SPAM for Lunch

I wasn't sure if I'd be called for afternoon round of jury duty, so my limbo lunch plans made today the perfect day to use some left over nori sheets, leftover quinoa-laced rice, and my emergency SPAM Singles Lite pack.

From SPAM LUNCH

While my family tends to keep a can of SPAM® LOW SODIUM as a pantry item, the slice o' SPAM was purcased on a whim when I found it at a 99¢ Only Store. This humble slice has been patiently waiting for me to rescue it from my desk and take it to the kitchenette where it could fulfill its destiny as -- SPAM Onigiri.



I would probably not have enjoyed myself as much if it weren't for the awesome Onigiri wrap sheets I found at a Fremont 99 Ranch.



The wraps are so glam-looking and come with a set of bright orange stickers to "seal" your creation. But the most fantastic element is the built in tear-line. It allows you to remove only half of the wrap, thus exposing only a first-half to your mouth.

Cheese of the Year: Queso Fresco

I've had a lot of delicious cheese in my day. Creamy cheese. Hard cheese. Crumbly cheese. Stinky cheese. Fruit-filled cheese. Ash-filled cheese. Aged cheese. Fresh cheese. Stringy cheese. California cheese. Organic Cheese. :: GASP :: And I've even munched on the occasional bit of pasturized cheese product!

But, my most beloved cheese of 2009 was the humble, delicious, and stunning queso fresco.

I wasn't a total stranger to this cheese; I remembered bits of it crumbled on my ocasional order of enchiladas. However, until this year, I'd never really snacked on this queso for queso's sake.

The Salazar's introduced it to me on my brief So Cal visit in November. I was a little unsure of what I should expect from my snack of cold cheese slices served in a skillet-warmed corn tortilla. I hadn't had any sort of unmelted quesadilla before... But ultimately, I gave in to the better judgement of my hosts.

My first bite was life-changing. The unaged cheese was incredibly mild but full of fresh cow milk flavor. And because it wasn't over-salted, the flavor of the tortilla was able to really shine. I was so instantly enamored with the cheese that I made a batch of savory crepes the next morning for brunch and served them with queso fresco and ham.

After a few tries, the California-made Ranchero by Cacique is my favorite brand. The Casero by El Mexicano is also very popular and tasty, but I find that its more dry. Perhaps I'll try to make it from scratch in 2010.

My advice: Try it and share bites with your friends. If the bunch of you can't enjoy it in one sitting, make sure to store it in an odor resistant container - since it's such a mild, fresh cheese an inferior container may impart funky tastes or smells rendering your nice bit of cheese totally inedible.

Photo credits: me

ficoco goodness

I love bread and crackers: that's probably why I love tasty items that can be spread and eaten of said carby treats. Ficoco is an all-natural, Croatian fig and chocolate spread. It's definitely more "figgy" than chocolately with a very light spreadable consistency. I took advice from Stacey to buy it from Whole Foods, where they demoed it by mixing it 50/50 with softened cream cheese and serving it on mini-toast crackers.

One of the recommended serving suggestions includes drizzling it over ice-cream, but I'm not that brave. It's worth a try if you see it!

What did I drink? Pedroncelli Winery 2004 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2007 Stanford Alumni Club wine selection. I offered the ficoco treat and the wine to coworkers as a Friday afternoon reward in exchange for helping the Research team stuff Dunkin' Donuts gift cards.