Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Plans for Summer/ Imu Construction

I have almost worked out my plans for the rest of the summer. I have found a seminar and a community college class that I plan to take, and while I am still looking for work, I am considering doing a project for my mother which will provide me with a little cash. I also withdrew some money from my bank account here, so I probably won't starve when I get back to CA. Worse comes to worse, I learned how to cook rice in Japan. No, I'm not kidding. Turns out you have to wash it 5 or 6 times! And here I was only washing it once! Here is an unrelated beautiful picture taken from my deck.
Well, while I was planning my life, the weather in Hawaii has been quite interesting. 2 days ago we had some really heavy rain (the first word I wrote was "copious", but I try to keep my English simple so my friends who are not native English speakers can understand me, and so that David doesn't hurt himself by laffing too hard on my spelling and grammar errors). This is a picture of rain, also beautiful.
So, Tuesday was Uncle Jim's birthday. This is part of my family sitting around the table. Antics ensued, I am sure.
Uncle turned (L)7. Soon I will be turning (XX)3.
So, this morning I got up at 4 and walked over to the Alkire's house in order to observe their Imu preparations. 4 in the morning on the Beach, by the way is very still, and kind of spooky. I kept walking and having toads jump into the bushes right in front of me, which scared the pants off of me. I arrived at the Alkires to find that Mark (resident Imu expert) had prepared the fire the night before. All that remained was to pour on da lighter fluid an light da sucka.
We then sat around in the Alkire's yard for an hour waiting for the fire to burn down and heat the rocks that had been stacked around the outside.
Mark then began to prepare the food that would be placed inside the Imu. This is a turkey with a Taro leaf stuck inside, rubbed in special Sea Salt. The secret ingredient, I was told, is dirt. But special, tasty dirt. I don't care what the secret ingredient is. If it comes out of an Imu it almost always tastes good.
Here is the food, ready to be placed inside once the fire is ready.
The Lau Lau!
The leaves which will be used to smother the fire. The fire is just about ready.
Here is Mark organizing the food before we cover it with tea leaf, banana leaf, wet cloth and dirt.
The group photo. By the way, after standing in this smoke, I smelled delicious all day!
Covering the whole thing in wet cloths.
Still putting on wet cloths.
Imu, post dirt. Now we just let it sit for twelve hours, and pull it out when everything else is ready.
I love Imu food. When you next hear from me, I will have eaten some.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Foooooood! Yum! That looks so awesome! I'd pay top dollar for that kinda thing. Californians are missing out...*sigh*

--Renee