At the Smoke It Up festival.
Fourteen chefs made smoked meat meals.
They all had individual tables.
First stop.
Chef Kevan Salvador-Stevens and Kainolelani Lee at Big Island Smokehouse.
Dip.
Smoked sausage mac and cheese.
Chef Mills Stoval at Waimea Butcher Shop.
Smoked brisket sliders.
There were hulu dancers in front of a stage.
Chef Jayson Kanekoa at Waikoloa Beach Marriott.
Wild Pork and 'ulu pastele with keawe smoked salt. This one ended up being our favorite.
There weren't any drinks sitting around, and a lot of what we were having was spicy, so I was happy to have found some water.
Except there was chili pepper water, also spicy.
Chef Keoni Regidor at Lehua Restaurant.
Smoked ham on foccacia.
Everyone was working hard to cook and then plate all of the dishes.
Chef Mark Noguchi at Pili Group.
Pork tamale.
Kwai-Chang Publico at So Juicy Hawaii.
Smoked meat saleta.
Preparing more.
Off to the side were information booths.
One was from the Hawaii Sheep & Goat Association.
They had some cookbooks with goat recipes.
Another table on feral pigs.
List of trappers if you have feral pigs on your land.
ʻŌhiʻa is a tree with flowers made of many thin red rods and is one of the first plants to grow on new basalt (cooled lava). (The word itself also is very Hawaiian; it has two ʻOkina, the backwards apostrophe, and one kahakō, the line above the vowel "o." And I just noticed both of those words are self-referential; they both have the symbol they describe.)
Rapid Ohia Death (ROD) is a fungal disease caused by two species which clog the tree's vascular system and kill it.
Feral pigs damage the bark of the ohia trees, making the trees more suspectible to ROD. Therefore, fencing to keep wild pigs out of areas is very helpful to ohia trees.
You can also coat the trees with seal or paint to help protect them.
Another source of ROD is Ambrosia beetles, which can carry ROD and infect the trees when they burrow into them.
You can hunt wild pigs, goats, sheep, deer, cows, pheasants, turkeys, and even peacocks.
Biodiesel.
Hawaii Ulu Cooperative.
With ulu flour.
Back to the food, with the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts and Agriculture Program.
They have a take-out cafeteria that's open around lunchtime Tuesdays through Thursdays in Hilo.
Mustard cabbage soup.
They had a couple of different items.
Scottish bangers and onion gravy.
Another one.
Smoked pork and furikake rice.
At the end of the line; time to head back down the other side.
Chef Jess Devendorf at The Temple Bar.
Smoked meat carnitas taco.
Making the shell.
Filling them.
Chris and Becky Shuck at Island Style Birria.
With birria tacos.
Preparing.
A little container of juice.
Michelle and Zinah at Any Kine Wontons.
Smoked meat and ulu wontons.
Ben Miracle at Sweet Cane Cafe.
Smoked kalo slider.
And smoked ulu mouse on spiced pumpkin cake.
At the end was the bar, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. But everything was too sweet; I wanted some water or soda with all of the spicy food.
I guess we'll go with these drinks.
It started to rain very heavily, so we sat down for a few minutes.
And listened to the band.
After 15 minutes, the rain stopped. Time to head back for more food. Chef Jason Soriano at WSW Steakhouse.
Smoked meat poi stew.
Cooking the meat.
Markoff Ohana at Pohaku Cafe.
They had four dishes: chicken, pork, sausage, and haupia pie.
One last set of dancers before we leave.
A very nice house.
A very run down house.
This yard had a ton of skeletons.
Dog on a chain, chopping a guy's head off, and helping the other guy up the carport.
Running from a dog and a giant scarecrow.
This house had many blow-up Halloween decorations.
Then we went to the University of Hawaii Hilo.
For their Dance Extravaganza.
Which is a resurrection of the ones that had been occuring since the 1970s.
Earnest T. Morgan was the founder of the dance program at UH Hilo.
The theater.
We founds seats in the center of the front row.
Opening speech.
Thanking supporters.
The first act started from the back of the theater.
Walking to the stage and drumming.
With traditional dancers.
Another set of traditional dancers.
More modern danced.
Joined by others.
Pretty outfits.
Kids breakdancing.
Martial arts.
Another modern group.
Some of the performers.
The others.
Performers 1-3.
4-5.
6-8.
9-10.
The clicks from the DSLRs this photographer was using were very loud and distracting, especially because he was constantly taking pictures. All professional photographers should use mirrorless cameras for events like these, since they have silent shutters.
Treapeze artist.
Traditional dancers.
Modern dancers.
Can-can.
Half of the performers from the second half of the show.
And the other half.
Performers 11-13.
14-16.
Video of a few of the acts.
The theater had this beautiful mural.
The artists.
We stayed at the Kikala Waterfall Lodge. It was about 15 minutes out of town. The lodge is part of the Mauna Kea Cloudforest Bioreserve.
There was no check-in desk, so we had to re-read the email for instructions on how to find our cabin.
It was sprinkling; don't slip on the mud.
Our cabin had a little balcony.
Inside.
A common bathroom shared among the cabins.