Newsletter Archive - April 2011

Spring is officially here and we have many fun and exciting things to share! We have searched for some new styles and designs so that we would have a greater selection of clothing and products. We will continue to add exciting new designs, colors, styles and products (some which may have been hard to find) so our selection will grow. Mahalo!

In this Issue

What's New
Contest - Name That Shirt
Coupon of the Month
New Products
Feature Story - Pidgin English in Hawaii
Fun Food Bites - Recipes using Kilauea Fire BBQ Sauce
Relaxing Beach Video of the Month

What's New

New Products - Ukuleles

We are happy to annouce that we are teaming up with The Ukebox to offer you ukuleles, free video lessons and more! Learn about ukuleles and how to play from real professionals. Together our goal is to bring you the best ukulele experience possible

New Products from the Hawaiian Chip Company

Like snacking? Try some taro and sweet potato chips in various flavors made right here in Hawaii. And for you grillers out there, add a little tropical zip to your dishes with the Kilauea Fire BBQ Sauce.

New Products - Board Shorts

With summer around the corner, beach parties, pool parties, any kind of outdoor party is probably on the list of stuff to do. With that in mind, we just added some women's board shorts with matching tops and men's board shorts and swim trunks.

Contest - Name That Shirt

Help us name one of our new men's Hawaiian shirts by playing our Name That Shirt Contest! To enter to play, simply tweet your name suggestion to @alohafunwear #namethatshirt or post it on our Facebook page. Our staff will be looking for creative or funny names and will announce the winner on our contest page on Friday, April 8. The winner wins a free iPod Shuffle and this shirt.

Coupon of the Month

Save 20% off your next order (excluding ukuleles) with our coupon of the month. Simply enter the coupon code shaka in the coupon field when you check out. This offer expires Sunday, April 10, 2011.

Fun Feature: Pidgin English in Hawaii

Pidgin English is what we essentially classify as broken English or a mixture of English and Hawaiian words, but also have an infusion of Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean influences and to a lesser degree, Spanish, Mexican and Puerto Rican. It is used mostly by local residents of Hawaii and will vary between the different cultures. During the plantation days in Hawaii, the plantation workers may have been instructed “You go hoe-hana today”. “Hana” basically means to work, so this would have meant that the workers were to prepare fields for planting using hoes.

Pidgin English is a dialect of American English unique to Hawaii, just as creole is unique to Louisiana, and Boston and Jersey accents are unique to their areas. As for the role that pidgin plays in Hawaii’s culture, it one of the defining features of “local” culture. Many times you’ll hear “t” or “d” substituted for “th.” And at times words will not be enunciated very well. An example of this would be, “The wada stay over dere...” to be translated to “The water is over there.”And sometimes letters may be dropped as with the word “for.” “Fo” will be used and the “r” will not be heard. “What you use dis fo?” translates to “What do you use this for?”.

Here’s a story contributed by a friend who studied ethnic studies here in Hawaii: “Funny story is that when my parents were living in Japan, we were looking for this farm that allowed you to pick oranges off the tree. We didn’t realize that the orange season was over until we met this old Japanese lady and she said something in Japanese, and then we heard her say “all pau”. When we heard her say that we knew she must have some tie to Hawaii. It turns out she had lived in Hawaii with her husband during the plantation days (she may have been a picture bride) but had moved back to Japan. My mom even went to meet her daughter when we moved to Hawaii. So anyway, pidgin is definitely a way to identify people with Hawaii ties.”

It’s a unique language and sometimes takes a lot of getting used to. If it is used heavily even some of us locals have a difficult time understanding what is being said.... “But das ok – we all get aloha fo each ud-da…” (translated: That’s ok, we all have aloha for each other).

Fun Food Bites

Two "Ono" (delicious) recipes using Kilauea Fire BBQ Sauce by The Hawaiian Chip Company
shared by Scotty808 (Twitter name)

Kalua Pork (Pig)
Simple & Tasty with the Kilauea BBQ Sauce-Hot Style
(from Hawaiian Chip Company)
1 (6 pound) pork butt roast
1-1/2 tablespoon Hawaiian sea salt
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring

Directions: Pierce pork all over with a carving fork. Rub salt then liquid smoke all over meat. Place in slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 16 to 20 hours. Turn once during cooking time. Remove meat from slow cooker, shred and add drippings as needed to moisten meat.

Serve on a bun, with salads (shown here with a light cold and refreshing cucumber salad) and pour Kilauea Fire Hawaiian Style BBQ sauce (this stuff is hot!) - This sauce is infused with habanero peppers! A sweet and spicy taste!

Barbeque Ribs with Kilauea Fire BBQ Sauce

Prepare ribs as you would normally with any seasonings - bake, grill, or cook on stove. Top off with Kilauea Fire Hawaii Style BBQ Sauce --- undescribable flavor.

Relaxing Beach Video

Halona Blow Hole is a very popular visitor attraction on Oahu. When waves crash into the rocks under the right conditions, the waves trap and compress air in a rock cavern and blasts air spray out through a hole in the rocks like a whale spout. Another bonus of Blow Hole is that it is situated right next to Halona Cove, the beach featured in the iconic scene in "From Here to Eternity". So if you ever visit Hawaii, be sure to check out Blow Hole. And if you can't, here's a video to take you there, virtually.