What should I do about spooky home sounds?

During the spooky season, it’s fun to imagine things that go bump in the night. But literal bumps in the night — or any other unexplained sounds in your home — bring a lot more spooky tricks than sweet treats to your life. Spooky noises can give away the presence of a burst pipe, rodent invasion, or other troublesome home problem.

Design Recipes: Big art

Art helps infuse color and energy -into a space while also serving to anchor a space. Big art can also make a bold statement. From graphic abstracts to black and white photographs, overscale artwork can add pizzazz, interest and color into nearly any space of the home.

Volcano Watch: The East Rift Zone of Kilauea was a busy place in the 1960s

The recent eruption at Napau Crater was the first on Kilauea’s middle East Rift Zone (ERZ) in six years. We often remember the Pu‘u‘o‘o and Maunaulu eruptions when thinking about the middle East Rift Zone, but many lesser-known eruptions occurred on the rift zone in the past 200 years, including 11 during the 1960s!

The age of the tasting menu is coming to an end

Restaurants play host to all classes of diners: the good, the grand, the gullible, the greedy and so on. However, as a consequence of the last three decades of chef-artistes, many of the most famous dining establishments in the world treat these diverse clients as if it they were an audience with a single palate and a single motive — to worship at the chopping board of the cook-auteur. There is only one magnificent tasting menu full of delights and curiosities (with, of course, adjustments for allergies and some degree of protein preference, though these polite accommodations rarely equaled the innovative originals).

Let’s Talk Food: Sam Choy’s In the Kitchen cookbook

KHON2 put out a challenge to their staff to come up with a new local program to air on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. The entire station was involved with collaborating and coming up with different ideas for a new show. This prime time, family/dinner hour show was to create something unique, special, and a destination program to give Hawaii families a fun way to end their weekend and prepare for the week ahead.

Amy Greenwell Garden celebrates Arbor Day

Arbor Day is celebrated -annually on the U.S. mainland on the last Friday in April. Here in Hawaii, the annual tree-giveaway is scheduled in early November which is a better time for planting trees in our tropical climate. Several locations around the state are participating including one at Amy Greenwell Garden in Captain Cook.

Let’s Talk Food: Culinary students show their stuff

Culinary students at Palamanui Campus recently hosted Flavors of Japan. Kitchen managers Scott Largent and Jacob Malapit, along with chef instructors Paul Heerlein, Fernand Guiot and Catherine Harlan gave attendees a wonderful lunch and experience as the students got to hone their culinary skills.

Burgundy: Bulging barrels, barging and beyond

One of my favorite corners of France is bucolic Burgundy, a region overflowing with imbibable and scenic delights. Crisscrossed with lazy canals and dotted with quiet farming villages, it’s easy to like — and its sunny hillsides produce the superior wines and fine cuisine that say “French.”

Quick Fix: Chicken Korma

Chicken Korma is an exotic, South Asian dish with a creamy sauce with aromatic spices. It’s a comforting meal that can take several hours to make. I love the flavors but wanted to make it for a weeknight meal. Here’s a simple version that captures the flavors without the hours of marinating and slow cooking. Once the ingredients are assembled it takes less than 15 minutes to cook this meal.

Let’s Talk Food: History of umami

The Hilo Meishoin Mission monthly newsletter is often full of history and interesting facts about the people and places of Japan. Reverend Junshin Miyazaki is great if you are interested in getting information about your family tree or knowing where your grandparents lived in Japan.

The Rhine River: Raging with history

Jostling through crowds of Germans and tourists in the Rhine River village of Bacharach, I climb to the sun deck of the ferry and grab a chair. With the last passenger barely aboard, the gangplank is dragged in and the river pulls us away.

Volcano Watch: First light (and flight) for HVO’s new airborne lidar system

Topographic mapping has been a key component of volcano monitoring for decades, helping scientists to study morphologic changes and predict the paths of lava flows during eruptions. Lidar systems are a preferred mapping tool and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory now has a lidar system of its own to generate mapping products more frequently than ever before.