April and Randy dot com

spam

Originally uploaded by designdept.

I admit it: I love SPAM (the canned meat, not the unwanted e-mails). I grew up having slices of it fried up for breakfast, served with steamed rice. I believe my parents started to eat SPAM while my father was stationed in Hawaii; this is not surprising as reportedly, Hawaiians eat 5 million pounds of SPAM each year, approximately 4 1/2 pounds of SPAM for every man, woman and child in the Aloha State. (Boy, and I thought I liked it!).

On our last trip to Hawaii, I discovered SPAM Musubi which is basically a slice of SPAM on a bed of sushi rice wraped with a ribbon of seaweed. We even purchased a little plexiglass mold so we could make them when we returned to the mainland. It’s a great little snack, perfect for breakfast-on-the-go and seemingly somewhat healthy, or at least better for me than Tastykakes.

Perhaps one day, I will make a pilgrimage to the SPAM Museum in Austin, MN or possibly enter the National “Best SPAM Recipe” Competition. Even better, I could just return to Hawaii where McDonald’s serves SPAM with Portuguese sausage and rice and more recently in SPAM McGriddles.

In the meantime, don’t be surprised if you see me sitting on our patio with a glass of sweet tea in one hand and SPAM Musubi in the other. It’s the perfect marriage of where I live (Kentucky) and where I’m from (the Pacific Islands) in one little snack. How lovely.