"What, you don't like rice?" or Leftovers

My mom was a scientist in the kitchen.  She had a degree in home economics from the University of Minnesota.  Recipes were followed with precision.  It irritated her when measuring spoons were dispensed with and approximations were made.  To my taste, my mother's cooking was very successful.  But again, to my taste, there were a few notable exceptions.

One such dish was Tuna Rice Patties (click and cook at your own peril.)  Something about the tinny, canned tuna combined with rice and egg that made me gag.  It's a recipe that is made for leftover rice, but I am pretty sure my mom made rice just to make the patties.    One night, when I was around the age of 12, I refused a dinner of the tasty treat.  Nothing else was available to me and I knew it.  It was house policy to eat what was put in front of you.  I had great pleasure telling my grandmother the next day that they didn't give me anything to eat.  She didn't fall for it.

One of my sisters loves tuna rice patties to this day.  The other sister won't touch any rice based on The Lost Boys.  This is a scar she has carried with her since she was a child and a quick Google search reveals she isn't the only one who walked away from that movie feeling less inclined towards the white, fluffy staple.  I'm not sure why most people, including her, don't have the same feelings about noodles.  (Awesome, do click this link.)

Other dishes my mom made that I could not stand at the time include egg foo young (seriously, what is that slimy crap that is served with those?) and chow mein (gag, again--cooked celery.)  After I came back from college I actually requested the chow mein and pushed aside the celery and asked for more crispy noodles to have with the ground pork, water chestnuts, and sprouts and more rice.  Still cannot stomach any egg foo young.

Something else that I was always pretty suspicious of was fried rice.  Mom made it on occasion.  Rice and soy sauce and ham and egg?  Leftover vegetables?  Ugh.  Salty and otherwise tasteless and what I still see as a coward's way out of a Chinese restaurant. 

Which finally brings me to my point.  I made this for dinner:

It's kim chee fried rice!  It was so good.  I checked out a few recipes, but basically it is meat of your choice or no meat at all (I used my lo bulgogi), kim chee, whatever veg you may have around, a little soy sauce, and LEFTOVER rice.  Dice up the meat ( I saw lots of recommendations for Spam), dice up the kim chee, throw in the extras (I had diced green onions in the fridge), and then stir-fry it up in a little butter.  (I blinked when I saw butter since I am so used to using olive oil for everything, but I could taste the difference.)  When it's good and hot, throw in the rice and the soy sauce (other recipes also used a red pepper paste--had to Google that and will be putting it on a future shopping list.)  Crisp up the rice to taste, making sure everything gets incorporated with everthing else and the whole thing turns lovely colors.  Finished with a little toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds.  I added some chopped garlic chives too.  Tasty.  Some of the recipes called for a fried egg to be served on top, but I was in a sentimental mood and went with the scrambled-egg-in-fried-rice method.  I like my own cooking.  Morgan wasn't home.

I'm a little concerned I am going to be up all night.  I didn't sleep last night and today I did the fall-asleep-on-the-couch-for-20-minutes-after-work thing and have been wide awake since.  I'm making a vegetable stock (for the first time) for a vegetable soup that I am making tomorrow for a vegetarian friend.  It's still got awhile to reduce, then strain, then find a place in the fridge for it.

Bulgogi on a Sunday Night

It's been awhile.  I am back with bulgogi.  It's the first time I've made it and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It looked a little more saucy and was a little more sticky than what I've had in the past.  In fact, it really does look more like a teriyaki. I think I let it marinate too long, but even Morgan said she would eat it again.  I used a recipe from Chow, but I will probably continue to search until I find something more "authentic." The kim chee (which I've been craving and was the whole reason I made this) came from Don Yang Oriental Foods in Columbia Heights.  

Mill City Farmer's Market opened up again this weekend!  It meant Indian Spice Mini Donuts from the Chef Shack and Harukei turnips and goat cheese.  The weather was chilly, but it was worth it.

We bought greenhouse-grown brandywine and a purple/black tomato.  They weren't as tasty as the in-season tomatoes will be, but they were certainly better than anything that can be found in grocery stores right now.  Dinner was bacon, lettuce kale, and tomato sandwiches, with a turnip and greens saute on the side.  I used uncured bacon from Whole Foods which I will never use again because it was paper thin and just not bacon-y enough.  I thought I was incredibly clever to use braised kale instead of lettuce (I'm becoming of the opinion that lettuce on a sandwich/burger/whatever--anything but a salad--is superfluous.)  I added dried Thai chili to give it a little kick.  I made my own mayo (used very sparingly) and the bread--sourdough (really?) and garlic--came from the market too.  A meal heavy on the greenery, but that made up for the "bacon."

So lots has been happening--a few shows,  awesome book "discoveries," dinners out and dinners at home, company, surgery, healing--the norms.  If I can manage to get back into this, I plan to share.

Chicken Teriyaki with Spinach

I have been so sick.  Really, I've been sick on and off since my birthday.  Killer cold, pink eye, and most recently, a really disgusting virus.

I was convinced I would never eat again.

Thankfully I'm back to eating and finally feeling like myself.

What was for dinner tonight?

I triple washed the spinach myself!  It actually had organic dirt on it.  I'm really sick of baby spinach and the furry mouth feel I get from the uniformly shaped leaves.  They stick in the roof of my mouth too.

Awesome chicken, not from water-plumped, frozen bricks.  Had to be stir-fried.  I wish I still had a cast iron grill pan, but that went in the great kitchen purge of '08 along with my electric skillet.  I don't miss that nearly as much.

I made the teriyaki sauce myself.  Morgan thought this was the best part of the meal.

With sushi rice and green onion.  And toasted sesame oil on the spinach.

More to come.  Not more on this dinner, but on other dinners and some excellent happenings and deep thoughts.

Eating at Home

I am so proud of myself.  I ate dinner at home every night this week, except for Thursday when I had (very good) homemade tacos at my brother and sister-in-law's house.)  On Sunday night I made an omelet (left over Brussels sprouts and cheese), Monday I had Pacific Organic Creamy Tomato with grilled cheese (levain from Rustica and gouda) and Wednesday night and tonight I had a cabbage-green onion-cucumber-peanut-chicken-Thai peanut sauce salad.  Tuesday night was a late night at work so I felt like cheese and crackers ( I mean I felt like eating cheese and crackers.  I didn't feel like a cracker or bleu cheese.)  But I ate at home all week!

Thursday night was another babysitting night.  He wasn't as happy as last time.  He was very tired and realized mom and dad weren't there early on in the evening.  We read lots of books and I sang a lot of "Baby Beluga."  He kept doing that thing where he would begin to fall asleep and then snap awake.  He did put his head on my shoulder while we walked laps around the house and that is about the sweetest thing a baby can do.  I finally did get him to go to sleep.

When I was walking little Ricky around the house, I caught myself in the living room mirror.  I think I avoid mirrors that would show me more of my body than just my face.  I was really shocked to see how I look. I really hate how I've gotten.  It's causing more than a few self-esteem problems.  If you've been reading, you know that I am a little addicted to going out, trying new places and new foods, and ice cream.  I've also been reading a lot of Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan and I have just finished Mark Bittman's Food Matters.  I am going to try to follow Bittman's plan of eating plants and fruits and whole grains (and the occasional milk or egg based product) in the day time and then eating whatever else I want to at night, avoiding "food like substances."

I am having trouble giving up my morning muffin, but I did pretty good otherwise this week.

I am going to the Red Stag for dinner tomorrow night--and karaoke with Mark Wheat!  It will be plants and fruits all day tomorrow.

I'll let you know how all of this goes.