That’s right, this Halloween my family hung out with the McCains.  Eric and I thought that since my parents are so into politics (dad especially) it would be fun to dress up as John and Cindy McCain.

The funniest part was that Eric’s mask was so scary!  The first time he put it on I wasn’t looking at him, then looked up and screamed because of the scary old man standing in my living room.  A lot of kids had the same reaction.  One little boy screamed bloody murder, turned and ran down the driveway to his parents!

Another boy (about 10 years old) started screaming and backing up with arms spread and almost clotheslined his little sister down the steps!  We had so much fun at my parents house scaring the kids and interacting with them.  Some kids asked if he was George Bush or Biden.  That was pretty funny.  Parents really loved it.

Jason also took a turn at playing McCain.  Then a little while later cracked us up by proclaiming that his spleen hurt!  No, he doesn’t know where his spleen is.

We took a nice picture too because Eric looks so handsome in his suit, I couldn’t resist!  And the two things you need to have a great Halloween get together with family?…..

A Cheese Mummy

and Coke!

Thanks mom and dad for a super fun evening!

September 7 was the First Annual Live Aloha Festival in Seattle.  When we had dinner the previous Friday night at Pac Island, they told us about it.  We always in support of them and of whatever Hawaiian culture we can get here, so we were excited to go after church.

It was really fun to be surrounded by locals, to hear pidgin, see people in slippas and muu-muus, watch hula and smell the local food.  I felt like I was home!  It was also great to get some shaved ice, and Pac Island was even nice enough to give us a discount on food because we’re ohana!  Now that’s Aloha Spirit.

If you want to make some food from Hawaii, my blog’s got an EASY recipe for you.  Make yourself some somen salad.

Ahi Poke!  (Pronounce Poke-ay)  This was a staple for me in Hawaii.  In fact if I was really craving it, I’d drive all the way to the North shore for some amazing poke.  I love shoyu poke, so I just added some shoyu to this and let it soak it up.  Delicious.  Yes, it is raw tuna, and it is amazing.  The first year we were eating there, they didn’t have poke, we’re so excited they added it.  Everytime we go, I wait to hear the magic words (we have poke!).

Now the next thing I’m waiting for them to add, is chocolate haupia pie (they just have regular haupia pie).  So since I couldn’t buy it anywhere, I made my own!  This recipe is from the Star Bulletin.  I made my own pie crust from scratch this time, but you can use a frozen crust, or even those pre made graham cracker or shortbread crusts.  I also used mini chocolate chips because I didn’t have any big chocolate to shave.

Chocolate Haupia Pie

1 9-inch prepared pie crust
7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
Shaved chocolate, for garnish
>> Haupia:
1 can coconut milk
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake crust until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make haupia: Whisk coconut milk, milk and sugar together in a small saucepan. In a separate bowl, dissolve cornstarch in water. Bring coconut milk mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and whisk in cornstarch mixture, whisking until thickened.

Microwave chocolate pieces on high 1 minute; stir to melt completely. Pour half the haupia into a bowl. Mix remaining haupia with melted chocolate and pour over the bottom of the baked pie crust. Layer white haupia over the top. Cool pie at least 1 hour in refrigerator.

Whip cream with 1/4 cup sugar until still peaks form. Garnish pie with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Chill another hour. Serves 6 to 8.

If you want to know the recipes for the delicious meal, it’s all here!

Hooray for anniversaries!  It’s one thing you stand up for and say “I AM taking the time off for my anniversary.”  So Eric and I did that and found a rustic little cabin two minutes from the entrance to Mt. Rainier (my favorite mountain in the world).  This is jasper cabin and I loved it.  It was really only a couple steps up from camping.  You get a roof (and heater if you need it), a very comfortable bed, and a minifridge and fireplace.  It’s a lot cheaper than other cabins in the area because it’s a little more run down (and the water smelled like sulfur, but tasted fine).  But it was completely secluded which was perfect, and there’s a…

Hot Tub!  My three requirement for where we stayed were hot tub, fireplace, and grill.  Normally you get every other hour for the hot tub, but no one was staying in the other cabin so we could use it whenever we wanted.  Woo-hoo!

This is the view from the back deck.  It was living in the woods and I absolutely loved it.  One day while Eric took a nap, I sat out there the whole time and decided I could definitely live in the woods.  It was so peaceful, and yet so much was going on.  It was fun trying to identify if the noises are birds, wind, bugs or…

…deer!  That’s right, this beauty wandered through our backyard while I was out there.  Unfortunately I was afraid to reach for my camera and startle her, but she was waiting for us down the street at our dinner restaraunt!  We went to Alexander’s for dinner.  Yummy food, rather pricey but worth it if you can afford it (thanks mom and dad for your anniversary gift, that’s how we afforded it!).

Eric got a buffalo burger.  I got this beautiful and yummy chicken alfredo with peppers.  We actually went there because they’re supposed to have the best pie, but the dinner was so filling we didn’t have room! It was great.

That was the only meal we ate out.  For our others, we went grill crazy!

Seriously, who says you can’t eat great while camping.  Everything we made used just their little grill, and our camp stove.  Eric discovered he loves to grill, which I’m happy to hear because I love to eat things that are grilled!

We had Indonesian Beef Satay, Hawaiian Salted Veggie Skewers, sliced cucumber with peanut sauce, and grilled apricots with a basalmic glaze for this meal.  It was so amazing, here’s all that was left afterwards…

The next day for breakfast we had an egg and spam scramble.

For dessert that night we made these delicious chocolate, coconut, pineapple skewers.  Oh wow, we’ve made them again since because they’re so amazing.

I made the sauce in a pot, toasted the coconut in a pan

Eric grilled the pineapple skewers.

The finished result, a warm, juicy, gooey, chocolately, coconutty, bite of goodness.  Serve with napkins!

Doesn’t that look yummy?  Recipe is on Diana’s blog!