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Musubabies and Tamaguardians…
I wasn’t sure if I could go grocery shopping yesterday, so I figured I could just raid the pantry and cook some Spam and rice. Of course, ideas tend to build up when you focus on something. And it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to try making Spam Musubi. Only, I figured, Spam has such a cookie-cutter friendly texture. So instead of Spam Musubi, I ended up making…Baby Musubi aka Spam Musubabies! 
Left:
• The Tamaguardian. A happy quail tamago (egg), it guards the Gyu Asupara Maki. I honestly have no idea what it’s supposed to be. It reminds me of a turkey, but the carrots could pass as an ornate headress methinks.
• Fruit cocktail in light syrup. A mix of pineapple, peaches, nata de coco, and red papaya.
• Gyu Asupara Maki. Fresh asparagus spears rolled in marinated beef. Mmmmm! Absofarkingtasticalutely good!
Someone from bentolunch once told me how to make asparagus beef rolls, but I couldn’t find the post. So instead, I tried to copy the Gyu Asupara Maki from one of our local Japanese restos and happily ended up with this.
Right:
• Spam Musubabies! A rice ball topped with Spam (I tried the black pepper kind this time and I so fell in love with it) and secured with a nori sash. I made the mistake of cooking too much Jasmine rice last night, since I was originally planning to pack the spam and the rice separately. But since the musubi were just a little bit bigger than bite-sized, I didn’t have the problem of it falling apart before it got to my mouth.
Add-ons:
• C2 Peach-flavored Green Tea drink
• Wasabi green peas
• Nissin Choco Wafer
GYU ASUPARA MAKI v. 6 October 2006
1 small bunch asparagus spears (around a dozen stalks
2 pieces very thinly sliced beef steak
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp oil1. Cut the beef into 1 – 1.5 inch wide strips that are long enough to be wound around 3 asparagus stalks.
2. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Add in the beef then let it marinate for half an hour.
3. Wash the asparagus stalks. Cut each stalk into thirds, with the piece with the bud longer than the other two.
4. Bunch together each cut stalk (1 bud, and the other two thirds), then wrap with a marinated beef strip.
5. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, then brown each bunch, starting with the side with the seam.
6. When all sides have been browned, pour the leftover marinade over the rolls, then let simmer for a minute or so to let the sauce glaze.
7. Wipe drool over your chin before serving.
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