sugar, water and shoyu to a boil
2. Add chicken and ginger (you can leave the skin on or remove it)
3. Cook on medium high uncovered until sugar starts to caramelize and chicken begins to fall apart
Serves 5 to 6

Tomato & Watermelon Salad with Gingery Lime & Chile Dressing
Serves 8

Ingredients for Dressing:

Finley grated zest of one lime
juice of one lime
1 red jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and cut into thin rounds
1/3 cup sugar
1” ginger root, peeled and grated
1/3 cup water
Ingredients for Salad:
2 medium tomatoes or four plum tomatoes, cut into 3/4” chunks
6 cups water melon chunks or balls, ¾” in size (seeds removed)
8-10 mint leaves, torn
¼ tsp coarse black pepper

Place lime zest, lime juice, jalapeno pepper, ginger root, sugar and water in small sauce pot. Stir and heat for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Place in the refrigerator to cool (or use a water bath).
In a large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, watermelon and mint. Drizzle with the dressing. Toss. Sprinkle with cracked pepper.

Apple Banana Lumpia with Haupia Ice Cream and Carmel Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups haupia ice cream ½ cup brown sugar
8 small apple bananas, peeled nutmeg
8 large lumpia wrappers 1 cup canola oil
¼ cup caramel syrup 4 mint sprigs

Use a portion scoop to create four balls of ice cream. Place balls in freezer to harden.
Combine brown sugar and nutmeg in a shallow pan. Roll bananas in sugar mixture to coat. Place a banana along one corner on lumpia wrapper. Roll up banana, folding in two side corners of the wrapper. Roll to last corner and seal the last corner with water.
Heat the oil in a small sauté pan. When hot, fry two lumpia at a time. Turn over once and fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Place in a warm oven until serving time.
To serve, cut lumpia diagonally. Arrange on a dessert plate. Add a ball of ice cream. Drizzle ice cream with caramel syrup. Garnish with mint sprig. Serve immediately.

Thai Chicken Curry w/ Pineapple, Tomatoes and Raisins
Serves 8

Ingredients:

3Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp red curry paste mixed with 3 Tbsp water
3 lemongrass (white portion only), finely minced
2 tsp grated ginger root
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 pound chicken breasts or boneless thighs, cut into thin strips
1 cup thickly sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 small can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
2 14-oz. Cans coconut milk (use less if a chunky curry is desired)
1 heaping cup fresh pineapple, cut into ¾” chunks
¼ cup golden raisins
Mixture of ½ tsp salt, 2 tsp’s nam pla and 1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup grape tomatoes
½ cup fresh basil leaves
3 to 4 kaffir lime leaves, cut into very thin chiffonade
Sprigs of basil
1 red Thai or jalapeno pepper, sliced very thin diagonally as a garnish
3 Tbsp chopped lime-chile peanuts as a garnish (available at Trader Joe)

Heat a wok or deep skillet. Add oil, red curry paste, lemon grass, ginger and garlic. Cook one to two minutes. Add chicken and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
Add coconut milk and let come to a simmer, but do not boil. Add the pineapple chunks and raisins. Simmer gently until pineapple is tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt, nam pla and brown sugar.
Just before serving the curry, stir in the tomatoes, basil leaves and kaffir lime chiffonade.
Transfer curry into a large serving dish. Garnish with basil, thin slices of red thai/jalapeno pepper and chopped peanuts.

This next recipe isn’t from the library but I know a lot of people have asked for it.

Sparkling White Sangria

Ingredients:

1 cup Karo light corn syrup 1 orange sliced
1 lemon sliced
1 orange sliced
2 limes sliced (You want to pick fruit that looks “pretty” since it’s going to be sliced and put in the pitcher. Don’t use the ends of the fruit and pick out the seeds)
½ cup orange-flavored liqueur
1 bottle (750ml) dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 bottle (12 ounces) club soda or seltzer, chilled

Directions:

In a large pitcher combine corn syrup, orange, lemon and lime slices and liqueur. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine and lemon juice. (I’ve used anything from Zinfandel to Pinot Grigio. I love to make this to get rid of a really bad white wine, I’ve never made this recipe and not liked it.) Refrigerate. Just before serving, add soda and ice cubes.