Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Something to do with leftovers

by

Something for people: Fried Rice

I am of Japanese ancestry, so there is always rice here. I used to make fried rice from leftovers quite often, especially during my younger and leaner years. The ingredients change depending upon what leftovers are available. The only constants are rice, egg, and soy sauce. The rice absolutely has to be leftover cold rice. If you are making a new pot of rice just for frying, sorry. You are not having fried rice until tomorrow! Freshly cooked rice is too moist and sticky to fry.

I had a taste for fried rice the other day. There were some shredded carrots left over from a pasta salad, some green onion stalks left over from Korean short ribs made earlier in the week, and some of those Korean short ribs. Perfect. The shredded carrots were a bit longer than I prefer, so I took a large handful and chopped them up a little more. I chopped up one green onion stalk, using both green and white portions. Then I chopped up the short rib meat. I didn’t use very much meat, maybe 1/4-1/3 cup. This all went into a frying pan to cook until the carrots and onions were soft and everything was hot. Short rib meat has enough grease, but if I’d used a leaner meat, I would have added a tiny bit of oil to the pan. Then the rice went in (I had about 2 cups) and everything stirred around until the rice was warm and the meat and vegetables were distributed evenly throughout. One raw beaten egg and some soy sauce to taste went in next, and stirred and tossed until the egg was cooked. If I had oyster sauce, I would have used some of that instead.

Yum 🙂

Something for dogs: Training Treats

The short ribs were a little too greasy to use for this, but any leaner leftover beef will work just fine. Cut it into small dice, spread them out on a paper plate, cover with waxed paper and microwave for 1-2 minutes, until they are somewhat dried out. Allow to cool completely before storing. They will last a few days in the refrigerator and a very long time in the freezer. I put just enough for a training class into each zip-lock baggie so I can just grab a baggie out of the freezer before heading to class. The treats thaw out on the way, and my dogs seem to consider them a high-value reward.

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 15 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 142 of 274)

Another thing I’m not giving up (6 of 31/41 of 274)

by

My religious customs and beliefs do not require me to give up meat, even temporarily. I feel that my God is good that way, because I am quite the carnivore. I verified this fact about myself during my first attempt at college, when peer pressure encouraged me to try switching to a vegetarian diet. I stuck it out for about a month, but the call of the hog was too much to bear. I don’t want to live forever if the possibility of bacon is forever off the table.

Still, I often forego meat on Fridays during Lent. I hope my husband and co-workers think I do this out of consideration. I doubt they are fooled, though. They know that deep down, all right, fine, not so deep down at all, I would think that parading a BBQ pork sandwich through a room of denied meat lovers is just the biggest fun ever.

So no, not consideration at all. It is just my love for pepper and egg sandwiches, which are found everywhere in Chicago during Lent. Is it a little weird that we went to Mr. Beef for our pepper and egg sandwiches today though?

No accounting for tastes (27 of 30)

by

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Day, however you chose to celebrate, or not celebrate it.

I mentioned yesterday that I do not like turkey; I don’t really care for all that many of the dishes that are part of a typical American Thanksgiving feast.

One dish that seems to be part of a lot of people’s childhood memories is the green bean casserole. You probably know it: canned or frozen green beans, canned mushroom soup, canned french fried onions and bacon bits. It was never a part of my own family’s Thanksgiving dinner, so I have no memories of it, fond or otherwise.

I do end up cooking it for holiday dinners, though. For some reason, and I’m sure I’m far from the only one reporting this fact, people do not seem to want it changed, not even for what is clearly the better. I’ve tried it with fresh green beans, homemade mushroom sauce or gravy, fresh mushrooms, a few different variations on the onions, and freshly fried bacon. The original recipe is still the one that seems to be the favorite.

I’m pretty sure it’s not the tampering with the food that is at issue, it’s the tampering with the memories. Otherwise there is no logical explanation at all!