HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Green Goodness
Posted: 02 Jan 2008 06:58 PM CST
Green Goodness
There is more than one kind of avocado, as you will realize on a walk through the local farmers’ markets.
What’s available in mainland cities is only the small variety, once known as an “alligator pear,” that’s grown in Southern California and Florida. But because those places don’t have a particular fruit-fly that lives in Hawaii (though they have their own fruit-flies!) you can’t buy a Hawaiian avocado on the mainland, or take one back with you.
Well, that just leaves more for us, here. And we enjoy at least three major varieties: the little “pear” of course, with its thin green or brown skin; a larger version that can sometimes approach a football in size; and a round, softball-size avocado with a thick rind. They all grow almost everywhere on the Big Island, though Kona seems to produce the largest ones. And while most varieties are bright yellow-green inside, the meat of those “softballs” is darker, and nuttier in taste.
When an avocado is slightly soft to the touch, it’s ready to eat. And it’s always eaten raw. Try one on the half-shell with a spoon, seasoning it with salt and pepper, or with Japanese furukake, or even with ketchup (really!) Most people slice an avocado for sandwiches, or mash and spice it up for guacamole. An avocado can be heated, as (for example) an omelet filling; but unlike almost every other fruit, it simply can not be cooked, canned or preserved.
It can, however, be sweetened. Euell Gibbons, the late naturalist, was fond of making Avocado Chiffon Pie in a graham-cracker crust. His is a standard chiffon recipe (egg yolks, milk, sugar and gelatin, heated to boiling, then cooled), to which he adds mashed avocado pulp, cools it again, and folds in stiff-whipped egg whites. As he says in his book Beachcomber’s Handbook, “Don’t dismiss the avocado as a dessert fruit until you have tried this fluffy, delectable pastry.”

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Sticky Fingers
Posted: 19 Dec 2007 12:30 AM CST
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
Sticky Fingers
Poi was the staple food of the Hawaiians. Even late in the 19thCentury, King Kalakaua included a big wooden “calabash” bowl of poi in a banquet he hosted for author Robert Louis Stevenson.
Making poi is tedious but simple: the chunky, purple roots of the taro plant are either baked or boiled (to get rid of the root’s sharp-edged oxalic acid crystals), and then pounded into a sticky paste. If it’s so thick that a glop will stay on a single digit, it’s known as “one-finger” poi; but it can be thinned with water into “two-finger” or “three-finger” poi. (Traditionally, everyone dips their fingers in one calabash; hence, a child who’s adopted is said to be the family’s “calabash cousin.”)

Poi is always served at a luau, and alongside every Hawaiian” plate-lunch or dinner entrée in a restaurant. Many people - visitors, especially - don’t know what to do with it, and leave it uneaten. It’s true that freshly made poi is rather bland. Local connoisseurs prefer “day-old” poi, which has been allowed to ferment slightly, and has a pleasantly sour tang.
Like corn-meal grits, poi can be eaten plain, but it’s more easilyenjoyed in combination with something truly flavorful. There is no knownallergy to poi, so any child can eat it, and will, especially if the parentseat it, too. Few people can resist kulolo - a fudge-like dessert of taro,sugar and coconut.
But poi itself is more useful when paired with a savory food, likethe marinated raw fish in poke, or like the slivers of raw onion crustedwith sea-salt that local folks enjoy. That’s a pretty strong combination,even with “sweet” Maui, Kula, or Vidalia onions; but try dipping it in poi,and both the onion’s bite and the salt’s crunch are moderated. Similarly,something made with chili pepper, sharp mustard or hot curry can be “cooled”by a drizzle of poi.
So, think of poi not as a course but as a dip - even for highlyseasoned chips - and you may soon find yourself asking for more.

Here on the Big Island- Nature and Culture

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Nature and Culture December 12, 2007Posted by kellymoran in About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, Hawaii Travel. Tags: big island natural history museum, chinese fine art, cultural museum, david lyman, downtown hilo, hawaiian artifacts, lyman museum, mission house, missionaries, sarah lyman, toursadd a comment
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
Nature and Culture
It’s the oldest wood-frame building on the island. Many of its ohia posts and beams, erected in 1839, are still holding it up; and you can still walk on its wide koa floorboards. What’s different, now, is what’s on top (originally thatch, but by mid-century wood shingles) and what’s inside: a “house museum.”
It was built by and for David and Sarah Lyman, the first New England missionaries to settle in Hilo. Progressive educators, they founded two schools, but were also eager to teach local kids about the world beyond Hawaii. So they asked friends, visitors and sailors to send them mineral rocks, seashells, and man-made artifacts from foreign lands.
In 1932, the Lyman’s youngest daughter (then in her 80s) saved the house from demolition, and it was turned into a museum. In 1972 a modern museum building was erected next door, to showcase what had become an enormous and eclectic collection.
Today, the Lyman Museum is the Big Island’s only natural-history museum, with a permanent display of minerals and shells, plus dioramas and models explaining Hawaii’s oceanic and terrestrial climate zones. It’s the island’s only cultural museum too, featuring early Hawaiian artifacts, Chinese fine arts, everyday objects from all of the local immigrant cultures, and tours of the original Mission House.
Currently, there is also a reproduction of an early 20th century Korean homestead; a stunning half-hour film about Kilauea’s eruptions that overran Kalapana in the 1990s; and through April - in celebration of the museum’s 75th anniversary - a display of some odd but memorable objects that have been in storage for years.

The museum (http://www.lymanmuseum.org/) is at 276 Haili St., just mauka of downtown Hilo, and is open Mon-Sat from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Maret Condition Report for Hilo- December 2007

Market Conditions Report
* Hilo *
Area Characteristics: Hilo is the second largest city in all of Hawaii. Most of the services and businesses on the east side of the Big Island are located in Hilo. It is also home to the county seat and includes the county, state, federal, and judicial buildings. While Hilo tends to be a rainy place, the weather patterns are not always predictable. Several weeks or months may go by without any substantial rainfall. Nearly all of the important educational and financial institutions are located in Hilo. Visitors and residents find Hilo to be a “local” town with warm and friendly people. While tourism is very important to the east Hawaii economy, it does not dominate, as in Kona.
Buyer’s or Seller’s Market: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a buyers market and 5 being a seller's market, Hilo is at a 2. This is a buyers market.
Recent Price Trend: On a scale of 1 to 5, with a 1 reflecting sales prices down and 5 reflecting prices up, Hilo is "Down", with a rating of 2.
Market Report Narrative:Unlike other areas, such as the Puna District (south of Hilo), there has not been a tremendous drop off in the asking or selling prices of homes in Hilo. When comparing the data from 2005-2006 to 2006-2007 the drop has been less than 10% for those homes priced $500,000 or less.
This is an excellent time for first time home buyers to negotiate a deal.
Hilo is roughly divided into 5 areas according to tax key. The area along the ocean (3-2-1) has zero properties for sale at $500,000 and under. The remaining areas (3-2-2, 3-2-3, 3-2-4, 3-2-5) have 121 listings with an average listing price of $364-380,000. Please note that one of these areas, Kaumana City, does not have county water and features the most affordable homes, some of them with spectacular views of Hilo Bay at an elevation of 2000 ft.
If you want to be close to the heart of activities, live in a town that retains its charm, and enjoy the beauty of Hawaii, then Hilo would be your first choice.

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Five-O in O-Seven

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Five-O in O-Seven
Posted: 04 Dec 2007 03:05 AM CST
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
Five-O in O-Seven
There must be an unwritten law in the TV business that there shall always be an action/adventure series shot in Hawaii. Currently, it’s “Lost.” In the early 1960s it was “Hawaiian Eye,” a private-eye show set in Waikiki; more recently, it was “Magnum P.I.” But perhaps the most famous - certainly the longest-running - is “Hawaii Five-0,” produced from1968 to 1980 and currently re-running on Honolulu station KWHE.
“Five-O” is the fiftieth-state’s state police: a plainclothes unit reporting directly to the governor. In reality, there has never been a statewide police force; each county - essentially, each island -maintains its own. And real cops in Hawaii don’t work as Five-O’s do, in dark suits and ties.
The show was filmed almost entirely on Oahu; but some footage was shot here, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, for a 1974 episode called “A Hawaiian Nightmare.” The premise: Unless a $500,000 ransom is paid, a bomb will explode, sending molten lava down into Hilo.
Prospective terrorists must look elsewhere for inspiration. Kilauea’s lava doesn’t flow through Hilo; it flows through Puna. And although lava from Mauna Loa could reach Hilo - it has done so before - man-made explosions can not ignite eruptions.
On the fan web site at www.mjq.net/fiveo there are cast bios, links galore, and some unexpected trivia.

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND

HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
Rainy City
Somebody always asks, “Does it really rain a lot in Hilo?”
Most of the year, Hawaii’s weather comes from the northeast tradewinds, and Hilo’s on the northeast side. Being in the middle of the ocean, though, the island gets most of its rain in brief squalls, from small clouds that drift ashore and empty themselves in a couple of minutes. You can look out to sea from Hilo and watch them coming in, so there’s plenty of time to get under shelter. On average, though, most of Hilo’s rain falls late in the afternoon or at night, when the land is cooler, and those squall clouds pile up against Mauna Kea before condensing.
And occasionally we get two or three or four days of rain in a row. So Hilo does have the reputation of a rainy city. But it’s all relative. Seattle, with about 40 inches of precip a year, gets a rainy reputation. New York gets forty, too, but not the rep.
Hilo does get more rain than any other city in Hawaii, and more than the other northeast-facing towns on the Big Island: annual rainfall goes down as you go up the Hamakua Coast. In a normal year, Hilo will get about 120 inches - one is tempted to say “ten feet” - of rain. When less than eight feet falls in a year, people here will say we’re in a drought.

So, yes, by Mainland standards, Hilo is a rainy city.
But hey! Hilo’s most famous natural attraction isn’t called “Rainbow Falls” for nothing.
You may see a lot of rain here, but you see a lot of rainbows too - like this one just offshore from the beach parks in Keaukaha.


And anyway, Hilo isn’t the wettest place in Hawaii. Far from it. Literally. That honor belongs to Waialeale, on Kauai, which every year gets nearly 500 inches - some forty feet of rain.
HERE IN HAWAII - Driving Local November 19, 2007Posted by kellymoran in About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, Hawaii Travel. Tags: auto rain guard, Big Island Hawaii, car rain guard, driving in hawaii, sodium street lamps, yellow street lightsadd a comment
HERE IN HAWAII
Driving Local
Driving on the Big Island takes a little getting used to. You can go up to 55 on only a few highway stretches; almost everywhere the limit is 45 or less. Passing lanes are rare; and off the highways, most roads are skinny, with narrow shoulders.
You may be surprised at other drivers’ courtesy: many will wait to let you make a left turn in front of them. And at their informality: some people drive barefoot, or in zoris (”flip-flop” sandals). To the delight of car-renters, the nearest gas station to the Hilo Airport - aptly, the Aloha brand - is also among the least expensive.
At the urging of astronomers to minimize the island’s nighttime glow, streetlights use low-pressure sodium lamps that have a yellowish color, similar to the “caution” light in a red/yellow/green traffic signal. That unfamiliar hue may be disconcerting, but it’s easy to see by, especially in the rain.
Unlike houses, car roofs don’t have overhangs. So a lot of drivers here get “rain-guards” installed. They’re rigid strips of transparent plastic that are fastened to the top edge of the car door’s windows; so you can keep the glass rolled down an inch or so yet stay dry when it’s pouring outside, or cool the inside temp a bit when you have to park and lock in the sun. (Makes you wonder why they aren’t standard equipment. But they’re available online from WeatherTech (www.weathertech.com), which catalogs them as “side window deflectors.”)

Whenever you’re driving, though, please be alert. Remember that motorcyclists here are not required to wear helmets; and that nearly all Big Island police cars are unmarked.
HERE IN HAWAII - Snow November 10, 2007Posted by kellymoran in About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, Hawaii Travel. Tags: big island, hawaii, mauna kea, mauna loa, snowadd a comment
HERE IN HAWAII
Snow
The Big Island’s summits are once again wearing their white diadems. The first snow of . . . yes, winter is upon both the “white” and the “long” mountain. Snow comes to Hawaii in a storm, with thunder and lightning; wind and rain. Local TV newscasts originate in Honolulu; they do run video clips of snow-capped Mauna Kea. But their big weather story is what the storm leaves there: a soggy mess of drains overwhelmed, puddles for intersections, and stuff washed out to sea.Though snow on Mauna Loa is a rarer event than snow on Mauna Kea, it often goes under-appreciated. So big and broad is Mauna Loa that, on TV, it doesn’t look like a snow-capped peak; it looks like a snow-capped stadium roof. Better to see it in person; though the only way to make snowballs there is to make a high-altitude hike first.You can get to the snow on Mauna Kea, however, sitting down. A car or truck with four-wheel drive can get you up to where there’s enough to play on. Some winters, there’s even enough to ski on. You still have high altitude to reckon with; and sunburn; but (for a change) it helps to have had experience driving through snow and ice.If you don’t visit the snow, you will at least take delight in seeing what it does to the vistas of our tallest mountains. And you will probably grin every time you see a four-wheel-drive pickup come down from the Saddle, its bed heaped high with snow, to play with back home.
HERE IN HAWAII - Weed Fruit November 9, 2007Posted by kellymoran in About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General. Tags: big island, buavaberry, guava, hawaii, hawaii fruit, strawberry guava, waiawiadd a comment
HERE IN HAWAII
Weed Fruit
On the mainland people carefully tend house-plants, such as tradescantia and philodendron, that - they are surprised to learn - are wild weeds in Hawaii. But some tropical fruits are weeds here, too.Guava is a real pest, especially the smaller “strawberry guava” known as waiawi (though colloquially pronounced “vy-vee”).
Both were introduced in the 19th century, but escaped cultivation. Ripe fruit falls quickly, drawing not only flies but birds, pigs, and rats that transport the seeds. The wood is incredibly hard, and the saplings form impenetrable thickets.
But – truth to tell – the fruit are delicious. Hawaii’s farmers’ markets and fruit-stands rarely offer them. But you may not need to buy them, if you’re adventurous. They grow almost everywhere on the Big Island, especially in wetter places. You mustn’t pick from someone’s yard, of course, but neither should you eat fruit that’s already on the ground. The best way to get guava or waiawi is to shake a tree and catch what falls; or do as local folks do, and use a long picking-stick with a basket on the end.Guavas are about the same size and color as lemons outside, though pink inside. Waiawi can be either red or yellow, but their insides are white. The seeds, though edible, are usually separated from pulp and juice with a ricer, or a blender at low speed. Waiawi is the greater pest, but more flavorful; Caribbean islanders call it “guavaberry,” and use it for jams, jellies and liqueurs.
October Newsletter October 31, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, Featured Listings, General, Hawaii Travel, Newsletter, Resources, Upcoming Events. Tags: alaska airlines, big island calendar of events, current mortgate interest rates, hawaii big island, hawaii real estate news, hilo hawaii, new blog, property price, sunrise ridge, upper puna districtadd a comment
The October Newsletter is published.
View the October Newsletter here.
View the Current Newsletter here.
Sign up to receive future Newsletters to your email box here.
HERE IN HAWAII - Downtown on Black & White Night October 29, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, Hawaii Travel. Tags: Big Island Hawaii, black & white night, downtown hilo, first fridays, Hawaii Travel, hilo hawaii, thing to do in hilo1 comment so far
Downtown on Black & White Night
“Things will be great when you’re downtown,” as the song reminds us. And it’s certainly true of Downtown Hilo.
The core of the city is easy to walk around in, and always fun for shopping and window-shopping. It’s essentially bounded by Kam Avenue along the Bayfront and Kinoole St. two blocks mauka; by Waianuenue Ave. on the Hamakua side, and Ponahawai St. on the Waiakea side.
Many downtown stores stay open late on the first Friday of every month. But the biggest and brassiest of these first-Fridays is the first Friday in November (Nov. 2, this year), when there is free live music in storefronts and on street corners from 5 in the afternoon to 9 in the evening.
It’s called “Black & White Night.” People are encouraged to wear black and/or white clothes – and they do: strolling around in everything from the formal to the ridiculous. (There’s costume competition, too.) Parents and children like to go on the Treasure Hunt, collecting “stamps” at various downtown businesses, many of which also offer free snacks.
But it’s the music that really draws the crowds. Alice Moon, who originated Black & White Night and continues to produce its events (amoon@bigisland.com), estimates that, last year, nearly 5,000 people came to what she calls “Downtown Hilo’s biggest strolling party.” Local musicians play jazz, rock, bluegrass . . . you’ll hear something for every taste. And this year, there will also be an after-hours dance party to a vintage Swing band, from 9 to midnight.
So . . . come on down!
ATA Deals October 29, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, Hawaii Travel. Tags: ata airlines, discount airfare, Hawaii Travel, hilo travel, travel awardsadd a comment
If you’re thinking about taking a trip our way, check out www.ata.com and sign up for their Travel Awards / Notifications. For example, I received the following special savings notification earlier this month:
Oakland To/From Hilo $159/one way
They also have lots of opportunities to earn double points.
To view where ATA flies, use their handy route map tool (click Hilo to see all routes).
To drive the old road is to experience a bit of “old Hawaii” October 25, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, General, Hawaii Travel. Tags: Ahualoa, Belt Highway, hamakua coast, hawaii, Highway 19, hilo, Honokaa, Honolii, Old Mamalahoa Highway, Papaikou, Pepeekeo, waimeaadd a comment
Right up through World War II, there were railroads on the Big Island. Passengers and freight rode up the Hamakua Coast from Hilo, crossing the gulches on high trestle bridges. But only some of those trestles survived the 1946 tsunami, and while the entire railroad was being dismantled, everybody had to use the paved road, which hugged the hills, and forded the gulch streams deeper inland with one-lane bridges. Not surprisingly, it was eventually superseded by the modern, mostly-two-lane Highway 19.
Cut straighter, the “Belt Highway” made oxbows of the old road – the “Old Mamālahoa Highway.” And they’re still in use, one-lane bridges and all. Maps show them diverging from main road, mauka and makai: they’re shady lanes, often cool and quiet; and right now, in autumn – pungent, in wild guava season.
The old road starts as Wainaku Street, in Hilo, and a pleasant segment – popular with surfers – descends to Honolii. The best-known stretch is the four-mile “Scenic Drive” from Papaikou to Pepeekeo. The longest mauka segment runs through Ahualoa, from Honokaa to Waimea.
To drive the old road is to experience a bit of “old Hawaii.” It’s certainly worth taking these side-trips on your way to Laupahoehoe, because there you can glimpse an even older Hawaii, now gone . . . at the Train Museum: www.thetrainmuseum.com
Here on the Big Island October 16, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, General, Hawaii Travel. Tags: Big Island Hawaii, hamakua coast, Hawaii Travel, hilo hawaii, kau, kilauea, kona, mauna kea, north kohala, south kohala, waimea, waipio valleyadd a comment
“It’s really big!”
You hear that a lot, from visitors, especially first-timers. Maybe they’ve cruised the Caribbean islands, most of which are downright tiny by comparison. Or they’ve seen the other Hawaiian islands first - Maui, Oahu, Molokai, Kauai, or Lanai - before coming here to the Island of Hawaii.
In the words of the late naturalist Euell Gibbons, “This one island is considerably larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, and rises to an altitude much higher than New Hampshire and Vermont would be if they were stacked one on top of the other.”
It covers 4,000 square miles - literally twice the area of all the other Hawaiian islands combined. And since it measures 100 miles long by 100 miles wide, you need a full two hours to drive non-stop from one end to the other. But that’s not the best way to see Hawaii. Better to take at least two days, and make a circumnavigation. There’s an airport with rental cars on each side: in Hilo on the east side, and in Kona on the west, which also serves the big resorts that are oases on the black lava fields of South Kohala.
Driving from Hilo, the “classic” visitor route is clockwise: heading first to the volcano - Kilauea has been especially active, lately - and coming up to Kona from the south; spending a night there, and going back to Hilo by way of the ranchlands of Waimea and the lush Hamakua Coast. From Kona or South Kohala, the “classic” drive is typically counter-clockwise, heading south through the coffee fields of Kona and the windswept landscape of Ka’u, to see the volcano. Worthwhile side-trips are to North Kohala, still reminiscent of its “old Hawaii” days, or to rural Waipio Valley. It takes a four-wheel-drive vehicle to cross the island over the Saddle Road, but renting one (and being very careful!) you could visit the astronomy center at 9,000 feet, and even attain the 13,900-foot summit of Mauna Kea, which is often snow-capped in the winter.
The Big Island is therefore practically a continent in miniature, with all but two of the world’s climate zones - sorry, no glaciers or sandy deserts, but everything else from tropical jungle to alpine heights.
That quote from Euell Gibbons, by the way, is from his 1967 book Beachcomber’s Handbook, which has marvelous recipes for local fruit, vegetables and fish, about which I’ll write more in the weeks to come.
Market Conditions Report - Hilo October 16, 2007Posted by kellymoran in Big Island Hawaii, General, Market Conditions. Tags: big island hawaii real estate, hawaii buyers market, hawaii market conditions, hawaii real estate, hilo hawaiiadd a comment
Market Conditions Report
* Hilo *
You asked for it! We’ll now be periodically providing Market Condition Reports on specific areas on the Big Island, and we’ll start with Hilo …
Area Characteristics: Hilo is located on the east side of the Big Island of Hawaii. It is the second largest city in Hawaii with a population of approximately 60,000. Generally this is a lush green area with fair amounts of rainfall. The population makeup tends to be more local (native Hawaiians) then that of the Kona area, or west side of the island. The county, state, and federal offices are all located in Hilo, as well as the University of Hawaii at Hilo, a major contributor to the local economy and culture. For the individual thinking of relocating to Hilo, you will find the people warm and friendly, and there are numerous opportunities. Unemployment is extremely low, and well paying jobs may be hard to find. On the other hand housing is relatively affordable when compared to other parts of Hawaii or the continental U.S. If you are looking for a small town feel with all the amenities of a larger city, Hilo is the place to be.
Buyer’s or Seller’s Market: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a buyers market and 5 being a seller’s market, Hilo is at a 2. This is a buyers market.
Recent Price Trend: On a scale of 1 to 5, with a 1 reflecting sales prices down and 5 reflecting prices up, Hilo is “Down”, with a rating of 2.
Market Report Narrative:Hilo has not really been affected by the market downturn over the past 1.5 years. Sellers are still listing their properties at nearly the same price range as last year. The difference is, there is greater inventory on the market, and sellers are often willing to take less than asking price in order to move their properties. Over the last year those properties that were listed on the MLS in the Hilo area (up to 1 million) sold for an average of $375,434. Currently, there are 143 properties listed that fit this description, with an average listing price of $428,059. As these properties linger on the market, most of these sellers will accept less. While this is definitely a buyer’s market sellers, particularly those of high end properties, are still getting fair value.