…would you find someone pushing a cart FULLY LOADED with SPAM and Eggs. Ha ha ha!!! Classic!
I was in the Iwilei Costco the other day where I spotted this Chinese man (who obviously owns a restaurant business) pushing this cart, which I just HAD to get a photo of. And I wasn’t the only person to take notice, as there were several other folks making comments to him that I overheard such as, “Wow, I think you’re all set, there!”, and “Whoah Unko (Uncle), I like come yo’ house eat!”. For reals! LOL!
In a thick Chinese accent (which is relevant of course), he told me he sells some crazy amount of SPAM Musubi every week (something in the 100′s), along with obviously lots of SPAM and Eggs breakfast plates. His next stop was probably the rice aisle, and then off to pick up several giant service-size boxes of Macaroni and gallons upon tubs of Mayo’. lol
Surely just about everywhere-else USA, most folks wouldn’t wanna’ get caught DEAD with this much SPAM on them. lol
**Pops blood pressure meds and drinks a cup of VERY HOT Green Tea**
To think about it, you could probably write quite a list of “Only at a Hawaii Costco” stuff. Here’s a start (note, “stay get” is Pidgin English for “there is”, or loosely “this exists”):
Only at a Hawaii Costco stay get…
• Made in Hawaii Surfboards and Stand-up Paddleboards
Mochi Crunch, Li Hing Snacks and Macadamia Nut Chocolate gift basket sets
• Locally-made Butter Mochi, including samples of it offered on a regular basis
• Samurai “Maui style” Sherbert (Guri Guri)
• Carts full of Spam and Eggs
• Poke Bowl station
• Fresh-caught island Mahimahi, Ahi, Ono, Marlin, Opah and Monchong
• Fresh-farmed Kauai Shrimp
• Fresh-farmed Kona Coast Abalone
O.K. enough already, this is making me hungry! If you have more in mind, by all means add them in comments.
Speaking of “local to da’ max”, remember this classic 98 Rock bumper sticker?…
Note to you folks who have been away from Hawaii for a while, KPOI is still around as Honolulu’s classic rock radio station, except they’ve long since moved up the dial to 105.9FM. While “back in the day” they were called “98 Rock”, KPOI‘s actual FM frequency was 97.5.
Not only is that 98 Rock sticker truly an old school classic, and one of my all-time FAVORITE local logos, so is the car it’s plastered on!…
Ah yes, The Volkswagen Squareback. I’m not sure what year model it is, but I’m guessing somewhere around the early 70′s?
Back in high school, a friend of mine had a super cherry “loud yellow” ’68 VDub Bug, with a killer super-modified, big bore, dual “quad” Dellorto-fed engine. The thing could COOK. And it SOUNDED as mean as it could cook! It was also a major “chick magnet”. lol Seriously though, it was! I swear he scored the hottest babes just ’cause of that car.
This looks sort of looks like a Karmann-Ghia (a car I seriously think VW should resurrect) and a stationwagon all rolled into one. Also notable about the design is that it’s a 2-door, yet still there are split rear side windows in their own frames; something you’ll unlikely find in a mass-produced automobile design today due to cost.
That’s all for today.
Haha, I would love a cart filled with those supplies!
It would be beyond belief if someone said on their “33 List” that they’d travel halfway across the globe to Hawaii just to try a SPAM Musubi. lol
Only in Hawaii. When I’m at costco I tuck my spam at the bottom of the cart and shield it when I put it on the conveyor belt. Too many snobs at the Issaquah, WA costco where I shop.
I do the same in the rare case when my girlfriend asks me to pick up feminine care products for her at the supermarket. lolfor her
I have a brother in law that grew in rural California in a family that provided seasonal irrigation services to farms. He says he had a Spam sandwich everyday in his lunch box. I knew someone else must be eating this stuff. LOL
Aww, 98 Rock. I still miss hearing Charly Espina.
Which immediately brings to mind Brock Whaley.
He’s making healthy Spam Musubi’s 25% Less Sodium!
Even at 25% less, it still packs a whopping 580mg of sodium, being 25% RDA, which is a lot for one food product. This, compared to regular SPAM which has 767 mg of sodium per 56 gram serving. I’ll burn that off easily, but for sedentary folks who don’t, that will store as water.
I’m gonna miss shopping at a Hawaii Costco… I’ll probably get funny looks stocking up on Spam at the Huntsville, Alabama Costco, brah!
Alabama run now? I seriously need to keep up with what’s happening with my fellow bloggers. I just wish I had more free time to do so.
No worries, Pomai-san! I got a day in Honolulu from Kwaj on the way back to the “Land of the Round Doorknobs”! So if you need a guest taster for a future blg entry, lemme know!
Hey! I’m in Huntsville, too! They may like Spam here, but I was surprised to see the Hardees advertise a fried bologna breakfast buscuit a while ago! That was the next go-to lunch my mom would make for us if we ran out of Spam. Fried bologna sandwiches with mayo. mmmmmmmmm My haole wife saw me do that one day and almost fainted! LOL She freaked out even more when I made fried rice with bologna one time! I told her that the kids liked it! But she couldn’t handle it. Is that grounds for divorce? (just kidding)
Keith, I remember watching a NASCAR race on TV a while ago, where the announcer mentioned, IIRC”, in Ohio, their famous “snack” is Bologna on a Chocolate Chip Cookie. BOLOGNA ON A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE! That sounds absolutely BONKERS, yet I bet it actually tastes darned good! I’ll have to try that one day and blog it. “Weird food combinations”.
Hey, Pomai, have you ever heard of “Burgeesa”? It was a cold cut on the size of bologna, but tasted like Portugese Sausage! It was awesome! I remember the spicy red grease that used to soak into the bread…. That was back in the late 50s’ /early 60s… I don’t remember who made it but my guess it was Redondo’s… sigh…. wish I had some right now….
Fried bologna… not too bad. Even does well smoked in a BBQ!
I can’t even remember the last time I had a bologna sandwich. Yet thinking about it, now I’m craving one! But no meat after Judging yesterday’s Smoked Meat Competition. Nope. lol
Pomai, sometime I make katsu spam with rice. Chinese like in making it into fried rice and chow mein. I sometime make it into also summer rolls.
“SPAM-Katsu” is one thing I have yet to try. Reminds me of deep-fried cheese. Oh-so-wrong, yet oh-so-right!
Believe me, they’ve done everything and anything using SPAM at the yearly Waikiki SPAM JAM. Whether it be SPAM Winter, Spring, Autumn or Fall Rolls, SPAM Manapua, SPAM Pizza, SPAM Shave Ice. You name it, it’s been done, done and DONE!
Still, Hamakua Plantations took the cake when they began manufacturing SPAM flavored Macadamia Nuts. Utterly NUTS!
i wondered what happened to KPOI! thanks! and yea, i’ve got my fam stuck on spam in sunny so cal
!
Do you need to wear a hat and shades at the checkout stand when buying your SPAM? lol
I wonder if soccer moms on the mainland now do spam musubi. Wouldn’t surprise me.
Roann would be the perfect person to answer that question.
Pomai,
I make a Korean kimbap with spam slice into shreds and cooked kogi sauce and place into sesame seasoning rice and vegetables. As for spring rolls I have cooked filling with spam wrapped up and bake it instead of frying less grease on it.
So that would be called “SPAMBAP”. Sounds kinda’ catchy!
I love the south, and the south loves SPAM. Alabama is #2 and Georgia is #3 state in SPAM cosumption. A lot of southern friends grew up with fried SPAM.
Hey Pomai!
Just in case no ojisan like me didn’t say earlier, I remember wen KPOI was 1380 on the AM with main DJ Tom Moffatt! J Akuhead Pupule was on KGU in the mornings, too. And the small kids watched Chechers and Pogo on Channel 9 and Sergeant SACTO on Channel 2 in the afternoons! And wows on that Spam and eggs COSTCO cart!
Keith, if you’re old enough to remember J Akuhead Pupule, surely you must also remember Lucky Luck and Lippy “Shaka Braddah” Espinda. And don’t forget Kikaida and Kamen Rider V3!!! Damned, I’m getting old too. lol
My grandmother was good friends with Lippy.
As an interesting trivia, Lippy “Shaka Brah!” Espinda made a guest appearance in the Brady Bunch “Tiki” episode, filmed in Waikiki.
Wow! Yes I do! I even remember Lucky Luck’s theme song: “Lucky Me!” I also remember collecting Primo beer bottles to collect the 3 cent deposit! My Boy Scout Troop even did that as a fund raiser one year. My dad used to leave the empties out for the trash guys so they could make a few extra coins.
Even though he was a native of Missouri, Lucky Luck sure had a knack for speaking Pidgin. My mom used to catch crabs out Maunalua bay and bring it to his bar in Hawaii Kai, and he’d cook it for them.