Learn something new every day! My dear friends in Portland think I need to try musubi, and so knowing I won’t go looking they ordered me a musubi press, and then arranged a FaceTime this afternoon so they could demonstrate how to make this popular Hawaiian snack. They made both spam and tofu musubi, and shared the picture above and video below. I already have tofu and all the other ingredients, and now I can hardly wait for my musubi press to arrive! Maybe one day I’ll even try making it with spam. I’m grateful for the inspiration of spam musubi, but even more so for the deep and long lasting friendship of this dear and faraway family.

Meanwhile, as I’ve gone essentially vegetarian, my evening snack tonight was red bell pepper ‘fries.’ I sliced the pepper into half-inch strips, though you could slice rings instead, then dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and finished in spiced panko breadcrumbs; laid them on parchment paper in a baking tray, and baked at 400℉ for ten minutes on each side. They were crunchy outside and tender inside, and delicious dipped in a mayo-sour cream sauce flavored with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and chopped cilantro.