Even though I enjoy cooking, one thing I don’t really like is grocery shopping – at least in a planned sort of way. I am very ad hoc when I go grocery shopping, I rarely make a list, and if I do it’s just the 2 or 3 items I need to make some particular recipe. Now that I have room in my pantry, and a desire to cook MORE food at home, I have to change these ways. To this end, I need to assemble a must have list of shelf stable items. But how?
I bought America’s Test Kitchen Cooking for Two 2010 earlier this year, and I’ve been very pleased by the book. One of the nice features, besides recipes scaled down from the normal 4-6 servings you find, is that it has a section in the front for recipes that use left over portions of items (mostly canned goods) use din other recipes. I figure I’ll start by getting the items covered in that section, but then, what to get?
Do you fill your pantry with dependable foods that you use often? If so, what are your top few pantry items that you always have on hand?
I recently went to Oahu with Mackenzie. This was my first time on that particular island, save for some layovers at HNL while spending time on Maui and Kauai in the past. We were there for six nights.
This is just some highlights of the trip – I genuinely intend to post one or more detailed entries with pictures, but for right now, here are brief high points:
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KCC Farmers Market – Saturday morning 7:30-11AM (yes it’s early, but it’s HOT later in the day…) Lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and also a LOT of prepared food (and coffee) for breakfast.
- The Bus – From the NW side of waikiki (near Hilton Hawaiian Village) it’s a 25 minute ride to KCC, and about 45 minutes to Hanauma Bay. Having a car for part of your trip is a good idea, but you really don’t need it the whole time, and not driving to these places is a *good* idea!.
- Kailua – 12 miles away from popping Waikiki is sleepy Kailua, home of a wonderful sandy beach, and some good, cheap food. Highly recommend a visit.
- Pearl Harbor Historic Sites – Fantastic.
- Sunset Drinks at Sarento’s Top the I – awesome view of the sunset from the edge of Waikiki. Note that in the summer, the sun sets after happy hour, but it’s worth it for the view.
- Alan Wong’s Restaurant – situated on the third floor of an office building, with a view of a street, this was nonetheless the best dinner we had in Hawaii. It was surprisingly NOT the most expensive dinner (that honor went to the sunset cruise we took the first night), but it WAS the dinner with the most celebrity sitings we had (Masi Oka)