Random pictures :)

Amy, here are what 'uli 'uli are... my new birthday present :) The bottom of the gourds have seeds in them and so they rattle when you dance. Roy and my hula sisters called me Julie-'uli-'uli, and that is where I got the blog's name.


Here is a picture of our condo's great room, taken from the dining room - I also got the picture frames on the wall for my birthday too. I put pictures I took of Hawai'i Island in the frames.


This is the rug we (aka DH) got in Turkey. It looks really good and he loves it a lot!
Edge of the rug

Other part of the living room/great room. Yes, the fireplace wall is blue! Our rug looks fantastic by the wall! I was watching Jeopardy with DH.


Here are the pictures in the 8"x10" frames...

Looking at Mauna Kea across Hilo Bay
One of my favorite Big Island beaches

The last one I am really attached to - it was the first silversword in bloom I had ever seen! Plus, it was so cool to be on top of Mauna Kea, looking over at Mauna Loa! We got to see some awesome stars that night!

HWotD

In honor of working Tuesdays and Thursdays at the preschool, here is today's Hawaiian word.

Kolohe - Mischievous, naughty, rascal
"koh-low-hey"

Kolohe na keiki. The children are rascals.


PS - Readers, especially Kumu Em, please correct me if I am wrong - I'm still learning!

New Feature - Hawaiian word of the day

Well, I've decided I need to motivate myself to get learning Hawaiian. So, I'm going to try to come up with a Hawaiian word each day because in teaching, you often learn the most.

Today's word:
waiwai - assets, wealth, rich, value

Waiwai means rich. "Rich" can be applied to financial or material matters, but I choose to say that I am waiwai because I am well loved and have a good life.

Waiwai 'au. I am rich.

And this one's for DH and all of the MBA students - Moʻokūlana waiwai = Balance sheet

Long time, no post....

Yup, not much has been going on here, other than last week's excitement :)

Dh's school goes by mods (aka quarters) rather than by semesters. This means he has 7 weeks of school, at least one week off, then 7 more weeks of school. So anyway, last week was his fall break week - yay! We headed down to Florida for some warm weather, the ocean, and DH's family. DH's sister-in-law (I guess mine too!) just had a baby on October 10 - so we got to see Curren, our first nephew! He's beautiful! It was so difficult not to get baby fever after seeing him...



We also got to celebrate my birthday while we were down there, and had Hula Pie to celebrate :)
I got a lot of fun stuff - Netflix from DH, a cute necklace from Sean, Ashley and Curren, and my new favorite things - 'uli 'uli from DH's parents. Woohoo! I have 'uli 'uli now!!!

We spent some time with DH's grandma, who has Alzheimers. But, sometimes her personality would burst through and I could tell she was glad to see us.

We drove up to Tallahassee on Friday to watch the Florida State game on Saturday. We got decked out in Florida State gear - thanks to DH's Dad, and cheered on the 'Noles to no avail.

This week, I've been nearly full-time with the kiddos, and DH is back to school. So that's been keeping us busy.

Hula!

Well, I missed one of my most favorite days in Hawaii - the Queen Lili'uokalani Festival. It's really cool because the whole town of Hilo gathers in the Queen Lili'uokalani Park (right on Hilo Bay) and the various hula halau all dance two songs together - and they drop orchids from a helicopter. Plus, add in shave ice and spam musubi... it's basically my version of heaven. It is what inspired me to join a halau back a year ago. My kumu hula posted a video of this year's event on his website... check it out! (Plus that's him chanting - he really needs to record a cd!!)

In my hula school here, we used both 'uli'uli (feathered gourds) and pu'ili (split bamboo sticks). I'm starting to get used to the 'uli'uli (go figure I'd pick that one up first :) ) but the pu'ili is coming a bit slower! Kumu Em can testify that sometimes I can take a little bit longer to teach ;) Someday, I hope to be like the dancers I saw at Kumu Em's uniki...





But I still think I love this song from the uniki more :)

Exams... yuck! Carbonara... yummy!

I'm glad I don't have to take or give exams right now.
Poor DH took his first final exam today - yes, today, on a Saturday! He has a few others in the next week.

I hope you don't mind me sharing another recipe. I've been experimenting a bunch so I want others to reap the benefits :)

Here's the recipe for Martha Stewart's Spaghetti Carbonara
My comments are in italics.


Ingredients

Serves 6 (I halved the recipe and it was enough for the both of us)

* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 10 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch dice remove rind if needed
* 1 pound spaghetti
* 1 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
* 4 large egg yolks
* 2 cups grated (about 5 ounces) Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish (I'd reduce this to 3/4 cup for the half recipe, or 1-1/2 cup for the full recipe)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta to skillet, and cook until the pancetta is browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, and keep warm.
2. Cook spaghetti in boiling water until al dente, about 8 minutes. While spaghetti is cooking, whisk cream, egg yolks, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until combined. Drain pasta, and return to saucepan. Immediately stir in egg-and-cheese mixture until well combined. Add warm pancetta and fat from pan. Toss well. Thin sauce with additional cream, if necessary. Serve immediately, garnished with grated Parmesan cheese.

This made me laugh today...