Sylvia's Scenario

One of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii was touring a vanilla bean farm in Paauilo, Hawaii on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was about 1-1/2 hours from Kailua-Kona where we always stay but it was a very scenic and enjoyable drive.  We have not been to Hawaii in 10 years since we went in 2011 for our 30th anniversary.  I wrote about that trip  here  and it's so good to be back.   We love it here.  Our trip overlapped with my sister and her husband  and also my brother and his wife.  We always go to our favorite beaches and snorkeling places, although when we first arrived, the beaches were closed because of high surf warnings so that was very exciting.  Instead, we watched the lifeguard have a busy day on the beach and then watched the surfers enjoy the rare 8 to 10 foot waves that evening while we ate dinner at a restaurant with the best view called Papa Kona .    . We also went to a seniors PGA golf tournament at  Hualalai G...

Over the holidays, I experimented with making pizza crust with my sourdough starter that I got during the first year of the pandemic.  (I guess that's how we'll refer to the pandemic now;  the first year - 2020, the second year - 2021, the third year -2022...)  I wrote about it  here  when I made our first sourdough pancakes with the sourdough starter.  When I made this pizza crust recipe, everyone LOVED this pizza crust as much as the sourdough pancakes.  The crust did not really taste "sour", interestingly.  The pizza as a whole was just very yummy.   I prefer the New York style pizza crust that is very thin and crisp.  If you like the deep dish Chicago-style pizza crust, you could probably still use this recipe for that, too.  It's just how you decided to spread it out on the pan.  This recipe describes the New York style which will make 3 medium pizzas or 2 larger pizzas.  Of course, what you prefer for your toppi...

Happy New Year, everyone. Even though we continue to deal with a raging pandemic, I'm trying to stay optimist about 2022.  I already have two trips planned which is two more than all of 2020 and 2021, not counting the weekend road trip to Portland in October that I briefly wrote about here .  The two trips I have planned in 2022 involve flying on planes so I c onsider them major trips.  We are going to Hawaii for one trip and then I'm going to Sedona, Arizona with a girlfriend for my second trip.  The above  Lucky Cat  pin is a New Year's gift to myself that I just ordered to bring me luck in the New Year and to keep reminding me to have a positive outlook for 2022.  Isn't she a cutie?  We all need a little luck these days in fighting this virus that just won't quit.  I'm hoping that if I wear this pin, it will keep me in a positive frame of mind because that is what my New Year's resolution is about this year.  This is going to be my Ye...

The star of our Christmas dinner this year was the dessert, a chocolate trifle.  Apparently, I made this once before and Nick remembered it and requested it for Christmas.  I use to make trifles a lot, before I started this blog, but I don't have any recipes here from the past 10 years which is amazing because I still make them a lot.  A trifle is a British dessert that entails three layers of a cake layer, a moisture layer (fruit/liquor, etc.) a creamy layer (custard, pudding, or fruit) and usually topped with whipped cream.  I made one for dessert this summer when my brother was visiting from out-of-town and we had everyone over for dinner.   This was a "mock trifle" without the cake layer since I was trying to stay on my  Hannah Freese, RD  diet.  You can use your imagination however you want to make one, really.  I like using my footed trifle bowl  that I've been using for years and Nick has remember it, too. It makes for a very impr...