Nini’s Egg and Spam Salad

Filipinos love hard boiled eggs. We use them as toppings for our noodle dish or pancit or mix them with tomatoes as a side dish for fried dishes like pork chops or tuyo or dilis. I boil them with the meat sauce when I cook adobo or even when I cook rice which saves me time and afford me one less pot to wash or watch over.

We also bring hard boiled eggs with us when we have trips as a handy portable food or snack to eat on our way to our destination. We crack them open and eat them with salt and pepper. That was what I had in mind when I was to take my former office mates at the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, Nini and France, who came for a visit last August, to Fallingwater. Somehow I used the hard boiled eggs instead to make egg salad. But not any egg salad. Nini added leftover spam or luncheon meat.

Filipinos also love canned foods especially stateside ones or those that come from the United States. When Filipinos who have immigrated to the United States come back to the Philippines to visit, they bring home canned corned beef, vienna sausage and spam or luncheon meat as pasalubong or gifts for their loved ones who cherish them as much as the chocolate candies they also usually receive.

Fried spam or luncheon meat is part of many Filipino breakfasts. I prepared this favorite that morning before our visit to Fallingwater. When we got lost going there I got hungry and France my co driver handed me a sandwich and it was pure bliss. It was egg salad with chopped leftover spam which Nini prepared! So good  I associate their wonderful visit with this now. Flood of good memories come back every time I eat this delicious salad.

Nini is not only talented but ultra resourceful. As I have mentioned, she turned an ordinary egg salad into a spectacular one with little pieces of leftover spam which surprise your tastebuds with its saltiness. Nini also showed this trait when we brought my casserole crockpot in its original box to Bethesda for our mini reunion at Seville's place. It was heavy and I did not have a carrier. Nini improvised an oversized tshirt I had to fit that purpose. Too bad I did not take a picture. She also has a knack for interior design. She just fluffs some pillows and arranges them a certain way and voila, the living room exudes a better ambience.

Nini had been the president of the North Carolina Charlottesville Filipino organization for more than thirty years and I am not surprised since she is very organized. She also speaks five languages including Spanish, her husband Manolo's  language. I love hearing  her say the Spanish word este when she starts to explain something.

Muchas gracias Nini and France for your visit. Here are some pictures of our memorable times together in Pittsburgh.

At the Primantis Brothers at the South Side.

Gateway  Clipper Historical Cruise.

Karaoke Session with the Masterworks Choir members at the Steel City Restaurant.

Fallingwater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Breakfast at our house's deck.

Nini's Egg and Spam Salad

I converted this to a ketogenic one by replacing the bread with lettuce leaves.

• 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp chopped pickles, note 1
• 2 tbsp chopped spam, see note 2
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped green onions (optional), note 3
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional), note 3
• 4 lettuce leaves, either Romaine, iceberg or bibb

Mix the ingredients except lettuce leaves in a small bowl.

Spoon the mixture into lettuce cups.

Enjoy.

  Notes:

1. Add stevia for sweetness or use sweet pickle relish if you are not in a ketogenic diet.

2. You can fry the spam first or microwave it and then cool and chop before adding to the mixture.

3. The green onions and cilantro were not in the salad prepared by Nini. They are optional and can be skipped. I just added them for more pizzazz.