After Work Salad

Well, before I start writing about the "salad", lemme just explain why I started writing at ALL.

I work for a multi-national American IT company in Taiwan. The thing I enjoy everyday is the fact that I get at least three chances of encountering with good food. I try to make sure every encounter is worthwhile, but this doesn't always happen. And whenever I have a "bad encounter", I get cranky. So yeah, I love food, and have been in love with it since Food Network Canada taught me how to cook my first plate of pasta. Not surprisingly, just watching TV isn't going to make me a good cook. So this blog is going to be my journal on becoming a real good cook. (fingers crossed)

So it's summer now in Taiwan: hot and humid, and I have lost my appetite. Knowing that if I don't eat something for dinner, my stomach'd end up growling and starting to burn like hell. I picked up a box of salad at the 7-11 near my office.

So this is the salad I bought... 12 veggies: romaine lettuce, green cabbage, tomato, red cabbage, corn, yellow bell pepper, carrot, and what else?

I am never a big fan of raw veggies, actually, and I especially hate pre-packaged salad dressing, so of course, I decided to take things into my own hands. And a little SPAM always makes everything all that better! So i cut up some and added in the only cheese I can find in my fridge, Emmental.

Like I said, I don't like pre-packaged salad dressing, especially when it's a Thousand Island. I donno, the image of a factory somewhere in the Peasant State, churning up the sauce day after day, just doesn't sit right with me. So i figured, well, Emmental's got a nutty flavour to it, and SPAM is salty enough, so a little bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil w/ a pinch of pepper should do the trick (I really donno what I was thinking).



Anyhow, the salad wasn't all that bad, at least I didn't lose my appetite after I'd already lost it. Emmental didn't really fit in though, it wasn't the taste, it was more because of its creamy texture. If this was to be a better dish, maybe the SPAM strips should've been lightly sauteed and the dressing........ hrmmmmmm........ haven't really figured out a better option that won't turn this salad into a Caesar. Any better idea?

Just on a side note, I really love Emmental Cheese. I used to take two pieces of toast and just sandwich Emmental, lettuce and ham in between. Cut it in quarters, and Voila! a simple snack for studying the finals.