Maui Day 2 and the Celebration of the Arts

Today has been a long one! Up Before dawn to drive around the island to participate in the Hiuwai & E ala e Ceremony near the Ritz Carlton. We drove through the night and arrived at the D. T. Fleming (Honokahua) beach ready to connect with nature and wash our worries away. We didn't take any photos, but the official photographer for Hawaiian magazine was there and snapped some shots. After welcoming the sun Dawn and I ventured to find breakfast at 7am, which included sliced fried polish sausage (not pictured because we ate in the car) and quiche from a local market.

We stopped at the beach down the road from the Ritz to eat our quiche and then (sorry Mom) we didn't wait an hour before hitting the water to go snorkelling. After watching the fish eat and play, it was time to drive over to the Ritz Carlton Kapaula and continue our day to Celebrate the Arts Hawaiian style. Our activities were too numerous to name, but a highlight was the tea tasting (Hawaiian herbal and medicinal teas) and the Luau, of course! See the food for yourself. Both delicious and beautiful. I think this will be the vacation of no sleep! Up at 3:45 and our heads didn't hit the pillow again until after 10pm. Tomorrow we fly to Molokai with plans to eat fresh young coconuts and shave ice every day.

Maui Day 1

Angela is on vacation, so come along!

I'm in Maui right now and this is day one. I've been to two beaches and found some ono (delicious) local grub. I'm blogging from my phone so I have faith that J.K. will catch all my errors (as always) but please be patient if they're not spotted before being published.

My friend and I are staying these 2 days in Maui so we can attend the Celebration of the Arts happening tomorrow at the Ritz Carlton. (More on that in tomorrow's post!) Then we jet to Molokai for some beachside camping before we return to a Condo in Maui. But let's not talk of the end before we begin!

We're staying these two nights in Wailuku which is just a hop, skip and jump from OGG (Maui Airport). Since Dawn's flight is delayed, it's my job to find a picnic dinner and picnic beach. If only this were my regular job!

What's on the menu tonight? Kalua Pork—smoky and amazing!, Pork Laulau-tasty, Macaroni salad—almost too heavy on the mayo brah!, and beautiful "Mother's Day" inspired chocolate dipped starwberries for dessert. Drinks? Well, Hawaiian still waters, of course.

And so we begin our vacation in Paradise. Tom Seleck, where are you???

Blackberry Pie Murder House Party

Welcome to our House Party! Honorary Tea Time Adventurer Stephanie was picked to be a Hostess with the Mostess and promote a new Joanne Fluke Mystery novel. The title is Blackberry Pie Murder and so, of course, we got to make lots of pies, cocktails and mocktails, talk about books and play some Simpsons Clue.

If you read culinary mysteries, you've heard of Joanne Fluke. She has written 18 books in the Hannah Swensen series, and Blackberry Pie Murder is her latest recipe packed who-dun-it. Stephanie and Angela got inspired by the party pack loot that House Party sent us! In fact, Angela decided this would be the perfect opportunity for her business Tipsy Tea to create a Gift Bag for the event.

Without further ado, we give you the Blackberry Pie Murder Party in pictures. Presented by House Party, Tipsy Tea and Hostess Stephanie!

The Joanne Fluke box is here! House Party has sent a gang of goodies to inspire us.

 Tipsy Tea was inspired to create a gift bag for the event! It included Blackberry Surprise Tea and Joanne's Rimming Sugar for cocktails and mocktails along with recipe cards, a tea cup and tea ball in addition to a personal sized homemade Blackberry Pie to go.

Recipes created by Joanne Fluke and a Blackberry Pie booklet.

Tea cups are great for cocktails! Tipsy Tea Blackberry Surprise Tea and Joanne's Rimming Sugar.

Game, stir stick/glow stick (house party) Soap, Navitas Naturals Cocoa Balm (Tipsy Tea)

 You saw that Joanne prepared us with some great recipes in the House Party pack, but we also ransacked some of her other books to round out our potluck.
Here is The Food:

Pate and "Christmas Cheese Round"  before

After (with bread and crackers)

The pate inspired several proposals of marriage due to its deliciousness.

J. K. made Blackberry Surprise Cookies and Heavenly Teacakes. We also noshed on Pepperidge Farm raspberry cookies from the House Party goodie box.

Personal sized Blackberry Pies for all the guests to take home (before baking).

Blackberry Pie Martini and unbaked pie

Tito's Vodka infused with blackberries

The spread

Beautifully baked Blackberry Pie

Individual crumble topped Blackberry Pies. Recipe from Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke.

Lastly we made Popovers! Angela and J. K. have been talking about them for a while now and this was the perfect time to do it ourselves, using a Joanne Fluke recipe. They got a bit brown, but still tasted great.

Book lover with popover recipe

Popover Popped Open

Popovers In Muffin Pan

Everyone had a bunch of fun at the house party event, drinking cocktails and mocktails, talking about the book, and playing Simpsons Clue. Here's the candid shots (plus some portraits!).

who will win???!

If you'd like to get a bit of the action, we have two Joanne Fluke Blackberry Pie Murder Party Gift Bags (created by Tipsy Tea). Just post to us in the comments if you have read Joanne Fluke and tell us about your favorite recipe from her Hannah Swensen series. Two commenters will be picked at random to win! You'll be just as excited as the guest who attended the party in our triptych below.

House Party has a wide variety of events available and if you'd like to host one, just sign up(and invite your friends)! Tea Time applied to host Joanne Fluke too, but we were happy Stephanie won the honor. Joanne Fluke writes other novels as well, so if culinary mysteries aren't your thing, maybe another of her books will thrill you. Happy Spring parties with a side of books!