“Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.”
This room is chilly. It still holds the cold from last night, and the sun won’t be here until late afternoon. Most mornings I love sitting here, but not this morning. I need sun and warmth and maybe even some socks.
My birthday was wonderful. It was a two-day gala. The culminating event was going out for the birthday dinner last night. My friend and I celebrate each other’s birthdays that way. We decided a long time ago we didn’t need more things, but we need time together as we don’t see each other as often as we did. Usually it doesn’t happen on the exact day but it always happens. The timing isn’t important. It’s dinner with a friend that counts.
Today is Gracie’s favorite day, dump day. It’s also laundry day. They are both quite a comedown from all the festivities of the weekend. My tenure as queen was short-lived.
I don’t know if Hormel is offended or pleased that the mailbox for useless, unwanted e-mail is called spam. For me the word always brings to mind Monty Python’s Spam sketch and the Vikings singing. It also brings to mind my father. He loved Spam. He first ate it during World War II and all his life after that. Mostly he’d put it in sandwiches but sometimes he’d fry with his eggs. My sister became a Spam fan. She even has a pair of tiny Spam can earrings. The gelatinous goop, aspic I guess, makes the newly opened Spam sort of gross looking. Its pedigree is sometimes in question. My favorite Spam story is when my sister was invited to her in-laws for dinner. Her mother-in-law said they were having a pork roast. A square of Spam dotted with cloves, decoratively applied, arrived on a small platter and with a flourish was placed in the middle of the table. That is about as exalted as Spam will ever get. My sister managed not to laugh or gag and did eat some of that pork roast. I don’t think I’ve ever bought Spam though I am impressed at how many different flavors there are now. There is even a Spam spread should you need an extra appetizer. Most impressive is that Spam can last for years. I’m thinking a Spam jalapeño sandwich with melted Velveeta cheese. If you aren’t hungry for it now, just wait a few years. It will still be good.
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August 18, 2014 at 2:04 pm
you can purchase spam swag at the spam museum….they even have sweatpants…at least SPAM is written down the leg instead of
across the butt…some things you just can’t unsee.
August 18, 2014 at 4:34 pm
greg,
I saw it in my mind’s eye, and it wasn’t pretty. Of course, there has to be a Spam museum. That is a product which needs to be immortalized!
August 18, 2014 at 2:34 pm
We have spam over here too but call it pressed ham and I have never seen it in more falovrs than the one we’ve always have had. It’s usually from Poland too 🙂 I do like it 🙂
I laughed out loud when I read about that pork roast 🙂 it was at least well docorated 🙂 and I too start thinking aboutr Monty Python 🙂 One of the best they’ve done 🙂
Sorry about giving You another name than the one You have 🙂 I had justanswered Caryn so I guess I thought I could use that name one more time 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
August 18, 2014 at 4:40 pm
Hi Christer,
This brand is from the US. It is a sort of ham as well. The state which eats the most of all the states is Hawaii which I find amazing.
My sister was totally shocked that she called that lump of meat a pork roast,
That’s okay-I just wanted you to low it was me.
Have a great evening!
August 18, 2014 at 3:17 pm
Only 364 days until you are a birthday queen again. Christmas angel isn’t bad either. To be a Thanksgiving turkey is probably not an desirable option if you are not a depressive bird.
I love spam (Monty Python), don’t miss spam (meat) and hardly get spam (main email account).
August 18, 2014 at 4:46 pm
Birgit,
Clever that last paragraph of yours!
I definitely think I could be the Christmas angel. I’ll start the campaign!
August 18, 2014 at 7:18 pm
Hi Kat,
I used to like fried Spam with eggs. It was sort of like fried bologna paté. Salty and greasy and not much else. Studded with cloves it might be almost food but I have difficulty imagining how that would taste. 😛 How many people was she feeding with that square of “pork roast”.
My Spam boxes are automatic. Crap just goes there and I don’t know how it decides what is and what isn’t. Some of it I have designated but most of it ends up over there on it’s own. The wonders of technology.
Today was cool in the house but warm in the sun. The dogs and I have been out three times already. Piki Dog has tummy trouble as a result of eating bunny poo and about 1/2 cup of sour cream, jalapeño dip. He is on a rice diet now.
Enjoy the evening.
August 18, 2014 at 8:15 pm
Hi Caryn,
She was feeding 4 people with her pork roast. That was many years ago, and I still remember. It is ones of those strange stories which sticks in your head.
Mine is the same way-it is 95% of the time right about spam. I don’t know how my computer knows-it just does.
Piki Dog is eating quite the varied diet. I am amazed PD eats jalapeño dip.
Gracie will trash pick every now and then, and she’ll have stomach problems. I can hear it gurgling, and I know. We go to the front garden and she eats the ornament grass which clears up her stomach problems.
Have a great night!
August 19, 2014 at 8:25 am
Piki Dog is a Texas dog. No doubt jalapeños were a staple. He is probably not used to the species of bunny poop we have here. 🙂
August 19, 2014 at 12:03 pm
Of course it would be the bunny!
August 18, 2014 at 9:12 pm
Your birthday should always be celebrated with friends and loved ones. You won’t really be the winner if you die with the most toys but with the most friends. Just don’t tell Paul Allen because he has an incredible collection of toys including a private Boeing 757 and a 414 foot super yacht “Octopus” which has an aft helicopter hanger and pad.
I never had Spam until my parents sent me to a summer camp one year. They served it grilled for lunch and it was good but I have never had the urge to buy the stuff myself. Soldiers called it “ham that didn’t pass its physical” and “meatloaf without basic training”. Our troops left a culinary legacy in the South Pacific after WWII that persists today.
August 18, 2014 at 9:24 pm
Bob,
I was lucky I got to spend two evenings with different friends to celebrate my birthday. I would like a bit more money but not to buy things but rather to travel. A private plane would be nice. I always say I’m going to win the lottery but then I’d have to start buying lottery tickets but I just can’t fork over the money for such a long shot.
I had it fried as well, and it tasted pretty good, but, like you, I haven’t had the urge to buy it. I did buy my sister a Spam can bank one year for her stocking, and she loved it. I also found a magnet of Bigfoot carrying a can of Spam. Pretty funny looking.
My dad first ate it in the navy. I guess its longevity made it a war time staple. I don’t know what it became so popular in Hawaii.
August 18, 2014 at 11:24 pm
Spam became popular in the Hawaii and the South Pacific because of the GIs and Sailors who brought Spam to them during the war. Spam travels really well because its vacuum packed.
I don’t buy lottery tickets because winning is the world’s longest long shot. Your chances of being struck by lighting twice are better. However, someone is going to win.
August 19, 2014 at 12:15 pm
Bob,
I knew about Spam and the Islands. What I wondered was how they can think Spam is so tasty.
August 18, 2014 at 11:44 pm
No SPAM or Spam, just a belated Happy Birthday, Kat! Jeez, I forget to surf Coffee for two days and what do I miss? Bummer. Oh Lord, another Leo? (I’m an 8/14 Leo). The world can’t get enough of us (argh…)
I too had a multi-day celebration, dinner with an old (50-year) friend on my real birthday Thursday; golf, pizza, wings and beer with newer but just as dear friends two days after. Glorious! A movable feast, as birthdays should be.
August 19, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Jay,
Thanks for the birthday wishes. Late doesn’t even matter! I find the Earth would be far less interesting without us Leo’s.
I’m with you on birthdays being moveable feasts. I had one on Saturday and another on my actual birthday. I always say that we all share holidays like Christmas but a birthday is just for us and should be celebrated with firecrackers and balloons.
Happy Belated Birthday to you, Jay!!