I love it when readers spontaneously write in to tell me about recipes they love.

Last week, I got an e-mail from Bill Miller, a former Island resident who reads The Advertiser online and who loves to cook and share recipes. He reads my My Island Plate blog and was inspired to write in. (Go to http://myislandplate.honadvblogs.com/ to find my blog, which is refreshed each Monday, Wednesday and Friday; I wrote about midnight food yearnings on Monday and would love to hear your thoughts on what you crave in the night.)

"I truly miss the Islands and the wonderful flavors from mixed cultures. I also miss the aloha from everyone I met. We just don't have that here on the Mainland and it's a shame," he wrote.

In a second e-mail, having read about a recent mango festival here, Miller wrote about how much he missed Hawaiian mangoes, unavailable where he lives in the Midwest. "I remember sitting and eating them with orange from fingers to elbows," he wrote. I remember the same thing, eating the Piries from my godmother's tree in Wailuku, which is still producing.

I think former Islanders miss Hawai'i more than other people miss most areas, especially the food. It's partly that our food is so different from what's available in a large part of the rest of the U.S., partly the warmth of our culture, partly the multicultural mix that is so different from many places, partly the way that we have altered the original recipes of the homelands to create a cuisine that is unique.

I remember the first time I had Portuguese food in British Columbia and later in Providence, R.I., and thought, "What the heck?" It was so different from here. (In fact, it was much more authentic than the Portuguese food we have here, but I didn't know that then.) And Chinese food in England? Don't even go there. It's almost unrecognizable (but I bet it's unrecognizable to Chinese nationals, too).

A big part of my decision to come home after 20 years in Washington state (a truly beautiful place) — I say this as a joke but it really isn't — was a yearning for a plate lunch. When I say that in speeches, what I'm saying is I wanted home food and I wanted not to have recreate it myself all the time. I wanted to be able to drop by Mitsu-Ken or Dean's Drive Inn and get the food that feeds my soul. I wanted to be able to go to Koa Café and have vinha d'ahlos, eggs and rice for breakfast, or to go home to Maui and have the pancakes at Tasty Crust or to Sam Sato's and have dry mein or to go out to Kapolei and have the teri beef (the best!) at Hapa Grill.

But, as usual, I digress.

Bill Miller sent this super-simple lemon cream pie that you might want to try. My husband LOVES lemon anything so I can't wait to try it.

This would be a fun one to do with the kids. It's so easy: all you need is a bowl, a wooden spoon, a can opener and a little time.

FROZEN LEMON PIE