Funny thing about getting laid off. You’re suddenly busier than you ever were when you had a job. I’ve heard this from every one of my former Advertiser colleagues. You’re suddenly hussling so hard to get work, volunteering (or being volunteered) right and left, tackling all kinds of personal projects because you’re supposed to have so much time on your hands. Ha!
That’s why I’ve been so on and off with my Our Island Plate entries and recipes have been so scarce on the ground.
One of my projects, obviously, is the upcoming Mangoes at the Moana festival (see previous entry and also the Pupus mention to the right). At a team meeting the other day, got a glimpse of the new magazine former ‘Tiser Dining Out editor Simplicio Paragas has put together along with other talented sorts (Mangos is prominently featured). The magazine is about restaurants and food, of course, but also travel and entertainment. It’s called Inside Out. Articles this time include a piece on Whole Foods, another on Sean Priester’s newish Kaimuki restaurant, Soul,
one on Stacy Yuen Hernandez’s recent visit to San Francisco. You can find out more at insideouthawaii.com. Good luck, Sim!
Also got a look at some of the mango varieties we’ll be working with during the festival and some of these guys don’t even look like they’re mangos (at least to my eye, used to little more variety than Haden and Pirie). Get a look at these three that Mark Suiso brought for chef Rodney Uyehara to play with. The banana-looking thing on the left is a Thai variety called Kwock something (he couldn’t remember). The mango on steroids in the center is Lancitia from Florida and — get this — it’s a SMALL one. And at the right is the Irwin, another variety developed in Florida, fragrant and sweet but said to have slightly stringy texture. Oh, for the day when we’ll see multiple varieties of local mangoes in our grocery stores in season, labelled with descriptors!