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In the 1950's, It was a big issue in America to service rice that didn't stick. I remember TV commercials about housewives making the perfect bowl of 'fluffy' rice. I heard one story where the husband invited his boss over for dinner and they were appalled to see his wife had cooked a bowl of rice where the grains stuck together. He was overlooked for a promotion simply because his wife had ruined their dinner!
We have all different varieties of rice and I believe minute rice rules out over rice that takes 30 to 40 minutes to fully cook.

Fast forward 40 years and I was dating a woman who was born in Hong Kong. She wanted to know what meals I cooked for myself, so I invited her over for dinner. Skirt steak, Caesar salad and rice was on the menu for the night.
Wash the rice, boil it for a few minutes, turn off the heat and cover. Perfect rice in less than 10 minutes.

Everything passed the test... except for the rice.

Why? It's nearly impossible to eat fluffy rice with chopsticks. She gasped and returned to the stove boiling the rice for another 15 minutes on high heat until it started to clump.

I can remember her scolding me because 'I didn't know how to cook rice' and to never do that again. Obviously, she felt bad for her actions and decided to buy me a rice cooker. The other thing was to buy different rice as the one I bought was long grain domestic and didn't have the desired flavor. A trip to the Asian market cured that.
Side note, the relationship ended before the bag of rice was empty.

Knowing now what to do now and avoiding lectures, I have been getting rice in 25 pound bags from the Asian market. Sometimes, 15 pound bags from the grocery store, but it must be cooked in the rice cooker to make it clump together.

Some of the imported rice has doubled in price lately. That doesn't bother me and... I was able to find a 20 pound bag of long-grain rice in Walmart for $10. Amazing !
But, it's domestic and doesn't clump like the imported rice, nor have any flavor. So, I'm being a diplomat until the 'wrong rice at the right price' is finished.

I try to get to the Asian Market in Miami twice a month as they have products not found in the local markets. Tofu, for example comes in larger bricks and less expensive than anything in my neighborhood.
It was on sales and we got a few packages. If you have read my previous comments, I dislike Tofu. It has to be cooked with other foods or I will avoid it entirely.
Since we had so much, one package was stored in the freezer and when it was time to use it, thawed and drained. Also, it's a good idea to actually rinse it before cooking.
Here's what I have found. After freezing, the Tofu becomes spongy. When it's cooked with other foods, it readily absorbs the flavor of the other foods.
Sunday, it was Tofu with steak and mushrooms. If I didn't already know, I wouldn't have guessed it was Tofu and the flavor and texture changed. No more thinking Plaster of Paris was added to the recipe!

I bought a mooncake two weeks ago , I visited a Chinese bakery and saw them wrapped up with a sign $9. The woman told me they only make them once a year so I bought one. I figured it must be really good since it was so small and expensive. My mind was changed after the first bite. Bitter and gross. I threw it in the street and then ran over it with my car just to feel better about the situation.

Anybody concerned with farming there?
If so , I would like to have some conversion about farming

When I started working in Boca Raton, my coworkers would frequent a Chinese restaurant named Hunan Palace. Through the years it must have been owned by different people but, it was a mainstay as the winter months had people standing outside waiting to get a seat.
Dingy, crowded, booths, a menu with numbers to order by. Lunch for $6 and a dollar more if you made substitutions.

COVID hit and the business suffered. As people started going back, the place was totally renovated. The huge aquarium in the middle was gone and the booths were taken out and replaced with tables. The floor was changed to ceramic tiles.
It must be hard keeping a good chef as the food was great one month and not-so-great the next. The one good thing about Chinese restaurants is they're never closed on American Holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas were their 2 best days.

I haven't gone to eat there in more than I can remember and a friend complained to the owner about the variances in quality. That must have been happening too often and the name removed from the front of the place indicated a kiss of death.

Driving by last night, I see a banner across the old signage for a new business of buffet style Indian Cuisine. It's been a while for me to have food in Indian style, so I'll have to pay my respects to the late Mr. Chen and see new foods are being cooked in my neighborhood.

News today that 2 employees of the Mars Wrigley factory in Pennsylvania fell into the chocolate tank and emergency crews had to cut a hole in the side of the tank to get them out.
One of the workers had to be airlifted to the hospital.
Inquiring minds want to know... how did they get into the tank?
Details are sketchy.

Story link:

My dad loved to cook. He also loved to watch TV while cooking. Unfortunately, the TV was in the living room and couldn't be viewed from the kitchen.
He would run back and forth trying to do both.
Let's say there was a chase scene on a Western that caught his attention... there would be a good chance the spaghetti would boil over or the broiled steaks would be crispy!

My first wife appropriately nicknamed him Burnie.

On Wednesday, it was my suggestion that the guys in the model helicopter group have a barbecue this holiday weekend. The new canopy was installed two weeks ago and the last barbecue was many months ago. We always talk about having them in the fall or spring when the weather isn't too hot or cold.
It was 'touch & go' as Thursday and Friday rained most of the day. We had a cold front push through on Saturday and the morning temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some people were working on Monday so it was decided to do the event on Sunday.
We are all on a group text so it was decided who would get what so we didn't have too much of the same.
I brought the watermelon, baked beans, sauteed onions. To offer something different than hotdogs and hamburgers, I made some scrambled eggs, cooked mushrooms and Italian sausage on the side. Those items got eaten while people were waiting for the grill to be setup.
We were to start around noon and I headed there around 11am. The temperature in my car was 102F and I'm guessing it was 95F under the canopy... totally different weather from a day earlier.
There was a mild breeze that blew the smoke from the grill across the 3 picnic tables, but it didn't stop the flies and gnats who outnumbered us 10 to 1. We had to keep lids on the foods and fan the items that remained open.
A quick count had 18 of us and some from the nearby airplane club stopped by to say hello.
Overall it was a few hours of fun. I didn't get to fly much as I participated on the food preparation and devoting time to the actual eating!

Cleanup was easy as I'm the one who brought the large garbage bags and the county hires a truck to do weekend pickups.
Seasonally it's brutal to have Barbecues in the middle of summer. If we do another one then, I'll ask someone to bring a generator and I'll bring some fans. We can run tarps to block the side with the most sunlight, making it cooler to enjoy the weather.
As far as the flies and gnats... it would be a huge undertaking to screen off the surrounding canopies. Maybe in a future lifetime.

Pre-ground coffee tastes flat and bitter.
Prove me wrong,

Instead of making a big song and dance about an outdated American tradition

You should consider a moments silence .....
And bow your head in shame


88% of Americans surveyed by the National Turkey Federation eat turkey on Thanksgiving. 46 million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving, 22 million on Christmas and 19 million turkeys on Easter.



That's 87 million lives taken


And you claim to be caring animal lovers