Returning from a holiday can often be a hard landing, but with some effort you can retain some of the relaxed, clear calm that you experienced in a faraway place and rekindle that same moment in small ways. Holding on to the calm and uncluttered island life for a few extra days is my wish…

After a recent stay on Kauai, we had a craving for some of the island foods that are so easy to make a habit there, poke and kalua pulled pork, great fresh fruit and a tolerance if not actual fondness for little umbrellas in your drink! Luckily, in San Jose’s Japantown, we have Hukilau, a little touch of Honolulu that is welcoming every time – I wonder why I don’t go more often. The food is something that takes me right back to the wind in the palms and the tiki torch evenings. Besides authentic tastes, they make a lychee martini that I could get entirely too used to.

Often I just cannot understand what gets called a martini, and I generally don’t like sweet drinks. But after some approximation at home I think we figured it out – starting with a small can of lychee in syrup, matching the volume with a good quality vodka and letting it infuse overnight, we could then shake with ice, and drop a lychee in each drink. The first batch seemed a bit overpowering (for sweetness but more so for strength), so we did a second batch and diluted the syrup (1 part water to 1 part syrup to 1 part vodka, then add fruit back in and stash in the fridge til the next day). Voila! Now if only our California version of a lanai wasn’t in the 50’s and windy!

all credit goes to my personal mixologist…