Strawberry-Honey Glazed SPAM Green Tea Musubi...

Picnic Potluck Over the weekend, we had a picnic potluck to go to at Ala Moana Beach Park. Kelli wanted to make musubi (japanese "rice ball" <-click for Google) for us to bring. I thought it was simple enough, but a bit too simple so I tried to think of a way to make it a little more than just a musubi. This was not easy to do because I don't have a kitchen right now since it's still being renovated. That's why I just thought I'd make the musubi a little more fancy. I had a can of SPAM, Hawaii's favorite meat product, and not much else. I had honey and strawberry jam in the refrigerator. Put it all together and got something a little more fancy than just a plain musubi. I washed 3 cups of white calrose rice. I wanted the rice to have more flavor so I thought of getting an ochazuke <--click flavor into the musubi. Ochazuke is ocha or green tea poured onto steamed rice with some other toppings of your choice. Japanese sometimes have it for breakfast or in the evening... actually anytime. Anyway, having ochazuke at a picnic is not convenient because you don't have boiling water and bowls etc. so I thought I can get some green tea flavor into the musubi by steaming the rice with the ocha (green tea). I steeped 1 pot of ocha and added it to the washed rice in place of water then started the rice cooker. For the SPAM, I made a mixture of honey, strawberry jam and apple cider vinegar. It was about 1 part honey, 1 part jam and 1/2 part vinegar. I stuck it in the mircowave to fuse them together (since I have no stove) and mixed it up. I sliced the SPAM into small slices resembling the slice of sashimi that may be seen on sushi. Then I used the panini grill thing I have to grill the SPAM while basting it in the sauce. After the rice steamed, it was formed into the musubi shapes. I chose to just make them in rounded rectangles like some sushi. Use some salted water to keep your hands moist and rice from sticking to your hands. These are hand shaped. You could also use a plastic form that they sell to make musubi or sushi if you prefer. The salted water also adds flavor to the musubi. Then place 1 SPAM on top of the formed rice ball and cover over the top with a piece of nori, Japanese dried seaweed. Use a dab of water on the ends of the nori to get it moist so it sticks to the rice. Try not to make the whole piece of nori wet and soggy. It tastes and looks best when the nori is crisp. These came out tasting good. If I were to do it again, I would make the ocha flavor a lot stronger. Probably at least double or triple strength of the normal that I made. Of course, if I had more ingredients available or actually went shopping for this, I would have added some other flavors that I love like shiso or ume to it. I'm sure I'm not the first to steam rice using green tea. I am sure there are several Chinese dishes that use tea in their rice. Does anyone have the ratio or method of getting the good ocha flavor into the rice?

Briax soaps from New Zealand...

Briax Soaps... I met a nice and interesting couple from New Zealand at the Outrigger Reef Hotel the other night. They gave me a couple of bars of this Briax soap. 1 bar is labeled with the green sticker as a "work soap" and the 2nd is wrapped in the black labeled "bath soap". They both smell very good and contain special natural items that condition your skin as well as help cleanse it. The Work Soap is pumice based and also has honey, goat's milk and sunflower. It worked really well when I used it to clean up the thin-set from my hands after I worked on my kitchen floor tiles. The Seaweed Bathsoap is a "secret recipe" of seaweed and other natural ingredients. You can see and feel the small particles of seaweed in the bar. Of course, it smells great and it says it also promotes blood circulation and improves skin texture. Briax Industries can be found on the web here <-click. He also races classic cars which is why we got even more involved in conversation. His car racing website is here <-click.

Neiman Marcus Mermaid Bar...

Lunch at the Mermaid Bar... I had a few appointments in the morning through about just after noon. I was hungry for lunch! I called Kelli and we met at the Mermaid Bar, in Neiman Marcus 2nd floor, for a casual lunch. We like going there for their Neiman Marcus Sampler Platter which is a half chicken salad or tuna salad sandwich and the soup of the day for about $10. Occasionally, they have a soup that I don't like (clam chowder or something like that). When that happens I order another menu item. They have a nice selection of salads and sandwiches. The picture is of half the order because I frequently forget to take the picture before we start eating when I am so hungry! My favorite choice is usually the Spa Wrap. It's a turkey, avocado and vinegarette greens wrapped in a tortilla type wrap and it comes with potato chips and sweet corn salsa. I really like this, but I wish I could have it with chicken instead of turkey. The turkey is usually a bit dry, but still tastes good. Kelli had the chicken on focaccia bread. It is good, but the bread can be very filling. That's why I choose the wrap. Usually she doesn't finish her sandwich. I don't order iced coffee here any more because it just doesn't taste good. It's kind of watery and doesn't have a good taste in general. I usually just have water or sometimes I will get an iced tea. The average cost is about $10 per dish and the atmosphere is nice. Neiman Marcus also has a valet parking area and the nicest, cleanest and most comfortable restrooms in the Ala Moana Shopping Center!! =) I wonder what the new Nordstrom's restrooms will be like...?