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New Year Fireworks Around the World – Happy New Year!!!

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Happy New Year. May 2010 be so much better than this past year. Here are some images of celebrations throughout the World. We will update this post with current fireworks displays for 2010 beginning with Sydney who goes all out every time as being one of the first celebrants of the New Year. Usher on 2010!    By the way did you know that Fireworks were invented accidentally 2000 years ago by a chinese cook during the Song Dynasty and were fires used for New Years Celebrations to scare away evil spirits!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eu3WMylhFY]
Sydney Australlia the 1st to go!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG1RSxKk3YU]

Taipei on Tallest Building in the World!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQYdQHDQOws]

Hong Kong!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDjxJ96Y_LY]

Dubai!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwIFykEb5bU]

London!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_h4ibL4ZH4]

New York City

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdTRaso6wLo]
Honolulu!


‘Blue Latitudes’: Adventuring In The Pacific

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How much do we really know about Captain Cook?  What school has taught us might be that
he was an English Explorer, or that he was killed in Hawaii.
  Why should we care?  I was blissfully unaware of so many of
his contributions to the knowledge of the world and its peoples and his great
skills as a map maker, navigator, diplomat, envoy, explorer and sailor.
  Three multi-year voyages throughout the
Pacifc Ocean and around the world tours bringing him home to England, one
starts to realize that this man, Captain James Cook, was nothing short of
extraordinary when reading Pulitzer Prize winning author 
Tony Horwitz’s book.


After visiting Alaska and seeing his stamp on the
place,
  Captain Cook, Hawaii, as
well as sailing through Tahiti on 
The Paul Gauguin, one realizes that to be the
first visitor to these locales in the 18
th century was an astounding
accomplishment.
  I became
fascinated to learn more about him.
 
What Tony Horwitz does in Blue Latitudes, is to retrace many of Cook’s
footsteps with an Australian sidekick and at times a historian or two,
interspersing the history with real time experiences, centuries later.
 

Trying to piece together the life and voyages of one of the
greatest adventurers of all time, one realizes what an extraordinary impact
this man had on the world as we know it.
 
Merely look at the styles and trends in art and design in the 18th
century in England, their awareness of Polynesia, and tropical flora and
fauna….this all came from Cooks voyages

This humorous and entertaining read is chock full of
history, past and current cultural phenomenon and a big dose of reality that we
know so little about such an extraordinary and intrepid explorer.
  Kudos to Tony Horwitz, this book was
just a joy to read.

Inadvertently, we have traced Cooks steps on three separate trips, one to Tahiti on The Paul Gauguin, in Hawaii snorkeling in the very bay where he was killed, and in Alaska where Cook had some of his greatest weather and navigational challenges.  We have been so lucky to see these places in our lifetime, it is just amazing to think what it must have been like to be the very first European visitor to most of the places Cook explored in the 1700′s.  
Cook’s Cove Moorea, Tahiti
The Paul Gauguin off of Moorea in the Tahitian Islands
The Big Island, Hawaii, Kealakekua Bay the place of Cook’s Demise
We like the Four Season’s Hualalai
The rocks where Cook was murdered

Anchorage, Alaska on the Cook Inlet
Winterlake and Winterlake Lodge  a short Float Plane Flight from Anchorage
The mode of transport around the environs of the Winterlake Lodge is Helicopter
The only way in to Winterlake Lodge is via Float Plane or Ski Plane 
File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg

Holiday Gift Idea: The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of the Southwest

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Two wonderful books by Joan Tapper with Photographs by Nik Wheeler.  If you love travel, design and great photography these books are a visual travel adventure and make great coffee table books!  
The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of the Southwest at Amazon
“From pueblos to Victorian storefronts to ski resorts: a vision of the southwest that evokes both America’s frontier heritage and the expansive vistas of its future” Nik Wheeler’s photo essays include Route 66, Native American Culture, The Southwest and the Movies. From Thames & Hudson.

The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of California at Amazon

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Kane Hula – Male Hula Dance

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Male Hula Dancer

Hula dancing evolved from the ancient Hawaiian dancers who performed the dance as part of religious ritual.  It was a uniquely Hawaiian dance, unlike other styles of dance that were imported from other Pacific Islands.  Performed by both men and women, the Hula told the story of people, places and nature.  The Hawaiian culture did not have a written language and all of their history has been passed down from generation to generation through song, dance and ‘talk story’. The Hula is a celebrated art form that thanks to King Kalakaua, was resurrected from near extinction in the 1800′s as missionaries forbade native islanders from performing this ‘devilish’ dance.  Each year, the Merrie Monarch festival in Hilo on the Big island of Hawai’i, is the focal point and catalyst that supports and draws together an extensive network of instructional hula studios, hula masters, instructors, researchers, professors of Hawaiian studies and students of all ages who are committed to the perpetuation and advancement of the Hawaiian history and culture of dance.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_pNMveyMeg]

“Hula is the Language of the Heart and therefore the Heartbeat of the Hawaiian People” from 

Crazy for Coconut ! Halekulani Coconut Cake with Chocolate Sauce

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We are going to the Halekulani Hotel tonight to see  Kanoe Miller Hula Dance at House Without a Key. Then we are having the Hotel’s famous COCONUT CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE!!!!  Tomorrow I’ll be climbing Koko Crater for a butt burner, but it will be worth it. I called the hotel and Chef gave us the recipe, included below.

I found this great article by the by the New York Times 36 Hours in Honolulu and this beautiful photo of Kanoe MIller by Cory Lum for the New York Times…

HALEKULANI COCONUT CAKE 
with Chocolate Sauce


8 Servings


INGREDIENTS AND METHOD FOR THE SPONGE CAKE:
3/4 cup Cake flour
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1 pinch Salt
2 Tbsp Salad oil
1 each Egg, large, whole
2 Tbsp Water
4 each Egg whites
1/4 cup Sugar
1 pinch Cream of tartar


- Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, sift together the cake flour, 1/3 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Reserve.
- In a separate bowl, combine salad oil, whole egg and water. Add to sifted ingredients to form a batter, and mix until a smooth consistency is obtained.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and continue to whip until a stiff meringue is formed.
- Fold meringue into the batter and mix thoroughly.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased 9″ spring form pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan, cool upside down on a cooling rack.


INGREDIENTS AND METHOD FOR THE PASTRY CREAM:
1 1/2 cups Milk
1 each Vanilla bean, split in half
1/3 cup Sugar
3 tbsp Flour
4 each Egg yolks
1 1/4 cups Coconut flakes


Method:
- Bring the milk and the split vanilla bean to a boil. Reserve and let cool.
- In a mixing bowl combine the sugar, flour and egg yolks, whip together.
- Remove the vanilla bean from the cooled milk and add 1/3 of the milk to the egg mixture, mix well.
- Pour the egg mixture into the pan of remaining milk. Over medium heat, continue stirring until mixture begins to bubble and thicken.
- Remove from heat, cover with aluminum foil and stir occasionally to prevent crusting. When completely cool, add coconut flakes.


INGREDIENTS AND METHOD FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:
1 ½ cups Whipped cream
3 tbsp Sugar
1 ½ cups Coconut flakes


- In a mixing bowl, combine the whipped cream, sugar and 1/2 of the coconut flakes.


Half of this mixture is to be folded into the pastry cream and the remainder is to be used to frost the cake. The remaining half of the coconut flakes is to be used for coating the frosted cake.


INGREDIENTS AND METHOD FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
1 cup Milk
3/4 lb Chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Heavy cream
1 tbsp Butter
1/4 cup Sugar


- In a sauce pan, combine the milk and chocolate, bring to a boil. Add the cream, butter and sugar and again bring to a boil. Remove from heat and keep warm.

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TO ASSEMBLE & SERVE:
- Cut the cooled cake into 3 layers.
- Spread pastry cream atop the bottom two layers, assemble the cake.
- Frost with the whipped cream and sprinkle with coconut flakes to finish.
- Slice the cake into desired portions and serve with warm chocolate sauce.

Vintage Hawaiiana Up Next off to Hawaii Today!

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We’re off to Honolulu today to work on two Vintage 1930′s Hawaiian homes we have there. Rental Seasons is upon us and we have some work to do. We will be posting this week about Hawaiiana and Hawaii, favorite places, hikes, shopping. Aloha and Mahalo!

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