As we start thinking about Christmas gifts, here is one for a foodie — “Hawai‘i’s Community Cookbook,” with over 600 recipes from over 30 community cookbooks. As I read each recipe, I wondered if I was given the task to select which recipes from all the community cookbooks I would choose, I know I would have great difficulty!

After damaging earthquakes, response and recovery takes place under the threat of aftershocks. United States Geological Survey aftershock forecasts can help you understand what may happen, promoting public safety and an understanding that experiencing aftershocks is normal.

The 51st Annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is Nov. 4-13. There will be events all during the 10-day period including farm tours, art shows, parades, educational classes like barista training and live entertainment. The grand finale will be “A Taste Of Kona” on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel. This will be an evening of culinary delights featuring local Island Chefs. Detailed information on all activities may be found at konacoffeefestival.org.

Oyakodon, the most famous comfort food of Japan, was invented by a restaurant in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, called Tamahide. This would be the 10th year of Japan’s Horeki, or 1760, when Japan was still ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate dynasty. They were known as a restaurant for hot pot, with shamo or gamecock hot pot as their premier dish. “However, in the late 1800s, the wife of Tamahide’s fifth-generation owner noticed how some diners would take the last remaining remnants of their hot pot, pour it over a bowl of white rice, and mix it with an egg. Figuring that if customers liked it enough to make it themselves, the restaurant may as well save them the trouble, and in 1891, the 20th year of the Meiji era, Tamahide’s chefs prepared their first oyakodon.”

The ongoing summit eruption at Kilauea volcano turned 1 year old on Sept. 29, 2022. The past year’s activity has commonly been described as “continuous” effusion of lava within Halema‘uma‘u crater. Although this has been mostly true — especially in recent months — there have been multiple occasions when lava was not flowing. What happened at those times, and why?

The weather is a bit crazy now. Temperatures remain warm but things are about to change. Fall has officially arrived in the northern hemisphere since the sun has moved south of the equator. The autumnal equinox for us is spring for those south of the equator. As the sun moves further from us, days are shorter and plants tend to slow their growth.