Rat thoughts

Rolling up sheets of nori or shaping lumps of rice in your bare hands a bit too messy or time-consuming?  But you still want some sushi?  Try chirashizushi, "scattered sushi".  This recipe tastes just as good, but can be made in a fraction of the time.  You can also use short-grain brown rice in this recipe, or any other variety of rice for that matter, though it won't taste as authentic.


Prepare 2 cups white sushi rice (also called glutenous rice or sticky rice) according to directions.  When it's finished, mix together 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons salt, then mix this into the rice.  Let the rice sit for a while to let the vinegar smell dissipate some.

Then mix into the rice toasted sesame seeds and crumbled up nori sheets, then add anything else you want in your sushi, such as sliced avocado, carrot and/or cucumber, tofu, fish (raw or cooked), roe, krab, shrimp, beef or chicken.

You can just mix everything together, or for presentation, artfully arrange the ingredients on top of the rice.  Serve with soy sauce, wasabi (optional) and gari (pickled ginger, optional)

As awful as it sounds, this stuff is fantastic!  Salty, sweet and meaty.


Slice Spam into sushi-sized squares.

In a bowl, mix together equal amounts of soy sauce and brown sugar, then add minced garlic.  Marinate the Spam for at least 30 minutes. 

Prepare 2 cups of white sushi rice (also called glutenous rice or sticky rice) according to directions.  When it's finished, mix together 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons salt, then mix this into the rice.  Stir the rice frequently until it is cool enough to handle.

Remove the Spam pieces from the marinade and pat dry.  Fry the Spam in olive oil until browned on both sides.  Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Cut a sheet of nori into 1/2 inch (13 mm) wide strips.

Moisten your hands (they should be damp, not dripping wet), then mold the rice into blocks the same size as the Spam slices.

Place a Spam slice on a block of rice, then wrap a strip of nori around the middle (width-wise or length-wise).  Moisten one end slightly to make it stick to itself.

Serve with the remaining marinade for dipping.

I just opened a bag of sweet feed.  It smells almost exactly like a freshly opened box of Cracker Jack.

There's no toy surprise, though.

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If a hamburger is a sandwich, my favorite would be the Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack-In-The-Box.  Cheese, meat, cheese, cheese, meat, cheese.

Discounting hamburgers, my favorite sandwich would be a fried egg sandwich.  Slice of white bread, mayo, a fried egg (with the yolk still runny!), a little salt and pepper, and another slice of white bread with mayo.  Fantastic!

Breakfast Strata

4 Tblsp butter, melted
12 slices bread, cubed
1/2 pound ham, cubed or 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 pound cheese, shredded
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk

Grease 9x13 baking dish.  Pour melted butter into bottom of dish.  Place half of the cubed bred on top.  Cover with meat and cheese.  Top with remaining bread.  Combine eggs and milk and pour over bread, covering everything.  Cover and refrigerate overnight (at least 4 hours).

Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

My SO made my favorite dish for dinner tonight, Beef Stroganoff.  Mmmmmm.

Drove all the way to Council Bluffs this morning to watch Avatar in IMAX 3D.  My thoughts on the movie?  Beautiful.  Colorful.   Realistic and believable feline aliens.   Lots of side boob.  The story was utterly predicable.  It's a human-invader-tries-to-fit-in-with-aliens movie, how many permutations are actually possible?  Not many, obviously.   But it was still enjoyable to watch.

3D has improved dramatically since the days of blue-and-red glasses, but I still have yet to see anyone match the excellent 3D effects of Captain EO.  Avatar's 3D was decent, but the credits made me feel like my eyeballs were being turned inside out.  At least I didn't end up with a headache like I got with UP in 3D (Avatar used simple polarized lenses, UP used LCD shutter glasses).

After the movie, we managed to find the Alvarados in Council Bluffs.  The one I used to go to in Bellevue had closed down a year ago, as did the authentic Mexican place in Plattsmouth, and I'd been craving "authentic" Mexican fast food.  Boy was I disappointed.  I ordered a #2, like I always do.  In every authentic Mexican fast food joint, the #2 combo is 2 beef tacos, refried beans and rice.  Most places use some kind of shredded beef in a corn tortilla, but this place used ordinary ground beef, weakly spiced, in a fried flour tortilla.  And the tortilla was so stale I had to gnaw through one of the tacos.  The beans and rice weren't all that great either.  About the only part of the meal that was any good was the jamaica.  Taco Hell would have been better.  :-P

Went to Costco and did some shopping.  Picked up a 17 ounce box of Gavarny Belgian Truffles for less than $5.  They're really good, a nice rich, creamy and smooth chocolate.  Also picked up a big box of mint fudge cookies for under $5.  They're similar to Girl Scout Thin Mints, but richer in flavor.  And they're a lot cheaper.

EDIT:  I see that LJ is having trouble with the Rich Text editor.

Ugh.

As I came out of Home Depot this afternoon, I found a wallet on the ground.  It had a driver's license, a couple credit cards and about $60 cash.  I started to turn it in to someone at the store, but I looked at the address on the guy's license and noted it was fairly nearby, so I drove over there.  I gave it to the man's wife, and he arrived just as I was leaving, so I guess that was a better choice than leaving it with some stranger at the store.

As I drove back home, I saw a place called LaMar's Donuts.  Everything there looked soooo good, so I ended up buying a couple dozen donuts.  Sugar overload!  Waugh!


Curves, a women's gym, is next door to a donut shop.

The local HyVee has Baconnaise, Baconnaise Lite and Original, Hickory and Peppered BaconSalt!