safeway in kona

Can You Put Bananas in the Refrigerator?

put bananas in the refrigeratorIf you think you cannot put bananas in the refrigerator, there is a way to do it. Who knew? Certainly not me. In fact, when I was at our neighbor’s house in Hawaii during my last visit, my neighbor dumped a bunch of ripe bananas in my arms. How she thought I would be able to eat them any faster than she could is beyond me. Although, I probably could have made banana bread. Yum, nothing like Tutu’s Hawaiian banana bread.

The main reason I have all of this fruit is because we have company coming. Josh Amolsch, my exclusive buyer’s agent extraordinaire on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, is arriving in Kona this week with his fiancé. For some reason, I did not check my calendar and thought Josh would arrive on Monday but he’s not. Naturally, before I realized this, I bought a lot of fruit on Saturday at Safeway in Kona.

put bananas in the refrigerator

Then yesterday, during a conversation with my sister, I bemoaned the fact the apple bananas might be too ripe by the time Josh gets here. Papayas and mangoes will hold a few days but the bananas will be tricky. My sister said I should put bananas in the refrigerator only when they turn ripe. If you do it before the bananas are ripe, they will rot in the refrigerator.

But if the fruit is ripe, and you put bananas in the refrigerator, they might turn brown a little bit, but the interiors will be sweet, firm and yellow.

So go ahead and put bananas in the refrigerator after they have fully ripened. OK, I might have to eat one just to make sure.

Elizabeth Weintraub

December in Hawaii Means Fending for Oneself

december in hawaii

My first dinner to celebrate December in Hawaii at our house.

The thing that makes this December in Hawaii different from every other December in Hawaii over previous years for me is the fact I pretty much am forced to live in raw survival mode. I kid you not. It’s very different staying at your own house in Hawaii than going to a luxury Kona resort. For example, I can’t stick a breakfast order on my doorknob at night and have room service show up in the morning with the exact count of blueberries I requested. Nope, this distress goes much further.

This means going to the grocery store, a foreign country I rarely visit, much less a Safeway in Kailua-Kona on a street called Henry. What kind of name is that for a street among all of these streets with long vowels and Ks and H’s? It means filling up my grocery cart with basics for the house. We start with Glenfiddich, a small (not large) bottle of Maker’s Mark, a chardonnay or two. Nothing super extravagant.

My team member Barbara Dow implied that Alaskan king crab legs and champagne were not “basics,” but she didn’t realize I also bought sandwich bags. I’m not really sure why I bought sandwich bags. Couple bags of Kona coffee. Paper towels and toilet paper! Still, a bit of sticker shock set in. My basic grocery shopping list for December in Hawaii amounted to $398. That seems high to me, but then I’m comparing it to the days of grocery shopping in 1969 when a full cart meant you spent $25.

Not only do I need to cook for myself now, I also need to clean up after myself. There is no annoying housekeeping knocking on my door. All the clothes that fit in one piece of luggage managed to weigh a few pounds over Hawaiian airlines limit, but they didn’t charge extra. I am not leaving my Dry Bar hair dryer behind. However, it’s also not enough clothing for Hawaii in December, which means I’ll have to venture out into the garage and do laundry.

These activities are time sucks. These added burdens involve setting aside time during the day to specifically deal with taking care of myself, when I’d much rather be focusing on selling Sacramento real estate. Another other creepy thing is the green geckos. They are everywhere. Geckos can also sneak into your washing machine, ishy. I shriek when geckos startle me so I will need to work on that or I’ll be explaining to the police officers my neighbors have called that I am a silly wimp. Wimp or not, at least I’m at our own house to enjoy Hawaii in December.  Same work as Sacramento. Better view.

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