Had a can of Spam for lunch.

[Eupher]

vesta's correct when she says that Spam is HUGE in Hawaii.

And a whole lotta people there are HUGE from eating that stuff.

It makes sense that Spam got to be big because of WWII. There just isn't a lot of cattle in Hawaii, except for a few ranches on the Big Island.

[debk]

I remember those keys to catch the little tag and then roll it around the can. Something else had them besides spam and ham. Remember how careful you had to be turning those things? Not only to make sure they rolled straight, but that they didn't break or you slice open your finger!

Didn't peanut cans open that way? Coffee maybe? My parents were tea drinkers, so not a lot of coffee was used in our house.

Yeah...SOS (the chipped beef kind) was another one of those things we never had. That they both ate all through the War, and neither would touch the stuff. When I got old enough - high school maybe? that was served once a week in the school cafeteria. Up til then, I took my lunch.

Stretching food to serve a bunch was not an issue as I was a lonely only until after my mom was killed. My dad married a woman with 4 kids, all older than me and the youngest was a senior in HS and didn't live with us except for about a month. She lied that the HS in Illinois wasn't going to let her graduate unless she went to summer school, so she could move back to Iowa to finish HS. My I was a sophmore in HS when my little brother was born.

[thundley4]

I think cans of sardines used to have those little keys to open them.

[debk]

I think cans of sardines used to have those little keys to open them.

and smoked oysters...

[CG6468]

And anchovies.

Do I detect a trend here?

[Undies]

And anchovies.

Do I detect a trend here?

This post is Spam.

[Eupher]

And anchovies.

Do I detect a trend here?

Yeah. The people packaging that nasty seafood canned shit deliberately undertook operations to slice the fingers and hands off of the people who were hungry enough to eat that crap.

They, in turn, talked with the coffee people and conspired the same. Kickbacks were definitely paid.

Therefore, the Spam people are guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Bodily Harm to a significant percentage of the population.

Class Action Lawsuit in 3...2...1...

[Dori]

My mom sliced it and fried it like bologna for sandwiches, or with eggs and even put it on top of scalloped potatoes. 

I think she even ground it up with sweet pickle and mayo for a sandwich spread.

She used other canned meats too, to stretch her food budget.

Those little jars with dried beef. She chopped it up and made creamed beef on biscuits or made hash with it, w/onions, peppers and potatoes.

I liked the hash with a fried egg on top. Never think to make it.





 

[zeitgeist]

Refrigerators are much bigger now than they were only fifty years ago.  Heck, I remember seeing stewed chickens in mason jars in the root cellar at my grandfather's farm. You need a pressure cooker to can meat, my mother had one that was huge which took quart jars.  We lived there when I was little and that place scared the heck out of me for several reasons, the chicken in jars being one.  There was also salt pork in a crock down there along with fruit and vegetables buried in sand. 

There was a great old Hosier hutch in the pantry with bulk flower and sugar plus an old ice box that was used for storing raw milk (yuk).  The fridge was in the parlor and very small, I don't think it had a freezer compartment but I really don't remember.  The nearest neighbor was close to five miles in either direction and if power went out, it was out for days.  Hamburg was a novelty I don't remember having often and spaghetti was something I don't remember ever having until we moved to town. 

[Dori]

I remember seeing stewed chickens in mason jars in the root cellar at my grandfather's farm.

There was also salt pork in a crock down there along with fruit and vegetables buried in sand. 

When I was little, I remember staying at an old farm in MO for a big  family reunion.  They had all kinds of out buildings.  One was a root cellar with a smoke house attached.  They raised pigs there.

It's a shame that kids today never get to experience that.  My cousins and I got into all kinds of mischief.  We played in the barn loft, got chased by roosters and geese, found a milk snake that had just eaten a chicken whole and teased a bull with a red cloth like we were bull fighters. 

 

[CG6468]

On one of her trips down here, our daughter bought a Hoosier Pantry. She still uses it in her house for storage of miscellaneous things.

When I was in the CG up in Charlevoix, I found an old 3-door oak Icebox in a deserted house up on a backwoods hill that I obtained legally, and we now use it for a liquor cabinet. (I did a lot of crawling around the old deserted places up there.) It has a label that says it's a Challenge Iceberg with a patent date of 1923. I still have all the plumbing for it (drain tubes). The bottom front lower panel folds up to get the drain pan that caught the water from the melting ice. The door above that is the ice compartment. It opened to load a full size block of ice into the icebox.

[zeitgeist]

When I was little, I remember staying at an old farm in MO for a big  family reunion.  They had all kinds of out buildings.  One was a root cellar with a smoke house attached.  They raised pigs there.

It's a shame that kids today never get to experience that.  My cousins and I got into all kinds of mischief.  We played in the barn loft, got chased by roosters and geese, found a milk snake that had just eaten a chicken whole and teased a bull with a red cloth like we were bull fighters.  

 
Yeah it was kind of neat to meet the meat you eat.  Well, most of the time.   I really liked the old black smith shop with a crank forge and the wet grind stone that was used to sharpen all manner of tools.  Man could you get an edge on stuff with an old foot operated wet stone.  I got kind of burned out on haying since I went back to help several summers as a pre teen and teen.  Other kids went to camp.  I went to hay.  (Although we did have a nice lake to swim in after haying).  I was glad when I was old enough to get a 'real' summer job as a kid because I got out of haying.

[njpines]

When I was a kid, my mom would cut it up into medium sized cubes and then cut up onions and green pepper. She'd then run them through a meat grinder and make deviled ham spread sandwiches.  They weren't bad!

[CG6468]

On my grandmother's farm in Michigan she had a fruit cellar. It had all kinds of pickled stuff stored down there, most of which I never knew about. There was also a barn, an old garage that contained a 1940s Studebaker pickup truck (wish I had that truck NOW), some pig sties, some sheep enclosures, and a chicken coop with chickens from which my grandma would get a chicken to eat and wring its neck or chop off its head while I watched.

About a mile away there was a mill pond where I'd go catch clean bullheads, bass, bluegills. The water was so clean you could see down to the bottom of the pond.

I'd go out with the county road crews to spread gravel from my grandma's gravel pit, and if I was more than 2 miles from the farm while walking home from town (Howard City) the sheriff would stop and give me a ride to the farm.

I also shot my first .22 rifle there when I was in the 6th grade.

[CG6468]

 

SEVERE THREAD DRIFTING! 

But it's OK; this is fun, reminiscing with friends! 

[Dori]

 I got kind of burned out on haying since I went back to help several summers as a pre teen and teen.  Other kids went to camp.  I went to hay.  

Isn't they why kids today have summer break?

I remember going out to the fields and watching those big columbines and hay balers.

 

[zeitgeist]

Isn't they why kids today have summer break?

I remember going out to the fields and watching those big columbines and hay balers.

 

I am guessing we must of had spam sandwiches  and kool aid for lunch when we hayed. Haying was done with a horse drawn wagon, pitched into the wagon with pitch folks, and lifted into the hay barn with a horse drawn hay trolley. (which was a real neat rig see similar devices here: >http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hay-trolley )  It was labor intensive but did not use bailed hay so it was lots of fun to play in the haymows.

[vesta111]

I am guessing we must of had spam sandwiches  and kool aid for lunch when we hayed. Haying was done with a horse drawn wagon, pitched into the wagon with pitch folks, and lifted into the hay barn with a horse drawn hay trolley. (which was a real neat rig see similar devices here: >http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hay-trolley )  It was labor intensive but did not use bailed hay so it was lots of fun to play in the haymows.

The farm I was at in the summer had the hay claw that was lifted up into the barn attic loose hay.

[CG6468]

I am guessing we must of had spam sandwiches  and kool aid for lunch when we hayed.

I'd ride and control the neighboring farmer's sickle mower, but I cannot remember ever breaking for lunch. I just watched out for the damned yellow jacket nests in the ground.

[JohnnyReb]

I'd ride and control the neighboring farmer's sickle mower, but I cannot remember ever breaking for lunch. I just watched out for the damned yellow jacket nests in the ground.

....and the bubble bees that built nest in the ground.

[zeitgeist]

....and the bubble bees that built nest in the ground.

And every now and then

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRfRITVdz4k[/youtube]

Also, I can state with certainty that when a horse see a moose they don't care if they are hitched to a hay rake they want to leave the area post haste.

[RobJohnson]

You can do pretty much anything you would do with "real" ham.  The Hawaiians love it and have some excellent ways of fixing it.

They use a lot of canned meat in Hawaii. Fresh meat is expensive.

[SarasotaRepub]

WooHoo! Spam is the bestest!!!!  SLW cringes if I even mention it...

[Karin]

I had no idea there were so many Spam aficiandoes here!  Can't stand the stuff myself.  I think my mom just fried slices and put it in sandwiches.  Not too often.

Hey, is that Hormel Corned Beef hash pretty good?  I have always wondered.  You know, never in my life have I had a fried egg on top of CBH.  Everybody else in the world has, I ought to try it.

[zeitgeist]

I had no idea there were so many Spam aficiandoes here!  Can't stand the stuff myself.  I think my mom just fried slices and put it in sandwiches.  Not too often.

Hey, is that Hormel Corned Beef hash pretty good?  I have always wondered.  You know, never in my life have I had a fried egg on top of CBH.  Everybody else in the world has, I ought to try it.

Mary Kitchen is the canned hash of choice here, it is ok,  homemade is always better.

http://www.hormelfoods.com/Brands/BrandWall/Hormel-Mary-Kitchen-hash


A good friend once told me never look at your food.  Sage advice.    I would just add I had one grandmother who use to say you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die. To which my other grandmother said yes, but not all at once! 

Those ladies and my mom knew how to cook anything.  Bread.  Donuts.  Any form of wild game.  Fresh killed chicken, turkey, lamb, you killed it they would grill it.  Canned and preserved all manner of stuff.  I still remember real mince meat (once with a bit of deer hair which was a bit off putting but still better than the canned stuff that has who knows what in it).