noelle’s posthaven

So this looks gross, but I swear, it's actually really delicious. In a brilliant moment, Dave came up with the idea of adding haupia ice cream (made with real coconut milk) to A&W Rootbeer. Unlike ice cream with real milk, the soda doesn't get all chunky. Instead, it's one smooth sip of frothy coconut. 

Oh. Em. Gee. 

When we make iced coffee from fresh brew, the problems are obvious: pour it over ice and the cubes melt so quickly that very soon you have a watery mess. Our solution is to make it like a cocktail. Shake it up with milk, raw sugar, cracked ice, and a few large cubes. It creates a nice foam too.

Coffee: Peets Sumatra

(side note: the coffee is sitting in a singapore sling glass I got from the Raffles Hotel!)

I'm helping my friend Michelle with her dissertation by spreading the word about a survey she needs to conduct to finish her PhD in clinical psychology. If you're able to take the survey (see criteria below) and complete it, you're in the running for one $100 Amazon.com gift card or four $50 Amazon.com gift cards. Please note that you must be a resident of Hawaii or California to take the survey.

Read Michelle's flier below. You can help someone out and maybe win a cool prize, too. :-) Think about all the books $100 would buy you!

It was cold and rainy this morning in Honolulu, an unusual start for the typically hot and humid September day. For the most part, seasons pass you by in Hawaii. The spring was warm. The fall is warm, The winter will be warm. It's not a complaint because for several years I lived all two seasons of Chicago (blistering summer and frostbite winter) and would easily choose the moderate climate here. Still, there are days, such as today — which for many others marks the start of fall — when I miss colorful leaves and pea coats and boots and scarves and general need for hot soup. 

But I digress. 

This cold and rainy morning, I happened upon a tweet by @BillDaley who was contemplating grilled cheese. "cold cloudy Chicago days require warm filled cheese and bacon sandwiches," he wrote.

Well, there's not much to the story after that, except for impulse and a frying pan. 

Josh came over for lunch and we prepared warm grilled cheese sandwiches using fresh-picked basil, Hamakua tomatoes, slabs of gruyere cheese, and smoked bacon (well, actually, sans bacon for vegetarian Josh).

To wash it down, we boiled some jasmine and fresh mint leaves from the yard to make tea. I stirred in a spoonful of honey to make it sweet (isn't it nice how you can say "stirred in" to make it sound easy and graceful when you actually might be thrashing around a metal spoon with stiff honey, trying to make it dissolve?) and drank the tea over ice.

A nice lunch, I'd say.