Our trip to Hawaii in the summer has left me with a few pounds I have not been able to shake off. So to that end, I have agreed to follow Deanna's Weight Watchers plan. Before saying a tearful goodbye to my old ways, I had to go out with a bang. I decided it was going to be dim sum, a festival of fried goodness like no other.

Earlier in the week I did up some char siu pork steaks, and saved one for this purpose. I picked up some leup cheung (pronounced "lop chong"), green onion, and shrimp. Out came the big cleaver, and I minced all the stuff up into a nice filling, liberally adding in hoisin sauce, Chinese 5 spice, and a bit of sesame oil.. Some nice round gyoza wrappers and square wonton wrappers completed the ingredients list.

The square wrappers were used to make some nice fried wontons, generously stuffed, unlike the skimpy wontons which are often found in Anchorage. The round wrappers I used to make potstickers, which are certainly available locally in good quantity and quality, but I just like making them myself.

The potstickers, I cooked in a large pan by putting in a dab of sesame oil, frying 'em on both sides, then adding in chicken broth and putting on the lid for 10 minutes. The potstickers got that classic "crunchy but wet" texture, quite nice, if not a bit soggy. Next time I need to watch the pan closer.

The wontons came out fine, receiving a 5-minute bath in the deep fryer with the oil at 340 f.

Although I don't have a photo for 'em, I also fried up some banana, which I did by cutting up two not-quite-ripe bananas, and tossing them in a mix of instant pancake flour, Splenda, and cinnamon. Those also got the 5-minute deep fry.

I lost track of how many plates I had of this dim sum feast. I ate and ate, and ate. Oh, it was so good. So good. Now I have until Sunday before I resign myself to carefully measured portions of pseudo-food. I feel good going out with a bang, though. For sure.

I don't care about Labor Day as a holiday, but today would prove to be a memorable one. Earlier in the week I received my order of two bags of malasada mix from Tex Drive In, located in sleepy little Honoka'a, Hawaii.

I decided to cook up one bag of malasada mix, which proved to be just right for a family breakfast. The instructions were easy enough, and we had a dough hook for our Kitchen-Aid mixer, so things turned out well. I was a bit concerned because the dough never did rise up much like one would expect, but upon cooking, the malasadas blossomed beautifully.

I was a bit concerned about the recommended frying temperature of 300°ree; f., thinking it too low. Turns out the temperature recommendation is right on. Too hot and it won't cook all the way through. I cleaned out the ol' deep fryer and put in fresh corn oil. The malasadas came out just perfect, I'd say.

We ended up with nine malasadas, cooking just 2 or 3 at a time, as this is all that would fit, and when frying one doesn't want to add in too much food at once.

Our daughter Rachel did like the malasadas very much, finding them to be quite like the ones at Tex Drive In, but of course the ones at Tex are impossible to beat. Justin never had a malasada before, but he's definately liking them now. My wife had one and liked it a lot. Me, well, I certainly had a great time making and eating them. I had mine with a cup of French Market coffee with some half-and-half in it, ooh, very tasty. I've seen that in New Orleans, one would get something just like this, coffee and beignets, at the actual French Market. Well, I'm not going there anytime soon, so coffee and Malasadas in Anchorage Alaska will have to do.

Someday I'll get back to see family in Hawaii and make another stop at Tex Drive In at Honoka'a. Until then, though, I can always make some more at home.

From a previous evening: "This is not low-carb. This is not low-sugar. This is the result of a food fantasy. I watched our son eat a chocolate Pop-Tart, a flavor I do not care for. What came in my head, however, is something I must try, I must. An unfulfilled dream if you will."

Well, a day later I decided to act on that fantasy. Behold, I give to you what is probably one of the most profound dessert treats you'll ever make. Very easy to make, and with an addictively indulgent goodness that will have you wanting to eat far more than you should. You could make this for guests, you could sell this out of an ice cream shop and charge big bucks. Have fun with it.

Pop-Tart Ice Cream Sandwich

Start with some Pop-Tarts and some vanilla ice cream. Note that Im using low-carb ice cream, which should neutralize those carbs in the Pop-Tarts. Either that or it won't. Also worth noting, I favor the Brown Sugar & Cinnamon flavor of Pop-Tart.

I start with a square of plastic cling wrap laid out on the counter. On this I place a Pop-Tart. Using a spatula, spread on a nice layer of ice cream. It helps if the ice cream is slightly soft, but not too soft. Note that you do not need to perfectly apply the ice cream, just get it down in a generally even layer. In this picture, the Pop-Tart is face-down. I have tested this both ways, and suggest instead you go with the Pop-Tart face-up. My loving wife was sure it would be best face-up, but it was my duty to try it both ways, you know. In the name of science. It was a sacrifice, especially having to eat both the face-down and face-up versions. We managed to get through it okay, though.

Place the remaining Pop-Tart on top, and wrap the plastic wrap tightly around to seal everything in. You can now gently press down on the top of the Pop-Tart with the palm of your hand to ever so slightly squish it down into the ice cream. It is now a simple task to smooth out the edges through the plastic wrap, giving you an attractive ice cream sandwich.

Here is how the finished treat looks, very tasty, very good. Note that in this shot, you can see how it looks when cut. Cutting the sandwich into nice snack size pieces is easy when the treat is still cold from the freezer. Use caution when using knives, sharp objects, or eating vast quantities of Pop-Tart ice cream sandwiches.

Being an ameteur soda maker, I have occasionally experimented with making ginger-based sodas. Typically, the result has been a brew lacking the intensity that I have desired.

This time, I sought out to brew a batch of raw ginger power, something that would make Red Bull seem for babies. And I succeded. Perhaps too well.

I started by grating up probably a half-pound of ginger, reducing it to a juicy fine pulp, which I put into a half-gallon of filtered water. I added in a half-cup of brown sugar, and a bit of Splenda. Or did I? I don't recall on the Splenda, but I did add in the brown sugar. I do believe I squirted in some vanilla extract.

The brew was very potent, but it wasn't hot. I added in a bunch of chili powder. Now, it is hot. Plenty hot. Fiery hot. After bring the mix to a boil for a bit, I allowed it to cool down to about 110 degrees f.

I mixed up about a teaspoon of champagne yeast with some of the brew, dissolved it, and poured the mixture into the brew. After stirring it up, I bottled up six botles, capping them with red bottlecaps. I figured it was an appropriate color.

Typically a yeast-carbonated soda takes 10 to 14 days to age, at which time it is pleasantly carbonated. In this case, however, in a week the bottles exhibited bulging bottlecaps, an sign of potentially dangerous overcarbonation. Yeast loves sugar, and I had either too much sugar or too much yeast. I would probably cut down on the sugar, reducing it to an eigth-cup. Overcarbonated bottles could burst, not a safe situation.

No better time than tonight to put some in the fridge and have a taste! I put in a bottle for an hour, and proceeded to open it up in the sink. Sure enough, a volcano of foam erupted out of the bottle like a fire extinguisher gone wild. After the bottle spewed it's contents, barely a third or a quarter of it's contents remained.

What remained was pure ginger fire.

The brew was not soda, it was more like burning ginger pulp. Next time I will use my "hop bag" to keep the solids separate from the liquid. I poured the brew through a strainer to get down to the liquid, and it was honestly too much for me to handle. I'll have to try with the other bottles after they get colder.

Next time, reduce the sugar, leave out the chili powder, use the hop bag to keep the yeast pulp out.