A Sunny Day at the Kapiolani Community College's Farmer's Market

Kapiolani Community College's Saturday Farmer's Market
Best Weekend Fair on Oahu

One of my all time fav things to do is go to the Kapiolani Community College's ("KCC") Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. This is one of the best farmer's market on Oahu...hands down winner. The place is packed with both a large assortment of excellent vendors and tons of customers all milling around trying to buy their favorite freshest produce for that week at great prices. It feels like a community fair! You have to check it out.

There's fresh brewed coffee and pastries, ginger iced tea, lavender vendors, food to munch on for breakfast or lunch or brunch, prepared food to take home later for dinner, fresh cut flowers, beautiful orchid plants, fresh herb plants for your garden, locally harvested honey, fresh baked bread and scones and other treats, etc. etc. There are loads and loads of vendors selling fresh locally grown produce from both Oahu and the neighbor islands like Maui. There's also a lot of vendors now selling organic produce. The Waianae High School is even selling organic produce there.

They're open from 7:30am to 11am on the KCC college campus' parking lot. There's tons of parking. Get there early for the best picks. Of course, we go about 8:30 or 9am and there's still loads of stuff to pick up but many vendors are already selling out.

The newest thing that I saw there was the fresh roasted corn. If you've never eaten fresh roasted corn, you are missing out on a delicious treat.

Side Story---The first time I had this was at this year's China Town New Year's festival. There was this long line of people just waiting for something. I walked closer and saw that it was fresh roasted corn. What?! $5 a cob...are you crazy? People waiting in line for corn! I saw the people walking around munching on their large cobs of corn on a stick. It looked sooooo delish. So, I stood in line with Jimmy. I listened to what the other people ahead of me were ordering b/c there were all these squeeze bottles and spices on the counter to choose from. So, I went with the most popular toppings---butter, mayo, garlic salt. OMG!!!! Orgasmic. If I could've eaten more, I would've. It was so good, I didn't want to share w/ my hubbie...but I did of course. At $5 a cob, it was WoRth it.

Anyway, as we were leaving the market, I spied the fresh roasted corn vendor (not the same one but who cares). My mouth started to water...drool. But, we already had bought a bunch of fresh corn to roast at home. We were having a get together at my house and one of the treats was fresh roasted corn done on our little hibachi. Boo hoo! I had to drag myself away from that stand. I stood there looking at it and considering buying it. With all my willpower, I walked away. Jimmy stood there smiling. He knows how I love roasted corn...my new obsession.


So what did we get that day from the farmer's market? Besides the corn, we got papaya for our breakfast, bunch of sweet smelling fuschia roses for our table, bag of fresh mint for iced tea, assorted veges---organic greens for salad, eggplant, long string beans, jicama...can't remember the rest. I also picked up my other fav---chocolate croissants from the Bale Bakery vendor. Check out their large assortment of delish breads and other yummies.

Next time, we have to bring one of those little pulley carts to load all our food stash in. It was heavy! But we did come prepared with our Trader Joe's grocery bags. ;)

Here's some neat photos that we took with our cell phones. Come on down next Saturday and join in the festivities. Bring a lot of cash and a cart.

Jimmy (the bestest hubbie in the world!) carrying our goodies
going home
back next time

LoVE Red VelVeT CaKe!!!

It was my BFF's birthday today so I got up super early and made her Red Velvet cupcakes from, yessirreee, ScrAtCh. YOu heard that right...sCraTch. This is my all time fav cake and my fav recipe.

I always remember eating red velvet cake when I was younger and remembering loving it. Don't know if it was the "redness" or the cream cheese frosting or both. While it has cocoa in it, can't really say it taste like chocolate cake. If you've never tried it, run to your nearest local bakery and buy some.

Anyhoo, I swear I smelled like some sugary bakery person when I was done frosting the cupcakes with the super delish cream cheese frosting (which I mistakenly added 2x the required butter...oh well, no one knows and it tasted super!). If you've ever made red velvet cake, you know that the one big problem is all the redness from the red food dye gets all over...your fingers, the table, etc. It's called washing your hands a lot so you don't turn your kitchen into an absolute red fest!

I decided to decorate the cupcakes with little paper parasols. By the way, these parasols had tiny tiny rubberbands around the parasol to keep them closed. Ok, some unfortunate person in China is sitting there all day putting these stupid rubberbands around these paper things and wondering why these crazy Americans buy these things. Akkk!

Besides the parasols, I sprinkled my favorite sprinkles on the top. Hey, you can't have real cupcakes without the sprinkles!

Needless to say, my BFF and my fellow co-workers LoVeD the cupcakes...I knew they would. Who can resist HOMEMADE SCRATCH Red Velvet Cupcakes???? Yummmmmmmy.

When I was first searching for the perfect red velvet cake recipe because I wanted to have this as my wedding cake, I researched on the internet and my old cookbooks. I compared the differences in the recipes. I read about other Red Velvet Cake ("RVC") fanatics who swore by one thing or another. I tried several different recipes but was unsuccessful at getting the "perfect" RVC. Until one day, when I was talking about my quest and my husband's niece said that she had the perfect recipe. She gave it to me. I tried it. My quest was over. I found the Holy Grail.

If you're interested in getting your hands on this all time favorite recipe of mine---it is a Winner!, then leave a Comment and include your email and I'll be happy to shoot it over to you. Check out some of the photos of the RVC process from beginning to end.