Last of Hawaii, Bead Journal, and Turkey Meat Loaf

We're home. The trip was fantastic. Miracles continued; however, I don't know what happened to my last blog, which talked about miracles in general and the miracles we experienced while in Hawaii. Some people got to read my blog and after several days it was gone, so those who waited to read it, haven't. I wish I could recreate it exactly but I've decided not to at this point.

Our last tour while on Kauai was called the Jungle Adventure, and it was. We wanted to experience several different activites and this was perfect. We had another miracle. We were scheduled to go on Thursday and it was raining very hard. We called to see if they were going to go, and they were, rain or shine. We chose to postpone it until the Friday, our last full day on Kauai, taking the chance that it wouldn't be raining as hard as it was on Thursday, as the prediction was for rain as well. 

Friday dawned overcast but dry. We headed out at the designated time and signed in with it slightly drizzling. They drove us to a field, where we started hiking to the kayaks. We'd never gone kayaking before; it was really fun and done on a mostly calm river. We had to ford one area to get to the kayaks, and the water was calf deep. Cool but not cold. We arrived at the spot to start our hike to the zip lines and it was drizzling a bit harder but not heavily. The hike was a bit strenuous but very doable. We loved the zip lines; we did only two on this trip; we could have done a different trip with had 7-9 zip lines, but wanted only a taste. We definitely would go zip lining and kayaking again. 

After the zips, we hiked down to a small lagoon with a waterfall, where we went swimming and had lunch before hiking back to the kayaks to go home. It was a great trip!

The next day, we flew to Honolulu and stayed with friends, who had done a house swap with a woman form Kailua, near Honolulu. We had a wonderful dim sum lunch the next day and walked around their Chinatown, but most shops were closed on Sundays, so we didn't really get the best flavor. Fun, in any case.

Some of you may have seen my April Bead Journal Project Goddess Doll pin, but I'm showing it again for those who did have the chance. Naturally, it's all about Hawaii.

I used this specific fabric as, to me, it showed the colors of Maui and the big island. The brown and orange were for the volcanoes and active lava, while the black hair was for the black lava rocks surrounding the big island. I made the grass skirt in honor of the Miss Aloha Hula Competition we attended while on Hawaii, and the lei necklace of flowers for the many beautiful leis we saw all over all the islands. The turtle at the bottom is for long life and the many turtles abounding in the islands. I really enjoyed making her!

This next one is for May, while we were on Kauai.

The red feather hair was for the beautiful red-crested cardinals we saw on the property where we stayed. The shells in her hair and on her lower right side are indicative of the mini-shells from Nii Hau, a small island off of Kauai, which is the only place to find them. Her green sea glass face was found on Sea Glass Beach on Kauai. Pearls abound, hence her bracelet. The green fabric leaves are for all the green there, as it's so rainy, and there is one point on the island that has the most amount of rain any where in the world. The glass flowers represent all the wonderful tropical flowers found throughout the Islands. I'm having such fun journalling in beads!

Turkey Meat Loaf

Serves 4

I got this one from my sister, Karen, who is an excellent cook. This is also good cold in a sandwich, either on bread or on a collard leaf, used as a wrap.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey, dark meat if possible

8 ounce can organic tomato sauce

1/4 cup gluten-free cracker crumbs (Sami's Bakery - samisbakery.com) or bread crumbs if you're not gluten-free

1-2 lemons

2 teaspoon agave

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Combine meat, crumbs, and 1/3 can tomato sauce. Form into a loaf and put into a baking pan. Put a dent into the top to help hold the sauce.

3. Combine the remaining tomato sauce with enough lemon juice and agave so it tastes sweet and tangy. Pour over loaf.

4. Bake for apx one hour. Baste every 15 minutes. The sauce will bake into the meat.

Enjoy!