Rough draft essay: Laulau

Arriving at my grandma’s house all the way in Makakilo and first thing in mind: BIG DAY TODAY because me and my family always come early so we can set up for the Thanksgiving party which always happens every year and year its almost the same: Place is filled beyond the person limit, kids screaming and running around like trolls with stains on their shirts, aunties and uncle sharing stories, and drinking and etc. etc. But the one thing that’s always there is my aunties specially made Laulau that she brings homemade from the other side of the island!!

Well the one reason my auntie would always bring Laulau on special occasions like these is that it brings the whole family together and by whole family, I mean whole family from all over the place because usually we never get to see each other and at this time of the year it’s the only time we’ll ever get to see each other. Laulau is the one thing that’s always there at special occasions like these and it all started in the 80’s.

She moved to sunset in around 94’ and that’s when she pretty much started to make Laulau for the family. She didn’t really have anyone to help her with the Laulau so she had to experiment with what she had in the back yard and a bucket. She said she had made about 50 pieces in the small 25 gallon bucket and as she got better, she got bigger buckets so she make more for the family to compliment the feast. Although now, she’s able to bring coolers of Laulau for the family and I ask “Hey aunty, how do you make so much Laulau?”  and she replies “Well obviously you can tell I didn’t do all this by myself HAHAHA! Well I have help from your uncles and aunties that always come over to help me!”

When my aunty makes the Laulau, she needs a lot of supplies and people. So first, she orders a week early before Thanksgiving and has to take work off so she can have time to make enough for her relatives. She said buying all the supplies is really expensive until they had a friend “Deo” all the way up in Aiea that grew everything that they needed and she said that it was better and saved a lot of money. She also calls in for support from her family members, mostly the older ones because she says they have most of the experience and it brings the family together like I said before. After filling all the buckets with all the ingredients specially grown and non-processed, they steam it for 3 hours of hot “MADNESS” as she says. As they wait, they have a break and have refreshments that my auntie bought from the store and all the other guys drink with my uncle Allen. After every things done, they rap it up and stack them up in coolers and then an hour drive from Sunset all the way to Makakilo.

                It was always about bringing the family together from start to finish. Meeting your old relatives, making new friends or even meeting new relatives you’ve never known before, the dish always brang the family together because rarely see each other .