These sweet Maui onions can be grown in locations other than Maui, but nothing beats the islands for a celebration of this type.  Over a thousand pounds of onions and five local celebrity chefs will provide cooking demonstrations and compete for the Best Onion Recipe prize.

If you’ll be visiting Maui during this time be sure to head into Kaanapali – all you’ll have to do is follow the fragrance of those sweet, sweet onion wafting about the place!  Take a look at the schedule of events, and plan some onion enjoying vacation time.

Photo credit: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Island Flavor at Maui’s Onion Festival

The age when Truman fell in love with the beach!

When he was not quite 2 years old, we spent a week on the Gulf Coast of Florida (along Highway 30-A between Rosemary and Seaside, if you are familiar with the area). Truman took to the water like a fish. He played in the surf (probably drank a gallon of seawater) and rolled in the sand (probably ate a pound of that) and played in the pool and slept hard every night. The day we packed up the car and headed home, my son slept the entire way. He woke as we pulled in the driveway and began wailing. We eventually got him inside and for a solid hour he laid on the floor, kicking and screaming, “BEACH HOUSE! BEACH HOUSE!”

We stood over him in amazement. I said to Rick, “Quick, call your parents! Tell them he wants a beach house!” (Rick’s folks buy Truman a gift every time they seem him – which is almost weekly – and they let him want for nothing.) Unfortunately, (and amazingly) they didn’t bite on the beach house request.

We’ve decided, once Truman is in college, that we must retire to the beach – any beach. Right now our top choice is Costa Rica. I’d put Santa Barbara second but we wouldn’t be able to afford much there. I suppose we could live inland near the wine country but then we’d be drunk the whole time. (For that same reason, I couldn’t live in Belgium.) My Our third choice would probably be our favorite strip there along Highway 30-A in Florida. But I’m not ruling out Hawaii. Especially now!

WinHawaiianHome.com is having a contest where you can win this custom-built Hawaiian home “nestled in an enchanted forest with singing frogs about a mile and a half from a gorgeous black sand beach that is home to 30-40 dolphins.” No kidding.

Win this house in Hawaii!

To enter, all you have to do is write a 101-word or less essay and pony up $101. The contest is supervised by legal council and guarantees that each entry will be read. A group of judges will decide the winner of the house as well as second- and third-place winners who will receive $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Other prizes may also be given.

You’d better hurry because the deadline is May 1, 2009.

If the goal of 6,000 entries is not met by that time, the contest will be extended 101 more days. And if by then the entries still come up short, cash prizes will be awarded based on the number of entries received.

For details, visit www.winhawaiianhome.com.

HURRY!

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Stop Whining and Win this Hawaiian House!

That means is if you are a financial trader, a postal worker, an FBI agent, a cook in the White House or any other GOVERNMENT employee, you legitimately got the day off.

My husband works at a gigantic financial services company, here in NYC. His department manages very sophisticated and complex investment instruments.

Some of the people in his group are traders…but many are not.

So when a a young — non-trading — woman, who incidentally, had JUST returned from her two-week Hawaiian honeymoon, asked hubby “…what are we going to do about Tuesday, are we off?”

He nearly lost his stale bagel and schmear…but politely said, “we have work to do.” She did not take it gracefully.

What bothered me about the story was that this person was merely looking to take advantage of what appeared to her a freebie vacation day

The fact that the day had some national meaning escaped her.

But that isn’t even the point…if your boss tells you that you have to come in to work…just do it.

My hubby is such a polite and compassionate boss.  Me. not so much…if this person had whined like that to me, I would have sternly said…”uh…a reminder, you’re not a trader and we’re working on Tuesday”.

What this person displayed was disrespect to her boss, and a very simplistic and juvenile approach to her position and responsibilities. (This behavior is part of an ongoing work-ethic pattern.)

Also, I know that everyone is in there own little orb…but honestly…some of us could stand to pay a little more attention to what’s going on in the world.

Post from: Blisstree

Go Ahead, Take Another Day Off.