Showing posts with label Boyfriend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boyfriend. Show all posts

2.03.2014

033 Lazy Spam, Egg, and Avocado Musubi

My boyfriend offered to cook dinner last weekend, which is a rare occurrence so I didn't protest one bit. Hoho.

Proof that I get help around the kitchen once in a while.

I offered to help out so I could document how he makes one of my all-time favorite recipes - Spam, egg, and avocado musubi. Clint fervently believes that musubi is a Japanese dish, though I've only ever seen it billed as a Hawaiian treat. That being said, a lot of Hawaiian dishes are influenced by Japanese and a number of other Asian cuisines, so there's no way for me to prove him wrong. :) All you have to know about this post is that this meal is delicious, filling, easy, and cheap.

Also - I call this dish "lazy" because most musubi looks like this...

Photo credit to Heo Yeah Yum.

...and Clint and I are far too lazy to create beauty such as that.


So here are the ingredients you need. The bottle on the left contains furikake, which is a Japanese condiment made of a mixture of sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and sometimes dried and ground fish (depending on which type you buy). You will probably have to go to an Asian/Oriental store to find this little guy. I use furikake so that I don't have to make sushi rice (lol told you I'm lazy). In my opinion, furikake makes "regular" rice taste pretty similar to sushi rice (which is made with rice, rice vinegar, sugar and salt).


The first thing you need to do is prepare the rice. I usually wash it at least once or twice before popping it into a rice cooker (staple of any Asian household) and adding water. In the rice pot that goes into the rice cooker, there are usually markers indicating the appropriate water level for the amount of rice you plan on cooking. For example, fill the pot with water up to the line that says "1" if you're cooking 1 cup of uncooked rice, "2" if you're cooking 2 cups of uncooked rice, etc.

I don't always use this particular method, though I've never had a problem with it when I have. The Asian pro-tip that I usually default to (taught by my mom) is to place your hand flat on the rice, and then fill the pot with water up to your 2nd knuckle. It's usually a little more than what the marker states, giving you slightly fluffier, stickier rice, which I enjoy. This is a personal preference, so adjust as needed! 

Legit.

Place the rice pot into the cooker, press the Cook button, and you should be good to go. Most rice cookers have a "Keep Warm" function that will keep your rice nice and hot once it's done cooking. If you're not sure about what brand to buy, my family is pretty loyal to Zojirushi rice cookers. You can find this brand at almost any Asian/Oriental store or on Amazon. You really don't need to get the complicated rice cookers unless you plan on cooking more than rice in them.

Sha-bam!

The next step is to prepare the Spam. Cut it into bite-sized pieces and fry over medium heat. You can add some olive oil to grease the pan, but I find that Spam cooks just fine without it. 

Best smell in the world...which probably speaks volumes about my palate. :(

While the Spam is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and soft-boil your egg. Remove whenever it has reached the level of done-ness you like. I like my yolk runny, so 4-5 minutes is usually perfect for me.

Starting to come together...

Take the Spam off the heat once it is finished frying and let cool - it should be slightly crunchy on the outside. Then, prepare the avocado by pitting and cutting it into bite-sized cubes/strips.

Healthy deliciousness.

Your last step is to assemble this wonderful dish. Get a scoop of rice, add the Spam and avocado, and break the egg on top. Sprinkled with furikake for taste for an amalgamation of AMAZING.

Yummmmmm.

Yield: 3 bowls 
Nutrition: 539 calories/bowl

Ingredients:

    1 cup uncooked short-grain rice
    1/4 tbsp olive oil
    1/2 can Spam, cut into bite-sized pieces
    1 avocado, pitted and cut into bite-sized pieces
    2 eggs
    Furikake, for seasoning
        
Instructions:
  1. Rinse rice and prepare in rice cooker (or other preferred methods) as per directions. 
  2. Heat olive oil in a small frying pan on medium heat, and fry Spam for about 5 minutes until crispy on the outside. 
  3. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and carefully add egg. Allow the egg to cook for about 4 minutes, if you like your yolks runny - adjust as necessary. Remove eggshell when done.
  4. Pit and slice the avocado. 
  5. Begin assembling the meal. Get a scoop of rice, add the Spam and avocado, and break the egg on top. Sprinkle with furikake for taste.
  6. Serve immediately. 
  7. Enjoy! :)
Nutritional Information from MyFitnessPal:


7.22.2011

027 Turning Japanese + Enkai

Spent most of Wednesday at home, until Clint came home after work around 4. We headed to Elm to meet up with one of the school's nurses/teachers, Suwa sensei, to pick up a yukata for Clint! Yay. Once we found her, we headed straight to the kimono/yukata shop, and got to the work. The shop attendants were super excited at the prospect of dressing up a white person, so it was a lot of fun. The attendants picked out a few patterns for us to choose from, and we had fun playing dress up. Putting on a yukata is a lot of work, hokay?



Learning how to tie an obi. You can bet your
bottom dollar we've already forgotten.

Ta-daaaa!

The teachers at Clint's school all donated some money to help get Clint a farewell gift, which was really awesome. So, not only did Clint get a badass yukata, he also received a jinbei with matching shoes, and a nice fan. 

Boom. My boyfriend is spoiled!

Went for dinner at Kappa Zushi after we finished shopping - our diet is so varied, no? Headed home later and watched endless episodes Star Trek. STORY OF MY LIFE. Thursday was Clint's last day at work, so as usual, I spent most of the day at home watching TV and Redditing. That being said, Clint and I discovered some buttons on his TV remote that have unlocked at least 40 new channels...even channels in ENGLISH, so I've been watching a lot of that. I think they're cable TV channels...? The only catch is that they have this obnoxious signage that takes up about 30% of the screen telling us that we need to subscribe to get rid of it. Herpderp.

Magical buttons! 

Clint got home after school, and we headed back to the middle school to meet up with one of his colleagues as she would be taking us to Clint's enkai/farewell party. The original plan was for us to drive to the bar
in Hirosaki, but that would mean Clint wouldn't be able to drink a lot, which was NOT ACCEPTABLE. So we got chauffeurs instead. Boss. Got to the bar after a somewhat awkward 40 minute drive, and it was really nice. We got there right at 6, so people were just getting in.

The personalized menu!

Salad - this was SO GOOD holy goddd.

Oh, just some sashimi as an appetizer, no big deal.

Fish...stuff? Idk. It was good.

Egg + eel, seaweed, and green beans covered in WEIRD STUFF.
Do not want.

Us! :D

Got some beer. Nomz.

So part of Japanese culture requires people to NOT start eating until the person of the highest rank at the party starts, which meant that we couldn't start nomming until the principal got there...30 minutes later. It was horrible with all the food on the table and I was starving. He finally got there at around 6:30, and lucky for him, he's an adorable old man.

Yakitori. Score.

Trying to decipher this, we got: bamboo bird thing language.

Some famous Tsugaru dishes...yeah. Did not try them. 

Clint had to give a farewell speech near the end...


And then there was more food, ahmahgah.

Yakisoba!

Fried rice.

Too much sake!

Soba!

Mochi and cake! 

Clint ended up drinking my beer. I was trying to get him drunk.
No luck.

People hanging out.

Dessert was ice cream. Yaaayy.

 We finally left at around 9:00pm and got home and went to bed! 

7.19.2011

026 Karaoke + Sushi + Star Trek

Monday was a holiday here in Japan, Marine Day, which meant that Clint got the day off work and we lazed around the house doing nothing of actual value. But that's what holidays are for, amirite? There is a sumo competition going on in Nagoya right now - it started on the 10th, and will last till the 24th - and the two of us now greatly enjoy watching the coverage, trying to figure out who's who and what the traditions/rituals are. There have been quite a number of wrestlers from Aomori, so we've been cheering them on (though they keep losing, wtf), and surprisingly, there have been a number of foreign sumo wrestlers that have been holding their own. If I'm not mistaken, currently the highest ranked yokozuna is Mongolian. Go figure.

After indulging in an afternoon of sumo, we remembered that we had a karaoke date in Tsugaru with some of Clint's students from Tsuruta's eikaiwa or English class. I was convinced that it would be super awkward, seeing as I only knew Clint and had no idea who else would be there, but it turned out pretty okay, no lie. I was hungry, but Clint promised food post-singing so I tagged along for the awkwardness-extraordinaire. Turned out I was half right - the start of the night didn't look too promising, but everyone warmed up to each other soon enough, and I think we all actually had a lot of fun. Attendees of the night were Clint and I, Emma, Michael Eastwood (a JET in Tsugaru), Shoko and Junichi Igarashi and Shoko's friends, Tomoho and Mayumi from eikaiwa

The lot of us sang English and Japanese tunes (LOL I DIDN'T SING ANY JAPANESE) and it was pretty fun. Karaoke culture in Japan is way different than karaoke culture in America/China. People here actually try to sing solo while everyone else just claps/plays tambourines to the beat (yes - they provide tambourines) so there were a lot more ballads as compared to the group-friendly songs you normally hear back home. Twas interesting. 

And of course, there was FOOD.

We finished up FOUR AND A HALF HOURS later, wtf, at around 11pm that night. Out of control. I know it doesn't seem like a lot of time, but if you divide that by eight people, that is a lot of singing. A lot a lot. 

Clint, me, Tomoho, Michael, Mayumi, Junichi, Shoko, Emma

Clint and I grabbed a late dinner at Mos Burger and headed home to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. HAHAHAHA. Yes. More on that later.

Clint had to go back to work yesterday, sad times. So as per usual, I watched TV, stayed on Reddit, and napped caught up on some reading. Yeah. That. I decided yesterday that I'm going to work on being healthier hurr durr - we'll see how long that lasts - so I ate healthy all day! The goal for now is to cut carbs and up protein intake, which means no more/only a little bread, which actually makes me sad inside. :( Fingers crossed on seeing this through for longer than like, two days! 

After Clint got back, we watched more sumo and cheered on one of our friends' cousin, Hochiyama, who is from Aomori. I can't believe I can say this but I KIND OF KNOW A GUY WHO DOES SUMO PROFESSIONALLY SORT OF A LITTLE I KNOW HIS COUSIN SO THAT COUNTS RIGHT? Yeah. He's a boss. 

We ended up cycling to Kappa Zushi (trying to be healthy!), which literally is my favorite place in all of Japan because of 100 yen conveyor belt sushi OH MY GAWD. Ate our fill there, and bought some groceries before heading home. Mind you - it's two miles one way, so I cycled four miles yesterday! A+ for effort lol. 

At least it's pretty here.

Cycled to a nearby Lawson which is a convenience store after we got home, which is like a 7-11 but less trashy and without Slurpees, to pay bills. Yes - such glorious things do happen in this country. Got home and watched more Star Trek...sad to say I was actually excited at the prospect. Not sure if the boyfriend is turning me into a sci-fi fan (the horror!) or if I just miss watching TV in English. 

Headed to bed after an episode, and I've basically watched Star Trek all day today. Awww yeeeaaaahhhhh.