Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Friday, Feb. 07, 2025| Today's Paper | scattered clouds 74.354°

Let’s Talk Food: Tex-Mex chimichangas

There are many states who claim to have the best Tex-Mex food but Tex-Mex cuisine started in Texas when Texas was part of New Spain and later became Mexico. The regional people, called Tejanos, spread their cuisine from the border states to the rest of the country and made Tex-Mex a popular cuisine of a lot of Southwestern areas.

Tropical Gardening: Coffee flowering now means abundant harvests coming this fall

The dry weather from Thanksgiving to January created conditions for heavy flowering when a rainy spell in mid January stimulated a big flush of flowering shortly thereafter. When Kona has a wet winter and flowering is intermitant, it results in a longer harvest season. This year harvest shoud be concentrated thus making the harvest short and heavy if all else goes well.

Let’s Talk Food: Soups and stews

As the temperatures drop to the 60’s and we start bringing out our jackets and sweatshirts (while the rest of the folks on the mainland are laughing at us), it is a good time to think about making a pot of soup or stew.

Steves: Visiting Europe’s 20th century fascist sites

The fascist movements of 20th-century Europe had a sweeping impact around the world, in ways that still reverberate today. And travelers have an advantage when it comes to learning from this history: When we see its legacy in person, we better understand its lessons. Europe is dotted with fascinating monuments and powerful memorials that’ve been thoughtfully designed to bring those sobering lessons home. When we track the struggles of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic today, we can see that those intent on derailing democracy read from the same playbook.

Volcano Watch: Recent lava fountains highlight Pele’s Hair hazards

Residents and visitors alike have been watching episodic lava fountains in Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kilauea since late December 2024. While beautiful and safe to view, this activity has left residents of communities nearby wondering about the dusting of glittery threads on their property.

Tropical Gardening: Go native in your garden

It is fun to go native, but you don’t need to strip down when it comes to incorporating native plants into your Hawaiian garden! Next weekend, Feb. 1 will be a great opportunity to get expert advice from nursery folks hailing from around the island according to Jennifer Snyder of Orchid People.

This rare plant smells horrible, but people can’t wait to get a whiff

NEW YORK — There is no shortage of unpleasant odors in New York City: overflowing garbage on the sidewalk, unmentionable substances in the subway, traffic fumes and more. This week, yet another foul scent has entered the smellscape, but in this case, New Yorkers are flocking to experience it: the blooming of an Amorphophallus gigas, aka a corpse flower, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Steves: Sicilian surprises in Palermo

One thing I enjoy about returning to a destination is the chance to update the outdated impressions I’ve held in my mind from previous visits. Europe is always changing — and on my last visit to Sicily’s capital of Palermo I discovered that it’s become a whole new city in recent years. It’s cleaner, safer, and more efficient than it was in years past. But it still retains its colorful edge — and that’s why I love it.

Early amaryllis blossoms remind us of spring around the corner

Folks living on the mainland are experiencing the chill of winter but Hawaii’s spring begins as the days get longer. Spring officially occurs when the sun reaches the Equator as it appears to move northward. Of course what is actually happening is that the earth is tilting toward the South Pole and will continue to do so until June 21. Since we are roughly at latitude 19 degrees north, the sun will appear to move northward. Many plants respond to longer day length including plants that form bulbs.