JOY: Alright, now, it’s time for us to talk about the last of our Hawaii holiday gift picks.

JENNY: And, the best part is that all of our gift picks can be purchased online, so it doesn’t matter where you live, you can give or get a gift straight from Hawaii!  And, we’ll be sure to link our gift picks on our blog, yourpubliciswaiting.com, Twitter, and on Facebook. Ok, our first gift pick is Banana Patch Studio’s Hand Painted Ceramic Tiles. They come in 4” and 6” sizes. The tiles are Hawaiian themed, in a variety of patterns all designed and made on Kauai by Banana Patch Studio.

They have all types of designs, such as a Hawaiian Quilt pattern, green sea turtles, the Hawaiian Islands, and more. Other tiles have cute sayings on them like “Mahalo, Please take off your shoes” or “Welcome, E Komo Mai” and of course both of these would be placed your front door. But, the one I like the best is a Hawaiian Blessing that reads: May there always be warmth in your Hale, fish in your net, and Aloha in your heart. I love that!

And, we got an email from them last week and learned that the tiles are fired in their kiln using solar power! So, this is also a very green gift too!

We also mentioned in a previous show that Banana Patch Studio owner Joanna Carolan and husband Dr. Carolan illustrated and wrote, respectively, the children’s book “The President from Hawaii.” The book was chosen to represent Hawaii at the Library of Congress Book Festival in Washington D.C., and that would make a wonderful gift as well.

JOY: Oh, those tiles are perfect for anyone, anywhere. What a lovely way to bring Hawaii to wherever you may be. And, I bought a few of “The President from Hawaii” for holiday gifts too. So, to order the tiles, books, and more go to www.bananapatchstudio.com.  Ok, I really love our next gift pick because not only would it make a great Christmas present, but it would be a wonderful New Year’s present too. It’s Nani Moon Mead’s Pineapple Guava Sunset Mead.

Nani Moon Mead is tropical honey wine and is the only Meadery in Hawaii, located in Kapaa, Kauai.

So, the Pineapple Guava Sunset Mean is a luscious blend of honey, guava, and pineapple from the Hawaiian Islands.  It’s a semi-dry honey wine crafted to be light bodied, with mild acidity and filled with pleasant flavors.  I tasted this recently and it was wonderful! First, the smell of this mead is so tropical, and then when you taste it…it’s really a great balance of flavors and tannins. Stephanie, the owner, told me that the tannins come from the tea, which was I thought was such a smart idea.

Oh, and one of the best things about the mead is that it’s made without sulfites or preservatives and are crafted to be enjoyed right off the shelf, no aging necessary.  So, Stephanie says enjoy the mead chilled, in the same style as a white wine, with pupus (appetizers), and fresh island cuisine or on it’s own while watching an island sunset or moonrise.  

Currently, Nani Moon Mead only ships to: California, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York,  and Washington D.C. You can find out more information about the mead and purchase it at www.nanimoonmead.com.  

JENNY: Sounds delish! I have to try that soon.

JOY: Alright, now, it’s time for us to talk about some of our Hawaii holiday gift picks.

JENNY: And, the best part is that all of our gift picks can be purchased online, so it doesn’t matter where you live, you can give or get a gift straight from Hawaii!  And, we’ll be sure to link to our gift picks on our blog, yourpubliciswaiting.com, Twitter, and on Facebook.

JOY: So our first holiday gift pick is Malie Organics Holiday Gift Sets.

Malie’s products are all from Kaua’i.  They’re luxurious natural products for home, body and spirit. The gentle, soothing essences of their wild-crafted and organic ingredients flow through pure Hawaiian hydrosols, the therapeutic floral waters that infuse each product. They’ve got some great gift sets including:

Soy Candle & Luxe Cream Soap $40

Organic Body Cream and Body Wash $50

They’re beautifully gift wrapped and ready to give and available at malie.com. And, right now, they’re offering free shipping, so that’s a deal! Anywhere you can get free shipping is awesome, especially for us here in Hawaii.

JENNY: Alright that’s great and their right down the road from our studio.  Our second gift pick is brought to us by Dawn Sakamoto, Director of Sales & Marketing at Watermark Publishing and this is for a book called Kau Kau: Cuisine and Culture in the Hawaiian Islands. Kau Kau is Hawaiian pidgin word meaning to eat, food, or meal. In Kau Kau, author Arnold Hiura—a writer with roots in the plantation culture—explores the rich history and heritage of food in Hawai‘i, with little-known culinary tidbits, interviews with chefs and farmers, and a treasury of rare photos and illustrations.  Dawn says that Kau Kau is about the intertwined relationship between culture and cuisine here in Hawaii, and covers our food history going back to the first Hawaiians all the way to modern day Hawaii Regional Cuisine and the locavore movement.  “Kau Kau” will be in bookstores in January.  But, it’s currently available for advance purchase directly from the publisher, at bookshawaii.net.  You can learn more about the book at the Kau Kau Facebook Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kau-Kau-Cuisine-Culture-in-the-Hawaiian-Islands/191006435015 ). And, you can view a short book trailer on YouTube.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yo_pG3-wBw).

JOY: Last of all we’re picking books from the award winning Molokai-born author, Lois-Ann Yamanaka. Her books can be found on Amazon.com. (http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=lois-ann%20yamanaka&index=blended). Lois-Ann Yamanaka ia a Japanese-American poet and novelist. What’s unique about her is that many of her critically acclaimed literary works are written in Hawaiian Pidgin, and some of her writing has dealt with controversial ethnic issues. In particular, her works confront themes of Asian American families and the local culture of Hawaiʻi.  Her list of titles include Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre, a book of poems written in Hawaiian Pidgin (1993), Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (1996), Blu’s Hanging (1997), Heads by Harry (1998), Behold the Many (2006), and many more.  Any of these books would be terrific reads for people interested in real-life Hawai`i and the cultural intricacies here.  And while they’re profound, they’re also written with a lot of humor. What’s nice is that there are not too many novels out there written about real Hawaii life, and using pidgin. So that’s cool.

JENNY: Joy’s going to read an excerpt from Yamanaka’s book “Blu’s Hanging”. So, here’s the synopsis of the story. Joy and I have both read it.

On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, life goes on for the three young Ogata children after the death of their mother and subsequent emotional withdrawal of their grief and guilt-stricken “Poppy.” The eldest at 13, Ivah is now responsible for the safety and well-being of tiny Maisie, vulnerable and mute since their mother’s passing; and for Blu, her uncontainable brother whose desperate need for love has made him vulnerable to the most insidious of relationships. Ok, Joy, share the excerpt w/ our listeners.

JOY: Ok. Here it is:

Poppy tells me, “Ivah, I gotta work the graveyard shift at Del Monte from now on. Straight from the school, I coming home for bathe and eat, then I going to the truck barn. You going be in charge of dinner.”

The last things I bought on Poppy’s charge were a jar of Best Foods, a pint of Malolo strawberry syrup, which I diluted 7 to I instead of 5 to 1, and three cans of Spam.

“You heard me? You going be in charge of dinner.”

From now on.

Poppy shows me the fast way to make a hot dinner.

I cook a pot of hot rice, lots of rice. There are two things I can make from this: if the hen has laid eggs in the last three days that nobody ate, as soon as the button on the rice cooker pops I crack the three eggs right in the pot and stir it up with shoyu. Poppy says, “Just like the ole days, my madda made that for all us kids. Thass Japanee soul food, raw eggs on hot rice. Tamago meshi.”

The other thing I make is cream-of-mushroom soup on the hot rice. Don’t add any water. It tastes like gravy. I serve it right out of the rice pot with the soup ladle.

Poppy doesn’t care. He comes home from the school full of chalk dust and the fine dirt from the dust mop that he pushes across the gym floor at the end of the day. He smells like Pine-Sol all the time.

Poppy says I’m the best cook in the house.

Saturday morning, I saw my brother Blu gather eggs outside. He had two. I made them for him sunny-side up, and he licked the yolk off his plate.

Poppy brought home cases of dry saimin that somebody bought for him from the Swap Meet in Honolulu. So I got good at making fried noodles:

Boil the saimin and drain. Chop Spam, green onion, and fried egg and mix with the saimin. Sprinkle the soup stock over the fried noodles for flavoring.

I also make regular saimin. And one day, I come home from school and Blu and Maisie are eating dry saimin sprinkled with the soup stock. “Taste like potato chips,” Blu says, and Maisie nods.

It was getting pretty bad around the house. I saved a stick of Wrigley’s spearmint gum that Evangeline Reyes gave me on Monday until Saturday. I felt funny every day asking Evangeline to give me a stick of gum from the PlenTPak stash that she had in her patent-leather white bag.

I stuck my gum to the bureau at night, and after I brushed my teeth in the morning, popped it back into my mouth. I figured the plaque would stay out and the spearmint would taste fresher, longer. But the gum got so full of grit that it felt like fingernail crumbs until the gum and the grit stuck to my teeth like melted taffy. And that’s when I threw it away.

JENNY: Wow! I love listening to that. Thanks, Joy. So, that was an excerpt from Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s “Blu’s Hanging.” Ok, so we’ve got some excellent gift choices from Hawai`i! Remember to check on our blog, facebook, and Twitter for links to these products.