October
Tweed was conceived in autumn,
Along with tartan plaid, by some ancient
Artist, envying the hardwood forest in fall.
Like an Ozark fiddler, longing for the
Bagpipe he has never heard,
The human stands, stunned and pale
Before every October’s kaleidoscope of color.
He builds fires and gazes into the flames,
He builds bricks, he bleeds.
Yet he is always unable to equal autumn,
Until finally, yearning to be part of
This old, soundless song,
He covers his skin in woven wool,
Brown flecked with orange, sunset yellow,
Touched with red.
Then he strides through the windfall,
Like the clan chanter, screeching in ecstasy,
And at last,
He is leaves!
This October we are following up last month’s Summer to Fall Afternoon Tea with a Multicultural Family Meal which I described in my September 2025 blog. Wayne and I prepared and hosted this birthday celebration in our apartment for eight members of our extended family here in Hawaii, six adults and two children. Three of the recipes from my September blog are included.
After a cool dawn,
Autumn’s orange heat stretches
Across the sunset.
A Multicultural Autumn Family Meal
Beverages:
Fruit Flavored and Unflavored Sparkling Waters, Coca Cola, Milk, Matcha
Appetizers:
Stuffed Mushrooms (Recipe in Rose’s September 2025 Blog adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)
Olives, Pickles and Cheese Tray
Entrées:
Kalua Pig with Cabbage (or Kale and Spinach) Served with Brown Rice
Uncle Wayne’s Tuna Enchilada Casserole (Adapted from Simply Recipes Beef Enchilada Casserole)
Salads and Scones:
Burmese Tea Leaf Salad (Packaged YUZANA Tea Leaf Salad Mix with Chili)
Filipino Macaroni and Cream Salad with Fresh Fruit
Apricot and Almond Scones with California Apricot Jam and Kerry Gold Butter
(Recipe in Rose’s September 2025 Blog adapted from TeaTime)
Desserts
Ellen’s Fabulous Coconut Cake (Rose’s April 2022 Blog)
Buttermilk Panna Cotta and Oreo Parfaits. (Recipe in Rose’s September 2025 blog, adapted from Southern Living.)
This menu represents the heritages of all eight of us who enjoyed this meal, Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, Italian and Irish, with a Burmese and a Mexican twist added in the spirit of international Aloha. As I noted, some of the items on this menu also appeared in the Summer to Fall Afternoon Tea menu in my September blog where you will find the recipes: the Scones, the Panna Cottas and the Stuffed Mushrooms. I recommend doubling the recipe for the Stuffed Mushrooms as you will be serving a larger group than at an intimate tea party. For the Panna Cottas, however, instead of serving them with fresh pears, I suggest sprinkling the bottoms and the tops of each cup of Panna Cotta with crushed Chocolate Oreo Cookies, to add a touch of chocolate to complement the Fabulous Coconut Cake and to please the girls who love Chocolate Oreos. As with the September menu, I have chosen recipes that are easy to make and can be prepared the day before the meal and re-heated, baked or finished shortly before the meal begins.
A hummingbird darts
Near the pink plumerias
In the warm twilight.
Ellen’s Fabulous Coconut Cake
To find the recipe for this glorious coconut cake, go to our myteaplanner.com Home Page which reads, Your Ultimate Guide to Afternoon Tea. Scroll down to Quick Links at the bottom of the page and click on Rose’s Blog Tea and Travels. Scroll chronologically to Rose’s April 2022 blog entitled “Eggs and Herbs for Easter.” The recipe for Ellen’s Fabulous Coconut Cake appears at the end of the blog.
Kalua Pig with Cabbage Served with Brown Rice
Kalua Pig is a traditional Hawaiian dish that is served at every luau and cultural celebration. Pulled Kalua Pig Sandwiches on Taro Rolls are featured in our Hawaiian Afternoon Tea menu in the World of Tea Parties section of the Tea Book. The ancient Polynesians prepared Kalua Pig by roasting a whole pig for many hours in its skin in a kiawe wood fire pit dug into the ground. Today’s easy way to make Kalua Pig is in your slow cooker or your Insta-Pot. Kalua Pig is often served with cabbage wedges added to the pot after the meat is almost fully cooked and ready to be shredded. Since this menu already includes a Burmese Tea Leaf Salad that contains cabbage, you might want to switch to kale and spinach or other greens such as collards instead. Serve the meat and the cabbage or other green vegetables together on a large serving tray with a bowl of hot brown rice nearby.
Here is the Easy Online Recipe for Homestyle Kalua Pork with Cabbage in a Slow Cooker from Allrecipes:
Makes 10 Servings
Total Cooking Time: 10 hours and 40 minutes
- 2 tablespoons Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 (5 pound) bone-in pork shoulder roast
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
- ½ large head of cabbage, cut in wedges or shredded (or 1 bunch each freshly washed and trimmed kale and spinach or collard greens)
- Combine the salt, pepper and ground ginger and rub the spice mixture onto the pork roast. Place the roast into a slow cooker. Whisk together the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke and pour over the pork roast.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 10 hours. Add the cabbage (or greens) to the slow cooker and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
- To serve, shred the pork and place it with the cabbage or greens on a large decorative platter. Serve with Brown Rice.
Uncle Wayne’s Tuna Enchilada Casserole
Wayne found a recipe for a Beef Enchilada Casserole online and turned it into a tuna casserole for those of us in the family who do not eat meat. It contains many of the ingredients found in Mexican Enchiladas, but it is easier and quicker to make because the tortillas are layered like the pasta strips in a Lasagna, rather than rolled up with the fillings inside. You can make this delicious old-fashioned casserole in a little over an hour, including preparation and baking, and it will make 8 to 16 generous servings in a 13×9 inch casserole dish.
- 4 cans of packed white albacore tuna in water, drained
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ medium white onion, diced, (about 1 cup)
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
- ½ fresh jalapeno, seeded and sliced (about 1 tablespoon,) optional
- 2 (one ounce) packets taco seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup beef stock
- 1 (15-ounce can) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15-ounce can) sweet corn, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15-ounce can) pitted black olives, rinsed and drained
- 3 ½ cups red enchilada sauce
- 9 large flour tortillas
- 1 pound (16 ounces) Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded (about 5 ½ cups)
Cooking spray for the pan
Special Equipment: large skillet, heatproof rubber spatula, 13×9-inch baking dish, aluminum foil, foil-covered baking sheet, wire cooling rack, offset spatula.
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter and sauté the onions, garlic and jalapeno over medium heat until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle the taco seasoning and the salt over the vegetable mixture and add the beef stock. Stir with a rubber spatula to mix thoroughly. Add the black beans, corn, olives and tuna, breaking up some of the chunks of tuna and simmer briefly to incorporate the mixture well.
- Spray the bottom and inner sides of a 13×9 inch baking pan with cooking spray and layer about three large tortillas over the bottom and up the side of the pan. Pour about 1 cup of enchilada sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle about ¾ cup of grated cheese over the sauce. Spoon half of the vegetable and tuna mixture evenly over the cheese and top with another ¾ cup of cheese. Repeat this layering process by adding another layer of tortillas, enchilada sauce, cheese and the remaining tuna and vegetable mixture with another layer of cheese on top.
- Place three more flour tortillas on top of the casserole, fitting them over the cheese and filling and tucking them into the sides and corners of the pan. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the casserole, allowing some of it to drip between the tortillas and the sides and corners of the pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
- Place the pan on a large, foil-covered baking sheet. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and bake for about 10 or 12 minutes more, until the cheese is completely melted and starting to bubble.
- Set the casserole on a heat-proof countertop or metal cooling rack for 15 minutes and cut into 8 large or 16 smaller squares with an offset spatula.
Filipino Macaroni and Cream Salad with Fresh Fruit
I was recently introduced to this traditional Filipino holiday salad or dessert by my friend Vivian Flora who invited Wayne and me to a community beach retreat and potluck loaded with homemade Filipino dishes. Vivian says that this surprising Macaroni Salad, filled with sweetened cream and fresh fruit rather than celery, eggs and mayonnaise, is served on Christmas Eve in the Philippines, where fresh fruit is available year-round and the weather remains warm when it is winter in North America. This salad is refreshing and delicious and will harmonize with the Kalua Pork and Cabbage and even the Enchiladas. It can also accompany the Coconut Cake and the Panna Cottas. Apparently, back in the days of Vivian’s grandparents, this macaroni fruit salad was filled with drained and canned fruit cocktail, but since so many fresh fruits and berries are readily available in Hawaii and on the mainland in October, I chose to fill my Macaroni Salad with sliced seedless grapes, blueberries and chunks of fresh pineapple with decorative slices of fresh strawberries on the top. Feel free to use any fresh fruits or berries that are ripe and ready in your area and that your family members love.
- 1 pound elbow macaroni cooked al dents and rinsed with cold water.
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup sliced fresh seedless grapes
- 1 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries
- 1 cup small chunks of fresh pineapple, drained
- Fresh strawberries, cored and sliced for garnish
Special Equipment: Large stockpot, colander, rubber spatula, hand-held electric mixer, large aluminum mixing bowl, large decorative serving bowl
- Place the large aluminum mixing bowl and the beaters for the electric mixer in the freezer to chill. In a large stockpot, boil the macaroni until al dente, following the instructions on the package. Place a colander in the sink, pour the macaroni into the colander and rinse immediately with cold water. Leave in the sink to drain.
- Removed the chilled bowl and beaters from the freezer and pour the two cups of chilled whipping cream into the bowl. Beat at medium high speed until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk and continue beating on lowuntil the mixture is well incorporated. Remove about 1 cup of the whipped cream mixture and set aside covered in the refrigerator for garnish.
- Add the drained macaroni to the whipped cream mixture and gently mix with a rubber spatula until uniform. Add the prepared fruits and mix gently to distribute the fruit evenly. Place the Macaroni Salad in a decorative serving bowl, garnish with the reserved whipped cream mixture and sliced strawberries.
- This salad can be chilled in the refrigerator overnight, not yet garnished, and covered with plastic wrap. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Just before the meal begins, gently stir the salad, add the garnish and serve immediately.
Burmese Tea Leaf Salad
In his recent foray into teaching himself to cook, Wayne has focused primarily on light and healthy vegetarian Asian dishes. Many of these incorporate prepackaged spices and other ingredients that he orders online. This remarkable Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, on the menu at Rangoon restaurant here in Honolulu, (and I assume in other Burmese restaurants throughout the mainland,) contains edible processed tea leaves, chili and nuts, to which fresh vegetables are added. To make this delicious and healthy salad at home, Wayne ordered YUZANA Sour Pickled Tea with Chili Purely Vegetarian, packaged in Myanmar and available from Amazon. Wayne followed the instructions on the package and added:
- 1 bag of freshly shredded coleslaw mix, which contained green cabbage, purple cabbage and shredded carrots.
- 2 stalks of finely chopped celery
- Slivers of red onion
- 1 fresh jalapeno, thinly sliced, most of the seeds removed.
This salad is unusual to American tastes and startlingly delicious. It contains peanuts, so be advised if any of your family members have peanut allergies. And it is quite spicy. If you want to tone it down just a little bit, omit the fresh jalapeno.
