Another Fermentation & Pickling Class

I helped with another Fermentation & Pickling Class that was sponsored by the Kohala ʻOno Food Hui. Sandra was again leading the class, with assistance from Kathy, Michelle, & me. We made the same things we made 2 weeks ago: sweet cucumber pickles, mak kim chee, & sauerkraut. But this time we used what we learned from the 1st class & were able to do things more efficiently & be done much quicker.

Marian fills her jar with mak kim chee.

My Team - (L to R) Marian, Vanessa, & Delilah filling jars with mak kim chee.

(L to R) Bill, Marian, Vanessa, & Delilah massage cabbage to make sauerkraut.

Most of the class with most of what we made.

After the previous class I had asked Sandra if she had any shiso starts or seeds or knew where I could get some. She did not. But Michelle did! She said it grew like a weed at her place! She brought me 2 small plants today; they are the red variety. As soon as I got home I planted them in the raised planter; I hope they do well there.

Foreground: ʻuala; back right corner: shiso.

The ʻuala in the front of the photo has a purple skin with purple flesh. The leaves & stems have more purple in them than the Okinawan sweet potato which has purple flesh but a beige-colored skin. I think I have the Stokes variety of purple sweet potato. I add the leaves to my smoothies for more fiber; I like that they have a higher anthocyanin content from the purple pigment in the leaves than other ʻuala varieties.

I checked on the kalo this afternoon after I planted the shiso. They are all doing well. But I need to get out there & weed out all the grass from the māla kalo. And I also need to move the Palehua so it is easier to tell them apart from their neighbors when they start crowding each other. Right now the planting order of the varieties from the inflow at the left end of the trench is: ʻEleʻele, Palehua, Moi, & Bun Long. Both ʻEleʻele & Palehua have purplish coloring on the stems; Moi & Bun Long do not. I want to change the order to ʻEleʻele, Moi, Palehu, & Bun Long so I can tell them apart easier as they fill in the māla. 

 

The Mandarin lessons on Duolingo have 2 additional lesson types that ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi does not; one is a listening exercise & the other is a speaking exercise. I'm guessing the speaking exercise is so that you pronounce those 5 vowel types correctly! Here's what the listening exercise looks like.

Tropical Storm Amanda has been downgraded to a tropical depression. It has maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour. It is moving southwesterly at about 3 mph. 

Episode 49 of the eruption of Kīlauea  is likely to take another 7 to 13 days.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kip, Marcia, Gloria, & Peter!

 

 

IASA #4-17

Helped crack macadamia nuts for Kohala Jodo Mission fund raiser.

 

More Hollywood Biology

I just started watching Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities today. Each of the lead characters discovers they have a major secret about their life & future. SPOILER ALERT - One of the male protagonists, Su Mo, finds out he is the son of the former Quanxian emperor. This is because just before the Emperor died he sealed his bloodline in to a pearl. Which Su Mo's mother knowingly ate about 7000 years later & becomes pregnant with the future emperor (Su Mo). I think this is more ridiculous than the 495-year long pregnancy since that at least has a possible biological explanation. I know of no possible way eating something can make you pregnant!

By the way, Su Mo's hair is blue! Apparently all the Quanxian merpeople have dark blue hair. The kind of dark blue that Kai wanted to dye his hair a few years ago. We both ended up doing it, but because Kai did not want to bleach his hair 1st, his did not show the blue at all. With my hair just starting to have streaks of gray, I was able to have dark blue highlights which was cool; but it would rub off on things so I did not do it again. Su Mo has inspired me to talk to Petra & see if there are better products now that won't rub off like the dye did  before. 

The pacing for Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities slowed down & devolved into a very slow romance with no swords. So I got bored & am now watching Guardians of the Ancient Oath; it has much more swords, horses, & martial arts! Yay! Except that the kid sister is kinda bratty, impulsive, & has no concept of tactical planning. I will have to see how long I can stand watching her screw things up.

I had actually started 1st with The Young Warriors & it was looking really good, but then it had technical difficulties. The screen would go black but you could still hear dialogue & other noises but could not see subtitles or the visuals. I would like to find it on some other platform & watch it.

Early this morning Civil Defense issued a Flood Advisory that included North Kohala. Don't worry, there is no flooding right where I am or in the usual places that I go to.

I have now started Section 1 Unit 6, Talk about places you visit. I am feeling more comfortable with learning Mandarin. It seems like I can understand more words when I watch whatever series I am watching.

I have not heard a thing from the Passport Application people, in spite of them taking my $179. So I stopped at the post office & got a paper form. I will need to find my birth certificate & go back in with it & the filled out form to have my photo taken. Then I wait. Not sure for how long, but I will eventually have another passport. Hopefully some time before the next text from Lori asking if I want to join them on a trip that needs more bodies! 

It rained so hard today that it even rained at Lapakahi! At 1st it seemed like it would remain at a drizzle. But then it started to really rain; the water flooded around the visitor center building again!

Front sidewalk at 11:49 am.

North sidewalk at 11:59 am.

Front sidewalk at 12:15 pm.

North sidewalk at 12:16 pm.

At 12:18 pm.

The usual flooding on south side of building.

Just after the Kona low storms came in during March & April, Jaime got a rain gauge & set it up on 1 of the posts for the goat exclusion fencing around the revegetation area. I checked the rain gauge just before I left today & found it recorded about 0.6 inches of rain as having fallen during the event we had!

 

There was a small earthquake this evening just as I was bringing Moʻo in for her dinner. I was wiping her down since she was soaked from the rain today so I did not hear the initial P-wave; all I heard was the dishes in the cabinet rattling. But it only lasted a few seconds. Neither Moʻo nor the cats got upset this time.

 

Episode 48 of the eruption at Kīlauea ended yesterday at around 1:30 pm. The ground is inflating which indicates the magma chamber is filling so another episode is likely.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Patricia, Ken, Marla, Janet, & Fatima! 

Soup, Tea, Right?

I was able to identify a lot more words in the episode of The Imperial Coroner that I watched today. For example, in the 1st clip below I was able to identify "I" (wǒ, 我)，"soup" (tāng, 汤)，& "you" (nǐ, 你). In the 2nd one I was able to identify "not" (bù, 不), "water" (shuǐ, 水), & "tea" (chá, 茶). For the last one I was able to identify "me" (wǒ, yes, it is the same as "I", 我) & "right" (duìbùduì, 对不对). And this is only after 2 weeks of practicing with Duolingo! I think listening to the Chinese TV series while practicing with Duolingo is making a big difference in the ease with which I am picking up the Mandarin as opposed to the struggle I had with ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi which has no other source for me to listen to multiple times a day. But I am still going to stick with practicing ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi because I am more likely here in Kohala to be able to have every day conversations in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi than in Mandarin. Niʻihau & Hawaiʻi Island are the islands with the most ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi speakers. During the plantation era, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was more widely spoken in the sugar plantation camps than other languages; as a result my great-grandmother spoke her native Japanese & was also fluent in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. She never learned English.

I finished watching Duolou Continent today. The end was very unfinished. SPOILER ALERT - While the Shrek Seven Devils win the tournament, Xiao Wu's identity as a Spirit Beast is revealed & Tang San is injured when the Supreme Leader tries to kill him in order to kill Xiao Wu & gain her 100,000 years of spiritual energy. But Tang San's father Tang Hou rescues them. After leading them to safety, Tang Hou explains to Xiao Wu about Tang San's lineage & how she must leave him so she can train until she is so strong she fears nothing. And then it fades to a black screen & ends... Kinda blah in my opinion.

THE END. Huh?

Then I found out there is a sequel called The Land of Warriors that was made 4 years after Duolou Continent with all new actors. I have added it to my watch list. I hope it does not disappoint me.

I have been taking Moʻo to the North Kohala Community Development Plan Advisory Group meetings since February. Today was her 5th meeting; she slept through most of it. At the very 1st one she was at, she kept checking out all the smells on the floor; earlier in the day is the Senior Club meeting & they eat their lunch in that meeting room. She slowly got used to it & now knows there is no food, just smells, so seems to ignore things.  

What a good girl!

Episode 48 of the eruption of Kīlauea started this morning at 4:40 am. It continued for about 9 hours, ending at 1:37 pm. Fountains reached as high as 650 feet.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Martin! 

IASA #4-16

Had lunch with Jen & Susan at Waimea Butcher Shop.