More on Spam and spam

When the call for Spam recipes went out several months before the reunion, I was revulsed. Okay, okay. I know lots of people, I’m even related to lots of people, who like Spam. Clearly, as you can tell, I am not among them. In part, I associate it with my days of poverty, and Scarlet and I “will never be poor again.” So get me on a psych couch and maybe I can deal with it.

But why? Why deal with it? For decades I avoided even thinking about the food Spam when most of my life centered around the e-mail kind. The reunion changed all that.

So when I was having Panda Express’ new “Honey Walnut Shrimp”, I thought, “I can do that with Spam!” When I was searching recipes for ones I could put Spam into instead I considered making “Crunchy Coconut Spam with Maui Mustard Sauce” (do an Internet search substituting “Shrimp” for “Spam”, and you’ll find a tasty dish!). Try “Spam Fingers” in lieu of “Chicken Fingers”. You get the idea.

Since Daddy-Do has no taste buds left at age 91, everything gets covered in hot sauce. So, using Eastern spices was an attempt to catch his tongue, er, eye.

How did Internet spam get called that?

You have to watch this video to get it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE

In 1970, Monty Python’s Flying Circus did a restaurant sketch with a menu that only had SPAM options. When the Vikings broke into song (“SPAM, SPAM, SPAM . . .”) drowning out the conversation, a classic sketch was born. Hormel took it in stride and even supported the stage production of “Spamalot.”

When unsolicited e-mail marketing started up in the late 1970's, someone recalled the spamming done in the restaurant sketch. Some say the term comes from “Sales Promotion and Marketing” not “stupid pointless annoying messages.” Hormel asks that e-mail spam be distinguished from their product by always using a capital s for the food.

On an unrelated note, in honor of National Peanut Butter Day, I tweeted a recipe for a spicy peanut butter sauce over @good2tweat. Here it is in full and in tweat! I’m serving it with my lemongrass chicken in butter crunch lettuce leaves for dinner tonight! Yummy!

Spicy PB Saus: Mix .5c ricewineving/.5c chnkpb/1Tsug/1tminst garl/.5t rdpepflk/2t soysaus/1t hotsaus/2t minstging/2T limejus/.3c chpt pnts

Spicy Peanut Sauce (another version for non-tweeters)

1/2 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup peanut oil

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger
2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice