Kaloko Lions Club provides gift cards to make holiday brighter for 13 families

Kaloko Lions Club members are making a huge impact on families this holiday season. Club members Susy Bullard, Diandra Dickinson and Lani Kahawaii visited Neighorhood Place of Kona to deliver gift cards for 13 families. The Lions generosity will make the holidays brighter for 21 adults and 35 children ranging in age from 1 to 12.

Gretchen’s table: Chili oil wontons

These deliciously spicy Sichuan wontons from the recently released (and gorgeously photographed) “The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family” will certainly take the chill off a brisk fall day. Wonton wrappers are first stuffed with a savory mix of ground pork and finely chopped cabbage seasoned with soy sauce, ginger and Shaoxing wine. They’re then tossed in a fiery sauce starring homemade chili oil, raw and cooked garlic, sugar and mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorn. Its authors declare the dish “a fiery bowl of perfection,” and I heartily agree the silky, spicy bites are pretty irresistible.

Poinsettias are showing color for the holidays

November, is almost over but the holidays don’t seem real until we get our Thanksgiving meal digested. Poinsettias don’t seem to care since they are beginning to show color now. Folks on the mainland think of the poinsettia as a Christmas flower but for us it blooms now through March.

Design Recipes: 10 ways to blend black and gold

Whether in fashion or home decor, the color combination of black and gold is one of the most popular. From artwork and side tables to hardware handles, the combination of black and gold is both bold and luxurious and some may argue timeless.

Nonprofit to honor Community Peacebuilder

The West Hawaii Mediation Center will hold its annual recognition for the “2022 Community Peacebuilder” honoree on Dec. 2. Each year, the nonprofit recognizes a community member that embodies the ethos and practices of a peacebuilder.

Creating a park: Rocky and Gwen Campbell transform Pu’uanahulu property

Driving onto Rocky and Gwen Campbell’s property in Pu’uanahulu, I found myself driving up an attractive stamped and stained driveway into a landscape with an expanse of well mowed grass, well-manicured beds of ornamental plants, growing areas for edible plants and the occasional park bench placed in the shade of a tall tree.

Let us be thankful every day of the year

Thursday is Thanksgiving but giving thanks for the many blessings we have in Hawaii should be a daily event. For the last several months, it seems many folks have been focusing on the negative, so let’s try something healthier. For this exercise, let us focus on the fact that recent election participation was one the best in recent history. Folks are recognizing that this experiment in democracy takes work. We can look back a how Native Americans, Mexicans, Hawaiians, African Americans, Filipinos, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Irish and so many other ethnic groups were treated as they tried to fit into the American Dream. We can recognize that the two world wars of the early 20th century killed an estimated 100 million people.

Quick Fix: Skillet Lasagna a comforting fall weeknight meal

I love to make lasagna, but it takes time to make. So, I created this Skillet Lasagna. It has the flavors of my favorite lasagna but takes about 15 minutes to make. It’s perfect for a comforting fall weeknight meal. The lasagna noodles are broken into small pieces, boiled and added to the meat sauce to absorb the flavor. A quick green salad completes the meal.

Indigenous brewers tackle hops and history with Native craft beer

It’s 11 a.m. on a Saturday, and beer drinkers line up out the door of Oklahoma City’s Skydance Brewing. They’ve come to toast the downtown taproom’s one-year anniversary with pints of special-release juicy IPA and snifters of one-off pastry stouts. The tipplers are doing more than just celebrating an occasion—they’re also tacitly acknowledging the place’s Native American heritage.