This week was legitimately difficult for me, I had worked so much that when I finally got to bed I felt so sick and thought I was getting some bad virus infection and probably would never have the energy to get up in the morning, but I did and the sun came out so all was good that the world didn't collapse with my energy level.

Since I was away so much I really missed my doggies during the day, and crazy things happened too while I was away.  Apparently my back door somehow got open and that triggered my alarm and the police came, all the drama escaped me because, well, I just wasn't there.  I only found out because my back door was wide open and there was note from the cops in my mail box.  Since there was absolutely nothing of value in my house I didn't even bother to check, I counted the dogs and just assumed nothing was missing and went on my day.

After eating junk food all week I really felt like cooking so I picked up a ribeye steak from the store and bought a bottle of wine.  I have a pretty reliable steak recipe that I've been using for years and I'd like to share it here.

I learned this recipe in college while I was renting a room from a landlady in North Hollywood.  For about a year I was desperate to find a cheap place that's close enough to my campus so I didn't have to commute three hours a day.  Finally I saw some ad posted at the bulletin board at my music department.  Room for rent, $450 a month.  So I teared a strip of phone number off the bottom of the ad.  Turned out it was a huge Spanish house in North Hollywood owned by a Austrian lady.  She was also a piano teacher, and in her beautiful sprawling house she had a grand music room with two Steinway pianos and chandeliers.  it was a house furnished with a lot of European antique.  My room was a small bedroom in the back with my own full bath complete with antique bed and dresser and a beautiful bathroom with antique fixtures.

My landlady lived with her younger son, who at that time was in his late 20s and quite a looker and a stud.  The three of us became pretty good friends and since we were all music nerd, we had quite a bit in common.  My housemate actually taught me how to cook steak and it was one of the few recipes that he knew how to do because it helped him to "impress girls."  He certainly wasn't trying to impress me but rather thought I was more pitiful than him not having any cooking skills at all. So here are the instructions.

This recipe basically involves cooking steak with a quarter size of olive oil, or as I like to do, about two oz of butter, I also like to add cumin to the sizzling butter for add some extra kick to the flavor, season the steak with salt and pepper, and then cook on medium high heat for about five minutes on each side.  The trick is not to flip the steak except once.  The meat will stick to the pan, but once it's cooked enough it will release itself from the pan and that's when you flip it to the other side.

When the steak is done, I liked to serve with a light salad or boiled green beens and a glass of red wine, and for under 15 minutes you have a delicious dinner for very little.

I also liked to use the smallest pan that I could find, so it's the perfect size to cook for one person. There's something very comforting about preparing dinner and enjoying the wonderful sizzle and smell while cooking.  So now that the food is done, enjoy it under the candle light or a mini chandelier.  Bon Appetite!

If you are in the Kona area in Hawaii, it's definitely worth the effort to make it to super J's. You can't get a more mom and pop, hole on the wall restaurant than this. After exploring town for half a day, my husband and I were ready to get some lunch. 

Inside the restaurant, there were two plastic folding tables for diners and rows of family photos, and pretty much everything else here was set up for practical purpose only, which made it so much more curious why they had a shiny plasma tv in the dining area. They served one thing mainly, and they were called "laulaus." When my husband asked what was a "laulau," the lady in the picture smiled proudly and said we may watch tv for two minutes. She turned on the tv for us while we stepped away from the cash register to watch the video.  Apparently some tv crew did a short 2 minute episode about the restaurant featuring this lady and their food, and described laulau as a type of marinade pork wrapped in a inner layer of taro leaf and a outer layer of tea leaf, slow cooked for hours. It is one of the local foods here in Hawaii. 

We were charmed instantly and ordered two plates of food with coke. While we dived into our food, the lady chatted with us. She told us that back in the old days, whenever they were short on cash, they used to make laulaus and went from door to door selling them.  She inherited this restaurant from her father, whose dream was to open a restaurant on this spot. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to see it finished.  Today, the family lives where the restaurant is because they work here 20 hours a day. The laulaus must be prepared the night before and cooked slowly all night long. One bite, you will taste the slow cooked goodie in all its glory:) And the reason that they chose to make laulaus? "Because that's all people wanted!" They have been making one thing for the past twenty years, so I'm betting money that they are the town's laulau experts!