Trick or Treat!

We went to Anita & Gordon's house for Halloween this year. Normally Curtis & Lori host the gathering for the 4 families, but their garage is full of stuff from the family room while they remodel. The biggest surprise was that Dad went with me! Up until lunch he was ready to go, then he said he was not feeling well. But after I finished baking I went to take a shower. When I came out he was sitting in the family room; he asked what time we needed to get n the car to go! Here's Anita with one of the kids that came to trick or treat.

Were you able to guess what special Halloween treats I was making? For yesterday's special treat if you guessed Deviled Eggs you were partially correct. As promised here are photos of the Halloween items I made for the get together, starting with the Devil Chicks!

Clockwise from right: empty whites, Ziploc bag with deviled egg filling, filled egg white, slivered fresh pimento, slivered carrot, coarse ground black pepper, & egg white tops.

If you decide to do this here are a few tips. To get the yolk out, cut the large end off about 1/4" below the end; scoop out the yolk. Cut off the pointy end as close to the yolk cavity as possible without opening the cavity to make a flat base & set aside (it will be used as the shell on top of the chick's head); this will help the chick stand upright. If you don't have a pastry bag, use a Ziploc bag and cut one corner off; pipe the egg filling in to the white until it oozes out the top of the white, add a smaller round dab for the head. Finely sliver the carrot to make beaks; the pimentos (red bell peppers) will become the devil horns. Coarsely grind a little black pepper for eyes; use a toothpick to put them in place. Top off with the reserved pieces from the pointy end of the egg. They were a hit! I will continue making them.

A flock of devil chicks!

The remains became egg salad for sandwiches.

The 2nd item I made was String Cheese Broomsticks. I found this recipe on the Internet, but I altered it slightly. They tied chives at the top of the cheese so it would look like the binding to keep the "straw" attached to the "broomstick". We only have flat-leaved chives aka garlic chives aka Chinese chives aka gau tsoi. They have a much stronger flavor and pungent garlic-y odor, so I decided to pass on them.While these are really easy to make, they may be more appropriate for a kid's party finger food than a dinner.


The final thing I made was Screaming Bread. When I first saw these I could not find a recipe, just photos, especially on Pinterest. (I originally tried looking for them as Screaming Worms, but that got me hits on a music group & a comic.) My friend Stephanie figured out how they made them. Here on tips for making them. 

Here are the ingredients and forms I used.

I found that cutting the dough in to 12 strips then rolling them in to a strand about 3/8" thick works best. It's holds up better to handling than just wrapping the flattened dough. The flattened dough makes a critter that looks like a screaming slug, while using the strand looks like a screaming snail or worm. FYI - I skipped the hands shown in the Pinterest photos. They looked like too much work and that they would burn easier.

The dough sheet is unscored so it can be cut into any number of pieces.

Here are what the pre-baked pieces look. I forgot to grease the cream horn mold on the far right. Greasing makes it less likely to stick. If it does get stuck, the strands are sturdier than the flattened dough.


I used ready-made candy eyeballs that I stuck on with gel decorating icing from a tube.

Screaming slugs! I broke 3 of them.

Screaming snails! I only broke one of them.

I heated up the Lil Smokies and added them just before putting them out on the table so that they wouldn't get soggy. they were a hit! I'll make them again for the next Halloween get together.


We were about 45 minutes late due to the horrible traffic. So there was already a lot of food there when we arrived. But most was just regular food, not fun looking food like these.

Looking down the table. Hot dogs and chili in the background.

L to R & front to back: Chili; empty Screaming Bread container, noodles, Fluffy Dinner Rolls; Screaming Bread, cilantro.

L to R, front to back: Shoyu Pork, vegetable tray, String Cheese Broomsticks, Lumpia.

L to R, front to back: Chef Salad, Lumpia with Sweet Chili Sauce; mixed sushi in front & back.

L to R, front to back: Devil Chicks, Lemon Bars, Pumpkin Crunch, cupcakes.

Today was also a Tuesday, so Curtis & I went to breakfast this morning. We went to Joe's Grill Express; its in a little strip mall along with 3 other places that serve breakfast and one that is open for lunch & dinner. We both has the Joe's Special Omelet.

The only menu is on the wall.

Joe's Special Omelet.

Here are their Halloween decorations; one of the servers was dressed as a Minion.

When I returned home I went to pick oranges for Lori; she wanted 4. I harvested 22 today! (Total harvest around 40.) So I gave some to the neighbors and also bagged some up to share with the 3 other families that collaborate on the Halloween dinner & candy handout.


Before I started making the Screaming Bread, I was in the computer room going through the mail, and a screw fell out of the chair I was sitting on. Last week I had found a similar screw but didn't know where it came from; now I'm glad I didn't throw it away! The chair feels much more stable now!

The missing screws.

The tick total is now 80. I found more today; they were much higher up the wall than they usually go. When ticks are questing they go to a height that is most likely to allow them to attach to their usual hosts body; these were going for elephants or giraffes! I think it is because they are trying to get away from the spray I am using. Before the spray they were between 2" and 12" above the floor.

Happy Birthday to Dean, Sandra, Geoffrey, & Sho! Happy 8th Anniversary to Judy & Keith!

Halloween Ticks!

Okay, so what's scarier for Halloween than wondering whether you can wipe out all the ticks in your house? Not much. I found 3 more ticks while cleaning in the back of the toilet; now total = 51. After I cleaned behind the toilet, I sprayed everything down with the Vet's Best Flea + Tick Home Spray for Cats. With all that peppermint oil and eugenol the bathroom now smells like Christmas!

This is what the area behind the toilet looked like before the deep clean.

After cleaning as far as I could reach.

I worked on 3 of the things I am taking for Halloween dinner tomorrow. One is my usual Whole Wheat Fluffy Dinner Rolls adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe. The other 2 are special Halloween-themed dishes. Here are the ingredients for the one I did this afternoon; can you guess what it will be? Final photos will be in the Halloween post! (I texted a photo to some of you, so, shhhhhh! Don't tell!)


Here are the ingredients for the other things I made tonight for Halloween. More photos tomorrow night.

And here's what I will be using tomorrow for the last thing I will be making for Halloween. Photos tomorrow night!


Happy Birthday to Kai Chan!

Let the Tick Wars Begin!

Very small life forms & I seem to frequently be doing battle. Today it is the ticks. I went to Petco to check out what they had available to de-tick the bathroom. So many choices.

I told Dave what happened & asked for a recommendation. I left with this Vet's Best Flea + Tick Home Spray for Cats; Dave said if it didn't work to bring it back for a full refund. The on-line reviews are mixed; people either love it or hate it.

As I was leaving Petco a woman came up to me; it was cousin Mona! She was there as a volunteer with the Hawaiian Humane Society at a pet adoption event. The dog she was assigned to had been adopted so she was now just helping with the other animals. I spent about half an hour talking with her ... and avoiding the tick removal work ahead of me.

I have been keeping the door closed to keep the cats out and the light on to keep the ticks in that bathroom. (Ticks will move towards light if they are in a dark place.) I go in every so often so there is the smell of a potential food source in there. I have cleaned out the easy to reach places. Now I need to get to the part behind the toilet. It can most effectively be reached from inside the shower. The nice thing about ticks is that, unlike fleas, they don't home in on you & start moving towards you. They sit at the top of a blade of grass or leaf on a shrub or the edge of the shower stall with 2 of their front legs raised up, waiting for something to brush against them. And in an environment where almost everything is light colored they are extremely easy to spot. I haven't found any new ticks since Friday, but I haven't completed the deep clean of the bathroom yet.

From the shower, looking at the area behind the toilet.

On a more positive note, I decided to check out some of the other items at Kokua Market. I picked up a box of Milkadamia today; it is basically macadamia nut milk. Upon further reading, I found that although the macadamia nuts are sustainably grown, Milkadamia also has a large carbon footprint. The nuts are grown in Australia, shipped to Illinois for processing, then shipped here. I guess I had been hoping that it was produced here. And like the other nut-based non-dairy milk alternatives it has a relatively low amount of protein per 8 ounce serving, 1 gram. In comparison, the Ripple pea milk has 8 grams, most soy milk has 7 grams, & whole cow's milk has 8 grams. If I was just looking for something to put on my cereal it would be okay, but I am trying to find a source of protein to use before I go on my morning walk so the higher protein level is important.

I also got a bag of Lotus Foods' arare, it's made with heirloom brown rice and black rice. I thought it would be a safe carbon footprint purchase since there is a lot of arare made in the US. But no, while it distributed by a California company, it is a product of Thailand; it's probably the black rice. I guess if I read the name more closely, Sweet & Savory Thai Arare Rice Crackers, I would have seen that. But it is sustainably grown in southeast Asia using the More Crop Per Drop practices and also supports women growers. Other positives are that it is made with gluten-free soy sauce & has no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. 

This is what they look like out of the bag. This is one serving (40 pieces) = 120 calories.

Chibi had gotten very chummy with Dad. Usually she sleeps on the corner of his bed. But over the last week or so she has been spending more time snuggling up to Dad.

Shot of the monitor showing Chibi snuggling up to Dad.

Happy Birthday to Rep. McCoy & cousin Aimee!

WARNING! Ticks!

WARNING! There will be photos of ticks later in this post. I know for some people the ticks will be worse than the blood photos that I have posted before. So I will start with food. And give you another warning before the tick photos.

I feed Dad things he likes and that he can "chew" well enough to eat. For my meals I search through the freezer for leftovers that Dad can't or won't eat. There is one shelf in the freezer that has items for Sarah (vegetarian) & David (gluten-free). I checked the "Best by" dates and found that the vegetarian burritos from Sweet Earth Natural Foods needed to be eaten; one had a "Best by" date of 02/16/2017! I had that Curry Tiger Burrito for lunch today.


The flavor was a little mild, but that might be because it is 8 months past the "Best by" date; the oils in many spices and herbs lose their flavor when frozen too long. The tortilla broke up a little after being heated, again I think that was because of its age. The color of the peas in the filling did not match the photo on the wrapper; that's par for most frozen vegetables. Overall, I would try this again but make sure I eat it before the "Best by" date.


I got a call from Sam this afternoon. She is the wildlife rehab manager that will be leading the Hawai'i Wildlife Center's O'ahu Seabird Response Project that will be starting up in November. She will be staying with us for the 3 weeks of the project; we were discussing living arrangements & how much I can be involved with the project. I am really looking forward to it!

Xander went in for his blood glucose test this morning; he stays for the whole day while they draw blood every couple hours and test his blood glucose levels. His prednisolone dosage was changed a couple weeks ago so they wanted to see if that affected his blood glucose level. But he wouldn't eat last week when he was being boarded so they couldn't test him. Today he was fine. Dr. Belcher said his levels were looking better so he reduced the evening insulin level to 5 units; the morning dose is also 5 units. Dr. Belcher said that Xander's pancreas function levels are now back to normal! So we can continue tapering off the prednisolone but need to watch for his asthma.

I didn't hear any gunshots today. We are probably too far away from where they were filming that Hawaii Five-O episode. I also didn't go past that area today so don't really know what they were doing. I guess I'll just have to watch that January 5th episode to see if I can spot the house they are using; I wonder if it is anyone I know? (I met 4 people who live in that area when I was looking for Momo.)

WARNING! Tick photos at the end of this paragraph! Last night when I went to take a shower I noticed some dark spots along the edge of the shower pan. I looked closer and discovered it was ticks! I was hoping to avoid this. When Curtis & Lori went to Las Vegas, I took care of Pepper; she was here for about 10 days. While she was here they discovered that Salty had ticks, a lot of ticks.

It was wishful thinking that this was all there were.

In just a few minutes I found these 15 ticks. That was enough scary stuff for the night. I used the other shower.

This morning I found more ticks in the part of the shower pan by the toilet. I got a bunch more ticks, now I have a total of 48!

The ticks are the fat, round ones by the door track. The little black ones at the bottom are dead ants.

SCARY! There are 48 now. (And 1 ant.) 

When I went to pick Xander up I talked to Dr. Belcher about the ticks. He said Bravecto is the only topical treatment for cats that works against ticks. I treated Shiro & Chibi as soon as I got home. (And found a tick on Shiro's tail as I was doing it! Fortunately it had not latched on to his skin yet.) I will have to wait until the 18th to treat Xander since he was treated with Advantage when he was boarded. And I will then have to treat them for a year! Dr. Belcher said ticks can hide and survive for up to a year without eating! SCARY!

Happy Birthday to Timothy!

Getting Ready for Halloween

This year Anita & Gordon will be hosting the Halloween party since Curtis & Lori's garage is getting filled with things from their family room & kitchen in preparation for the interior remodel work. I bought all the supplies for what I am going to make for the party. I am making dinner rolls and 3 Halloween-specific items. Can you guess what they are by looking at these ingredients?


Dad went to see Dr. Zenker today about the black spot on his back. We wanted to get it checked out because he has a history of squamous cell cancer of the skin. It turned out to be a sebaceous cyst with a blackhead. Dr. Zenker did a once over to check him for other potential problems; she only found more sebaceous cysts. Because of his history Dr. Zenker wants Dad to see her once a year for a skin exam. Because their appointments get booked out so fast I have to call in April to get an appointment for October!


I am now on the e-mail list for the Neighborhood Security Watch for our area. Last night I got one about a Hawaii Five-O series shoot that will be taking place later this week; it is about a block away. Today was move-in day; when I drove past it was quiet, only barricades saying "No Parking". Tomorrow is when they will be filming. It is supposed to air on January 5th.

I tried a new type of non-dairy cheese substitute at Kokua Market called Chao; its made from a Vietnamese style of tofu called chao that is made with coconut & soy. I really like the taste and texture; its like real cheese slices! The problem is it has a massive carbon footprint; the chao is made in Taiwan, then shipped to Greece where it is made in to the "cheese", then it goes to Seattle for distribution, and finally it's shipped here. I'll have to see what other non-dairy alternatives are available at Kokua.


I checked out the non-dairy beverage alternatives; I wanted to see how Kokua Market compared to the options at Takata Store. Takata had quinoa milk which Kokua does not; but Kokua has macadamia milk that Takata does not. Everything else is the same. I should try the ones I haven't tried before.

The non-dairy beverages are right next to the nut butters. They have a lot of nut butters. Including powdered peanut butter. Apparently you mix the powdered peanut butter with water so that it has fewer calories. I think it would also be useful for smoothies. I wonder how long it would take me to buy each one & use it until it is gone, then move on to the next one?


Happy Birthday to Chris & Prime!

Pueo, Pueo, Who's Got the Pueo?

I picked up a pueo from Feather & Fur Animal Hospital today. I dropped it off at Hawaiian Air Cargo, for transport to Kona and the Hawai'i Wildlife Center. Three hours later I got a text saying it was not on the flight & asking if anything weird happened when I dropped it off. I recalled that the air cargo person filling out the paperwork mentioned something about flight 500, I corrected her & said I was told the pueo was going on flight 548. I checked the paperwork and found it said flight 500! I checked the website & found that flight 500 is from Lihue to Kona! I relayed the info to the HWC. About an hour later they found the pueo, it was now on its way to Kona.

Asio flammeus sandwichensis.

This morning I went in for a physical for the new insurance policy that Harold set up for me. It will cover long-term care if I need it. If I don't, it converts to a regular life insurance policy. I had to answer the standard health questionnaire, give a urine and blood sample, and take an EKG.

Here's the printout from my EKG.

On the way back I passed by the bus shelter that was hit by a tree on Monday night; they were removing tree parts & repairing the shelter. Monday was when we had the big rain with thunder & lightning. There was also some wind; a tree was uprooted and fell, hitting the bus shelter. Three people got out without injuries but one woman was seriously injured.

The shelter is behind the truck on the left.

It was overcast for much of the day, I spent a lot of time out with the plants. I started with the pakalana; it had been a couple of weeks since I had tied up the vines. I found a flower cluster forming! I should have my first pakalana flowers in a week or so! Previously when I had a vine I would collect the flowers in a jar in the refrigerator until I had enough to make a one strand lei; usually pakalana is made as a 3-strand lei but I could never get enough flowers.

Telosma cordata.

I noticed the papayas in the back yard now had multiple flowers at each leaf node. But no fruits. The flowers look like hermaphroditic flowers but I am not getting any fruit. I guess I will have to dissect a flower to find out for sure what they are. (None of the plants are male; their flowers are clustered at the end of a long stalk.)

Carica papaya.

I also checked on the orange tree. I have harvested about 2 dozen oranges already. And there are probably another several dozen on the tree! The tree is about 5 feet tall so its really easy to harvest the fruit.

Citrus x sinensis.

When I went to check the mail I noticed that one of the olena plants is blooming. I think it will be several years before there will be enough olena to start harvesting roots.

Curcuma longa, syn. C. domestica.

I also found that the volunteer papaya in the front yard is dead; it was alive before I went to the Big Island. I'm not sure why it died since it is getting watered regularly. I will plant the mountain apple in its spot. I pulled out the unknown viney thing; it wasn't producing anything.


As I was going back to the house I smelled a very sweet fragrance. It turned out to be the pomelo tree with new flowers!

Citrus maxima.

Happy Birthday to Diane!