Let’s Talk Food: Sweet bell peppers
Sweet bell peppers, or Capsicum annum, have a deceiving name because although they are peppers, they have zero SHU, or Scoville Heat Units.
Tropical Gardening: Many palms figure in human history for thousands of years
This Sunday is Palm Sunday and is celebrated by Christians world wide. It is said to be the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey to celebrate Passover. He was greeted by a great crowd acclaiming him by waving date palm branches and shouting ”Hosanna,” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Volcano Watch: Establishing a nascent monitoring program on Pico Basile Volcano, Equatorial Guinea
In 2012, steam began to rise from beneath the cracked concrete of a telecommunication station at the summit of Pico Basile volcano on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, in western Africa. The steaming lasted several days and extended to two nearby summit craters.
Breadcrumbs (yes, breadcrumbs) are the star of this pasta dish
Leave it to the Italians to create spectacular dishes with the most ordinary staples.
Let’s Talk Food: First day of spring
Today is the first day of spring, marking the vernal equinox. The sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive roughly equal amounts of sunlight; neither hemisphere is tilted more toward or away from the sun than the other.
Businesses are ready for April’s total solar eclipse with celestial-themed doughnuts and beer
NEW YORK — Eclipse-themed beer. Jewelry and ornaments. And doughnuts that capture the sun’s disappearing act with the help of buttercream frosting.
Tropical Gardening: Mid-march is steeped in history and superstition
For some superstitious folks, “Beware The Ides Of March,” a quote from Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar,’ brings a sense of foreboding. Searching history, you can find yourself going down the rabbit hole seeking where it all started.
Volcano Watch: What was an emergency manager doing at a scientific conference?
On the Island of Hawaii, frequent eruptions foster a close relationship between the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency. HVO monitors the active volcanoes and their associated hazards; HCCDA alerts and protects communities from impacts of volcanic events. This relationship, between volcano observatories and their emergency managers, was highlighted at the recent “Cities on Volcanoes” meeting in Antigua, Guatemala.
The buzz on Big Island Bees
When Whendi Grad met Garnett Puett in 1981 at the University of Washington art school, she didn’t know he was from a family of Hawaiian beekeepers. Whendi was studying textile design. Garnett was studying sculpture. They moved to New York City in 1983 and began pursuing careers as artists there.
Remember tamale pie? The classic comfort dish gets an upgrade
Tamale pie is one of those retro dishes that anyone growing up in the ’60s and ’70s is sure to remember.
Let’s Talk Food: Sweetened condensed milk
I grew up with sweetened condensed milk because my mother loved to pour it over Saloon Pilot crackers.
What do you get when you cross rodeo with skiing? The wild and wacky skijoring
LEADVILLE, Colo. — Nick Burri clicks into his ski bindings, squats to stretch his knees and scans the snowy race course. Moments later, he’s zipping past a series of gates at high speed and hurtling off jumps. But it’s not gravity pulling him toward the finish line: It’s the brute force of a quarter horse named Sirius.
Tropical Gardening: Rock and water elements add to Hawaiian gardens
Since we live in a multicultural place with a great variety of climatic and geographic expressions, we can create almost anything in our gardens. Orchids, bromeliads and other epiphytes and lithophytes are perfect for gardens lacking in soil. We also have an abundance of lava rock!
‘The tree is the soul of the house’: How saving an olive tree inspired a modern remodel
LOS ANGELES — Under the canopy of the enormous olive tree that shades his home, Daniel Gerwin’s 11-year-old son ascends the tree’s gnarled trunk like an expert climber while his brother, 7, reads a book a few feet away inside the house.
Volcano Watch: Hawaii represented at the Cities on Volcanoes conference in Antigua, Guatemala
In February, the volcanological community gathered for the 12th edition of Cities on Volcanoes (COV12), a conference of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior.
Latest meat substitute being developed is beef-infused rice
A South Korean research team has created a new way to get protein — by creating beef-infused rice.
Let’s Talk Food: This and that
Hilo Pizza Co.
Plant of the Month for March 2024: Mountain apple
The Polynesian-introduced mountain apple is a lovely fruit tree you might consider growing if you have space in a corner of your garden, or you can let it grow to full size as a landscape tree. It provides a beautiful array of pink flowers in spring followed by lots of tasty fruit.
Tropical Gardening: Vireya rhododendrons and azaleas bloom in Hawaii
Tropical Asia is well known for its spectacular rainforests loaded with many species of palms and carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants but it is easy to miss the tropical Vireya Rhododendrons growing as epiphytes high in the tops of gigantic trees. Most folks spend their time looking at terrestrial plants, or avoiding leeches, snakes and other jungle critters.
Volcano Watch: Kilauea intrusion was a textbook example of dike propagation
From Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, a magma intrusion into Kilauea’s flank, southwest of the summit caldera, was the focus of attention at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).
