LFW: Rice was rarely in the dinner rotation at my house growing up. I can remember rice with chop suey (La Choy) and Rice Roni (the pilaf version) as a side dish, but never more than once a month. The starch on our dinner table was usually potatoes or noodles/pasta. I'm not sure why, maybe my mom didn't have the time to keep an eye on a pot of rice cooking while she was making dinner for a family of 8, or maybe she just didn't like rice all that much.Regardless, I noticed over the years that rice was not something that I prepared very often. In my case, the reason was purely technical - I just couldn't make it. No matter how closely I followed the directions, it always came out gummy or burnt. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I finally got smart and bought a rice cooker. Who knew that these cute little pots were so fabulous?? I have the Zojirushi 3-Cup Rice Cooker and it works perfectly every time. Not only that, I can set it up before I start preparing the rest of the meal and then click it on 25 minutes before we want to eat - it all comes together perfectly. I'm kicking myself for not getting one 20 years ago!
And speaking of rice, why not donate some to the UN World Food Program while improving your vocabulary? That's right, the folks at Free Rice.com (http://www.freerice.com/index.php) have developed a website that has educational games with multiple choice questions about vocabulary, math, geography, languages, famous paintings and chemistry (??). For each right answer you select, the site donates 20 grains of rice to the UN WFP.
There's a page that shows totals donated to date - they were close to 53 billion grains last I checked. Given that a generous serving of rice (1/2 cup dry) is approximately 7,200 grains (no, I did not count the entire amount, just 1 teaspoon and then I did the math), the site has been responsible for donating over 7.3 million bowls of rice to places like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Uganda, Nepal and Bhutan. So brush up on your vocabulary or geography and donate some rice!
Btw - are you singing the La Choy jingle in your head? La Choy makes Chinese food......swing American! What about - Rice Roni, the San Francisco treat! ha!
2 comments:
Ha! I can't make rice either!!! For a couple years, it was because I kept trying to make it the way one makes pasta. Then I read the instructions. And now it's always under-cooked when we're ready to eat, regardless of when I start, so our choice is to each crunchy rice, or wait 20 more minutes for it to be done.
I haven't gotten a rice cooker yet because I'm not sure where I could store it. But your testimony suggests that it's well-worth its cubic inches. . . AP!
You should definitely get one - and they come in a number of sizes. The one we have is a 3-cup cooker and fits inside my stock pot. Since 1 cup dry rice makes 2 cups cooked, the 3 cup size should be big enough for your family.
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