Tasty Tuesday + May Day + Homesick

Happy May Day everyone!  May 1st is known as May Day in Hawaii.  It is on this day that we honor the island culture and the beauty of spring by wearing leis and celebrating through dance and song.



A lei (pronounced lay) is a flower garland.  Leis are handmade with aloha (love), and given to loved ones on special occasions such as birthdays, graduation, congratulating, welcoming an arrival, or as a token of affection for someone departing the islands.

Back in my hana bada days (ha-nah bah-dah, meaning boogers - hana bada days refers to younger years when you couldn't wipe your nose properly.  i.e., snot-nosed kid), I remember how big of a deal May Day was.  All the elementary schools on island would put on a May Fest performance and we would also have a May Day court.  The May Day court consisted of a King and Queen, as well as Princes and Princesses to represent each Hawaiian island.  They would all perform a traditional hula to start the ceremony and then sit on a stage and overlook the rest of the performances.

Unfortunately I was never on the May Day court, but I still enjoyed the festivities every time.  It was always such a huge deal.  Parents, Grandparents, Uncles, Aunties, and other family members would take off from work all day to watch their kids performances.  There would be balloons, flowers, leis (of course), and lots of picture taking!  I had always dreamed of watching my own children partake in the May Day festivities, but sadly that day has yet to come since we don't live on island anymore (super sad face).

Anyway, in honor of May Day, here's a recipe for one of my FAVORITE desserts, Macadamia Nut Cream Pie.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/3 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• Dash salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 5 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 egg whites
• 1 9-inch baking pie shell
• 1 cup heavy cream, sweetened and whipped, or use a container of real whipped cream in a can

Directions:

1.  In a saucepan combine 1 cup of the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, 1/4 cup of the nuts, the salt and the vanilla; scald.

2.  Mix the remaining 1/3 cup milk with egg and cornstarch.

3.  Thoroughly stir some of the hot mixture into the egg mixture; return all to saucepan. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and then cool for 1 hour.

4.  Beat egg whites until soft peaks form then fold carefully into cooled mixture.

5.  Pour into pie shell and chill. Before serving top with sweetened whipped cream or can of whipped cream and remaining 1/4 cup nuts.

Tell me that doesn't look delicious and I'll tell you you're lying.  I could eat this for days.  Fo' Dayyyzzz.  It's a pretty light dessert so no need to worry about getting Kanaks (as in Kanack Attack, see post here) afterwards.

So anyway, obviously I'm totally missing home right now.  I miss my family, my friends, and the atmosphere.  If it were up to me, we'd all go back in a heartbeat - but that's not happening any time soon.  Sure my family is there, but we'd be going back with basically nothing.  No house of our own, no car, no jobs, etc.  As much as I'd love for my kids to grow up there along with all my friends and their kids, it would be extremely hard for us to give them a good quality life by having to start from scratch.  Maybe someday when the economy gets a little better and our bank accounts get a little bigger we'll be able to go back.  But for now we'll just have to wait.




Btw, every time I watch this video or sing this song I start to cry.  So yes, my eyes are tearing right now.

So what about you?  Do you still live where you grew up?  Do you miss home, or are you glad you left?

Oh, and before I forget, please vote for my newest blogging buddy Devon!  She is aspiring to become a professional surfer by joining the Roxy team so please vote for her HERE to make her dream come true!  You can vote once a day, every day until May 8th, so please spread the word!!