Day 19 & 20 - Baking bread and dinner with friends

On Thursdays they bake Portuguese sweet bread in a stone oven at the historical society, so we went down there yesterday to check it out.  The oven is made of stone, lava rock I assume, and they build a fire in it, letting it heat up for 4 hours.  When it is hot, they remove the ashes and charcoal and bake the bread in the retained heat.  First they bake plain whole wheat and white rolls while the oven is hottest, then they bake the sweet bread rolls in a cooler oven.  We didn't get there in time to help with shaping the rolls, but the plain bread was well risen and ready to put in the oven when we got there.   We wanted sweet bread rolls, which wouldn't be ready until 1:00, so we went for lunch and came back.  The baked bread is sold for $7 and there are 7 large rolls in each pan.

We had lunch at Orchid Isle Cafe where we have eaten a couple of times on prior trips.  Had the quiche and watched the geckos.  Nice lunch with a wonderful view from the lanai.

After lunch we continued to drive south towards Kealakekua Bay and on past the Painted Church near Honaunau Bay.  Didn't stop at either spot as we had been to both before, but we enjoyed the drive through the lush tropical vegetation.  We did stop at Kona Pacific Farmers Coop where we got lots of free samples of macadamia nuts (plain and chocolate covered) as well as samples of Kona coffee.  The Kona coffee there is very expensive: $65 for a pound of peaberry (see prior post for description of peaberry) and $40 a pound for regular coffee.  Decaf Kona coffee is scarce because the coffee has to be sent to the mainland to be decaffeinated, then fumigated when it comes back to Hawaii, which adds to the expense and most growers don't think it is worth the trouble. 

From Honaunau, we headed back north, stopped at Safeway and the farmers market, and got home in time to take a swim.  I made chicken teriyaki in the crock pot for dinner.

This morning we went out to do some errands: gas & cash at Costco, and we also needed pineapple, but they were all out of the cut up pineapple and the whole ones were too green to bother with.  Then went to one of the local quilt stores and Discount Fabric Warehouse.  Such an exciting day, uh?  We had lunch at the condo - leftover kalua pork and teriyaki chicken and sweet bread rolls.  Mom took a nap while Katie & Margie read, and I started work on an appliqued Hawaiian style quilt block.  I bought a pre-cut kit of a honu (sea turtle).  Then I went to the pool for a quick swim.

We had dinner with Dick & Sue Roberts, who are my cousin Sue Durbin's son's in-laws.  They bought a house in Kona a year or so ago and this was the first time we visited them in their new house.  It is up on the hill about directly above our condo and they have a fabulous view of the ocean and the coast.  A really nice house, wonderful company, and a great dinner of grilled tuna, purple sweet potatoes, green beans with macadamia nuts, and salad, with tapioca pudding and strawberries for dessert.

I presented Dick & Sue with a wall hanging quilt I made for them as a house warming gift.  They are paddlers and belong to one of the local canoe clubs.  The quilt has an appliqued paddle and canoe with Hawaiian petroglyphs.  They were thrilled with it and know where they will hang it.  We got back to the condo about 9:30 - I think the latest we've been out since we've been here.