Happy Birthday Robbie!

Too tired to edit pix and post.
Here are some vids to tide you over.

Tamale-making with my sister Norma

My sister (in Florida) made tamales on Sunday while we played Word with Friends and watched the NFL Playoff Games!

Dried New Mexico chilis and corn husks soaking.

Blending chilis, chili water, garlic, cumin and salt. Olive oil and flour rue.

Stir in chili pepper blend and cook till thickened. Slow cooked pork refrigerated and skimmed of fat. Strained broth .

Pork before shredding. Shredded pork and strained broth. Adding meat to sauce.

Simmering sauce and meat. Corn husks drained, rinsed and stacked smooth side up(stuffing side) and some husks torn in strips to tie bottom.

Covered with damp towel to keep moist. Pot of water with steamer insert readied. Steamer insert.

Beating vegetable shortening; measuring out masa harina, salt and baking powder; Warm reserved broth from cooking pork; alternate broth and harina mixture until all harina is used up.

Add broth as needed for consistancy of thick frosting. Lay corn husk down with smooth side up and place about 2 T of masa and 1 T of meat sauce mixture in center

Fold sides and fold bottom up and tie with strip of corn husk. Place completed tamales in steamer. When steamer is full, cover and steam for 40 minutes. Tamales once cooked can be eaten, refrigerated or frozen. Keep making more tamales until filling is used up while your waiting for the first batch to cook.

Let's eat!

The Marines

My marine aquariums are still fun to watch!





There is a koli in this tank too but he is hiding behind a rock.

Hail to the King

Yesterday the Baha'is of Kauai participated in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Kauai.
I took a couple hours off from work to enjoy the gathering of unity!

Linda O'Dell was already there and helping prepare Golden Rule booklets. I loved the Golden Rule banners around the mall that demonstrate the common foundation of all faiths. Kahu Montgomery was there with her ohana and moopuna Lono to bless the occasion.

When it was my turn to share, I took a pictures of the wonderful audience first. What diversity and unity!

A cool thing happened while I was singing Pomakai/ Blessed is the Spot- a dove flew through the frame as Tom Smithwick snapped the pic on my iPhone! Then Linda read from the Baha'i Writings and thanked the InterFaith Roundtable for sponsoring this beautiful event.

For West Kauai Rotary, our kids and the poet Robert Burns

Lilu is a Blockhead

To maintain her edge for attention over her forthcoming sibling, Lilu gets some blog, er, block time!

She likes to sit in a bin and have the (hard foam) blocks poured over her head. Then the fun starts.

Tossing, stacking and accessorizing!

Lilu likes to be "edgy". She stacks on the edge while dad steadies the bin and passes her blocks.

"Good job", she signs. then tops off her feat of engineering!