We have been watering and watching our apple banana bunch for months now. Just waiting for a hint of yellow to start on them. On Wednesday we finally spotted the top row turning yellow! It was a busy week so we waited till the weekend to harvest.
Top 10 Banana Songs
1. Day-O (Banana Boat) - Harry Belafonte
4. 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas - Harry Chapin
6. Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson
7. Banana In Your Fruit Basket - Bo Carter
8. Banana Split (The Tra La La Song) - The Dickies
9. Smokin' Banana Peels - The Dead Milkmen
10. Yes! We Have No Bananas - Spike Jones
from Robert of the Radish in The Y! Music Playlist Blog
More info on the Apple Bananas:
Seasons/Availability
Apple bananas are available year round.
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Description/Taste
A favorite dessert banana and truly irresistible, apple bananas turn completely black when ripe. Pale yellow and quite stocky, the average length is about four inches. The creamy semi-dry flesh resists turning brown when peeled making it a perfect choice for fresh fruit desserts. Prized for its unique flavor, this remarkable banana's deliciousness combines tasty hints of apple and strawberry. -
Nutritional Value
An excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and potassium, the banana is low in fat, cholesterol-free, low in sodium and provides fiber. Some medications for controlling blood pressure deplete the body's storage of potassium. One banana each day restores the potassium balance. An average sized banana has about 95 calories. Five daily servings of fruits and vegetables are recommended to lower chances of cancer. A recent study found eating nine or ten daily servings of fruits and vegetables, combined with three servings of low-fat dairy products, effectively lowers blood pressure. -
Applications
Enjoy the apple banana out of hand or add this creamy-textured wonder to fresh fruit salads. Make yummy puddings, pies, muffins, cookies, cakes, custards and quick breads. Enjoy a frosty banana daiquiri. Pair with vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate fudge, sliced fresh strawberries and tangy pineapple bits for a dessert delight. Standing up well when cooked, this little banana is a perfect size for making delectable banana fritters. To delay ripening, refrigerate. Place in paper bag; keep at room temperature to speed ripening. To freeze for longer storage, mix one teaspoon of lemon juice into each mashed banana; freeze in an airtight container. Note: To prevent bananas from turning brown in fruit salad, drop a banana in boiling water for two to three seconds until it turns dark brownish-black; carefully lift out from water; peel. The banana will actually stay fresh. -
Ethnic/Cultural Info
The name banana comes from the Arabic word for finger, "banan", referring to the finger-like extensions of the fruit. A clump of bananas is called a "hand". This variety most closely resembles its namesake. As a popular Asian snack, bananas are battered, fried or baked in their skins over hot coals. Many parts of Southeast Asia enjoy the banana cooked with rice flour dough or glutinous rice and served with coconut cream. A favorite banana delight and sold as a confection, banana slices are sun-dried. -
Geography/History
Growing wild in Hawaii along the seriously rainy Hamakua Coast on the Big Island and especially loving gulches and ditches, the apple banana plant grows much taller than the common banana plant and requires more maintenance. The Hamakua Coast is located North of Hilo and with annual rainfall topping out over a whopping ten feet, it definitely earns the title of the rainiest city in the United States. Considered a premium banana and also known as manzano, islanders love growing the exceptional apple banana plant in their backyard. This banana takes about fifteen months from planting to harvest. A member of the Musa paradisiaca species and from the Musaceae family, new varieties of bananas are being developed and are now available in American markets. Smaller bananas are especially becoming increasingly popular and setting a new banana trend.
MAHALO to http://www.specialtyproduce.com/index.php?item=2050
Featured Recipes
Recipes that include Apple Bananas. One 
is easiest, three is harder.
It's a full-sized easel, and is surprisingly stable!
    
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step 1Materials & ToolsYou will need: Bamboo (2 pieces that are roughly equal in diameter, 1 piece for the third leg, and at least one more piece for a support) short metal rod -- This is the 'hinge' (I pulled mine out of a broken fax machine, but anything will do) 2 screws String or hemp Tools you m…
step 2Cut & drillIt is helpful to lay the pieces out before you cut or drill on any of them, so you can make measurements and understand what angles to cut and drill at. Cuts: Cut the bamboo so you have 2 pieces of equal length and roughly equal diameters. Cut the third leg to a proportional length. You …
step 3AssembleNow it comes together real fast. Fit the metal rod (or whatever you used) into one of the legs, and then slide on one of the filler pieces. A quick not about the fillers: it may be useful to file the end of these to better fit against the legs or back support (but not both, or it won't work). N…
step 4ReinforceDon't skip this step... Take your hemp or string and wrap the top joint tightly. if you do it right it will give it a "spring" and it will be much steadier. I also wrapped the two joints on the cross support, but this was mostly to make it look nice. A piece of string from one screw, around th…
step 5Fin!That should be it! Enjoy your new easel, and revel in the fact that you just made something useful and it cost you zero dollars.
Using paper airplanes to learn about flight
Need a way to help the youth around you learn about flight? Try out paper airplanes! Most people know how to make a basic paper airplane, but there are other designs out there, some even claiming to be the ultimate paper airplane design. Inside the Dangerous Book for Boys is a two page section on paper airplanes with a few alternate designs you may have not tried.
Some of the concepts you'll want to feature are lift, drag, thrust and gravity. A project with such inexpensive materials as this is also a great way to help make students aware of the design process. By using working paper models, you can also help students grasp airfoil design and theory. By adjusting their designs and making additional iterations, students can see real examples of how and why planes fly.There are some great resources for understanding flight and designs for paper airplanes. Share with us the comments how you have used airplanes in the classroom as a student and teacher.
It's been five years since my last dive. Time has gone by quickly, I
got married, we moved to a new home last year, got a puppy and eight
fish, and am almost to seven years in my Oahu job at Tiki's. It was
great to be getting back underwater!
friend who is a active PADI Instructor. I wanted to rent some gear and
he did even better by loaning me his high tech rig. The boat left from Hawaii Kai Marina and it only took a short time to
get on site. I kept my mouth shut about my experience and triple
checked my gear. I was over-weighted by 9lbs for the first dive,but
I didn't want to be the fat guy stuck on the surface. When I was
teaching I always carried extra weight for my divers, so old habits
die hard. I jumped in and sank at a rapid pace until adding air in my
BCD. The first dive was over in 40 minutes. Dive Site One: Portlock Wall
(The Wall) Portlock Wall runs from the end of Hanauma Bay toward
Maunalua Bay. The current was running to the West. The wall runs down
to 90 to 100 feet near Hanauma Bay, rising to 30 to 40 feet by
Portlock. There are ledges that house eels and lots of wana (sea
urchins) and plentiful fish all around with turtles. Large caves cut
into the wall in spots. Dive Site Two: Sea Cave
The Sea Cave is an exciting cave dive located between Portlock Wall
and Paliea Point. The mouth of the cave is located in 55 feet of water
and the cave extends inward approximately 150 feet. You can expect to
sea turtles as well as many different types of shells and reef fish.
After exploring the large cave we drifted along the wall with the
current. The dives were great and as always I was able to relax and clear my
mind, focusing on only what was going on. It will hopefully be much
less than five years until my next dive!
Yelp Honolulu Gets Wacky & Tacky in Waikiki
Over 150+ Honolulu yelpers played the part of "Super Tacky Tourist" at our Wiki Wacky Tiki Tacky Yelp Launch Party at Tiki's Grill & Bar in splendid Waikiki! With a beautiful backdrop of famous Waikiki Beach and perfect eighty degree weather, we were set to party it up Hawaiian style! To get the evening started, Yelp Elites and guests were greeted with fresh purple orchid leis and Skyy Vodka cocktails in souvenir coconut cups, all courtesy of Tiki's Grill & Bar. Yelpers dressed for their tacky themed party by wearing matching his and her aloha attire, loud (as your drunk Uncle Kimo) aloha shirts, giant sunglasses and grass skirts (Woot woot Steve N!).
Wacky and tacky party guests imbibed on yummy drinks by Skyy Vodka, Jose Cuervo Silver, Captain Morgan Rum, Barefoot Wines and the Kona Brewing Company. More adventurous guests drank shots from a huge Yelp ice luge which poured chilled shots of Skyy Pineapple Vodka.
Tiki's Grill and Bar served up Kahlua Pig Quesedillas, Mini Crab Cakes, Coconut Shrimp, Beef Tenderloin Skewers and Shrimp & Pork Won Tons to fill up our Yelp sized bellies! We don't know about you, but the words "Kanak Attack" come to mind!
Lucky Yelp Elites got the first Yelp lunch boxes to ever be given out in Honolulu and proudly showed off their hard earned schwag! No trip to Waikiki is ever complete without a photo, so the computer fixin' gurus at iFix Pro set-up a photo station where yelpers took some truly memorable photos with their new found friends!
Did you miss out on this epic party of Kahlua Pig sized proportions at Tiki's Grill & Bar? Read all about it or take a look at the photos so you can see what you missed! Then say the word "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a" (it's Hawaii's virtually unpronounceable state fish)!
Aloha & SYOY!
It was time to kick off the celebration! We invited all of our OOT guests and my Pop’s bruddahs to join us for our quasi-rehearsal dinner. Quasi, because the wedding rehearsal was scheduled for the following day, and our wedding the day after. Moving the rehearsal dinner up a day was a tactical move on our part. We wanted our friends to get loose and enjoy themselves without worrying about headaches, oversleeping, cravings for pho (best cure for hangovers), etc. on the day of the wedding. They had all day Friday for some R & R. Yup, our friends can definitely throw back a few. 
We hosted our dinner at Tiki’s Grill & Bar in Waikiki. Wanting something private, we chose the Coconut Club room. It’s on the top floor of the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel, and it has a lanai (Hawaiian for patio) big enough to seat our 60 or so guests. The room itself isn’t all that special, but the sunset view from the lanai was priceless. It was seriously postcard worthy.
We were running a bit late, but thanks to island time, our late was actually early. Our friend, Dan, was the last to arrive. He snapped this photo of us greeting him at the door, and apologized for being late. The waves kept calling to him. Late because of surfing, haha! I love Hawaii.
Everyone pretty much knew everyone (minus the families), so it was nice to catch up. Since we’re all college buddies, the conversations went beyond the typical ‘What’s your name’, ‘How do you know the Piglets’, etc. etc. It was nice. Comfortable. Effortless.
Eventually, people made their way to their seats. We used leftover luggage tags from our invitations to make name cards, and filled the bags with macadamia nut Hershey’s Kisses.
Once everyone was seated…
Mr Piglet welcomed everyone. That night, we wanted it to be about them. We wanted to show our appreciation and love to our friends and family for traveling the distance to celebrate with us. Even Mr Piglet’s 80+ year old grandmother flew from Georgia. In her words, our wedding was something to live for.
And then dinner was served! We went buffet style the entire weekend. The spread for that night included macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi, sliced paniolo steak, kalua pig, fresh fruit, and steamed rice.
Everyone ate while watching this sunset over Waikiki. It’s still etched in my memory.
After dinner, it was time to introduce our bridal party. First up, the ladies. One-by-one, they each came up to hug it out. And as a token of our love and appreciation, we gifted them with a pair of Rainbow sandals… very island appropriate.
Plus, matching clutches to go with their bridesmaid’s dresses.
Beautiful Bonnie w/ her new ‘bows; picture taken by her beau.
Then, the fellas. Surprise, no more. They knew what was in their boxes.
But also got something to go with their suits. A nice pair of argyle socks in yellow and teal. You’re welcomeeee!
Then, the entertainment began. We booked a band through Tiki’s, and they were the highlight of the night for Mr Piglet’s family from Korea. They loved the adorable hula girl.
The rest of the night was spent mingling with friends.
And catching up with the bridesmaids preparing for the day-of. So close… the nerves were starting to kick in.
Re-live the Piglets’ Wedding in Paradise: To Dos Before the I Dos, E Komo Mai (Welcome!), This Little Piggy Got Married
Thanks Ben and Erin! All images are copyright of Ben Chrisman and Erin Reed unless otherwise noted.