• 2 oz Pineapple Juice
• 3 oz Cranberry Cocktail
• 2 oz Coconut Rum
• 1/2 oz Orgeat

• Kalua Pig
• Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs
• Macaroni Salad
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Mai Tais
• Luau Punch

Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs The Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs, on the other hand, were wonderful. The homemade teriyaki sauce was very easy to make, and the combination with the chicken was a winner. I should have made more, they went like hot cakes. Still, this was a very time consuming dish to make because I like removing the excess fat from the chicken thighs, and that takes a long time. Threading them is also time consuming. I made the chicken as kebabs because I wanted food people could eat with only a fork, but if you don't have that need, baking the chicken thighs whole would be easier. In any case, I will make this dish again and again. Next time I make it, though, I will increase the sauce recipe by 50%. I'm sure this sauce would be just as good with beef and other meats. The recipe below is what I made by doubling the ingredients in the original recipe, it should serve 8 people well - it was not enough for 12. Half it again if you want to make dinner for four. One warning, the sauce caramelizes and burns into the pans while cooking. To save yourself from untold hours of dishwashing, line your pans with aluminum foil before cooking. I didn't and Mike is paying the price.

Teriyaki Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. cold water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and remove from the heat.

Teriyaki Chicken

• 18 bamboo skewers
• 24 chicken thighs
• teriyaki sauce

• 1 package macaroni
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2/3 cup milk
• mayo
• salt and pepper to taste

Pineapple Upside Down Cake I don't think this is a Hawaiian cake, per se, but anything pineapple is so associated with Hawaii, that it's the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking of what to make for my luau. I found many versions of this cake, but chose this one, from the Food Network, because it was both easy and had gotten good reviews. I thought it was really good. I got myself a pineapple upside down cake mold because it was on sale at Safeway for $6 and I didn't have a 9" round pan with 2" high sides - but if you have one, you don't need any special equipment. I was also happy to make this cake because I got to use my new mixer for the first time. Note that I used fresh pineapple, cut some into slices to put at the bottom (I wanted the "look" of the pineapple slices) and some in chunks to cover the rest pan. You can cut the pineapple in whichever way you want and use canned, if you'd like.

• 4 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 pineapple, sliced or cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 F

Butter a 9" by 2" round cake pan

Stir together the brown sugar and the butter. Pour into the cake pan, making sure the whole bottom surface is covered. Cover with pineapple rings and/or chunks.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix well.

Cream the butter and the sugar together with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at the time, mixing constantly. Add the flour and the milk, a little bit of each at the time, mixing continuously. Start and end with the flour.

Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly.

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out dry. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then unmold.

Mai Tai Mai Tais may not be Hawaiian, but they are so associated with Hawaii that I'm sure that they are served at every luau. Indeed, when we went to Hawaii (with Aloha, I think), they even served complementary Mai Tais on the plane. I don't like them myself, but Mike said these Mai Tais were very good, and people did drink them up. It's an expensive drink to make (aren't they all?) but I'd make them again. BTW, orgeat is an almond syrup. Torani, the Italian soda company, makes it and it's available at BevMo. I did use freshly squeezed lime juice, but I was not going to squeeze 1/2 gallon worth of oranges, so I used Odwalla OJ instead.

• 2 cups white rum
• 2 cups dark rum
• 1 cup orange curacao
• 1 cup orgeat
• juice from 10 limes
• 1/2 gallon orange juice

Adapted from All Recipes.com

Luau Punch I made this Luau punch based on the name alone and the fact that it sounded Hawaiian. It was OK but not great - people at the party overwhelmingly preferred the Mai Tais, but my kids liked it. I wouldn't make it again, though. ]]> tag:www.marga.org,2008:/food/blog//30.6879 2008-05-13T01:39:44Z 2008-05-14T03:44:42Z

Short Ribs Bouriguignonne

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 2/3 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 lbs short ribs, trimmed
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 5 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups red wine
• 4 cups beef stock

Preheat oven to 375F.

Mix the flour with the spices in a large bowl. Lightly coat the short ribs with the flour mixture.

Melt the butter in a large dutch oven and brown the short ribs on all sides. Remove and add the chopped bacon. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes or until brown and add the vegetables. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Return the meat to the pot and add the wine and the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and put the pot in the oven. Cook for 2 to 3 hours. Adapted from a recipe at the Food Network.]]> tag:www.marga.org,2008:/food/blog//30.6875 2008-05-12T15:45:08Z 2008-05-12T23:55:49Z

Mike got me a Hamilton Beach Liquid Blu 5 Speed Blender for my birthday and I tried it yesterday for the first time. It was OK. It did do a good job of blending and crushing the ice - a godsend after my old blender which took forever to crush ice and would start to smell after trying. But adjusting the bottom to the top seems tricky, apparently it needs to be adjusted really tightly, and my blender dripped all over the place. I'm hoping that next time it won't be as bad. I'm a little concerned because I only found two reviews of the blender online, one by an Amazon customer and another by the never-to-be-trusted Consumers' Guide. But I'm not a particularly heavy user and only time will tell if the blender will perform. As it does, I'll comment here :) ]]>

Carnitas

• 5 lbs pork shoulder, cut into large pieces
• 5 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 5 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 onions, quartered.

Polvorones

• 1 cup butter at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon