We have two months left till our trip to Peru. Still trying to raise money and our recent effort was laulau. As we were planning it, I was so amazed that some people never made laulau in their life. I've been doing it since I can remember. It's such a normal thing for me, I just figured everyone did it. So going into it, I thought that I was some type of laulau expert, but soon found out otherwise. Hahaha. Over the many years that I have claimed to make laulau, I had not realized that my claim to laulau expertise pertained only to ti leaf cleaning and de-boning (but I mostly only like the de-boning), and tying the laulau up. That pretty much just includes the very beginning, and the very end of laulau preparation. I didn't realize that I had really no experience in everything that took place in between, such as washing and prepping the lūʻau leaves/stems, cutting and salting the meat, to even actually filling the laulau with all its goodness, and then wrapping it all up. LOL. hahaha. I didn't even know how long you steam the laulau. Auē!!!! Some expert. And I bet I'm the only one out of the siblings that knows so little of this family tradition. How did I get away with that? Well, I couldn't get away with it this time, or could I?
I must say, I did do more than I usually do. I helped sort the lūʻau, cut the meat, and cut the ʻuala. I did however manage to pass on the important salting of the meat and went back to my old ways and secured my spot at the end of the laulau assembly line. I'm just not ready for the pressure of using the right amount of salt or figuring out how much leaves to use, the amount and sizes of meat or fatty pieces to put in, and then trying to bundle it all up, nice and tight. One day, one day.
The wahine cutting all the meat to save on expense.
the meat
the lūʻau
the ʻuala
There I am at the end of the line again. But I did learn something new. Instead of tying, we foiled. I missed the wrapping present feel. =(
162 laulau ready to be steamed in Bj's cool steamer, or what I like to call, the STEAM-MU.
Tai and BJ covering the bundles for its over-night steam.
Tai woke up and drove to BJ's to check water level at 1a and 4a. =) Here is the first laulau at 6a.
The breakfast of champions.
Oooh!
Hot potato!!!!
Cooling down before bagging.
Good job Hale Kuamoʻo wahine!!! What a yummy success! And MAHALO NUI to Tai, BJ, and Charisma!!!
6 comments:
Such and awesome post Dahhling! I enjoyed it so much. Too funny your "suppsed" expert level and the "realization" action. Wish I could be there to buy dozens from you folks.
Great pictures too!
Aloha nui,
Liko
went to craigslist and amazon.com to look for a steam-mu. No luck :) Cool steam-mu!
Mahalo e Liko!! Wish you were here too. You would've been right there with us.
Haʻo au iā ʻoe, e brother!
Iā Māpuana: Hey, just noticed that it said Māpuana and not Donald. Guess I gained one reader and lost one at the same time. LOL.
The Steam-mu, I know. That was so cool. I think he got it from his neighbor because he got an even bigger one. COOL!
When are you leaving for Peru? Tell me about the trip! What are you going for?
Hey Suzy! My trip is from Aug. 10th-20th. We are going for the WIPCE conference (World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education). Scared yet excited. =)
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