Grilled Ginger-Passion Chicken (A Quick "Huli-Huli" Style Chicken!)

"Huli" means "turn" in Hawaiian, and the original Huli Huli chicken was the Hawaiian answer to BBQ Chicken. Whole birds were marinated in a teriyaki-like sauce, then slow roasted on the grill rotisserie-style. On the outside, the skin is browned and caramelized. On the inside, the meat is juicy and tender.

However, when it's 100+ degrees outside, I'm not exactly trying to stand around for an extended period of time, waiting for dozens of whole chickens to cook. I came up with this recipe as a "Quick Huli." The marinade and glaze are packed with ginger, freshly squeezed orange juice, and passion fruit juice. Instead of an entire, bone-in chicken, I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs.

Grilled Eggplant & Kamote Leaves

Filipino family parties take up two days at least. You eat (just...all of the time), sing karaoke, play mah jong...Then, you stay the night and wake up the next morning to all of The Aunties cooking up a huge breakfast. Longanisa, tocino...the works. And then, you pack up some leftovers to take home. (Always.) It's about food, food, and more food. (Always.)

For Father's Day this year, my sister and I decided to put together a Filipino-style cookout! Although it was only a few of us over at my house, we really wanted to serve up some of our BBQ favorites. I spent all morning at the farmers market and came home with a ton of vegetables. They would be perfect as sides to all of the steak we'd be grilling!

Now, whenever the family gets together for a meal like this, there really isn't a lot of measuring going on. (Just make sure to make plenty of food to eat and for leftovers!) So, this post isn't exactly a recipe, but it's more of a How-To...How to have a Filipino-style cookout with Grilled Eggplant and Kamote Leaves! ;)

Nectarines, Plums, & Ice Cream! Oh my!

Yesterday, we had another beautiful, 75 degrees-and-clear-sunny-sky morning. I love to have fresh fruit in the morning, with just a cup of coffee. It's my favorite kind of breakfast when the weather is warm like this. With a half-empty fruit bowl, however, I decided to make my way to the farmers market and restock.

There was already a nice-sized crowd by 9 am, live music echoing throughout the lot, and the welcoming smell of freshly popped kettle corn filling the air. Once I resisted that toasty, buttery aroma though, I could finally catch a whiff of the strawberries and the peaches...the cherries and the nectarines...Mmm. Just what I was looking for...Baskets and crates were filled to the brim with gorgeous Summer fruit. I wanted to load up my car and take all of it home!