A few gatherings
we've cooked for.

Wedding reception · Waimea · Sept · 120 guests

The tent at the old ranch gate

A September wedding up on the cooler side of Waimea, in a tent staked into pasture that belonged to the bride's grandfather. Wind came up around 4:30 and nearly took a chafer off the table. Kimo wedged two buckets of ice against the sterno stand and saved the kalbi.

Menu: kalbi short rib, mochiko chicken, furikake salmon, jasmine rice, mac salad, tossed greens, poke bar with ahi shoyu and spicy ahi. Late-night musubi tray after the dancing, which the groomsmen took down to the studs.

"They were part of our family by the end of the night. Auntie Mele hugged the bride twice." — the mother of the bride

First-birthday luau · Hilo · Aug · 85 guests

Baby Koa's first year

A backyard luau in Kaumana. Kimo lit the imu at 3:40 a.m. — the grandfather woke up in the house behind ours and came out in slippers to sit next to the pit with a thermos of coffee. They didn't talk much. They didn't have to.

Menu: full imu spread. Kalua pig, laulau (pork and butterfish both), lomi salmon, chicken long rice, poi, 'uala, haupia. Mele brought a second pan of butter mochi because the baby's auntie asked.

"We opened the imu at 9 a.m. Every single uncle at the party went quiet." — the baby's mom

Retirement gathering · Volcano · Jun · 28 guests

The quiet one at the cabin

A retirement party for a school principal at a small redwood cabin off Wright Road. Rain most of the afternoon, the kind that sounds louder than it is. Everybody stayed inside. We set up on the long dining table and folded our own napkins.

Menu: shoyu pork, mochiko chicken, a small poke bowl (ahi shoyu only), rice, mac, edamame, butter mochi. No speeches planned, but three people got up and gave one anyway.

"The haupia was exactly the way my mother used to make it. I wasn't ready for that." — the guest of honor

High-school graduation · Kealakekua · May · 65 guests

The grad that out-ate the football team

Backyard party, long folding tables under a pop-up tent, an uncle manning the shave-ice machine we weren't contracted for. The spicy ahi bowl was gone before the speeches started. We refilled it once and it was gone again in twenty minutes.

Menu: two-protein plate (kalbi + mochiko), poke bar (spicy ahi, ahi shoyu, limu-style), edamame, fried saimin cakes, butter mochi. We added a second tray of rice halfway through — we always bring extra rice.

Celebration of life · South Kona · Feb · 60 guests

A morning for Uncle Sonny

A family gathered at a beach park on Kona side to scatter their father's ashes and eat together after. We kept the menu short on purpose — the things he would have asked for. The ocean was flat that morning, which Mele's cousin said was his doing.

Menu: shoyu chicken, white rice, mac, lomi salmon, limu poke, pineapple with li hing. Haupia at the end. We set up, cooked, served, cleaned, and got out of the way. That's the right shape of this kind of job.