Namkoong Joan - Family-Style Meals at the Haliimaile General Store

Copyright 2009 by Beverly Gannon
Photography copyright 2009 by Laurie Smith

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Jacket design by Toni Tajima
Food styling by Wesley Martin

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gannon, Beverly, 1949
Family-style meals at the Haliimaile General Store / Beverly Gannon with Joan Namkoong.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-1-60774-142-8
1. Hawaiian cookery. 2. Haliimaile General Store (Restaurant)
I. Namkoong, Joan. II. Title.
TX724.5.H3G354 2009
641.59969dc22
2008030196

eISBN: 978-1-60774-142-8

v3.1

Contents

Acknowledgments

WHEN I FINISHED MY FIRST BOOK almost eight years ago, I swore I would never write another one. I had not written anything since college essays. All the recipes were handwritten on yellow legal pads. I knew nothing about computers. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, including opening two restaurants and a catering business. It was more stressful than planning a party for five hundred or a lunch for the vice president of the United States.

But thousands of sold copies later, the stressful memories subsided, I learned the art of the computer, and I learned that people loved my first book. After years of watching family meals disappear, I thought how great it would be to have a book that encouraged families to cook and eat together once again. So here it isanother book. I cant believe it.

To my coauthor Joan Namkoong, thank you, thank you, thank you. You pushed me in the best possible way to get this book done! You can delete the recipes??? message to me as of now. It was a pleasure to have you write this book with me. You are truly the ultimate foodie and a great friend.

To Michelle Kaina for all your hard work creating the dessert recipes for the home cook, a heartfelt mahalo. You are on the Top 10 list of Best Employees Ever!

To food stylist Wes Martin, I love you. Who would have thought we would be doing two books together? You are the only person I can imagine letting destroy my brand-new kitchen to test all the recipes. Ill remember you every time I look in the oven. Your food styling is incredible. You deserve to have all you wish for because you give that away to everyone you work with. I cant wait for more eat-a-thons in NYC. Mahalo nui loa.

To photographer Laurie Smithtwo books together! You are the best. Your photos of the families of Mauinot to mention your fabulous food shotscapture exactly what I wanted for the book. It is all about family life and you made it happen. Many mahalos.

Thanks to my publisher Phil Wood, editorial director Aaron Wehner, my editor Veronica Randall, and art director Toni Tajima, and all those at Ten Speed Press who supported this second book. I hope it does as well as the first! Thanks for believing in me.

Owning two restaurants and a catering business with close to one hundred employees, there are so many people that make the whole thing work: from the chefs to the managers, to the dishwashers to the line cooks, to the bartenders and waitstaff, the purveyors that have bent over backward for me, the landlords, the trash collectors, the mailwomen. The names and faces change, but the importance of each person in those positions does not. All are needed to keep the doors open and complete a meal service, a wedding, a baby luau, a fundraiser, a wake. I am just the leader of an incredible team of people that keep it all going year after year after year. I thank all of those who have passed through the doors of Haliimaile General Store, Joes in Wailea, and Celebrations Catering. You make it happen.

To (in alphabetical order) Allison, Andy, Annalyn, April, Belia, Bubba, Carol, Crystal, Dana, Gabe, Jesse, John, Kalen, Kyle, Meagan, Michael, Michelle, Tim x 2, Wendy, and all those whose names are not here (sorry!) but you are there and you are awesome. You make me proud.

To Tom, Sharon, and your staff, you make me understand the meaning of no man is an island.

To Mike, Paula (sixteen years and counting), Frieda, John, Joan (twenty years and counting), you keep catering, catering!

To Jackie, I am glad you can count!

To Henry, I hear you are retiring soon. Over my dead body!

To Rebecca, remember, I only have a sushi waitress position open! You are truly my savior!!

To my incredible, fabulous, understanding husband, after twenty-eight years you rock my world. Your being kind rather than right philosophy has impacted us and made us love each other more than I thought we could. I absolutely will love you forever and ever.

To all of those people who have touched my life, you make me who I am. You all make an imprint on my lifes DNA. I hope I can continue to make you proud. I love you all.

And, no, there is no crab dip recipe in this book either!

Introduction

FAMILY SUPPERS were a part of every day life when I was growing up in Dallas, Texas. My parents, my brother, sister, and I would gather around the table in the evening and recount the days events and activities while filling our tummies with basic, simple foods.

My mother wasnt a particularly great cook, but she did manage to put meals on the table every day. Im not sure how she did it, but I do remember what she did: each day of the week, every week, year after year, was a specific type of food with some occasional surprises thrown in.

Sundays were about brunch and food from the deli, like lox and bagels and corned beef. I remember Dad filleting smoked whitefish as we anxiously anticipated that first delicious bite. On Sunday nights, the grill was king: chicken, steaks, burgers, ribs, jumbo prawns. During the summer months, we always hung out around the swimming pool and wed invite all our friends over. Being the Jewish mother, my mom would always make sure everyone was fed with something she cooked or ordered in, like burgers from the newly opened Burger King, pizza, or great fried chicken from Youngbloods, which, to this day, is my favorite double-battered fried chicken. We never lacked for an abundance of food.