Aloha, my faithful followers. It’s been awhile since my last newsletter, and here’s a new one to whet your appetites. This is an update of a previous newsletter for paid subscribers only.

When we moved to Kauai almost three years ago, I had to adjust my baking life to our new environment. Making bread needed no alterations because our room temperature ranges from the mid-seventies to the low eighties. Bread dough loves these conditions! We have no air conditioning.

Our apartment has two sets of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. We keep the one in the living room and kitchen area open during the day. Propping the front door open provides a refreshing current of cross ventilation.

                                  This video was lovingly created by Dorothy H. Patent

Recipe and Tips

Making pie dough or other fat-based pastry has its challenges here, but it can be done! The key is to have all ingredients ice cold. A food processor makes such quick work of putting the pastry together that the dough remains icy cold.

NOTE: If you’re a baker who loves to get her hands in the flour to pinch pieces of butter into flakes, this technique may still work for you in a tropical environment so long as the flour, water, and fat  are ice cold and you work like the wind.

The fat in this recipe is all butter. Here’s what I do. I weigh the flour in a small stainless steel bowl, add the salt and optional sugar on top, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and pop it into the freezer. Leave the bowl there for at least 2 hours. It can stay there for days.

Have ice water at the ready in the fridge. Cut the stick of cold butter into 8 equal pieces and refrigerate.

For a one-crust pastry, weight 5 ounces (142 grams) of bleached or unbleached all-purpose flour into your bowl and sprinkle on top ¼ teaspoon table salt or ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. The sugar is optional but it does help with the browning. Cover the bowl nice and tight and put it in the freezer.

To make the pastry, have the food processor on your countertop and set the frozen flour, ice water, ice cold butter and a 1 tablespoon measure next to it.

Dump the flour, salt and sugar into the work bowl with the metal blade in place. Process 5 to 10 seconds. Add the butter pieces and pulse 4 times for 1 second each. Uncover the work bowl and add 3 tablespoons ice water. Cover and pulse very rapidly 20 times to cut the butter into smaller bits. Check the dough; it may be moist enough to begin holding together.

If not sprinkle in up to 1 tablespoon more ice water and pulse a few times very rapidly until the dough becomes moist enough to hold together when you squeeze it. Look closely into the processor as you pulse. You’ll be able to see the point where the pastry looks like it will come together when you press it. Do not let the dough gather into a ball in the processor or it may become too tough when baked.

Dump the clumps of dough out onto a lightly floured pastry cloth and press them together into a 4- to 5- inch diameter disk. Work quickly. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate. That’s it! Let the dough chill for about 2 hours if you want to use it that day. During the rest period the gluten relaxes and the pastry will be easy to roll. If you have a large food processor you can double the recipe.

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Four million coffee trees on 3,100 acres. That’s the size of Kauai Coffee Company’s coffee farm. This is one extraordinary scene of the vast property.

Ever since we moved to Kauai in late 2021, Dorothy and I had wanted to take a tour of this coffee farm. We opted for a guided bus tour in mid-June, and we weren’t prepared for sights such as this one. We had thought that Kauai Coffee Company farm was just a small operation nestled into the southeastern corner of our island. How wrong we were!

Before our tour began we tasted several coffees at a sampling table. I learned that medium roast coffee beans are higher in caffeine than dark roast beans, but I prefer the flavor or dark roasts.

As we rode through the coffee farm, our guide told us about the farm’s history and the history of coffee growing in Hawaii. She also related how Kauai Coffee Company differed from most coffee farms in being totally run by machines.

Our tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours, and as we got off the bus we learned of a self-guided walking tour. This is well-worth the short walk because the signage is very informative and you get to learn about every step of the coffee making process.

Growing Coffee

It takes 3 to 4 years for newly planted coffee trees to bear fruit. This fruit, or cherries, take about 8 months to fully ripen, turning from green to bright red as they mature. At the cherry’s core is the seed, or bean. Usually two beans come from one cherry; but sometimes just one bean, a peaberry, develops. The ripe cherry itself is sweet and you can eat the fruit.

Once a coffee tree begins producing cherries, its most productive period lasts for 7 to 20 years. At Kauai Coffee Company, one producing coffee tree will yield one pound of coffee beans a year from the once a year harvest.

Coffee thrives in tropical climates and does especially well in volcanic soil. The soil here has a reddish tint. The trees are exceedingly hardy and some live for 100 years.

Growing at near sea level, these trees receive abundant sunshine and warmth. Irrigation comes from the waters of Mount Waialeale, the wettest spot on earth with over 450 inches of rain per year. Located in central Kauai, some of the rainfall is diverted to the Kauai Coffee Company farm to irrigate the coffee trees.

Kona coffee farming on Hawaii Island is entirely different from the Kauai Coffee Farm. In the Kona region, hundreds of family operated farms of just a few acres each make up the coffee belt on Hawaii Islands’ west side, where the elevation is from 700 to 2500 feet. This “belt” is 2 to 3 miles wide and about 30 miles long with coffee trees growing on the volcanoes Hualalai and Mauna Loa. Misty air usually bathes the coffee trees in the afternoons, and natural rainfall irrigates the coffee trees.

Coffee Harvesting

At Kauai Coffee Company, the entire farm is run by machines. It’s such a vast operation that automation is the only way. Huge machines harvest the ripe cherries in one fell swoop. In Kona, the cherries are hand-harvested over a period of time so that only the ripest ones get picked.

Sorting the Harvest

The harvested cherries are moved to an area called the “wet plant” where they’re dumped into a very large water bath. The ripe cherries sink and the overripe ones float. The “floaters” are collected, pulped, and used for fertilizer in the orchard. The heavier cherries are transported by water to the production lines for further processing to separate the pulp and skin from the beans. The beans are classified by size and density.

Drying the Beans

Grading the Beans

Bagging the Coffee

A Friendly Reminder

Buying Kauai Coffee

Many markets sell Kauai Coffee Farm coffee, but for the best and freshest coffee, you can order online or visit in person. Their coffee is smooth and delicious,

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Setting the Stage

I’ve been living with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the bone marrow, for fifteen years. Many patients often suffer from skeletal fractures and other debilitating symptoms, but my form of the disease has spared me those occurrences. However, like most who have myeloma, I am immuno-compromised. Low hemoglobin, low red blood cells, low white blood cells, low platelets.

There are many drugs that can help control the disease. Mine is the chemical lenalidomide, the generic form of Revlimid®. For many years I have received the drug with no copay through the generous gift of numerous foundations, and I owe them my life. A month of Revlimid© costs $20,000.

Trouble Ahead

Two years ago the foundation money that had been supporting me that year ran out. The pharmacy that provided the drug told me that I could still receive the lenalidomide if I agreed to a copay of $600-$800 dollars. I had agreed to a smaller copay of $246 a couple of months prior. But I was in no position to agree to another, much larger, one. The pharmacy agent said that grant money was in short supply and there was no way to predict if any additional funding would come my way.

So the pharmacy turned my case over to the Oncology Patient Advocate in Lihue, Hawaii, where I live. She, in turn, applied to Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), the manufacturer of Revlimid. The agent at the company helped me obtain the drug with no copay for the remainder of 2023. I had been without Revlimid/lenalidomide (they are the same molecule) for more than two months.

I am on a low dose of the drug: a 5 mg capsule once a day for 21 days, then 7 days off, and the cycle is repeated.

One thing you may be interested in knowing is that my myeloma drug can cause birth defects. The drug is related to thalidomide, and many pregnant women who took that drug to help alleviate morning sickness in the 1960s gave birth to babies with severe skeletal defects.

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Something Hopeful

To be funded for Revlimid through BMS requires a yearly application. My Oncology Patient Advocate worked with me to fill out the application in November. The deadline for submission is December 31. She faxed in the application and received a confirmation fax that all was in order.

Over the next few weeks I called BSM a couple of times to ask when I might learn the fate of my application. One representative told me I’d receive a call sometime during the first or second week in January. I told him that my current cycle of 21 pills would end on Sunday, January 15, and I’d have a week off until my next cycle would begin on January 22. He said that was plenty of time to arrange a shipment to me.

Trouble Ahead

When I had not received any communication from BMS the first week of January, I called the Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) on Monday, January 8. The agent I spoke with said that the application review had only just begun on January 5 and that I should call back in a couple of days. I told her that I needed to start my new cycle on the 22^nd and she said that my prescribing doctor could request an emergency shipment.

I did call two days later and that agent told me my application was being reviewed as we spoke and that I should call back in a couple of days. I called again in three days and that agent told me that if I were to be approved, I would receive a phone call, and that if I was denied, I’d receive a letter. I told her I screen phone calls and she said I should answer any call from an unfamiliar area code.

As I was eating my delicious black cod sandwich and furikake fries at Kenji Burger in Koloa, my iphone rang displaying an area code from Pennsylvania. Ah, I thought, I’ve been accepted.

The Hunt Begins

The cheery person I spoke with told me that since my Humana health plan supported a copay for lenalidomide and not Revlimid, my application was denied. I countered with, “They’re the same molecule.” She agreed, but added that since BMS only provided the brand name Revlimid and I had been approved for the generic lenalidomide, I was denied. I was dumfounded!

I emailed my OPA (Oncology Patient Advocate) immediately. She replied that Humana had revised their lenalidomide letter and had resubmitted it stipulating they approved a copay for Revlimid. My OPA had a copy of that letter which had been submitted as part of my application. She called the Patient Advocate Foundation and gave them that information.

My advocate was told by the PAF agent that we could appeal, and that they would expedite an appeal based on that new information. But she gave no indication how long that would take. But get this, my OPA was also told that I should submit a letter claiming financial hardship and that my prescribing physician should resubmit a prescription for my Revlimid. All this information had already been submitted as part of my original application! We complied with the PAF request, and my OPA faxed those required documents to BMS.

What to do in the meantime?

I wrote to the angel at BMS who had set me up with Revlimid in the first place. I explained the current situation in detail. She wrote back saying that she had conferred with her superior. The bad news was that once the BMS Patient Advocate Foundation was involved, her branch of the firm could not intervene on my behalf. She apologized and said she wished she could help, but the matter was out of her hands. Bummer!

A day after all of the above had transpired I received an actual letter from BMS. It said that because I had not submitted proof with my application that my out of pocket expenses for drugs exceeded 3% of our annual gross income, my application was denied. If I wanted to appeal the denial, to please submit the requested documentation. Dumfounded a second time!

That request was never a part of the application! My OPA was as stunned as I was.

Our only possible source now was to see if there was any foundation support available. My OPA went online and found that there was funding available through the Healthwell Foundation (one of my previous supporters). Such grants come and go without warning, so she called the foundation and had to wait on hold for 2 hours before speaking with someone. Success! The grant was for $12,000 and there would be funds to cover my copay. Next step: find a pharmacy to provide me with lenalidomide. Still no word on that.

A Happy Ending

But within a few days, everything changed. CVS specialty pharmacy, with an office in Honolulu, would provide me with lenalidomide at no cost. I enrolled online and received a phone call minutes later. The agent said the shipment would arrive the next day. And indeed it did. The UPS delivered the package, I had to sign for it, and then I ripped it open, extracted a capsule from its container, and downed it with a full glass of water.

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Breakfast

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Here’s another terrific and beautiful post by my darling wife, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.

We’re being gobsmacked by year round gorgeosity, and flowering trees are the latest stars. Every season has its specialty, but mid to late summer tops them all.

Take the crazy octopus tree, with its long arms bearing bright red blossoms.

Vying with it for the title of eye-catching champ, the spectacular flower clusters of royal poinciana glow like fire as the sun shines through the crimson petals.

Meanwhile, a Hawaiian favorite for aromatic leis, Plumarias unobtrusively evolve from bare twigs to promising buds, then bursts forth with graceful blossoms ranging from pure white to pink to gold.

No season is flowerless aloft. The champion winter bloomer by far is the African tulip tree—crowned by orange-red cup-shaped blossoms. You can enjoy them dotting the treetops year around, but winter seems to be a time of special abundance.

This is just a sampling of flowering trees on the islands, and I’ve saved my favorite for last—the summer-blooming Rainbow Shower Tree, the official tree of Honolulu, that also thrives here on Kaua’i.

Gorgeous dense clusters of blossoms dominate the tree so that you can hardly see it has leaves. Every flower has a unique pattern of yellow/white/pink/red on each petal. There’s nothing else like it.

In Montana, where I lived for 50 years, a lovely fragrant spring show of purple and white lilacs, quickly followed by brightly blooming fruit trees like apples and apricots.  But beyond the abundance of spring, the show was pretty much over. What can I say, but yes, I love a Montana spring, with its promise of juicy sweet apricots in summer and crispy tangy apples in fall, but give me the Hawaiian abundance of flowers brightening the days year-around.

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Please feel free to share this post. Your flower-loving friends will thank you.

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I’ve waxed poetic about Sugarloaf pineapple in a previous newsletter—it’s white color, sweetness, creamy texture, and low acidity all had me at first bite.

When I discovered I could take a tour at the fruit’s birthing place I booked it immediately for the four of us: Our friends Stella and Joe, visiting from Billings, Montana, Dorothy and me.

We arrived at Jude and Paul Huber’s farm, a pleasant drive about 20 miles north of Lihue, just before 9 a.m. and signed in. After dividing the tour goers into two groups, one led by Jude, and ours by Paul, we headed out to the pineapples.

Awesome is a much overused word, but perfect for how I felt as I gazed out at 38 acres of pineapple, seeing each  gorgeous fruit still attached to its plant receiving sweetening nourishment.

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Here’s our guide, Paul, holding a sucker, a branch from a mature plant that will be planted to grow into another fruit-bearing plant. It takes about 18 months for a pineapple to develop.

Here are piles of suckers ready to be planted.

Row upon row of earth, plowed and ready to receive the suckers.

And here we are, each of us actually planting a sucker.

First we use that long tool to punch a hole through the plastic. Then we push a sucker into that hole to embed it firmly in the earth. Professionals can perform this step very quickly. Once planting is complete, the fields are ready to be irrigated.

As we were moving through the farm, Paul regaled us with stories about his experiences as a young man and his and Jude’s backgrounds. I could see it as a terrifically exciting miniseries!

We also learned that white pineapple arose as a mutant of yellow pineapple. But why didn’t it become a mainstay as yellow pineapple did? At the time of white pineapple’s discovery, canned yellow pineapple was king. Why? Because it withstood the grueling machine treatment that transformed the fresh fruit to canned. White pineapple, on the other hand, was the delicate princess. She sustained bruising and became mushy during canning. If it weren’t for a few prescient pineapple lovers who saw white pineapple’s potential as a fresh fruit, we wouldn’t be at Jude and Paul’s farm.

Nearing the end of our tour, Paul instructed us in how to break off a fresh pineapple from its attachment to the plant. You just grasp the fruit by its crown and jerk downward in one smooth movement and voila! You’re holding your very own freshly picked fully ripe white pineapple!

After all of us claimed our personal pineapples, Paul set up a space to cut fresh pineapples for all of us to sample.

After we had eaten our fill—I didn’t think it was possible in my case—we went into the tent area where we had signed in for yet another treat: “Sugarloaf Phrostys.”

We couldn’t believe that we were eating just frozen pineapple. Paul said it’s very easy to make. Just cut up the fruit into manageable chunks (1-inch or so) and freeze them solid on a sheet pan. Process in a food processor for less than a minute until smooth and creamy. Then dig in.

With pineapples in hand and smiles on our faces, we drove back to Lihue and chatted all the way about our great experience.

To schedule a tour—they are offered on Thursdays only and begin at 9 a.m.—you can write to sales@sugarloaf.com. The farm website is kauaisugarloaf.com. Jude and Paul call their place “Hole in the Mountain Farm.”

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    “Kauai is just so beautiful.” That’s what I say when asked why I love this glorious island. And beauty brings with it a sense of calm and peacefulness. So here are glimpses of what I mean by beauty. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I celebrate that thought. And Keats’s immortal words say it best: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Fireworks are a big deal in this state. On New Year’s Eve, Kauai’s night skies were a feast for the eyes as colors exploded in all sorts of patterns. The mechanics of anticipating 2022 began in the late afternoon and lasted well after midnight. Booms, blasts, and oohs and ahs all blended into one grand show. Twenty twenty-two just has to be better than 2021!

December’s end marked two months since we landed in Kauai. And while we began buying used furniture almost right away for our 747 square foot apartment, we’re still not quite done.

It’s been 44 years since we last furnished a home. But then we already had some basic pieces—beds, chest of drawers, dining table and chairs—to at least begin turning our living space into a dwelling. Our Kauai apartment came with major kitchen appliances—refrigerator/freezer and an electric smooth-top range—and a washer and dryer. That was it. We had to scrounge for everything else, just like we did when we were graduate students.

But scrounging is fun because you find places you didn’t even know existed, and you meet folks who are happy to give advice and help with sourcing second-hand merchandise. Kauaians are particularly helpful to new residents.

Since we’re living in Kauai, we wanted to give our place an island feeling. So off we went to Hawaii Island Liquidators, a furniture store specializing in the re-sale of Hawaiian-style furniture reclaimed from hotels and resorts. This furniture receives a lot of wear and tear and yet it survives in excellent condition.

Our apartment lease officially began on November 1, but we didn’t actually move in until November 10. We needed a bed, dining furniture, cutlery, cooking equipment, and living room chairs. We decided against a couch because it took up too much space. I met with a representative of KIUC co-op and arranged to have our electricity connected. High speed  internet access was easy to arrange, and we got a great deal on a new 55-inch smart Roku-equipped TV at Costco.

But where to put it? We drove to all the major home supply stores and searched online markets for one, but couldn’t find anything under $200. So I went to Craig’s list and Facebook, and hit paydirt. Found exactly what we needed for $20. So off we went to pick it up from a seller who was in the throes of packing and moving from Hawaii to Vermont. She was unloading everything, so for a few dollars more we snagged wooden clothes hangers and a few high quality kitchen supplies. Happiness! 

Day by day we brought what we bought to our apartment. And on November 10 our new bed was delivered and set up and we spent our first night in our new home. And let me tell you, it felt great!

Because I’ve been a restaurant chef and I am a baker, I ordered a new heavy-duty mixer, wok, and cooking pots.

Flours and all sorts of other ingredients arrived regularly at our front door. One major project I set for myself was establishing a new sourdough starter. The one I left behind in Montana, and which I nurtured like a baby, was 20 years old and extremely vigorous. I had given it life and now I’d begin all over again in our new home. Will it work? We’ll wait and see.

Outdoor farmers markets are open year round. Here’s a sampling of what we bought yesterday.

More about farmers markets in my next newsletter. The bowl of small fruits nearest you are calamansi limes. We love squeezing the juice onto papaya and into glasses of ice cold water.