Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Lunch break: spam musubi

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I grew up in Hawaii. Spam is a legitimate food item. Don’t go ewww’ing at me. Hey, it’s not like you never eat things I wouldn’t put on my table, let alone in my mouth, so don’t judge me.

You might notice something contradictory in this photo of my lunch just before I wrapped it. I’ve mentioned before that you don’t really need a musubi press to make these. Well, you don’t, and I still wouldn’t buy an overpriced one online. Picking one up at the drugstore in Honolulu for a reasonable price is another matter indeed. As you can see, I did use it this morning. It made things go slightly faster so maybe I will come over to the dark side on this.

I have to say I am amazed at the number of spam musubi how-to pages that exist online, including those with photo or video step-by-steps. Some of them make it sound so complicated that you’d think it takes longer to make than a gourmet meal. But all you really need to say is what Chris Pirillo said.

What? Despite all that, you still want to know how I make mine? I’ll try not to make it sound too complicated:

Rice. I personally don’t care if it’s hot, warm or cold. Maybe you do, and that’s fine. It has to be short-grain calrose rice, cooked so it sticks together. See the overpriced Zojirushi rice cooker in the background? Absolutely the best way to go. Some things are worth their overly high prices.

Spam. This morning I used one of those single serving packages. I usually fry it in soy sauce with a dash of sugar, but I was short on time so I just nuked it with same for half a minute on each side. The single serving slice yields two pieces that fit the musubi mold, and there is a little strip left over for the dogs. Dogs love spam or hot dogs cooked in soy sauce. Trust me on this. I guess you could eat the little strip yourself if you don’t have a dog to help.

Sushi nori. I like mine to cover about one-third to one-half of the musubi, not the whole thing. So that is the width of the strip I tear off.

Put sushi nori on a plate, or if you are packing a lunch, a piece of plastic wrap. Put the musubi mold on top of the nori, towards one end of the strip. Put some rice in and pack it down tight. Lift off the mold, put the spam on top of the rice, and wrap the nori around. Enjoy, or wrap and pack.

You say I am doing that wrong? No, I am just not making it the way you like best. Go make your own!

I am a long-time satisfied user of Hormel’s Spam and Zojirushi’s rice cookers, and I have no connection to either company. Rice cooker and Spam were purchased by my husband and me.

(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 26 of 31)

Miscellaneous (27 of 31/62 of 274)

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It’s the end of a week in which I feel like I haven’t gotten much done. Some of these thoughts need expanding (and some of them will get their own posts in the future), and others are too long even in the short version. Anyway, here goes:

  • Note to self: In the future, don’t let too many versions of an operating system go by before doing an upgrade, budget or not. The Snap Server upgrade has turned into a really nasty project, and could have been prevented by spending around $500 two years ago. I can’t remember what we did spend that $500 on, either.
  • I wonder if an animal communicator would be able to get Axel to say why he hates one of our neighbors so much. Or would he just say the same thing one of my past bosses used to say: You can’t like everyone, there is a certain percent of people who are just idiots that you have to hate and you don’t have to have a real reason.
  • My old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, Freya-chewed corner and all, has moved on to a new owner. My “too old and too slow” is someone else’s “just enough to get by” and that isn’t all bad.
  • I really do wish there was such a thing as a pet fat transmogrifier. Axel could use the pounds that Freya needs to shed, and Annie could use Oliver’s extra pounds as well.
  • In the process of correcting someone for referring to Spam musubi as “Spam sushi” I found myself admitting to having a $200 rice cooker. Well, I do. And the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cookers are just about worth it. The model I have even cooks brown rice properly. Not that I ever eat brown rice; being a third-generation Japanese-American I eat normal (to me) short-grain Calrose rice practically every day. The other issue I have about Spam musubi is that all of the Internet recipes claim that you “need” the musubi press to make them properly. What, these people are too good to use the Spam can or… OMG! their HANDS? Then again, a novice musubi maker is not going to compress the rice properly with only their hands, or worse yet, make round musubi, so maybe it’s better they buy those cute little presses. Round musubi are only for funerals, although I think that might be a regional thing so I might be in the minority at being horrified when anyone makes them for everyday food.
  • I have once again procrastinated on getting all of the tax stuff in to the accountant. I don’t know why I hate doing that task so badly. Perhaps I can get my husband to do it next year. Or more likely, not. We have opposing viewpoints on whether a large refund is good or bad. I absolutely hate to get a refund or pay additional taxes of more than a couple of hundred dollars. To me, that just means poor planning and in the case of a large refund, that someone other than us had the use of our money for the year. Not acceptable. Anyway. Everything will be ready to send in on Monday.
  • Once again, the Rottweiler wrecking crew has gone from insane perpetual motion to adorable sleeping  angels. It’s like they run out of gas all of a sudden around 11 or 11:30pm and flop over to nap right in their tracks.
  • Speaking of flopping over and napping, what a great idea that is! Good night, all!