Liliko’i Cardamom ‘Ice Cream’ (or, tips for traveling with kids)

Tip #1: Do less.

Before Baby J was born, Peter and I traveled like each trip was our last. Local sights were to be conquered. Strange foods were to be devoured. Success of a trip was measured by the level of exhaustion at the end (or the number of scuba tanks we emptied). We’ve been to five continents and countless countries, and at no point was I like, “Hey, you know what would be really nice? What if we sat in our hotel room for at least three hours a day, every day, to simulate traveling with an infant on a solid two-nap schedule?”

(… okay, I could count the number of countries we’ve been to, but … meh. I don’t want to. Baby exhaustion, remember?)

Then, we made a person. A person with needs, like food and sleep and someone to make sure his backside is diaper-fresh. Trips would no longer consist of travel-by-camel through the Sahara or hang gliding between the Southern Alps of New Zealand. I mean, I can change a diaper in, like, five seconds, but on the back of a camel? Might get messy.

So, this past July, we decided to try Hawai’i.

The trip was a definite change of pace for me. Less exploring. Less activity. Less “accomplished.” And you know what? It was more than awesome.

Plus, now I get to incorporate the experience into this month’s Recipe Redux:

Start unpacking your favorite vacation memories. Think about a trip you took state-side or internationally and create a healthy recipe from an unforgettable meal you enjoyed. Or, create a recipe from a native ingredient you saw or tasted on your travels.

Remember when I waxed poetic about passion fruit in this 2010 post? (Also, we looked ridiculously young back then.)

Additionally known as liliko’i, passion fruit is a favorite treat on Hawai’i, found in everything from margaritas to desserts to savory dishes. It’s one of my longtime favorites. If you recall, we even grew these tart fruits for a while. While on Hawai’i, I enjoyed these fruits in every form imaginable. Even Baby J tried them (and immediately hated me afterward).

Tip #2: Do more.

Something wonderful happens after you have a mini-person. No, not the all night milk parties or the discovery that an outfit for a nine-month old can cost twice as much as one for an actual, you know, adult, yet use ten square inches of fabric. I’m talking about renewed perspectives.

I’m not a huge fan of plane rides, but I do like kicking back with a book for some enforced relaxation. I’m pretty introverted, so I tend to prefer reading to chats with strangers. (Yes, I’m one of those people deliberately avoiding your line of sight.)

Well, Baby J was having none of that. After 30 minutes of sleeping and 30 minutes of anger at having been woken up by the plane announcement system (fortunate, otherwise we’d never have known when the beverage service started), he insisted on being walked around the plane for the next three hours.

The funny thing about walking around a plane for three hours is that it’s impossible to avoid everyone’s eye. There’s something about a cute infant that invites smiles and comments. We met all sorts of interesting people: vacationers, people flying home, even a sweet little girl was all grins despite having just spit-up over her front. Before Baby J, I never would have met so many people at once.

We also drank POG (passion fruit-orange-guava) juice on the plane (thanks, beverage service!), so there’s that passion fruit again.

Tip #3: You will be embarrassed more times than you can count, leading to thicker skin, relaxed expectations, and a useful ability to find amusement in situations previously guaranteed to elicit hyperventilation. Get used to it.

(What? You expected my last tip to be two words long? Pshaw. This, from the dietitian who uses so many P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S.’s at the end of posts, people move out of spit range to avoid being hit. Not that I’m exaggerating or anything.)

On the island hopper from Honolulu to Kona (and I swear, our trip was more than the plane flight), Baby J was in the midst of something I can only describe as sleep-deprived hysteria. Every time anyone looked at him, he would break into the loudest, most piercing peal of laughter that people in an enclosed metal tube had ever heard. When the person whose eye he had caught looked away, he would wait for him or her to look at him again, then break out into ever higher hysterics.

Pre-baby, I would have turned red in embarrassment from so much disruption. Post-baby, I’m like NBD. Besides, baby laughter is slightly less disruptive than baby-screaming-bloody-murder. At least, that’s what I told myself.

Plus, upon arrival, I enjoyed a liliko’i margarita, and for some reason that delicious drink made the whole experience a lot less embarrassing.

This post was my very roundabout way to get to the liliko’i recipe. I wanted something simple and cool for our 100 degree F temps, as well as something I could share with Baby J (and Peter, if he behaved). We have frozen liliko’i puree from Restaurant Depot, so I decided to make a three-ingredient liliko’i cardamom ‘ice cream.’ I meant to take a picture of the bag, but by the time I got to it, Peter had already eviscerated it with one of his extra-large kitchen knives.

So … sorry about that.

This recipe is incredibly easy and has a bit of kick from the ground cardamom. (Bonus: Baby J loved it!) You can whip this up on a hot summer’s day and dream of tropical winds and hysterical baby laughter. I know I will.

Go tropical with passionfruit cardamom ice cream (& get tips for travel with kids) #thereciperedux #travelwithkids Click To Tweet

P.S. Only one postscript this time. Check out the other Recipe Redux posts here!