Western Blogs

Hi, lurkers. As you may or may not have heard, there was a fire at Whatcom Middle School early this morning that was damaging enough to close the school down for at least a week. You can read all about it here. Whatever the cause was, thankfully it appears that no one was hurt.

Now, as the title of this entry implies, this slightly effects those of you who take WTA’s bus 15. If you’re riding the 15 and the bus ventures into unfamiliar territory for a few minutes, don’t fret — it’s a detour because of the work being done on the school.  You can check out the WTA’s Rider Alert page to get the details. The route should return to normal when school’s back in session.

Sesame Street turns 40 next Tuesday and this is your chance to ask Big Bird any question you want. Check out some of the questions here.thanks to M for this.

One of the first things that happened today was a confrontation with my hopefully-future math professor. He basically told me I'll have to fend for myself in order to get into his popular statistics class. I was hoping he could save me a spot, but I guess not. So I thought "Shoot. This day is going to suck since the first thing that happened was me getting bad news."

So then I successfully snuck up on Jon, got a hug, and had a decent clarinet lesson. Then I thought "this day might not be so bad..."

I managed to stay awake in anthropology and not be too spiteful that I got an B+ on a paper I thought I wrote well. It's kind of funny, because I got an A- on my last anthro paper and I was really upset, but with this B+, I know I wrote a good paper. The professor's prompt just sucked. So I may not be able to write what he wants, but I can write well in general, and I guess that makes me feel better.

Next I got my history paper back and got 17.5 out of 20 - a 0.5 point improvement. I was pretty happy but not ecstatic. As I walked to band I thought "This day is probably going to suck as soon as some more bad news pushes me over the edge."

Band was decent, and so was SWEA later that night. And now I'm sitting in my apartment with not a whole lot of homework and not being horribly stressed. It suddenly dawned on me that this day was neither bad nor good. It was just mediocre. Then I realized that this whole quarter has been mediocre. I'm getting mediocre grades, and my stress level is neither minimal nor incredibly high (sometimes). What can I do to feel great and not mediocre? Being happy would be awesome!

What's getting me through school is mentoring and tutoring kids. I look forward to Tuesdays when I can *try to* read to 1st graders. As that excitement wears off, I become excited to see my 5th graders on Friday. I spend a whole 4 hours with kids each week, and I always wish I had more, so I get a little depressed, especially when I just hung out with kids and then must do homework. It's the ultimate let-down. The good news is that I'm trying to set up a mentoring program with the local high school, so hopefully I'll get to spend even MORE time with kids.

When I catch myself wishing I was tutoring, mentoring, or just hanging out with kids, I make myself more happy by knowing that I have a passion for teaching and learning and just being around those kids. I know for sure that I want to teach, and I can't wait to stop taking history, anthropology, math, English, and any other poorly-taught college course so I can have my own classroom.

Against my better judgement, I recently started reading a book I bought over the summer: Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell. It's so amazing and inspiring, and I find myself reading that book when I should be working on a paper or reading for a class. I mentioned this in a previous blog, but I really look up to Erin. She was a "privileged" white, middle-class girl who didn't know how to help her students. She just knew she wanted to make a difference, and she worked hard in order to help her students in any way she could. She's a lot like me. I know that in a few years I'll be teaching at some inner-city school where kids can't relate to me and don't want to learn what I'm trying to teach, but I know that I'll prevail somehow. Reading this book is my escape from the chaos, stress, frustration, and disappointment that is college.

Okay, so maybe you're thinking: "If you hate college and your classes so much, why do you want to be a teacher?" I can't stand my classes because they're poorly taught. The subject material is fascinating, and I know that I could make this material come alive if I was teaching it. Mind you, I'd need the knowledge first. A good teacher or professor makes all the difference, and I'm confident that I can eventually become a teacher who can make that difference. But I'm not being unrealistic. I'm expecting to make loads of mistakes and fail a lot along the way.

This is what's keeping me from being upset with my mediocre life.

-Elie

A feminist visiting from another area, seeing that Kathy, Mary Beth and Michelle are running against Dan, Carl and Ken might be heartened to see women well represented in local elections. If that same feminist arrived today, they might be dismayed that all three women were defeated. The irony is that the three men represent "progressive" concerns, while the three women were right-wingers. In what I am beginning to call the Sara Palin Effect, Republicans seem to be turning more and more to literate, pretty, clean-cut women to carry their cause forward. The further irony of this is that putting women into positions of power is a feminist cause, and the current crop of Republicans seem to be embracing it more effectively than the Democrats. And if by some amazing fluke Sara Palin runs, and is elected president, the Republicans will have achived a feminist coup by electing a woman to an office previously occupied by men 100% of the time.

I hate to get political in this particular blog, but I hope you all turned in your ballots — especially my fellow Washingtonians! We’re facing a few really important issues this year, so it was satisfying to drop my completed ballot into the mailbox even though I’m just one person with one voice.

 

On a completely different topic, you might want to check this out if you frequently drive on West Bakerview Road. Look like they’re doing some construction this week to improve traffic conditions — woo!

Okay, that’s it for now. Until next time, lurkers.

Don't forget to vote today! There is a drop off box over at the Viking Union at Western if you haven't already mailed your ballot. They are accepting ballots until 8pm, so it's still not too late if you can do it this evening!

First off we need to establish a November benchmark for relaxing. Magnus demonstrates his usual style....
Dinner was this wonderful broccoli, cheddar, potato, ham soup, with fresh-baked bread. A great way to enjoy the flavors of our fall harvests. The recipe is here, in case you'd like to try it yourself - Yummy soup recipe
Here's one view of the garden right now. Pretty grim. All the dead squash, tomato & bean vines will make way for our garlic planting later this week. We'll also be tilling in tons (literally) of compost and manure, so next year's garden should be even better.
Another view of the garden, showing how much is still going gangbusters. Broccoli, carrots, chard, lettuce, kohlrabi, soup celery, parsley, green onions, spinach....It's so nice to be eating fresh at this time of year!
The last of the carrots are out of the ground, except for the experimental late planting I did. The apples are from next door, saved from the cider press to be lunch treats. There was one last delicata squash hiding in the garden. I think we've finally gotten them all.
The busy tiny kitchen at Seven Trees. Who knew such a small space would end up being the stage for so much good food. Here are eggs getting dozened-up for customers, canned cider, dried broccoli, and other evidence of harvest activities....We'll be busy the rest of November, getting ready for Doug & Buddy to go to freezer camp. Lots of goodies to process out of the freezer....blackberries to turn into jam, beef offal (liver & hearts) to turn into dog food, and we'll be buying a 2nd small freezer as well............... P.S. Does anyone have any tips for what kind of stuff we can collect when they come to slaughter the cattle? I know people make sausage out of pig blood, but does cow blood work? And how do we process it? We want to make use of anything we can, but I really have no clue what the knackers will leave that is useable. We are planning to have Doug's hide tanned, but haven't found a local tannery yet.....

Damien Hirst, a conceptual artist, is selling a series of Medicine Cabinets through Christie's Auction House. the medicine cabinets feature sliding glass doors, sleek white cabinetry, glass shelving, and are stocked full of bottles and boxes of goodies. The Medicine Cabinets are "thought up" by Hirst but actually executed by people with technical talent (but far less imagination) that Hirst. The Cabinets are going for around $239,000 and up. But before you rail on about the idiocy of conceptual art and the foolishness of investing this kind of money in flukey sh*t, be aware that the bottles and boxes in the Medicine Cabinets are crammed with Oxycontin which have a street value of around $80 - $100 a pill, thus making the investment rather a bargain. And selling the contents at local High schools is legal since it's art. Smart guy, this Hirst.

I hope you all had a fun Halloween weekend! I sure did. We carved pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds, went to see B'ham's very own Thriller, and spent some time with good friends, as evidenced in the photo below of me with a couple of my good buddies: Carrot and Tofu, two of this particular vegan's very best friends.
As you may know, the day after Halloween is also "World Vegan Day," a day to enjoy delicious vegan food and think about what it means to be vegan, two things I have spent today doing. One of the things that it makes me think about is the importance of continuing to strive for consistency within myself, to live a self-reflective life, and to find a constructive way to articulate what it is I believe, and make that match with what I do every day. This impacts every aspect of my life, from what I eat, to what I say and how I say it; to what and how I buy, use, have, keep, read, watch, listen to or otherwise consume.


I once told a friend that I believe if you really try to always act with integrity, if you sincerely try to do what is right and to not harm those around you, and if you constantly strive for honesty in your every day life, ultimately nothing can hurt you and you can't help but align yourself with good things.

This is not to say that you will become perfect or invulnerable, or you won't ever have a bad day or cry again, or that you will be impervious to emotional pain, or that you will never experience momentary lapses in judgement, or never swear while driving when someone cuts you off, or anything like that--I don't mean anything exaggerated or unrealistic. I mean that generally speaking, from a sort of "big picture" perspective, doing what is right, considering how you impact the people and life forms around you, and making conscious and deliberate choices based on those considerations, can only make your life better. If you approach your life from this place of honesty and thoughtfulness, you will obtain a certain kind of strength that is both a comfort and a peace, and that will guide you through even the hardest of times, harder than you would have ever imagined possible.


I speak from personal experience, because this is something I know to be true from my own life. That being said, with this as a guiding principle for me, there is continual room for improvement in my own life, and every day is a new opportunity. To me this is empowering, because mistakes aren't a terminal thing--they are not an end but rather a beginning. And confusion is something that can be dispelled with clarity. And if I look at the people surrounding me as all being in the same boat, so-to-speak, as all muddling through and trying to figure things out and really wanting to do what is right, that can only help me feel a certain kind of closeness to humanity, even in the midst of our differences.

Because when you come right down to it, we all want so many of the same things--love, friendship, happiness. We all value so many of the same things--family, loyalty, kindness, security, safety, and honesty. These are things I wish everyone could have and experience, no matter what a person's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or dietary choices may be. These things are universal and human.

So I am using this particular World Vegan Day to think about how I can improve both myself and the world around me, what things can I do or change that I haven't considered or wanted to consider before? And what am I already doing to support what I believe? Another thing I also hope you know is that the deadline for this election is coming right up, on November 3rd. Voting is a tangible way to align your actions with your beliefs, and to consider the lives of the people around you. Which is why I hope you Washington state readers will look beyond potentially divisive political rhetoric and really think about the fundamentals, about what really matters, and choose to approve Ref 71.

If you break it down logically, this referendum touches on what is not really even a political issue, but rather a human issue, an issue of basic human rights, an issue of making a choice to support families, to support love, to act with integrity, and to want what is best for humanity. So I really hope you will use this World Vegan Day to seriously consider what I have written, and please know that I am writing from a place of sincerity and honesty and truly hoping it will go some place positive. Thanks for reading this.

My wife bought this book by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber and I promise I will let her read it as soon as I am done with it. That's the generous kind of person I am. She may be tired of it by then, since I have been reading her big chunks of it as I go. It's that kind of a book.

When They Severed Earth From Sky is about myth seen thorugh the lens of cognitive psychology. In another words, mythology sticks in our heads because of the way our brains work.

Start with a couple of simple assumptions. A pre-literate society only knows what it's members can remember, so important information has to be passed on in memorable ways. A story is more memorable than a list of observations. A wild story is more memorable than an everyday one.

We all know that some myths are attempts to explain natural events. I remember at age 10 reading in D'aulaire's wonderful book of Greek myths that Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths had a foundry under Mount Aetna. Nobody had to tell me that was an attempt to explain a volcano.

But what the Barbers emphasize is that these explanations are not silly. Humans are hardwired to try to understand their surroundings and, lacking scientific tools or theories, they worked with what they understood: Willfullness. If something happened, someOne caused it to happen.

In fact, mythology turns out to be embarassingly full of volcanos when you start looking for them. (One-eyed giants who throw mountaintops, monsters with snake-like hair that turn men to stone, etc.).

The Barbers offer about forty principles for examining myths (and repeat them in a convenient appendix). I pick one at random: "If certain events are not understood, according to already known ("natural") principles, they must be un-understandable - that is, "super-natural" - and there is no point in trying to understand them." They drily call this one the "UFO Corollary."

The Barbers' tools are powerful enough that they can make and test predictions. For example, they look at an old story related in Homer about many of the gods coming together for an event, and they conclude that it represents an unusual alignments of the planets who bear the names of those gods. Using planetarium software they went searching for that alignment and found it in February 1923 B.C. - one thousand years before Homer. Apparently myths can carry information for a long time.

As the above indicates the Barbers have a lot to say about myths and the stars. They argue that the flood stories found in many parts of the world are actually about the ocean above us and represent the precession - movement of the sun in the Zodiac over thousands of years, with each shift being the creation of a "new world." They don't mention that the Navahos, far from any ocean, nonetheless have a story of their ancesters moving to new worlds three times. A different mnemonic for the same observation?

In this book you will discover why Prometheus and Loki are both chained to rocks by the gods, why in Andean flood tales the fox gets his tail wet, and what dragons really look like. I highly recommend it.

Happy Sammie-ween from Sandwich Beauty! Here's to getting a yummy BLT in your plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin tonight!


In the unlikely case that doesn't happen, consider whipping up a batch of these delicious looking Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies from HowStuffWorks.com!
(photos: animalmascots.com, recipes.howstuffworks.com)

My album, HURRICANE RIDGE, released under the same artist name, is now for sale online at Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, and other online music retailers. Please buy it! It's excellent.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=335901000&s=143441

http://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Ridge/dp/B002T9H5TO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1256425346&sr=8-3-catcorr

http://www.rhapsody.com/hurricane-ridge/hurricane-ridge

http://www.emusic.com/album/Hurricane-Ridge-Hurricane-Ridge-MP3-Download/11673220.html

http://home.napster.com/ns/music/artist_search.html?artist_id=12918412

Check other places too! Everywhere I've looked, the album is less than $10!

--Jon

I wrote recently that I'd been dabbling in Kurt Weill. Well that led to a re-discovery of Carla Bley, one of the first major women jazz band leaders, who had a fascination with German marching music, as well as the music of the Weimar Republic. Tracking down Bley also led me to her collaborations with Nick Mason (of Pink Floyd) and Robert Wyatt. It also evoked many memories of old friends, concerts, and life in a seemingly more adventurous yet simpler time. Currently listening to Third by Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt drumming his way into the future.

Now that Lord Byron's letters are for auction at Sotheby's it gives us a chance to ruminate on the days when a poet had the same "larger than life" persona that a rock star does nowdays (i.e. Michael Jackson), given the communication constraints of the era of course. Aside from the always obnoxious and persistent commodity fetish we subscribe to the "things" of famous persons, the fact that this sale actually represents letters of a poet is grand enough. Undoubtedly thousands of people will pick up Byron, perhaps for the first time, and if some beauty enters the world because of it, then it's all good.
Our last American larger than life poet was arguably Allen Ginsberg, whose spiritual and to a large extent stylist mentor was our first grand, and much larger than life poet, Walt Whitman. If Walt were alive today he'd probably be a hip-hop artist or rock star. Poetry is quiet in America, despite the popularity of slams. But perhaps it is just estavating, waiting for the right person to come along. Someone large, bold, bad, brilliant, and very damn good.
My favorite Byron tidbit thus far, picked up from NPR, is his reference to Wordsworth as TURDSworth. Nothing like a smack-down to get poets into the limelight.

On other issues of proportion, check out the Book of Genesist illustrated by R. Crumb. It may succeed in giving back the bible (this book anyway) its elemental and perverse humanity.

In an effort to keep readers of the Journal of Educational Controversy informed on the widening conversation about education across the nation and the globe, we will be using this blog occasionally to update you on other movements. Tara Mack has just announced a new online community forum established by the Education for Liberation Network that I mentioned in an earlier post. Check it out at http://edliberation.ning.com


From Tara Mack:

Dear Educator,

I am excited to announce that the Education for Liberation Network is now launching an online community that includes discussion forums, member profiles, online chats, groups, an events calendar etc. Please check out this exciting new tool for bringing our community together and register today (http://edliberation.ning.com).

This new forum also offers the network an opportunity to share the latest news from the fight for a more just education. You'll find recent headlines on the Community Home page in the Just Ed and More Just Ed Headlines section. I will be gathering news items and updating that section once per week. But I need your help to make that site a rich source of information.

Over the coming weeks and months please send me timely articles, blog posts, videos etc. related to liberatory education, both in the classroom and in the wider community. More specifically the items should be education, education organizing and youth organizing related news that prioritize the perspectives, needs and concerns of marginalized communities. This site could be great resource for our community, but only if lots of people contribute. I will publish as many of them as I can.

I hope you will become a member of this online community!

It's cider season in Whatcom County! Our neighbors had 33 crates of apples from their trees this year, so we pitched in to help turn them into cider.
Check out this clever work table! The top is made from wood slats, so you can dump your apples or other produce on it and hose them right off. We are definitely going to build one of these for Seven Trees.

Running the crusher is a two-handed job for some of us....a good upper-body workout.
There are little metal teeth inside the hopper that break the apples down enough to make extracting the juice easier. Once the press is full, a wooden board goes on top and a giant screw is turned to force all the juice out. The disk of apple-squishings is called a cheese. The cows got to eat a few wheelbarrows full of the spent apple pulp, which is also known as pomace.

Naturally, we filled a couple of carboys to start some hard cider brewing. We added campden tablets to kill off any wild yeast first. The old-fashioned traditional way is to let the yeast already present on the apples do the fermenting, but this can be unpredictable. We didn't want to take any chances, so we'll use Nottingham ale yeast on one batch, and a wine yeast on another. The ale-yeasted batch we'll bottle carbonated, hopefully with none exploding while they finish fermenting.
We also canned up quite a few quarts to have over the winter. The short processing time pasteurizes the cider, but it still tastes a million times better than anything from the store. Below is a short movie of the crusher in action.

Hundreds. Just look at the expression on her face.

I have been excited about Bloom since the moment I heard of its existence. This past Friday, my husband and I, along with our beautiful niece, dined there for the first time. As we walked inside, we were struck by the roominess of the space; the lighting was simultaneously low yet warm, and the room was spacious yet inviting. The owner, Justin Bilancieri, was very friendly, greeted us immediately, and welcomed us to sit anywhere we wanted.

He gave us a menu to look at and explained that it was a bit limited at the moment and would be expanding in the near future. He referred to this as their "soft" opening. Since we weren't sure what to choose, we asked him for what he recommended, and we settled on two main dishes that we could share among ourselves so that we would all have a chance to taste a variety of options. We ordered a quinoa bowl with a superfood salad, and also a platter that included hummus, salad, and a coconut cucumber and tomato soup. My niece also tried the berry smoothie.



I know there exists for some a prejudice against fresh veggies and salads as main dishes--there is this idea that for something to be satisfying and flavorful, it has to be heavier, starchier, even dense. I am ashamed to admit that even I wondered, for a split second, if this would be the kind of meal where we would be hungry again soon after eating. I was also a little worried because here we finally were in our very own local vegan restaurant, and I wanted so badly for it to be good that I nervously wondered: what if it's not? I knew I wouldn't be able to bear the disappointment.

And, luckily for me, I didn't have to. Thankfully, the food was delicious. And unique. And ultimately, really, really, filling. Once I realized this I knew that at last I could let out a deep breath, relax, and really enjoy the meal. The quinoa bowl was seasoned really well, and I already forsee myself getting cravings for it. I love good quinoa. But I really hate bad quinoa. I have had some awesome quinoa and some really bland boring quinoa, and this fell into the category of awesome quinoa.

The soup was a blended soup full of complexities and flavor. It was unlike any soup I have ever had before in my life. With each new taste, I felt like my taste buds were waking up from a long nap. The fresh greens and herbs of the salad were delicious, served with a wonderful vinaigrette. They tasted as thought they had come straight out of the garden. My niece was the one who first noticed this--she commented on how different garden-grown vegetables taste when compared to store-bought, and how the vegetables here tasted so much better than anything you could buy in the store.


The hummus was also really good--there is a regular and a sun-dried tomato, and we tried and enjoyed both of them. And my niece also really liked her smoothie. Finally, for dessert, there was a berry mousse of some sort, that tasted so good it distracted me and I forgot to copy down from the menu what it's actually called. But at least I remembered to get a picture!


When we first arrived, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Then quickly it began to fill up, which makes me very happy. Clearly, this is a good sign. I am hopeful and confident that Bellingham is the perfect town to help sustain a place like Bloom. And Justin seems like the perfect person to take such a project on. His personal attention to detail, his friendly attentiveness, and his positive attitude are all definite positive attributes of the restaurant itself, and this definitely comes through in the food.


One of the other things I admire about Justin, besides his commitment to local and sustainable food sources, is that he wants to only use biodegradable corn-based plastics. He is thinking of the big picture with his restaurant, how his business impacts the world around him, not just how to make money. I read a truly disturbing article last week about the plastic debris that is breaking down and collecting in the ocean. One of the many negative impacts this is having on our environment is that these micro-plastics are being eaten by albatross chicks and other sea life who then starve to death while there stomachs are full of plastic. I have not been able to get those images out of my head all week, and it got me thinking not just about recycling, but also about trying my hardest to lower my own personal use of plastic. It is reassuring to dine somewhere where these concerns are also important and taken seriously.

Not only were we all full and happy after our meal together, I actually experienced a little burst of energy that is something foreign to me most Friday nights after a long week of work. Usually on Fridays, I am pretty tired and ready to collapse on the couch at an embarrassingly early hour. After dining at Bloom, not only was I full, but I also felt physically good. Really good. It's kind of hard to explain, but I remember thinking: so this is how food is supposed to make you feel. I actually had energy. I made a mental note that this is definitely the place to fuel up next time I am feeling lethargic and need a pick-me-up.

We Bellinghamsters are lucky to finally have a place like this in our own hometown. If you haven't already done it, be sure and check Bloom out. I will definitely be eating there again and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for Bellingham.

Bloom is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon-Thurs and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. See you there!

I love my kitchen in our new place--it has everything I could ever want, especially now that my husband added this little feature for me. No more crouching down on my hands and knees clanging pots and pans around trying to find what I need from inside the island counter. Now everything is right at my fingertips!



And see how nicely it goes in the kitchen! This is definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house. And I look forward to spending countless hours in here cooking away and making new and delicious things, like the yummy tofu scramble I made this weekend out of whatever we happened to have in the fridge. It turned out quite well and tasted really good. I borrowed something from a restaurant in Maui where I ate a really great tofu scramble and added both tahini and a touch of smoky paprika to my usual recipe. It made it that much creamier, richer and tastier.


My favorite store-bought tofu is the organic extra-firm high protein tofu from Trader Joes. It is so easy to cook with and you don't have to drain or press it--it comes pretty much ready to go. Saute it with some onion, garlic, a little tamari sauce and nutritional yeast, throw in some other seasonings as well as the tahini and smoked paprika, add some chopped tomatoes, and at the very very end some broccoli crowns and you are almost ready. At the last second wilt some spinach leaves on top and ta-dah! Brunch is served. And clean-up is easy--just wash the pan and hang it on the nice new shiny rack to dry!

If you could only eat out once in Maui, this is absolutely the only place you would need to go. I know I have been back awhile now and I am STILL talking about Maui, but bear with me for one last post, and then I promise to share some local "blooming" news with you.


This restaurant had such a profound impact on me, that if I had absolutely no other reason to ever want to go back to Maui, the chance to eat here again would be reason enough. I can't express how amazing the food was--both beautiful and delicious.


We ate here our last two nights, and had we known sooner how awesome it was, we would have eaten here every single day. There are a few items on the menu that are vegetarian rather than vegan because of egg-based ingredients, as in the "shrimp," but every item on the menu is vegetarian and the vast majority of items are vegan. Even the Thai iced tea was vegan, made with coconut milk!



We made a point of having an appetizer each night since we wanted to try as many things on the menu as possible. The first night we had the very delectable "Fried Imperial Rolls" served with a special citrus sauce. These were better than any fried "egg" roll or spring roll I have ever had anywhere in my entire life.



The next night we had the "Fresh Summer Rolls," and these too were incredible. The flavors were fresh and vibrant, and the special homemade peanut sauce complimented it perfectly. My two favorite dishes were very creative and amazing tofu-based dishes. One is pictured below and the other is at the top of this post. (Felicity, I would have given anything to have you there so that you could "deconstruct" these for me and tell me how to make them--I am still craving them days later.)

In addition, the service was great, the food absolutely amazing, and the prices are also incredible. If you ever go to Maui, I truly hope you will make a point of eating here. I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity. Some food makes an everlasting impression, and the food at Fresh Mint certainly made such an impression on me. I will never forget it.