For the next two months, we will be a family of five. My teenaged niece who lives on Maui is staying with us for the summer.
In the two weeks since she arrived, TeenNiece has brightened our home with her sunshiny personality and charming expressions like "awesome possum!" She won over the 5YO immediately with descriptions of exotic Hawaiian birds. She and Husband exchanged important, possibly life-saving tips regarding the zombie apocalypse. An excellent swimmer (a more graceful butterfly stroke I've never seen), TeenNiece has proven to be a motivating personal trainer—one who can also be counted on to quickly and reliably rescue her sputtering, partially drowning Auntie T. Aaaaaand, she can cook! While we were on tornado alert last week, she prepared creamy fettuccine with breaded chicken strips (which Husband dubbed "chicken and tornoodles") all by herself. It was delicious! Perhaps she will be guest-posting this summer! Did I mention she's a prolific writer?
In the spirit of our visitor from more tropical shores, here's a recipe I developed for passion fruit bars with macadamia nut shortbread shown above. Think lemon bars with a Hawaiian twist. It's currently being featured on Babble.com. Enjoy!
Local Sources:
Butter: Cabot, Cabot, VT
Eggs: Codman Farm, Lincoln, MA
Plate: The Concord Shop, Concord, MA
Wow... she sounds like a dream come true! I hope she'll be sharing some dishes from her native state... these passionfruit bars are a great start--I love the lemon version, but I've just learned I also like passionfruit!
Posted by: emiglia | June 06, 2011 at 07:28 AM
The chicken and noodles were delicious. Great dinner!!
Posted by: Husband | June 07, 2011 at 11:45 PM
Husband: Yes, they were! More dinners by TeenNiece!
emiglia: Me, too!
Posted by: Tammy | June 13, 2011 at 10:28 PM