Got Built?

My sister-in-law, her partner, our 5-year-old niece, my husband, and of course, moi - we find ourselves ravenous at 10 PM in the middle of a very tiny bedroom community - Puako, about an hour from Kailua-Kona, and with no corner store or restaurant in sight.

I rummage through cupboards and find tomato sauce, instant peaches-and-cream oatmeal, crackers, pineapple juice, refried beans, two cans of vegetables and two cans of chili. I nuke the chili with the sauce and the refrieds, find some extra chili spice and pepper, heat up the veggies … dinner. Pineapple juice with icecubes helps wash that down. Amazing what can pass for food when you’re starving.

Another pass at the cupboard yields basmati rice. I cook that up to have with the canned tuna I packed with me. No clue what the others will eat, but I know better than to travel without staples … tins of tuna, protein powder, natural peanut butter - the holy trinity of my world …

I ate rice, chili, and tuna for three days. Supplemented with lots of really, REALLY good ice cream… but I want broccoli so bad I’m actually DREAMING about it!