Friends of the Library online

Foodies and home cooks can have a field day perusing the online catalog of cookbooks available from Friends of the Library of Hawaii, not just for recipes but nostalgic glimpses into different circles of community life.

It seems every group in Hawaii, from the Koko Head Elementary School A+ program to the Junior League to the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin has put out a cookbook at one time or another.

“The local cookbooks sell very quickly,” said executive director Nainoa Mau. “People are looking for family recipes.”

These community cookbooks usually are published in small quantities by churches, clubs and organizations, which make them hard to find. Most are inexpensively bound with plastic spines and covers, illustrated by hand, and average just $3 to $5. In fact, everything for sale by the Friends goes for a mere fraction of the cover price, and less than at other second-hand sources.

Normally, most of these books would find new homes through the Friends’ annual book sale, a colossal fundraiser usually held over 11 days in June at McKinley High School. The sale was canceled this year due to COVID-19. That means 150,000 items (including CDs and vinyl records) are still taking up space at the Friends’ Halawa warehouse.

But the books are all still available to the public via the nonprofit’s website, he said. More than 26,000 titles of all genres have been uploaded to the site, with lots more added every day.

“We have tons of great stuff here,” said Mau, standing among rows of shelves and boxes of books piled halfway to the ceiling at the warehouse. And frankly, he and his volunteers are getting a bit anxious. “We’re packed to the gills,” and every day more book donations pile up.

They need to move a lot of merchandise, or he and his staff of volunteers soon won’t be able to walk in between the rows.

Cookbooks in general are the most popular of all genres with 10 categories, from Asian to holiday, from baking and desserts to beverages.

“There was panic in the beginning,” Pat Oshiro, a four-year volunteer, said. People were coming every 15 minutes for weeks to drop off books after the first stay-at-home order ended in June. The warehouse was closed during that shutdown, a period many people seem to have spent culling their bookshelves. “All the cleaning they did came over here!” Oshiro said.

Mau’s 75 regular volunteer helpers are trying to sort, price and post books online, and get them ready for pickup as fast as possible. “The volunteers are so amazing, so dedicated,” he said. “Some come daily.”

Yet only 10 volunteers, about half the usual number, are allowed into the warehouse at a time, due to coronavirus precautions. “It’s like operating an Amazon with manual labor,” he joked, with Oshiro adding, “No robots.”

Oshiro, a retired social worker and administrator, said she’s loved going to the library since she was a kid on Molokai, so she revels in being surrounded by books three days a week.

Although her favorite books are mysteries, she’s been in charge of the cookbook section the last three years. Still, if a book with an unusual title or subject catches her eye, she’ll take a few minutes to thumb through it.

“I also like looking at recipes and cookbooks for different cultures and will sometimes make something inspired by a new discovery,” she added.

“At the big book sales, I saw many people crowded around the local cookbook section looking at the recipes, page by page. Some are excited when they see these books and will buy five to 10 of these books.” Oshiro said.

Very popular are collections issued by the Honpa Hongwanji and major organizations like Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Electric. While there are plenty of books by well-known chefs and food columnists, selections also include small publications like the “Noelani Class of 1991 Cookbook” or the “Unbearably Good! Mochi Lovers’ Cookbook” from 1999.

“Cooking with Sadie and Friends,” by the Hawaii Canines for Independence from 2007, is a typical conglomeration of favorite recipes with local, mainland, multi-ethnic influences, including dishes (for humans) like Makena Hash Browns, Peggy’s Party Punch, Fast-Kine Chinese Chicken Salad and Mike’s Leg of Lamb. And (surprise!) it also includes a recipe for dog treats.

Vintage treasures include the “Hawaiian Cook Book” by Helen Alexander, published in 1938, although that sold quickly, even at a higher price of $9. It offered recipes for haupia, smoked fish and breadfruit poi, with black-and-white illustrations.

Mau said the books for sale online are all in acceptable, if not good, condition.

“The funds we raise support all 51 public libraries and their programming,” Mau said of his 140-year-old nonprofit. It pays for librarian training, technical upgrades and offerings such as author presentations and the Summer Reading Program.

But the Friends’ revenue has been severely reduced with the cancellation of the McKinley book sale, its biggest fundraiser, and two other regular sales, in November and January, are also unlikely to be held.

Still, the Friends’ are scheduled to move into a bigger warehouse in Iwilei by the end of the year. Mau is looking forward to having more space in the 11,750- square-foot building (the Halawa site has just under 8,000 square feet). The new location next to the Iwilei Costco will be much more convenient for donors to drop off books, pick up orders and for Friends volunteers to commute, he added.

Rare deals

Since 2012 Friends of the Library has opened some of its inventory to global access via Amazon.com, selling about 3,000 books through the online retailer so far.

The Friends earn about 70% of all sales.

To browse these titles, go to 808ne.ws/librarybooks (some of the prices might surprise you).

A sample of what’s available now:

>> “Hinode Rice Cookbook,” published for Territorial Savings’ 70th anniversary in 1992, going for $39.50

>> “The When You Live in Hawaii You Get Very Creative During Passover Cookbook,” released by Congregation Sof Ma’arav in 1989, $65

>> “Cooking With Hari and Muriel,” from 1994, by Hari Kojima and Muriel Miura, $34

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY

>> Warehouse: 99-1132 Iwaena St.; 536-4174

>> Online sales: Visit friendsofthelibraryofhawaii.org; click on “Online Bookstore.” Curbside pickup.

>> To donate books: Call for an appointment. Books are accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays.

>> Also: Manoa Public Library holds pickups and dropoffs on Thursdays.

Blentec blender

[9/18/15] I've been going with the standard: frozen fruit, and/or frozen berries, apple, veggies (spinach and kale) along with coconut milk.  Pretty tasty, most tasty if you drink within a day or so of making it.

It's sweet, not like Suja, but I've kind of gotten addicted to the suja taste which is definitely not sweet, but kind of tangy due to the lemon.  What's in Suja (organic mighty greens)?  apple, celery, cucumber, kale, collard greens, lemon, peppermint tea, spearmint tea, spinach, ginger, spirulina, chlorella, barley grass & alfalfa grass.

Then I was looking at Joe Cross' mean green juice recipe, the one he drank on Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  The ingredients: cucumber, apple, celery, kale, lemon, ginger.  All ingredients in Suja.  [10/8/15 - youtube]

So let's try that.  Even though Joe juiced it, I'm going to try to blend it and see how it turns out.  I think I'll add a little water too.

Bought the ingredients at Safeway (lemon, ginger, cucumber, celery -- I already had apples from Costco).  Turned out to be like 12 bucks.  We'll see how many serviings it pumps out.  And how it tastes.

Here goes...

I think I'll go with a half recipe for starters.  Half-a-cucumber.  I'll peel off some of the skin since it has a bitter taste. Two celery stalks.  One apple.  Don't have kale, so I'll just throw in some spring mix.  1/4 lemon (peel and all, Joe leaves on the peel though the recipe says to peel it, it says to peel here, but I read somewhere that you don't have to peel.  Here it is, page 12 of his book), 1/2 inch ginger.  Put in a little water, about 1/3 cup.

Start it up on low, then switch to medium.  Looks a little thick, so I added a little more water.  So I have about 1/2 cup in there.

Try some.  Doesn't taste that great.  Can definitely taste the ginger.  And a little of the lemon.

Let's add some ice and some frozen fruit...

I guess a little better.  Not that great.  Drinkable I suppose.  Kind of pulpy.  Maybe because of the lemon peel.

***

[tried a couple new recipes today, well it wasn't written down but I just tried it]

Silk, greek yogurt, frozen berries, frozen fruit, a little greens.

Turned it on and a few seconds later it seemed like nothing was moving although I could hear the noise of the motor.  Turned it off.  Somehow it turned out to be almost like ice cream.  Scooped it out.  Not bad.  Berry ice cream.  Almost.

Then tonight, I tried silk, no yogurt, frozen fruit, the last of the greens (was getting a little slimy anyway, but I kind of rinsed it..)  Hey pretty good.  Kind of a fruit shake.  The silk (vanilla flavor) gave it that sweet taste.  This is the tastiest one that I've made yet.

***

Finally decided to get a Blentec blender.  I had been thinking of getting a NutriBullet which my sister has and likes, but she got it on sale at Costco and it's no longer at the sale price.

Meanwhile, the lady demo person was back and her ice cream was tasty.  Plus there was a customer there looking who said she has a Blentec.  I asked her how she likes her Blentec and she said she loves it.  She had a Vitamix but the Blentec is easier to clean.  Plus the Vitamix blades are sharp.

Plus I remember Bobby Smith telling me that Kekoa bought a Blentec which they use.  So if it's good enough for him..

Plus it was $50 off the Costco price of $299.  I think the last time I saw the Vitamix at Costco it was selling for $450 or thereabouts.  Plus it's Costco.  Easily returnable.

[Looking online, I see Amazon is selling the Blentec for $329.  The Vitamix 5200 is $499.99 at Costco.com.   $529.95 at Amazon.]

OK, go for it.  It's the Classic 570 model.

Now to get the ingredients.

I want to make a green smoothie, so I went around looking for green smoothie recipes.

I already had some apples from Costco, so I wanted a green smoothie using apples.

Anyway, first you need a liquid.  Coconut milk is a suggested item.  I decided on water.  OK, I have that.

The green part comes from veggies.  I figured kale or spinach was healthy.  And I saw a bag of kale, spinach, and chard.  I don't know what chard is, but spinach and kale together?  OK, I'll take it.  [Taylor Farms Organic Superfood Power Greens: Chard, Kale & Spinach.  It's "Healthy and Delicious."]

How about the fruits (beside the apple).  At first I was going to get the frozen mixed berries, but there was a demo of mango, pineapple, strawberry, papaya.  Didn't taste too bad.  OK, I'll get that.  [It's the Wawona Festival Blend.]

This recipe had cucumber in it.  So I bought a bag of baby cucumbers.

***

OK, open the box.  It comes in a nice box, well packed.

There's only three parts to it.  The base (with the motor), the jar, and the cover to the jar.  That's it.  Simple enough.

Now to make the smoothie.

Here's Blentec's instructions on how to make a basic green smoothie.  So this is the base instructions.

The recipe is 3 cups cold water, 3 cups leafy greens, 3 cups fresh and frozen fruit.

First add water and greens and pulse 4-6 times to chop the greens.

Then add fruit and select whole juice.  The problem with this instruction is that there's no whole juice button on the blentec.

Looking in the pamphlet there's a recipe for Jolly Green Smoothie

The directions say, "add all the ingredients in the order listed and secure lid.  Select "smoothie".  Simple enough.

So the liquid first (probably doesn't make much difference on the liquid), then the fruit, then the greens, then ice.  Sounds simple enough.

[After I made the smoothie, I see this in the instructions:

For best results, load your ingredients to the jar in this order (unless otherwise stated in the recipe):

1.  Liquids (water, juice, milk)
2.  Soft solids (peanut butter, bananas, and other soft fruits, powders)
3.  Hard, dense, or frozen items (carrots, frozen strawberries, ice)

What about the greens?  From the Jolly Green Smoothie recipe, it goes after the frozen fruit and before the ice.]

[7/20/15 - in this video, greensmoothiegirl puts in the greens first.  So I'd guess it doesn't really make that much of a difference.]

Hopefully this video is an anomaly and it doesn't leak.  Apparently some people have had problems with the rubber gasket leaking.  (If I get this problem, I'll return it to Costco.)

Another problem I heard about is that the vibration makes the blender travel across the counter rather than staying put.

OK, here's a problem before I even start.  The power cord has a three prong plug and is pretty short.  It doesn't even reach from the kitchen table to the floor outlet.

OK, unplug the toaster oven and move it in front of it.

Now I see it's actually four parts.  The cover is actually two parts.  A larger squarish rubber cover with a square hole in the middle where you put a plastic cover piece over it.

OK, let's start.

Two cups of water
one apple sliced
two cups of frozen fruit (actually less since there's a lot of air space between the fruit)
two cups of greens

I'll skip the ice, since the fruit is frozen

OK put the cover on.  And press smoothie.  Here goes...

Nothing.  Ah, there's a power switch in the back of the unit that you have to flip on.

Here goes again...

When I pressed the button, the unit vibrated and jumped and moved a little on the counter.  I grabbed it  After the initial movement it seemed to hop up and down a little but didn't move any more after that.

The whole process took 60 seconds. And everything seemed to blend.

The result wasn't green like in the picture but more brownish green.

OK, now to actually drink the stuff.

First rinse off the cover.
See not all the greens were pulverized as I see a stem floating.  I guess that's minor.  Or a feature, like a mint stem.

Lift off the jar.  Notice no leakage.

Pour into a cup.

Drink.

Hey, not bad.  Not bad at all.  Didn't need any honey or agave as the fruit was sweet enough.  And it was cool, though maybe a few ice cubes wouldn't have hurt.

I'll give it thumbs up for now.

I guess I'll pour the leftover into the suja bottle.

And see how to clean it.

And the demo, they just put water in it and pulsed and it was clean.

The instructions say to "add a cup of water and drop of dish soap to the jar, secure the lid, and pulse for 10 seconds.  Remove and rinse."

Taking my second serving, it wasn't just a stem but the whole sprig with the leafy part pretty much intact.  No problem, I'll just eat it..

Third cup.  OK, getting full.  Fourth cup.  OK, I'm full.

Pour the rest into the Suja bottle.  Not really that much left.

Rinse the jar.  Pretty much rinses off clean.  Don't think I need to pulse it, but I'll do it anyway (without the soap).

It says to pulse for 10 seconds.  I don't know if that means to hold down the pulse button for ten seconds.  Ok just press the button briefly to pulse and do that for ten seconds.  I feel more comfortable doing the latter so as not to strain the motor.  I guess either way.

OK, I guess I'll keep it for now..

[7/18/15]  For my second try, I'll put in some cucumber instead of the frozen fruit to try to approximate the Suja.  Definitely not as sweet as with the fruit or as cold (or as tasty).  I think I'll put in some ice next time.  And maybe a little fruit too.  And maybe one baby cucumber instead of two.

[7/20/15]  OK, back to the fruit.  Water.  Frozen fruit.  1 baby cucumber (peel off the skin).  1 apple slice (take off the skin but leave the seeds).  Power greens.  A few ice cubes.  Hold the unit when I start the cycle so it doesn't travel across the counter.

Yep, much more tasty than without the fruit.

how to chop an onion

dicing onions does not have to be a tedious task

first cut the tip off
then cut onion in half
peel off the outer skin
slice into three sections
cut right down
slice down (the other way)

here's the video (sponsored on facebook)

a similar video
and another one

***

also how to peel garlic
how to peel tomatoes

microwave hacks

[3/16/26] 8 features you didn't know your microwave had

***

[2/21/15] I like the one about cleaning your microwave with a lemon in water.

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