I was looking at the Vog in the air today thinking about how much it reminded me of a summer day in Oregon when wild fires are blazing and the wind is blowing the smoke into the Valley where we lived. If you have never heard of vog- I copied and pasted a small description of what it is below- you can also click on the first Vog I typed on this post.
Vog in Hawaiʻi
In Hawaii, the gas plumes of Kīlauea rise up from three locations: Halemaʻumaʻu Crater, Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent, and from along the coastline where lava flows from the East Rift zone enter the ocean. The plumes create a blanket of vog that can envelop the island. Vog mostly affects the Kona coast on the west side of the Island of Hawaiʻi, where the prevailing trade winds blow the vog to the southwest and southern winds then blow it north up the Kohala coast.
Prolonged periods of southerly Kona winds, however, can cause vog to affect the eastern side of the Island on rare occasions, and affect islands across the entire state as well.[3] By the time the vog reaches other islands, the sulfur dioxide has largely dissipated, leaving behind ash, smoke, sulfates, and ammonia.[4]
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Looking at the Vog and thinking of Oregon started my mind down a rabbit trail of some of the differences between living on the mainland (specifically Oregon) and living in Hawaii. Here is where my brain went:
The First Christmas we were here, I went to a women's tea- When dessert was served, small squares of what appeared to be a pumpkin brownie was passed out. I took 1 bite and LOVED the taste- I asked the ladies at my table what the dessert was- they said it was Pumpkin Mochi. The easiest way to describe the taste would be a really dense and moist piece of pumpkin bread cooked in a brownie pan. I had never heard of Mochi (which is a popular food over here) and promptly went to our local grocery store and bought it- Instead of eating the traditional Lemon Curd at the tea I went to I had a chance to try something new- PUMPKIN MOCHI
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Seasonal Fruit has been a huge change- Instead of Apples, Peaches, and Blackberries that are plentiful in Oregon during the summer and fall you get Avocados, Mango, Lychee, and Papaya - We also get a fresh coconut, fish, and sand............actually the sand is never ending all year long- It is immune to having just a specific 'season'!!
In Oregon, when someone was going hunting you could automatically assume that they were going for either deer or elk. Here the most popular hunt is for pig or goat. Some of the variations I have eaten are: smoked, char-su'd (this would be equivalent to going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering the appetizer pork that they serve with the hot mustard- the pork they serve would be marinated in char-su), and bar-b-qued. I have yet to enjoy eating goat- To me is has a super gamy and very chewy taste.
My list of 'differences' could go on and on- not in this blog post but maybe in the upcoming ones. I was just asked by a wonderful 'auntie' that is in her 60's and has been born and raised on the islands if I had ever driven in snow.......'Yes' was my smiled reply and I told her about how Cinders are put down to help so that your car does not slide all over the place. She then asked me if I had ever gone to the salt ponds here- I told her 'No' and her smiled reply was a story about how you can gather salt at certain ponds and use it at your table.......Our life experience is vastly different but each of us learned something in our conversation- She learned a little more about something she had never experienced, living on the mainland- and I learned a little more about the culture of where I live. Diversity is such a blessing!
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