If there’s one thing that makes this particular venue stand apart from all the others like it, it’s that I have always pushed the idea that food should be fun. Honestly, what’s the point in slaving over a hot stove in a hot kitchen if you aren’t having any fun doing it?  Just once this week, this month or this year, walk into the kitchen and make something that’s just FUN!  It doesn’t have to be good for you, it doesn’t have to be worthy of a setting on the table of a fine dining restaurant, but it should make you smile. That’s what this particular “recipe” is all about.

At moments like these inspiration can, and should, come from anything that puts a smile on your face.  In my case, it was a few minutes wasted on YouTube watching the iconic antics of John Cleese,  Graham Chapman and the rest of the cast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.  In particular, the SPAM skit:

In the end, I settled on using SPAM Egg Sausage and SPAM, because it’s “…Not got much SPAM in it.” (Certainly not as much SPAM as SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM eggs and SPAM.)  Initially I was going to simply serve it up as a breakfast plate, but I had a strong desire for some good rye bread, so the Full Monty Python Sandwich became the result of the evening.

Not healthy.  Not terribly gourmet. possibly enough to make my cardiologist have a few nightmares, but it was fun to make, fun to eat and just the thought of it still has me smiling.

Go ahead.  Have some fun in the kitchen. Even if the results are awful, you’ll be laughing about it and that’s what the entire adventure is about.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Humor, Sausage, spam

There are certain recipes you know you just have to try the very first time you hear of them.  You know the ones, don’t you?  It’s that certain something that sticks in your memory once you’ve seen or heard of it.  It won’t leave you alone until you can recreate it or find somewhere that sells it so that you can see what all the hype was about.  You do have those days, don’t you? Don’t You?

For me, Spam Musubi was one of those recipes. Ever since I saw it on some TV show I was watching, I’ve longed to try it for myself, but have put it off.  Then I saw Anthony Bourdain sing it’s praises on an episode of No Reservations and I wanted it even more, but I resisted.  It was my next-door neighbor’s Hawaiian best friend that finally talked me into tying it, and I’ve never been more glad that I set out to make something in my life.

Most American’s regard Spam with the same sort of distaste that is reserved for things such as offal, but the Hawaiians not only love the stuff, they’ve elevated it to a new level.  Spam Musubi has all the subtle flavor combinations you would expect from an Asian dish, but uses the most humble ingredients.  In one bite you’ve go sweet, sour, savory, salty and starchy, all in different intensities with each bite.

You gotta try this!

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hawaiian, Misubi, Musubi, Nori, Recipes, rice, Seaweed, soy, soyu, spam