I've seen that litchis (which are being flown in from Madagascar) are 1.95 euros/kilo here.....that's about $1.20/lb. Is that pretty much what you'd see them for in the islands? That is, if you aren't lucky enough to own a tree or know a neighbor that has one.
Also, unleaded gasoline is about 1.10 euros/liter.....at the going rate of $1.36 to the Euro, that's about $5.70 a gallon! I'm not up to date on the gas prices back home, but please tell me that they haven't gone up that high!!! Are the gas prices drastically different between islands?
Posted by Rowena at 11:43 PMWe are now the proud owners of two singing anorexic bimbo dolls. Katie got a toy store gift card in her stocking and, foolishly, I promised her she could spend it on whatever she wanted. And she wanted the other doll's partner in crime. She had her dad rip it right out of the box on the way home, and the minute she walked through the door, she found the first one and set them off at the same time. They're designed to sing in harmony, you see. They sing a duet. Read on...
Posted by Scarlett at 06:51 AMIf I wake up a just before 8:30 in the morning and lay there with my eyes closed, I can almost imagine that I'm back in the islands; there is a rooster that crows in the yard of some distant neighbor. And just when I'm about to entertain thoughts of shooting that rooster with a slingshot, the nextdoor neighbor's dog starts singing. It is exactly 8:30am and the bell tower which sits not more than 50 yards away from our home is chiming the hour of morning prayer. Ding, ding, dong, ding, dangggg... The dog (I call him Jack) is crooning louder and louder as the bell plays out the rest of the song. There is no such thing as calling the local police to report a noise infraction, and it is too funny, because if Jack barks incessantly for any reason, the owner is usually yelling at him (in italian) to Shut up! or Go to your house!
But getting back to the chicken. My mother-in-law had given us a frozen gallina (hen) on Christmas. This morning I pulled it out and placed it in the sink to defrost; it had a bad case of freezer burn. I was trying to remember why exactly, my mother-in-law decided to give us this frozen bird in the first place. And then it occurred to me...she said the chicken was a wild chicken. She doesn't like wild chickens, it was a gift from a friend. So she figured that instead of letting it sit in her freezer, perhaps we could find some use for it? I can only surmise that with all the wild chicken photos that my husband had shot while on vacation in Hawaii, his mother having seen them, must have thought that we islanders must like to eat them!
Let's see if wild italian chickens make good adobo. ;-)
Posted by Rowena at 02:30 AMThe Red Cross now claims the earthquake-generated tsunamis in the Indian Ocean may have killed more than 100,000 people in 11 different countries The latest verified death toll is 78,000, which already makes this the worst tsunami disaster in modern history, but thousands more are still missing and some remote areas have yet to be reached and assessed. The amount of damage is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars in these economically poor countries.
Monetary assistance is desperately needed to prevent a second round of deaths from infectious disease and famine that could kill as many people as the waves. Water sources are contaminated by raw sewage and the corpses of people and animals and millions of people are homeless without any means of livelihood. Governments of the affected countries can't begin to cope with these problems unless they receive massive relief aid.
MORE...Unfortunately, this year I'm looking for alternatives to attending the family holiday parties (Christmas and New Years). I don't usually do this, but 2004 presents drastic changes in the routine family get-togethers due to the departure of several relatives who always hosted these parties.
In short, I'm looking for other events to attend so that I can skip this years' family parties. Does anyone have other plans/alternatives to attending family get-togethers during the holidays?
Posted by Jenn at 07:14 PMEach year during the holidays, residents and visitors come in droves to see the Honolulu City Lights. It's a time when the city decorates inside and out of Honolulu Hale with Christmas decorations.
Outside the doors of Honolulu Hale stands a large lighted Christmas tree. There are also some decorations with a Hawai'i flavor, such as the over-sized barefooted Santa and Mrs Claus and the very large ukulele.
MORE...Every year looking out at the Honolulu cityscape from my lanai after it gets dark…I judge how the local economy of our fair city wuz during the past year, based on how many buildings also have Christmas lights decorations out on their own railings this year or considered the effort humbug. Really not a scientific criteria to use in itself, but a study with theoretical possibilities. No industry elves have inquired about my unique nutcracker survey of the economy as of yet. But what do they know. Read on...
Posted by Ron at 11:21 PMRecently, I was diagnosed with a disease that is robbing me of everything I am. The pressure has been building rapidly. The man I love, left me when I told him of my disease. Five years and no more. Yesterday, I recieved news of an accident which involved my son’s unit. Read on...
Posted by Lynn at 10:25 PM