Paul is in the kitchen....

Don't have anything in the refrigerator for dinner? Too late to run out to Ye Old Butcher Shoppe? Not to worry. Tonight Paul made a recipe with SPAM that his father used to make for dinner years ago when Paul was a boy. Here are the exacting ingredients to this culinary delight:

• 1 can of SPAM
• 1 can Campbell's Pork & Beans (why isn't it called Beans & Pork?)
• 1 can of peaches
• 1/2 onion
• some ketchup
• some brown sugar
• some mustard
• a generous amount of cinnamon
  

The steps Paul followed (per directions from Sammy's grandfather):

1. Dice up the onion, saute on a frying pan.
2. Dice the can of SPAM, add to frying pan, and brown it.
3. Side-step any questions exploring just what SPAM is made of.
   
4. Add to frying pan the can of Pork & Beans. Mix.
   
5. Add in some brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, and a generous amount of cinnamon.
6. Dice up peaches (1/2 of the can) and add in at the very end.
7. Serve to a once skeptical but now totally amazed wife (Sammy already ate Macaroni and Cheese).
8. Accept lavish praise from wife gracefully. Don't let success go to the head.
   

The SPAM browns on the heat...

"SPAM-my"...

Today we took Uncle Andy (aka Don Andrew aka Sammy's Godfather), Aunt Diane, and Sammy to the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota. In the end...we weren't able to reach a conclusion on what SPAM really is (or perhaps we were afraid to find out)...but we sure saw that there is an awful lot of history (and aftertaste) to SPAM. When a canned "meat" product has such a long shelf life, you have to wonder.

Here are some photos from the trip...

At the SPAM Museum...
Uncle Andy, Aunt Diane, Sammy, and Michele...

How many cans of SPAM is too many?
...some say just one...
...the "wall" of SPAM at the museum...

Octopus-boy Sammy pushes a button...
...which somehow cut-off the audio to the SPAM video we were watching...

Making two mistakes...
(1) Sammy accepts food from a stranger
and
(2) Sammy eats SPAM

Aunt Diane and Uncle Andy try to figure out...
...just what *is* SPAM?

SPAM cans through the ages...
...Paul really misses the ones with the pull-keys and sharp edges...

Octopus-boy Sammy climbs on the display...
...and puts his hands on *everything*...

Sammy the meat packer...

Aunt Diane ensures Uncle Andy has proper protective head gear...

Uncle Andy shows the proper canning technique for SPAM...

Uncle Andy coaches Aunt Diane on how to handle a pressure situation...

Sammy learns the value of hard work...
...we hope...

A public service announcement...
...how to read a SPAM can...

Aunt Diane and Uncle Andy test their SPAM knowledge...

There is such a thing as too much SPAM...and Sammy has had enough...