HIlo Chinese New Years Highlights

 

 

What a fun celebration participating in the 12th annual Hilo Chinese New Year's festival on Hawaii Island. It was a beautiful and sunny day filled with fun activities, displays, music programs and a lot of entertainment focused on the year of the Horse.

 

 

A very popular Fu dob makes it's appearance with taiko drummers entertaining the crowds with rolls and tricks, they just love taking your red envelops and dollars as a good luck gesture for the new year.

Calligraphy artists were on hand offering free written prosperity and Health and Happiness in red cards for you to take home for personal good luck and affirmations.

Of course the traditional lion dances with plenty of loud firecrackers were the official start and performance to the Hilo festivities, it is always a colorful dance and a lot of fun to witness or just to photograph.

Let's make some loud drumming and banging, it's Chinese New Years and the dragons are ready to dance.

Red envelops are a sign of good luck for the New Years and is given at any age.

Fluffy chickens with aloha leis were available for children to hold and feed...and they all flock to pet and cuddle these cuties all day long.

It was another successful Chinese New Years celebration in Hilo, what a wonderful way way to enjoy the day and appreciate Chinese culture, traditions and food - Kung Hei Fat Choi.

Mealani's Taste of the Hawaiian Range 2013

Considering that Hawaii typically imports over 80 percent of its produce and agricultural products to the islands, it's fantastic that various organizations along with the community and can join together and help to support and promote sustainability and locally sourced produce and products. It's also fantastic that there are many Hawaiian businesses that support and source local products for their customers and show they care about the Aina (land).






The annual Mealani's Taste of the Hawaiian Range celebrates local products and eating local. This event showcases locally grown Hawaiian grass-fed beef along along with fresh produce and finished food products - all grown or made in Hawaii. The Taste event at the Hilton Waikoloa is a 'Locavores' dream offering delicious food creations from some of the most celebrated chefs in Hawaii.




Prepping up for the feast








The highlight of the evening features grass-fed beef where every part of a cow from the tongue to the tail is portioned off to a chef, culinary school or local restaurant. It is up to their creative imagination and use of locally sourced materials to present tasters with some amazing and tasty bites from their creations. This year's event welcomed over 35 chefs from all over the Big Island and some neighboring islands to share their knowledge and creative talents.


Here are some beautiful and tasty samples that were being offered for the Taste.






Smoked lamb in ravioli with sage butter and kabocha puree flourish from Pueo's Osteria







Roasted top sirloin wrap and dressed with shiso and chimichurri sauce. It is topped with shaved and deep-fried Hamakua mushrooms. A delicious bite created by chef Dayne Tanabe at the Hilton Waikoloa.

 

Here's a refreshing Panzanella salad with fresh mozzarella, cucumber, bell pepper, red onions, crusty bread, lots of olive oil and basil.

Comfort food with Rocky Mountain Oysters and calamansi, Maui sweet onions, Ko Choo Jung, organic greens and jasmine rice. The chefs at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel offered us a fusion of Korean and Filipino inspired bites.















How about an ox tail beef gnocchi ragout served in the entire casing of a Parmigiano Reggiano wheel and brought to us by the Beach Tree at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. In one word its 'Magnifico!'

 

New products like these interesting and colorful squash are now being grown in Hawaii for various restaurants and maybe public markets in the near future.

 

 

 

Look even Cinderella made a guest appearance with her huge pumpkin. Created by Recycle Hawaii, the pumpkin used a bokashi bucket kitchen compost to start of the plant with great compost made with your kitchen scraps.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 


Merriman's offered a savory Pho soup with noodles and thinly shaved beef eye of round - a very flavorful and comforting dish that stood out with the sea of meat dishes.

 

 

 

A wonderful skirt steak dish with arugula and onions, very simple and ono (delicious) from Village Burger in Waimea.

 

 

Featuring kalua pork encased in a spring roll with poi and ohelo berry sauce. It includes a side of haupia and purple sweet potatoes which completes the meal from Mahina Cafe in Captain Cook.

 

 

Lines of culinary student volunteers help all the chefs with prepping their dishes for the public to taste.

Judging from the huge turnout of foodies, it was another very successful event the the Mealani Taste of the Hawaiian Range. A wonderful way to showcase local agriculture and locally sourced foods and support for the organizations that distribute and promote Hawaii food products and services.

To see even more amazing shots of the evenings event and some delicious food porn, visit my Flickr page here and enjoy.

 

Beautiful leis for Lei day and May day celebrations

Lei day in Hawaii is a popular and fun way to cherish someone you love and care for with a beautiful lei, usually hand-made personally from the giver. There are many Lei Day celebrations occuring throughout the various islands of Hawaii on this day to commemorate this wonderful sharing of a lei.

Leis were used regularly by the early Polynesians and settlers to the Hawaiian islands to honor their gods by twining greens into wreaths and making these as offerings. They also used the wreaths and flowered lei made of fragrant ginger blooms to decorate and adorn their bodies. Other fragrant greens used included maile and hala leaves which were used extensively to celebrate various rites, special occasions and daily wear.

This concept of giving a lei was then popularized with the influx of tourism on the islands around the 19th and 20th century. Presenting a lei during the arrival or departure of a love one was communicated as a sign of affection and aloha and still is used currently as a symbol of affection.

Leis are now made with different and aromatic flowers to include plumeria, jasmine, ginger, roses, gardenias, tuba rose and scented orchids to create aromatic scents and beautiful displays. Every flower and color is used now with different types of materials, seeds, shells and other greenery to create different looks and texture.

(A gorgeous tutu or grandmother wears and elaborate collection yellow, orange and red flowered leis at a hula performance in Hawaii)

Greenery leis above include greens of maile, ferns and seeds or pods, along with a very thick and aromatic plumeria lei above. Hula performances are typical of when leis are made fresh and used for adornment for a particular function or hula performance.

Even leis are made to adorn horses in many of the annual parades throughout the islands. Here leis elaborate leis are created for the horse and pau rider for the annual Merrie Monarch parade.


Lei day celebrations today in East Hawaii are marked with lei and craft demonstrations, live music and performances and other festivities celebrating this well loved tradition. It seems so appropriate for the first day of May to celebrate spring and a beautiful day by making a lei and giving to someone special in your life..

©Noel Morata, All rights reserved

Come and visit my photography website at http://noelmorata.photoshelter.com/
 

Merrie Monarch parade in Hilo, Hawaii.

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One of the largest and most colorful parades to attend in Hawaii is the annual Merrie Monarch Parade in Hilo, Hawaii. This beautiful parade caps a week-long celebration of hula events all around Hilo and celebrates hula as the basis of each participating entrant to the event. This year’s parade with over 170 participants was the largest number of groups active with the celebration.

Along with the usual bands, civic groups and clubs, the Merrie Monarch parade celebrates everything surrounding the week long hula fest.  There is usually a variety of pageant queens including our own Miss Aloha – hula contestant winner.

 

 

 

 

Then there is a contingent of this year’s Hawaiian royalty, kings, queens and other historical members of the Hawaiian royal family who are chosen to be this year’s royal court members.  The royal float contains live music performers serenading the court and is filled with fresh tropical flowers and exotic plants.

All the floats are lavishly decorated with colorful flowers like orchids, gingers and plumeria which are grown commercially for export and showcasing the abundance of plant and tropical flowers grown on the island.  Many of the floats feature live performers singing favorite Hawaiian tunes along with local dancing hula halaus (schools) dancing in perfect synch to the music.

A favorite of the audience are the local pa’u riders (parade horseback riders) with their extravagant outfits and vivid floral displays of leis and other adornments. Representing each island with their local official color and flower, each pa’u rider is an amazing sight to behold in the procession. Even the horse poop carriers and scoopers are creatively presented and fun to witness their vital task of pooper scooper tasks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the paniolo men (cowboys) were handsomely presented with their horses in beautiful regalia to match the island colors and flowers.

At the tail end of each horse contingent are the pooper scoopers, this was actually one of the favorites at the parade, due to the unique and colorful presentations that were present at this parade. This one was my favorite with the pineapple princess representing Lanai.

Unique to the Hawaiian islands are contingents that celebrate local activities like the Red hat ladies, marching bands, the taiko drummers, the local ukulele marching band and various dignitaries. It all makes for a unique blend of participants that creates a fun parade experience.

 

The Merrie Monarch parade celebrates hula and the entire community at its best and most welcomed Aloha.  Its a beautiful event to witness and photograph with each new contingent approaching and exciting events unfolding spontaneously.


Thanks for visiting and experiencing this event online, hopefully next year you may come and visit Hilo to experience this exciting festival and parade in person.

To see more photographs on this event, please visit this flickr site for more images.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12701042@N04/sets/72157633210534314/

 

 

©Noel Morata, All rights reserved

Come and visit my photography website at http://noelmorata.photoshelter.com/
 

No GMO demonstration in Hawaii

Hawaiian rallies and marches are always very colorful and filled with beautiful imagery and passion. Here, a recent protest and rally in Hilo against Monsanto and GMO tested produce grown on the Hawaiian islands are galvanizing many diverse groups of supports to pressure government to start labeling GMO produced products and drive out Monsanto interests on all the islands.

Prior to the rally starting a new planting bed was created in front of Hilo's historic Kamehameha statue and people started to plant Taro or Kalo as it is called in Hawaii - a food staple on the islands.

You cannot help to smile with creative and humorous signage that adds a human dimension

to this type of protest.

Personal signage give a more intimate story of the relevance of the rally and appeal for local government to consider their constituent's priorities.

The hands show what its all about....

A'ole GMO means No GMO

Even the oldest march and create insightful written dialog.

The weird and funny always grabs attention and sense of humor along the parade route.

A very large turnout supports and galvanizes local community to act and be heard, hopefully spurring action and changes within government.

Strength in numbers and positive reinforcement of words and local support inspire marchers along with onlookers. Hopefully this march has created some impact and thought, along with a very colorful display of Hawaiian culture.


For more images of the rally and march, please visit the flickr link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12701042@N04/page1/

©Noel Morata, All rights reserved

Come and visit my photography website at http://noelmorata.photoshelter.com/