rice is nice

did you know that you can have dessert for breakfast? i did, especially when you call it something foofy like "baked french toast" and make it with challah bread, banana and kahlua. sounds really fancy even though it's just an assembly process. throw in some eggs, milk, liquor left over from when tim and mary came over, cinnamon and nutmeg (of course), sprinkle with chopped banana and a bit of sugar. butter up a baking dish and throw it in the oven until it's done. when it's this simple and idiot-proof, even i can operate in the kitchen. see? i CAN make f-u-d and make it edible!

the thing i've figured out is this: i can't make just normal stuff like chicken or casserole or what have you. you want a lamb brisket with pears and cream? i'm your girl. how about a thai curry pizza? no problemo. caesar asparagus soup? fuhgeddaboutit. maybe i'm just a fancy person that goes into a fancy trance when i really want french toast. if you ask me to make a simple chicken breast? you might want to check it first so that you don't die during dinner. the one very basic thing i can cook with ease is rice. in just about any form of preparation, i seem to slide by this land mine effortlessly.

from what i've learned after talking to people who can actually cook, cooking rice is a sort of art form. over and over again, i've heard tales from people that they just can't make it turn out quite the way they like it no matter what they try. kris and i once decided that it's a magical equation when rice is involved. the better you are around the kitchen, the more difficult it is for you to make perfect rice on the fly. as you learn to cook, your rice skills go down in reactionary fashion. conversely, people like me can do a beautifully crispy light brown top on a persian rice almost by accident. the laws of physics do not apply in my kitchen. it was only a few nights ago that i threw some rice into a soup as a thickener. a few stirs later it was already at the perfect consistency. ta-dah!

maybe what i'm really good at is accessorizing. i DO have fabulous scarves. my office supplies are to die for, and let's not even go there about my cool socks. dressing up respectably for a job interview is a complete nightmare. throwing on plaids and stripes doesn't give me a second thought. food must be the same way for me. baked french toast is just a breakfast dish with a nice hair clippy. plain french toast is more like a mullet in my fumbly hands. but the rice magic? a great basic with a good fit for a lot of occasions. hmmmm...that's kind of a mystery. it might be more like jeans.


my favorite things this week:

• ren and stimpy postcards (a gift from bonnie)
• the "cute fly" on zhen's etsy shop.
• my new hair. all black and red and brown and choppy with permanent sticky-uppy parts. "i coulda been a contusion."
• calling my oldest brother "pissy chrissy" to shut him down during an argument. no, it's fine - it was a fun argument. we argue for sport in my family!
• stuart sitting with me and muttering to himself in meows.
• venuszine