CUCKOO REVUE 2008

As 2008 exits and 2009 comes rushing in, we thought we would take a look back at the past year here at CFC. Mahalo to everyone who stopped by to read of our adventures in Haiku, Maui.

JANUARY
John made new doors for the tractor shed after the alteration to the structure.
(visit often to see this structure undergo further transformations in 2009)

We removed the door leading into the garage... as we did not ever use it... besides, it leaked.
After we altered the size of our tractor shed to conform with county permitting, we planted and created a natural stone pathway between the back and front yard. Notice how much the plants have grown in less than 1 year.


FEBRUARY
In preparation for our big Readymade photo shoot, we renovated the bathroom and laid new flooring in the bedroom, painted stripes on the lanai and updated the outdoor shower.

John launched his online portfolio.

MARCH
Our great friends Lauren and Derek arrived for our big photo shoot and interview for Readymade Magazine. And then we rested.

APRIL
For John's Birthday we went on an amazing whale watching cruise.

This month was when Kekoa came into our lives.
John and shoebox to the rescue, are you my mommy?, first night of all night feedings, day two...exploring his new home.

Kekoa knew when he saw the pink and red bandana's that it was nap time. He preferred sleeping on anything that was reddish, orangey or brown in color. Lucky for him... our home was the perfect place to runaway to.

MAY
Our big 6 page feature came out in the May/June issue of Readymade magazine. MANY, MANY MAHALO'S Derek! Check it out here

Conn launched his online portfolio.

Kekoa turns 2 months old, learns to eat bugs from a plate, and practices the fine art of camouflage. John builds him a coop. We start the weening process by keeping him out side during the day .

JUNE

This month our home was featured by Grace Bonney on the wonderful design*sponge. We are honored. Click here to see the entire post.

Conn's mom, sister, grandma, nephew and Nick came to visit.

Kekoa still in weening mode. He loves to spend mornings in the house while we have coffee.

Starting to show his colors, a water bath in the house with a blow dry and his first dirt bath in the coop....THE NEXT DAY!

He likes sleeping on things that he blends into, showing more and more colors in the coop.

The last shot is the day he was terrorized by a dog while in his coop. We were not sure he was going to make this day after bleeding for 3 hours from a broken beak. A quick trip to the vet for a little super glue and back home for some R&R. He was a week away from being released and we had to go through a whole new training process after this. His beak healed in a few weeks time.

JULY

Conn's family had a nice long vacation and were here through much of July.
Fried chicken picnic on July 4th in Lahaina, a hike in Kipahulu and dinner at Mama's Fish House.When ever clothes were lying about, Kekoa would roll around in them. Spoiled rotten after the attack...sleeping on the bed and a last hand fed breakfast of slugs and bugs before his release.

Keoka was released back into the wild world of Maui.

AUGUSTA few days of not seeing Kekoa after his release, he decided to show up and claim the lanai as his daytime hangout. Showing his teenage temper by puffing up.

Gabi and Larry made their way to the Valley Isle for a few weeks this month and managed to get a rare viewing of the endangered Hawai'ian Monk Seal.

SEPTEMBER

Kekoa turns 5 months old this month and is turning into quite the well dressed man. He actually went missing a week before we left for our mainland trip.

We made our way back to the mainland in September and October with stops in Manhattan for a few days then upstate NY and Indiana. We enjoyed our visits with all our friend ... 4 legged and otherwise!

We are 1 of 3 featured designers in the Design and Home Issue of Modern Luxury Hawai'i this month. WOW! Check it out here.

OCTOBER

A few weeks after returning home from the mainland, Kekoa finally returned home. Above left is what he looked like September 14th and right is when he returned from his "foster parents" on October 18th.

NOVEMBER

Barack Obama elected the 44th President of the United States!!!

Jenny "Honey" Joyce paid us a visit for 3 wonderful (but too short) days this month.

DECEMBER

We went on an amazing Christmas day hike on the Lahaina Pali Trail.

Christmas came and went and before we knew it...

Hau'oli Makahiki HouHAPPY NEW YEAR!

And as if all that was not enough....just like last year...

We did a lot of planting and making of things...These before and after images were taken 1 year apart. Stick it in the ground and it will grow!
1/08 - 12/08

A few of the things we made this year. A small table, refinished a medicine cabinet,made a ton of new pillows and a holiday wreath. The medicine cabinet were both featured on design*sponge here and here.

We saw a lot of these...

And if we could grow it, we ate it... and we ate like kings!

Carrots, scallions, peppers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, star fruit, beets,okra, green beans.

Tangelos, swiss chard, beefsteak tomatoes, papaya.

White pineapple, bananas, navel oranges.

Hot Hawai'ian chili pepper water, salsa, mango jam, orange marmalade, guava jam and star fruit jam.Bacon in all it's glory.

Bacon cheeseburger, arugula salad with roasted prosciutto, pineapple and shaved parmesan, brussels sprouts with bacon, bacon wrapped turkey.

Mince pear pie, papaya cranberry muffins, mango upside down cake & pineapple upside down cake.

Banana semifreddo, lavender scented snowball cookies, pear crumble & orange zest cookies.

Lime cheesecake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut, lime cheesecake, banana cheesecake & lilikoi cheesecake with lilikoi pineapple salsa.

Please visit us often in 2009 for the more Adventures of Conn, John + Kekoa In Haiku, Maui. We will have some new renovations and projects coming up that will be very exciting. To those of you who visited... we loved seeing you and hope you enjoyed your visits. We hope to see you again soon. We have a big project this year so stay tuned.
Aloha Nui Loa
c, j + k

ON THE 7TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 6TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 5TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 4TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

HIKING THE LAHAINA PALI TRAIL

On Christmas Day, we headed out on our ... now traditional Holiday Hike. It is our goal to try to hike a trail that we have not yet been on. Although we have done many hikes here on Maui, there are still so many left to discover.

On this day it was the Lahaina Pali Trail on the Southern tip of the West Maui Mountains. In the image above (taken on a whale watch in April), the trail runs left to right, up and over this ridge to an elevation of 1600 feet. Notice the Wind Turbines for perspective of how high we were. (see photo below)

We have long wanted to do this hike, but knew it needed to be done in the winter. Usually this part of the island is very dry, hot and not very green. In fact it is extremely prone to fires in the summer. It gets very windy here as it is just above Ma'alaea Bay - the 2nd windiest bay in the world behind New Zealand. You will notice that 18 wind turbines are situated on the spine of the Kealaloloa Ridge to take advantage of these winds. In all, we hiked about 8 miles round trip.

You can enter this hike from either the east or the west. We chose the west side and here is what the sign at the entrance had to say about the history of the trail.

In prehistoric times, travelers from Olowalu walked along the shoreline to this spot and then had to choose whether to swim around the sea cliffs, find a friendly neighbor with a canoe, or climb over the Kealaloloa Ridge to get to Ma'alaea. In Missionary times, a road was built across these steep slopes and travelers on foot or horseback could make the journey in four or five hours. The 2oth century brought first carriages and then cars. The trail became a road then a highway.

Follow in the footsteps of travelers from over a century ago. Built for horeseback and foot travel between Wailuku and Lahaina, The Lahaina Pali Trail was the direct route across the steep southern slopes of the West Maui Mountains. It was hand-built along the steep, sometimes treacherous hillsides.

The trail is over 5 miles long (one way) and climbs to over 1600 feet above sea level. Along this trail you will see native plants like a'ali'i (Dodonaea viscosa), wiliwili trees (Erythrina sandwicensis), and a native dryland sandalwood (Santalum ellipticum).

Petroglyphs, etchings, stone walls and rocky outcrops mark the spots where long ago travelers stopped to rest. The mid-point of the trail is Kealaloloa Ridge, the southern rift zone of the volcano that formed West Maui. Pu'u (cinder hills) and natural cuts in the ridgeline expose the dramatic geologic history of this part of Maui.

The view looking back and down towards the trail head. Lanai is in the distance.

Looks like a great spot to snorkel. We actually saw a few whales while hiking, but they were too far out to photograph.

Here you can see the new highway, the first and original road mid-way on the cliff and we are on the original trail. Notice Molokini Crater in the distance to the right.

As we get higher we are able to see the South-eastern coast of Haleakala.

The colors really were like this. Honest.

Rounding the bend to sweeping views of Ma'alaea Bay, Kihei, cane fields and Haleakala.

This is where we stopped for our picnic lunch. Rainbow over Kahului and views toward Haiku, Pukalani and Paia. This was also our turning around point which was about 4 miles one way.

Coming back from the cloud covered East side. Notice the Wind Farm in the upper left corner.

Heading back you can see the trail etched into the side of the gulches.

The guidebooks said to be on the lookout for etchings along the trail by paniolo's (cowboys) and school children. This was the only one we saw that seemed to be authentic. No one today would make a 7 and 4 like that. We can't make out the name but the date is 1874.

A view of Kaho'olawe under a blanket of clouds.

Heading back as the sun began to set.

ON THE 3RD DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 2ND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 1ST DAY OF CHRISTMAS...

Merry Christmas to those celebrating. This post marks the 1st of 8 displaying these original silkscreen Christmas cards courtesy of Martin and Alice Provensen. These were quite the thrift store find spotted by Conn's keen little eye back in the day as a gift pour moi. You may be asking why 8? Aren't there 12 days of Christmas? I thought I scanned all 12 cards and the back showing the credits but 9-12 may have fallen victim to Laptop Meltdown 2008. I'll see if I can hunt them down before January 2 (That's the 9th day of Christmas for the math-challenged) For more of Alice & Martin's work, check out this blog post featuring their Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends and also, there's always Flickr.

And for your carolling, island-style, here's the 12 Days of Christmas submitted by Deb, one of our dear CFC fans:

The 12 Days of Christmas local style!
by Eaton B. Magoon Jr., Edward Kenny, Gordon N. Phelps

1) Numbah One day of Christmas,
my tutu give to me
One mynah bird in one papaya tree....
*********************************************************
2) Numbah Two day of Christmas,
my tutu give to me
Two coconut, an' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.....

**********************************************************

3) Tree dry squid.....
4) Foah flowah lei.....
5) Five beeg fat peeg.....
6) Seex hula lesson.....
7) Seven shrimp a-swimmin'.....
8) Eight ukulele.....
9) Nine pound of poi.....
10) Ten can of beer....
11) Eleven Missionary...
(12) Twelve TELEVISION!

GATHER ROUND

Last week I made this wreath with bits of natures cast offs from our yard.
The lovely Grace over at design*sponge posted the how-to on her weekly DIY posting today. Head on over and check it out. Mahalo Grace.

SUBSTITUTE POST

Today I had scheduled a different post, but due to a change in schedule I am making a quick substitution. Look for the previously scheduled post early next week.

Here are a few pics of the latest round of baking to hold you over.

Lavender Mac Nut Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate and Lavender Icing

Lavender Lemon and Pecan Cookies with Lavender Icing

ARE YOU A FOLLOWER?

Aloha... we have finally gotten around to adding the "FOLLOW THIS BLOG" link just to your right. Click it to stayed updated on our latest postings. We are promising to get back to blogging better in 2009. Stay tuned for upcoming re-models, recipes and reports from Maui.

In the meantime... we hope this picture brightens your day... especially those of battling ice, snow and below freezing digits.

A Hui Hou,
Conn, John and Kekoa

ADVENT OF AN ANNIVERSARY

It's a dreary, rainy day here in Cuckoo For Coconuts Land, the kind of day that deserves a post of a cheery nature. Here, for your enjoyment, are pics of my Olive The Other Reindeer POP-UP Advent Calendar! I found this little gem on a rare, unexpected, do-nothing Saturday, browsing the shops in Makawao.




See, December 6th was our 8th Anniversary and we had no intention of doing anything celebratory other than perhaps a nod and a smile to each other when out of the blue we get a call from Anuhea Farms saying they had flowers for us. The voice on the other end had a slight Carol Channing quality to it and I was instantly charmed by her sales pitch to come up and experience the holiday festivities in Makawao and pick up the flowers ourselves. Turns out we're too far out in the boonies for them to deliver! Not a problem though since we used it as an excuse to get out of the house.

The weather conditions were perfect. In fact, we couldn't remember experiencing such a clear day. Haleakala was cloudless and the West Maui mountains, almost always shrouded in mist or haze, were well-exposed. In fact, the profiles of Lana'i and Moloka'i were crisply defined as well.



One of the shops we stopped in, Maui Child Toys and Books, had the Olive The Other Reindeer advent calendar marked down 50%! I couldn't resist. J. Otto Seibold is one of my favorite illustrators and I love advent calendars. And this has the added bonus of a pop-up Santa castle! A trifecta of sorts. We used to get an advent calendar every December when I was a kid and I was cuckoo about opening the tiny paper windows to see what was inside. It deeply informed my ideas of papercraft, print design, expectation and surprise.

Then we headed over to Anuhea Farm's tiny colorful retail shop off Baldwin Ave. to pick up the Protea flowers that our dear friends Gabrielle and Laurence ordered for us. We ended up talking to the proprietress Judy and her friend Susie for almost an hour. I wish I had pictures of the shop because it was something out of a scene from Amelie or the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. At one point I noticed Judy's lime green outfit matched the lime green painted chair on which she sat.



Our other big treat, besides the calendar, were these heart-shaped shortbread cookies from Komoda Bakery.

SLOPPY SECONDS

After just 2 days of having turkey... I was ready to take it to another level. Today I made a turkey pot pie based on this recipe from the
LA TIMES. Notice I said BASED. That's right, I did not stay true to the recipe. I use recipes as spring boards. In this case, the most important part of any pot pie is the crust and the sauce. I was a bit skeptical of the herb crust but thought why not. This recipe did not fail on either and I am not quite sure I will ever be able to make a pot pie any other way. I highly suggest this to any pot pie lover out there.

The only thing I did not groove on, was that this recipe only calls for a top crust. WHAT!? Oh no... I need full crust coverage, so you guessed it... I made a double batch of crust... well I actually made 2 batches. The herb version for the top and a plain for the bottom. I did not want the herbs to be too overpowering. Depending on the size pan you use, you may have a bit of filling left over. Not to worry. Simply place it in an airtight container and freeze. In a few weeks simply heat it up and serve on biscuits or toast with a salad. TA-DONE!

Try the original or here is my version:

HERB CRUST
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons fresh chopped herbs (1 large basil leaf, thyme, sage, chives, parsley, rosemary... use whatever you like and adjust amounts to your taste)
Scant 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons chilled butter

PLAIN CRUST
1 1/2 cups flour
Scant 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons chilled butter

FILLING
4 cups chicken broth (or homemade turkey stock), and more as needed
1 medium onion diced into 1/2 -inch pieces
2 large carrots diced into 1/2 -inch pieces
1 cup broccoli chopped
1/2 cupped green beans cut into 1" pieces
2 stalks celery diced into 1/2 -inch pieces
4 small potatoes diced into 1/2 -inch pieces (peeled or not)
2-3 cups chopped leftover turkey
1 cup half and half or heavy cream (i used half and half)
1/2 cup flour
6 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon pepper
salt to taste
1/2 cup ice water

1. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, the herbs, a scant half-teaspoon salt and the sugar. Cut 8 tablespoons (one stick) butter into one-half-inch pieces and, with a pastry cutter, two knives or your fingers, quickly work the butter into the flour until it is reduced to pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time and no more than 6, into the mixture and fluff with a fork until the dough is just moist enough to gather into a ball. Do not overwork the dough. Flatten the ball into a disk and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to chill thoroughly.
(make the plain crust exactly as above omitting the herbs)

2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, add all the veggies to broth and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a bare simmer about 10 minutes.

3. Drain the vegetables, reserving the broth. Hold veggies to side until needed.

4. Measure the broth you have left. You should have about 2 1/2 cups left. If more then simmer until reduced. If less then add more stock.

5. Make the sauce:In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup flour over the melted butter and cook, stirring constantly, to make a white roux, about 3 minutes. Do not let the roux color. Off heat, whisk the reduced broth into the roux, then stir in the half and half or cream and bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly. Cook just until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and season with salt to taste and one-eighth teaspoon pepper, or to taste.

6. Pour the veggies and cubed turkey into the sauce. Check the seasoning, and set aside. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

7. On a lightly floured board or surface, roll the plain dough so it is large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9x9 dish. Bake for 10 minutes until set. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Meanwhile, roll the herb dough so it is large enough to cover the top of a 9x9 dish with a 1" overhang. Fill the cooled crust with the filling to top of pan. Drape the dough over the filled dish. Roll up the edges and crimp over the edge to seal the pie.

8. If you'd like, mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of water and brush over the crust to give it a rich sheen as it bakes. (I omitted this step)

9. Slit the top of the crust in a few places to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes.

10. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue to bake until the crust is golden and the sauce is bubbling, an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

11. Let the pie rest for at about 10 minutes before serving. It will stay warm for quite a long time.

GIMME SHELTER

We had a pre-thanksgiving treat this week in the form of a visit from my good friend Jenny! She called out of the blue a few weeks ago to ask if she could come and the timing was perfect, we needed a few days off from working through two weekends in a row! She spent the previous week on Oahu and then stretched out her trip three days with a hop over to the Valley Isle where she ooh'd and ahhh'd at all the sights we managed to squeeze in.

I first met Jenny the summer of 1988 while attending a weekend orientation at SUNY Purchase. She and I both graduated with BFA's in Graphic Design in 1992 and have remained friends ever since. We even took a cross-country road trip together in June of 1995 where we encountered all forms of weather including a tornado while camping in Kansas. We and other weary campers, spent part the night in a "shelter" otherwise known as the mens' room since that was the only stable structure in the immediate area. That infamous vacation was really the last time Jenny and I spent any good amount of time together. The three days we just had went so quickly that it all seems like a dream now. Thankfully, we got the pics to prove it really happened. Here are some highlights:


From the lowest of lows: Jenny and I weathering a tornado in a mens' room stall somewhere in Kansas, June 1995.

To the highest of highs: 10,023 feet in the air atop Haleakala, Maui, November 2008.


On a clear day...: It was so wonderfully clear the day we went up to the summit that we were treated to this view of the many peaks on the Big Island of Hawai'i

Jenny is a friend of mine: Conn and Jenny had never met but became fast friends. Here, taking in a different vista of the Haleakala crater. Very cold and windy.

Down on the farm: Further on down from the summit is the beautiful Ali'i Lavender Farm. We had never seen these succulents bloom before. The little clusters of bell-shaped flowers where an other-worldly red--even more so than this pic shows. Definitely worth the trip.

Where the tall grass grows: One of our favorite places to go for a hike in the north west Maui Mountains. A spectacular view of Kahului harbor and Haleakala.

Through the bamboo: This is a fun little hike through thick bamboo that had Jenny thinking we had shrunk and jumped into a rabbit hole.

Waterfall's end: The hike through the bamboo ended at this meandering little waterfall. Conn investigated the rest of the trail but we didn't have enough time to scale the rock wall.