It's MARCH!!! which means C's B-Day and lots of GOOD FOOD!

Alan Wong and his team of chefs and other staff come to the Big Island once a year (this time of the year) to meet with all the growers from whom they purchase products, and the end of the visit is highlighted by a monster smorgarboard of five star quality food cooked by Wong himself and his chefs.....

This year the main attraction was food cooked in an Imu (hawaiian for hole in the ground where wood and rocks are heated and then food is thrown over and cooked over a long period of time).

The imu preparation began Monday afternoon with firing up the wood by the legendary "Alvin":

While the wood was burning, we prepared the baskets (chicken wire lined with aluminum foil) in which the food was going to be placed in...
And then the preparation of the meet and filling of the baskets. There was pig (lots of it), beef, turkey, tomatoes, and there even was a basket with heart of palm (the whole trunks), purple sweet potatoes and taro...

Here's Alvin scoring the meat before salting it and putting it in the basket

with the rest of the meat....

And of course you can't keep a cook away from getting his hands in some action, here's Alan Wong scoring some boneless pork butt for the imu...

There also was a PBS crew following Alan Wong around the island for some special program they are making. Here are Alan and Richard "talking story" while the wood in the imu reaches the right temperature....

Once the imu is ready, some hot rocks from the pit are taken and put in the baskets, that way the meat will cook with heat from the outside and from the inside. Then the baskets are tied shut....

And the imu gets ready. First a layer of banana stalks, followed by a layer of banana leaves....

and then the food baskets....

which are then in turn covered with "ti" leaves......

And then the imu is covered with a thick plastic sheet and the edges are sealed with dirt to keep all the steam and the heat in.....

At that point, you are "pau-hana" (done work) and it is time to enjoy a cold one with a good friend and "talk story"..... Because tomorrow, the rest of the work continues.....

The food is left in the imu overnight, and almost 24 hours later it is unearthed. The meat is separated by type and cut, chopped and mixed in a big tub....

Meanwhile, Alan and his staff get into the food prep area and begin their magic...

Here's the display table with products from all the local growers, there are tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, bell peppers, funky carrots, mushrooms, goat cheese, coffee, hearts of palm, and many other stuff...

And here is the FOOD LINE!!!!

Nothing beats good food with good company, and last night we had the best of both....

Macario & Ben: the photo-duo

Syd with Emma Rose
Leslie (my eating buddy) and I

Alan Wong and the Habanero King (he gave me that nick name)

Hana and her new best friend...

Hana worked her charm with Alan Wong and before the night was over she came and asked if she could go with Alan Wong (apparently Alan wanted to take her with him). So I told her yes, but, that I had to come along and that I required three meals a day.....

My first plate (oh yes, there was more than one serving last night.....)On the plate from the upper left corner clockwise: some type of yello risotto with clams, goat chese, kalua pork and beef, goat cheese fondue, goat cheese and tomato salad, kim-chee, ahi poke, some funky salad with sea weeds and radish(?), a seafood combo (octopus, shrimp, olives, in a tomato sauce), and salicornia salad with tomatoes....hmmm....

Sorry, no pictures of C this time. This morning somehow all the pics with her in them had mysteriously dissapeared from the camera's memory stick. But her Birthday is Friday and there will be some pics of that, for the two girls are going to sleepovers! Yeee ha!