B on Hawaii

Hurricane's, heat waves, droughts, floods--all issues our hopefully short-lived majority governing body hasn't put half as much thought in to as the fine folks at the Bishop Museum.

The delectable fungus that has popped up on fine menus and specialty markets in Hawaii.

The Annual "A Taste of the Hawaiian Range" food event will take place on the Big Island's Kohala Coast throughout the weekend of October 3rd, 2008. Hosted by the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, the event will be held in the Grand Ballroom and Lagoon Lanai of the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

A rather sizeable announcement nearly slipped through the cracks of the holiday season: Big Island Hawaii Regional Cuisine pioneer Peter Merriman will skip the pond to Maui in order to open a signature restaurant at the newly revitalized Kapalua Resort.

On a bright, sunny morning in the Outrigger Keauhou, a few dozen people gathered in the oceanfront lanai lounge that looked towards the town of Kailua-Kona. Behind the bar were a handful of individuals draped in red aprons.

When I was in the 2nd grade, I was given a pine tree seedling-just as every child in my Hudson Valley, N.Y., class was given-to take home on Arbor Day. I remember walking down the hallway after the final bell had rung, and seeing a handful of paper towel and rubber banded seedlings tossed on the linoleum floor.

Tucked in the verdant Lualualei Valley is the 5-acre, organic, non-profit farm known throughout Waianae as "Ma'o". Most of you are probably scrunching your face, pondering "There is a verdant valley in Waianae?" Yes, there is.