Taste of Maui

So, Anne was telling me several weeks ago that they had had a "Taste of Maui" night, reliving our vacation (which you can read about here, here, and here) for family and friends through dinner and slide show, and I had to steal her idea.  Last night we had our own Taste of Maui night, thanks to her suggestions, and it was so yummy.  It was also fun to spend time with Echo and her family, and pretend we were eating in the tropics after a cooooldd day with snow! 

If you're tired of soups and hot cocoa, or just wanting a taste of Hawaiian culture, here are the recipes we made.  (I promise, next time I'll remember to get the camera out.  I am so out of the habit of taking pictures, it's sad!)

Kalua Pork
I actually only cooked this for about 8-8.5 hours.  It tasted perfect, though, just like what we had on Maui! 

Chicken Katsu with Katsu Sauce
Okay, so this is Japanese, but they serve it at Da Kitchen and Honolulu Grill, and because it's basically chicken nuggets with a fancy sauce, my kids (and I) like it. 

We also had sticky rice, macaroni salad (not nearly as good as Honolulu Grill's, though, you should try it...) and fresh pineapple.  Yum! 

And for dessert, haystacks.  I found lots of recipes online for these, but I kind of made up my own (Anne gave me the inspiration, though!), and they turned out pretty yummy.  I took a half a bag of sweetened coconut flakes, spread them on a baking sheet in an even, thin layer, then carefully toasted them under the broiler (I actually burned some--this only takes about a minute!).  Then I melted a bag of chocolate chips and a little less than a half a bag of butterscotch chips in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.  I stirred it all together, and added a couple of handfuls of chow mein noodles (those little crunchies, those are chow mein noodles, right?).  Next time I'll add some peanuts or something for a little more substance and crunch. 
Stay tuned for some more yummy recipes, and a new favorite source of recipes, later in the week!