Virtual Vacation Monday

This Monday was very much like the last, waking up to my harsh alarm in the dark and trying to motivate myself to get out of bed while listening to the rain fall outside. When it’s wet, windy and cold outside, why do I wanna leave my bed again? Oh yeah, work. Instead of venting about another busy day, I’d rather be back in Maui – where we escaped to for our honeymoon in 2009.

Bright, tropical colors and rainbows with a crisp ocean breeze.

Where I could wonder the warm waters of the private resort beach and marvel at the perfect colors.

And take in some amazing sunsets while sipping cocktails from the beach-side bar.

Pretty road, right? Except that it’s actually a narrow, two-lane road barely wide enough for our rental Mustang, no guard rail and many blind corners where you might meet someone going the opposite direction head on. If you’re ever in Maui, avoid highway route 340 unless you’re feeling very lucky because there’s no turning around once you enter the 8-mile cliffs-of-death stretch and no warning signs about what you’re entering. At one point, we had the Mustang wedged up a slope while a huge SUV wedged itself around us going the opposite direction – good times. Of course, most GPS’s and Google Maps will route you through this stretch if you’re heading to Kapalua from the airport – beware!

An amazing snorkeling cruise on the Hula Girl more than made up for that little bit of drama.

And taking in amazing views from the Waihee Ridge trail.

As we climbed higher on the trail, the mist was just gorgeous.

Kind of a horror movie/X-files thing going on in this pic, but what a view from up there!

Ah, I wouldn’t mind being back there now chilling on the catamaran bow watching for sea turtles and dolphins. That was our first trip to Hawaii, but it won’t be the last!

Back to reality, I had a fridge full of veggies and leftovers to use up – corn from the Easter celebration, a small broccoli chunk, jar of sprouted mung beans and half a butternut squash from last week – eek! I was craving a tropical themed stir-fry and invited a high-protein chunk of tofu to the party. I decided on my Curry Banana Stir Fry sauce (click for recipe) for an interesting fusion stir fry.

I stir fried the tofu chunks in a little coconut oil over high heat.

Then added the rest of the ingredients and sauce and stir fried for another 5 minutes until the butternut chunks were soft.

And my quick, tropical treat dinner was ready. The firm tofu chunks absorbed a lot of the sauce adding more flavor and the butternut chunks and corn actually didn’t seem out of place, but added a nice texture and complemented the sweet and spicy sauce flavors beautifully. Funny because the Japan episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations is on in the background where he’s leery about trying ramen soup with corn and actually liked it.

If you’re a curry fan, try this sauce! Go, right now. :-)

Where would you rather be this Monday?