Spoon & Shutter

The action at Maui polo

From Spoon: We spent the afternoon of my birthday – and Mother’s Day  – “up-country,” which on Maui refers to the slopes of Haleakala, the volcanic mountain that defines much of the island. Where the Maui waterfront is home to surfers, up-country has cowboys and beef cattle, horses and polo. Maui polo is a rustic version of the sport – locals watch from the beds of their pickup trucks ringing the field and at the end of the day, are invited out onto it to “stomp the divots” to 80′s disco. Mary arranged for the announcer – just one of the colorful characters there – to call out my name and get everyone to sing happy birthday. Definitely not the sort of polo played by Prince William!

The announcer

Spoon and Shutter stomp the divots

We had a prime spot on the hill at one end of the field, joining William’s sister Ellen, her husband Bob and assorted friends. We drank sparkling wine – of course – and had a great time watching both the game and the young hopefuls in breeches and boots whacking polo balls back and forth with mallets, practicing their technique for the future. Ted, meanwhile, befriended some of the players and officials – many of whom are of Portuguese or Argentinian decent – and took some terrific portraits.

The birthday girl and friends at polo

A polo player

A family of fans

A future player

Referee

Maui cowboy

Back at the house after the game, I was determined to make my own birthday cake – coconut, my favorite – with the coconuts from the tree in the front yard. This, I discovered, is no easy thing. First, William used a saw to remove the tough outer husk – this gives you the brown-shelled coconut you see in store, which is also, forgive the pun, a tough nut to crack (William did it by banging it a few times, hard, on the granite kitchen counter). I scraped out the white “meat” with a big spoon and tried chopping it by hand, but that didn’t really work, and because our dear friends are a little limited in the kitchen appliance department (no food processor or electric mixer) I resorted to the blender to get the coconut as fine as I could.  I also discovered they had no measuring spoons and only a liquid measuring cup, so I was pretty proud that the cake was a success! The recipe is heavily adapted from a couple of versions I found on line and a friend lent us a mixer for the cake batter. For the more traditional coconut cake I made for my 49th birthday last year, click here.

As for the rest of the meal: we started with poke (pronounced “pokee”), chopped ahi blended with soy sauce, sesame oil and onions (that’s the basic one, there are many others) and Ted made a glorious butterflied leg of lamb on the grill, which we served with mint chimichurri and grilled asparagus. Oh, and to drink with it, we had a magnum of 2006 Row 14 (Harlan) cabernet that we brought here in our luggage – thanks Charlie and Lynne!!

Ted's grilled lamb and asparagus

Maui Coconut Cake

Cake

3 cups cake flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, separated

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup canned coconut milk (not cream of coconut)

1 cup fresh coconut, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

Using an electric mixer (standing or hand-held) beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the coconut milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

In a separate, large bowl with clean, dry beaters, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into the batter until completely incorporated. Fold in the coconut.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top of cakes spring back when touched and/or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on a rack for 15 minutes; remove cakes from pan and allow to cool completely before filling and icing with the glaze

Glaze

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 1/2 cups fresh coconut, finely chopped

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. butter

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the sugar and coconut milk; bring to a boil. Add coconut and cook for a few minutes until thickened to the consistency of heavy syrup. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter and vanilla. Let cool completely.

To finish the cake: place one layer on a serving plate. Spread about 1/3 of the glaze over top. Top with the second layer and spread/pour the glaze over, allowing to drip over the sides.

End of a fun evening ...

More to come!

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