Air-Fried Brussels Sprouts

When the ATK Air Fryer Perfection book arrived I looked through it before I gave it to The Roommates for their belated Christmas present. I found a recipe for Air-Fried Brussels Sprouts; I love Brussels sprouts! So I decided to make a batch for dinner tonight. They were even better than stir frying them up with bacon! I almost ate the whole pound of Brussels sprouts, but I had texted a photo to The Roommates and offered to share so I stopped myself and put the other serving in the refrigerator. Even the 2 roommates that don't like Brussels sprouts liked them! I will have to try other recipes from the book.

The sprouts with the Lemon-Chive Dipping Sauce.

Since I did not go to Hilo to visit with Michelle & Mark today, it was going to be normal Friday; plus I was going to weed the hāpuʻu. But sitting in those awful chairs during the Kokua Market meeting last night affected my back; I was still stiff & sore when I tried to get out of bed this morning. I ended up not walking or weeding the hāpuʻu this morning. I stayed in bed and went back to sleep. Until my alarm went off. It was the one to let me know it was time to leave for my sunrise walk.

Since I was awake I watched Angela Fehr's Beginner Watercolor Bootcamp Session #2 instead; it starts at 7am here. I had watched half of Session #1 before I watched this session; I think I will watch all of the videos again completely and in order. And do the exercise she shows in the video. I like her approach to teaching. I will have to check the time of her courses and see if I can find one that is at a more convenient time. Below are some screen shots from today's lesson.

This is the reference photo being used for the bootcamp.

At the end of the painting session she answers questions that people have sent in.

I like her philosophy about painting.

Luna ate her full 100% allowance yesterday. At 9:15 pm tonight she had eaten 71%, S'mores has eaten 74%. They both seem to have figured out how to get the Wireless Whiskers to open up.

Luna sits on the cat food storage bin as she plays with the newspaper.

FYI Mark did not have a concussion but is suspected to have a contusion. He was released and was resting in their hotel today. He & Michelle return home on Sunday.

Hau'oli lā Hānau to Juan!

70th Anniversary: Thanking Volunteers & Families

Today was the big celebration thanking all the volunteers who come to make Maunalani an enjoyable place for the residents. There are over 200 people who come at various times of the year to help out. I was able to get Dad out of bed to attend the celebration which started with CNA Chin performing on Korean taiko in traditional Korean outfit. Then CNAs Marissa & Ki'ini performed a hula. After the video that was shown Dad wanted to go back to his room, so we did.

CNA Chin playing Korean taiko drums.

L to R: Marissa & Kiʻini.

The video was a short, professionally done promo about Maunalani. It was really interesting to see old photos of the construction of the original residence along with current shots of the facility and staff. There was also footage showing the facility from the air; I'm not sure if that was done by drone or by plane. Some of the shots were in a calendar that was given out.

The main entrance to Maunalani.

Popokilani's 15 minutes of fame!

An aerial view from a few years ago.

On my drive up to do my sunrise walk I saw Mary & Noe on their way back home; they must have started quite early this morning. During my walk I saw Mike & Dulci with Laure, Champ, & Molly just starting their walk. Later I saw Dean at the bottom of Lurline. I didn't see any other regulars while walking or during my cool down stretches.

Nineteen minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Eight minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Kai called while I was doing my cool down stretches. The car donation folks picked up the Loyale. Dan never called Kai to check out the car even after I left a message saying he needed to get to it before the car donation people contacted us again. He had almost 2 weeks but he never initiated any contact about the Loyale.

I have misplaced my water bottle again, its the nice metal one Suzanne gave me. I thought I had left it either in Restroom #1 or at the Reception Desk at Maunalani yesterday afternoon as I was on my way out to the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi class but I could not find it at either place. I later found out it was found at the reception desk and was placed in the staff break room. But someone moved it and they are on the look out for it.

Dad appeared to be completely done with breakfast by the time I arrived at his room at about 8:30. They brought his breakfast a lot earlier today. Or maybe it is me that is running late this morning? It turns out there was a staffing shortage so Dad's breakfast arrived at near 10 so I skipped my mid-morning walk. He ate all his fried egg sandwich, papaya, and banana. He drank 240 ml cranberry juice but no water.

Lunch today was Spaghetti and meat sauce, Italian mix vegetables, Tossed salad, Fresh honeydew cubes, and Cream of broccoli soup; obviously it was not honeydew for dessert. Even though he had a late breakfast, Dad ate all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 2 pieces of cake He drank 240 ml orange juice but no water.

The cup of water is because I couldn't find my water bottle.

I left after Dad fell asleep after the celebration and found that there was a small gathering with light refreshments after the celebration. I had seen Mrs. Kunisaki earlier so I went and sat with her to chat for a while; her husband passed away in November. Both she and her daughter are adjusting to their loss. We both enjoyed the shrimp scampi dip and she was able to get the recipe from Tyler; he'll give me a copy when I see him later. It might become the replacement for the hot crab dip that I would take to potlucks; I have been unable to find the seasoning mix that I used to make the crab dip.

The cats seem to be figuring out how to get in to the Wireless Whiskers feeder. Luna has been eating enough so that the Wireless Whiskers has not been giving an Underfeed Alert for her for several days. S'mores is still getting an Underfeed Alert. But this afternoon I saw her eating on her own.


There was a meeting of Kokua Market members this evening to discuss whether to keep the co-op open. According to the bylaws, the board must give 70 days notice if they are going to close the co-op; so every 70 days or so there is a meeting for an update. If things begin to look like there is no hope, then they will take a vote on whether to close the co-op. Tonight's meeting, however, was promising. Weekly sales have gone up, partly due to increases in number of shoppers and amounts people are buying. With a weekly $2/basket increase in sales at the current number of shoppers they will be able to sustain a level that will enable them to get a $10,000 grant. Which will help them do other things to increase sales. So the next 70 days look promising.

My plan was to head over to Curtis' house after the meeting and spend the night there. The next morning he would drop me off at the airport to catch a flight to Hilo to meet my friend Michelle & her husband Mark, who are visiting from the Seattle area, and spend the day with them. While I was at the meeting I got a text from Michelle; Mark had slipped and fallen, hitting the back of his head. He was in the ER with vision problems; awaiting an MRI. They needed to cancel our visit. Fortunately, Hawaiian's policy is that (since I do not buy trip insurance) I have up to 1 year to rebook a flight and the fee I paid will be credited to the new flight; I also have to pay a small flight change fee. Since I fly often it is not a big deal.

Since I got back late, I did not do any art homework tonight. I had intended to finish watching Angela Fehr's video of yesterday's Beginner Watercolor Bootcamp; I started it earlier in the day and got about half way through before I had to stop.

Still not in ketogenesis. Although I can see a hint of pink by the end of the day, I think for me the key may be walking at least 3 miles a day along with eating no more than 25 g of carbs each day, in order to get me strongly in to ketogenesis.

At 6:26 am, upon waking.

At 4:08 pm.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jennie!

ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi

I went to the free Hawaiian classes being given at the University of Hawaiʻi. Classes actually started last week Wednesday but I was busy with the air conditioner installation; I watched the Facebook Live video of last week's lesson. The link to today's lesson is here. Classes are streamed live on Facebook via the KTUH page so you could join me in classes from wherever you are! Classes continue through the quarter every Wednesday and end in early May. The classes are subsidized by the Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi so that they could be offered to the public for free. 

Reviewing part of last week's lesson.

This week's lesson.

Paige & Ākea make the lessons fun!

Practice for todayʻs lesson.

By the way, the free Hawaiian classes are now $40. For me. If you have to park on campus at the UH, be careful; there are not a whole lot of visitor parking slots. I was directed to the Visitors Lot, I went around the circle and saw a slot down the lane a couple spaces away. Turns out not every space in the visitors lots are for visitors, only the ones painted with dark green lines are but there are no signs that tell you that; which are not that easy to see on the asphalt. It seems like they do not like to have visitors; I saw maybe 100 spaces in 4 lots. And about half of those were behind the Kennedy Theater for large events. One lot only had 12 spaces for visitors. (I wandered around campus trying to figure out where I could safely park next week.) Oh, and you still have to pay to park.

Electric cars park for free!

But I also had positive experience meeting other students. The woman sitting to my right was from Taiwan, the one sitting behind me was from Germany, and the one sitting to my left was from Kaimukī; in fact, she lives about 15 blocks away! But the coolest person I met was Healani, a kupuna from Mililani. She never learned Hawaiian even though she went to Kamehameha School because when she attended in the 1950's girls were not allowed to learn to speak Hawaiian or do the hula; only the boys were allowed. So now she is learning Hawaiian. Next week her grandson will be bringing her to class; they will become practice buddies. I gave her the larger map I got from Public Safety because it showed the visitor lots more clearly than the small one she had; her grandson has never been to campus before and she was concerned they might not be able to find the visitor lot. I circled the 2 closest to the Campus Center where the classes are held in red for them. (I was at Public Safety because I saw a sign for their office and I thought that might be where I needed to go to pay the ticket. Not. I needed to go to Commuter Services, which was in the building next to where I had been parked, but there were no signs letting me know that. Its probably why I got the ticket even though I was only there for an hour; I was too close to be ignored.)

I will be restarting my 'Olelō Hawaiʻi practice on DuoLingo; the last time I did anything was in March last year. I started in October 2018 when they first launched it on DuoLingo and kept it up for about 6 months. Then life got in the way. I think using DuoLingo along with the ʻOlelō Hawaiʻi classes with a live teacher will help me retain it better than I did with DuoLingo alone.

During the drive up for my sunrise walk I saw Kavita on her way back down. On my walk I saw Mike & Dulci with Laure, Champ, & Molly as they started their walk. As I came around the corner, Ken was just leaving his house with Toto & Chico; they were earlier than usual. Since I was just starting my walk we split up at Sierra, I continued down the hill while they went around the circle. I saw LaVie near the park; later I saw her playing with Bailey in her yard. I also saw Dean both on his way up the hill, then back down. I saw Lena returning with the fox terriers Keko, Kala (short hair), & Poni (purple collar). I also saw Matthew returning from walking Bo Derek; he lives next door to the fox terriers. As I was near Wendy's house I saw a several ʻEhakō and zebra doves, they looked like they were pecking at a flattened African snail. Suddenly crumbs came flying out from between the parked cars! It turns out Bruce was on the other side, tossing crumbs to the birds!

Seventeen minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Seven minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Ten minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

They removed the damaged tree.

LaVie was telling me about the new 6-week old puppy her landlords just got; once it has all its shots she will also be taking it for walks. It's a poodle-border collie cross.

Dad was eating breakfast in bed this morning. He ate all of his fried egg sandwich, papaya, and banana. He drank 240 ml of cranberry juice but no water.

After I put on my sunscreen and changed in to my walking clothes I went to find Judy; but she wasn't able to walk this morning because she was helping her husband. So I walked by myself, like I normally do. I have been noticing that they have been painting the center stripes on the parts of the road that have been repaved; but I had not actually seen anyone working on it until today.

The Cattle Egret was watching the road striping work, too.

Lunch today was Kalua pork with cabbage, Steamed rice, Tossed salad, Bread Pudding, and Chicken gumbo soup. Dad ate all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 2 pieces of bread pudding. He drank 240 ml cranberry juice but no water.


Before I left for the ʻOlelō Hawaiʻi class, I used the bathroom. It was the first time I had been in Restroom #1 for a few days; there was a new privacy curtain. It reminded me of a slime mold.

Physarum polycephalum. (Screen shot from www.micropia.nl)

Because I went to the ʻOlelō Hawaiʻi class, then drove around looking for the parking areas and talking to Aneke (Aunty) Healani, I did not do any art homework tonight. But tomorrow I start the Watercolor Beginners webinar by Angela Fehr!



Still not in ketogenesis.

At 6:23 am; upon waking.

At 8:05 am; after sunrise walk.

At 5:30 pm; before dinner.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to John, Maggie, & Kathy!