"Don't Forget the Junior Mints!"

Our Christmas Day continued at the movies. We did get tickets to see True Grit at the theater in Kihei. Once we got there, we remembered that we didn't like this theater a bit. Old-fashioned, flat floor with low-backed seats. Very uncomfortable low-backed seats.

Not many people in the theater, so we took seats on the aisle, in the middle. So with all of the empty seats in the theater, these three women decide to plomp down right in front of us.

Not only do they compromise our view, but they were annoying (read with an outrageous NY Jewish accent):

Woman #1: "I need money for CANDY!"
Woman #2: (handing her money) "Don't forget the Joon-yur Mints!"
Women #3: "...and the Snow Caps! And maybe a Nestle Crunch Bar."

So we moved back a row. Then just before the movie started, two people wandered in and picked the seats in front of us. Geez. And he was really tall. So we were up and moving again. This time we went further down front, and sat against the wall. Movie was good...an old-fashioned western.

We went back to the condo and decided to enjoy the Christmas Day sunset on the deck with a bottle of champagne...and some whale watching. Gramme insists the whales should be leaping and frolicking right off the beach. We watched for an hour, sipping our bubbly, no whales seen.

It was a really nice time, chilling on the deck with our champagne and wasabi peas, talking about Ally's upcoming graduation and and such.

Then it was time to head down to the barbecues and see if our second Azeka marinade recipe was legit. We were barbecuing pork and some Maui onions. Jorge threw them on the grill, and we settled in for some good conversation with others at the barbecues. It's always fun to see what others are making. We shared a grill with a guy from Calgary who was fixing three lobster tails (procured from Eskimo Candy). There was chicken, shish-ke-bobs, hamburger patties, sweat potato fries, zucchini, and shrimp.

Food done, it was back upstairs to add the sticky rice and plate everything up. It would have looked better on something other than a plain white plate. Wish I had thought to drizzle some sauce on the plate first.

But most importantly, the recipe was right on! This is the Azeka marinade! It was excellent on the pork, and we still have chicken marinading for another night. For those who want the recipe for the Most Excellent Azeka Marinade...here it is:

In a bowl, mix the following ingredients:
2 cups soy sauce (prefer the Aloha brand of sauce)
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 to 6 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
4 to 6 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
4 cups dark brown sugar

Mix well in the bowl until sugar is dissolved. Place the meat (beef short ribs, chicken, pork, etc) in a large ziplock bag and pour in the marinade and seal. The recipe calls for marination for 4 days in the refigerator, mixing and shaking and bag twice a day. (We marinated for 24 hours, and it was fine).

Grill over medium heat. Don't cook too fast or the sugar in the marinade will burn. You want the sugar to give you nice toasty edges without the meat being too hammered. Enjoy!

Had a very pleasant dinner to end a very pleasant day in paradise.