An Adventure in Mango Rice

After an exciting, yet disappointing U of O game there is no better way to revitalize the spirit than with a bunch of friends crowded into a tiny kitchen. The first installment of the new cooking club turned out to be a success. Anu taught us how to cook Mango Rice which was delicious and Hema showed us her secret of perfect rice pudding. We were all amazed because they don't use any recipes in their cooking. I tried taking notes but in all the excitement I still don't think I have a decent list of directions to share.

Anu and I went to Sunrise Market which specializes in Asian foods earlier in the day to get the ingredients. I felt like I was in a completely different country. She was buying all this produce that looked like it should have come from a fantasy world and she could clearly explain how it was prepared. I recognized a few, like the mango we bought, but I had always thought that mangoes were supposed to be sweet. This time we were looking for the most green and sour one and we squeezed them to make sure that they were hard instead of soft.
She told me that when she was little her mother would make her go to the store and practice picking out the ripe vegetables so that she would be prepared when she had to cook for herself. It made me think a lot about what I am teaching Rocky. She does know that she should squeeze the avocados and that the green bananas don't taste as good as the yellow, but her real supermarket expertise comes in selecting the right kind of chocolate chips. (It is not as easy as it sounds. Nowadays there are like 20 different varieties. The last time we went we picked up the dark chocolate to try because Brandon said that they are healthy.)

You may notice the peppers in this picture. While she usually uses 5 when making this dish for herself, this time she only used 2 for our wimpy tongues. It was a good choice.


Everyone was leaning in to smell if the mustard seed had popped.



The best part, of course, was the sampling! We had the rice with Kimberly's pasta and the tomato soup recipe that I got from Cara. It actually turned out to be quite the feast.


...And in other Rigby family news...
Rocky is getting pretty tough while she does push-ups with her dad.

After all that working she likes to show off her svelte physique by adorning it with all kinds of accessories. This is what happens when she chooses her outfit.

BFFs

Rocky's little friend Chloe comes over on Tuesdays and Thursdays while her mom and dad are in class. These two have become best buds and get into all sorts of shenanigans together.

So what if it isn't anyone's birthday. The hats are always a good idea.



In the car the two of them reach across and touch hands which sets them off into a stream of giggles. I think it is kind of a scary premonition of what we can expect to hear a lot of when Rocky is about 12. It reminds me of one time when I was a missionary and my companion Hna. Smith and I got a bad case of the giggles on a city bus. We got off at the same stop as a man who seemed to get a big kick out of it. He said, "When you have a friend that you can laugh with like that, life is good."
When I am driving and can hear those two girls laughing away I can't help but think that life really is good.


In this picture they were going over the nursery rhymes hoping to get some ideas for songs for their new band. They've been working on their Emo hairstyles but obviously Chloe is winning. Rocky's curls would probably do her more good in Nashville but they've discussed it and decided that country isn't really their scene.
It doesn't matter how nice their hair is when they start out because after the whirlwind of play they both usually look like they've been through a hurricane. But, if you think the hair looks like wild, you should see what they do to the house. It is worth it for the hours of entertainment. I clean when (if) they take their naps.


They are looking pretty guilty here. I actually made those magnets for them to play with (I know, just call me Martha Stewart) but they wouldn't think it was fun if they didn't think it was off limits.


Rocky was really sick on Tuesday so we are pretty excited to get Chloe back today.

Halloween in Eugene

Rocky and Ron Burgundy, otherwise known as The Anchorman, were ready to broadcast the evening news. Brandon's costumes are always a big hit with the people who actually know who he is.
You may notice that she is wearing a Weber State shirt, but she's got a duck in her hand. She has mixed loyalties.


After dressing up for so many parties, Rocky felt that she needed a change of pace. The moose hat seemed a little bit like a safety hazard so we resurrected last years Ewok hood. Here is a blast from the past showing exactly how she looked one year ago, just in case you forgot that she used to be a baby.

Since she couldn't trick or treat at the houses of her grandmas she went to show off her costume to her adopted grandma in Eugene. They didn't have any treats at the restaurant so Rosi gave us a container of refried beans, which was even better.


Trick or treating was kind of a pickle. Not only was it raining, but the big U of O game was on. We went out during half time to our two neighbors, which are both pretty close considering we are in apartments. Some of you may be thinking that I am a mean and unfit mother, but I choose to believe that I was trying to protect my little Ewok from the evils of candy. Just to prove my point I'll have you know that of the three pieces of candy that she earned by knocking doors I only let her have one. Brandon and I unselfishly took the health risks upon ourselves and ate the other two. Just so you know, she got first pick and took the Butterfinger. She was also able to smooth talk her dad into about half of the Peanut Butter Cup but I wasn't going to fall for those big blue eyes and ate the Baby Ruth after she had gone to bed.
Another reason that we elected to mostly avoid the door-to-door begging is that the past week or so Rocky has gotten into the habit of running up and knocking on random doors. She thinks it is really funny and even more funny to go ahead and walk in if the door is open. I didn't think it would be very wise to let her know that if you knock on random doors that people will give you candy and tell you that you are cute.
Okay, mostly it was because I wanted to watch the game. I LOVE trick or treating and I love candy even more.

You wouldn't believe how excited she was with her Butterfinger, and we let her have all the refried beans she could eat.


I mean, look at that belly...it's not like we don't have enough treats already at this house.
In my constant pursuit of better eating habits I carefully selected the candy that seemed least appealing so that I wouldn't eat it all before the trick or treaters arrived. I picked out Nerds and a collection of Lemon-Heads "and friends." Little did I know that the friends were the new, improved, chewy Lemon Heads that are awesome. Because of the rain we had a few left that I was forced to sample. Now I guess I will have to eat the rest, so that they don't go to waste. The kind of better eating strategy that I was working on doesn't work if you are me and find that you love anything that is made of food. I ate most of the leftover Nerds too.
Maybe next year I should give out refried beans instead. I'd probably end up eating a lot of them, but at least they'd have some fiber.

Halloween in Eugene

Don't miss Lil' Zombie's Graveyard Picnic.

She's a Maniac

Rocky's costume for the playgroup party went a little bit to her head. She tried to get the whole group to jazzercise.


There were a variety of characters that were interested in battles, but nobody really was in the mood for aerobics.
Instead she had to get her workout in at home.

The Monster Mash

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Six hundred crazy people, including me, lined up on Saturday morning wearing costumes and practically freezing to death to run the Monster Mash 5K. I've been looking forward to the race this whole month and was not let down. It was wild because adults, kids, dogs, and babies in strollers all participated. A guy dressed like a pirate pushing newborn twins in a double jogger passed me at the 2nd mile mark. It was okay though because I passed a couple of black cats, a fairy, and some mobsters during the third. I also passed a banana who had to stop and use a pooper scooper after her dog spoiled the trail, but once they were all cleaned up she ran right by me again. I have a tendency in these races to start out to fast and then kind of run out of gas and barely stumble across the finish line. This time I was determined to take it slowly and try to have a more consistent pace. But, I waited a little too long to speed up. This meant that although I didn't have a particularly fast time, I did have a lot of fun picking off zombies and clowns one by one during the last mile (that sounds more like a horror movie than a community event.)

I could almost hear them thinking, "Curse that moose!" I will admit that the Bullwinkle costume is not very flattering, but it was hilarious the way the antlers bounced up and down with each step. I've never really been able to pull off the 'cutesy' scene anyway. I usually fit better in the category of comic relief.



Laurie, who is my friend, and inspiration in all things running ran with me. When I say ran "with" me I mean that she was so far ahead that I couldn't even see her little bat antennea. She was, as the announcer said, 'The fastest pumpkin of the day." We met up at the finish and watched all the door prizes go to other people. I am glad to have this picture because without her diligent example, I probably wouldn't have been in any shape to be running at all.

Rocky the flying squirrel had a great time watching all the dogs and as a prize for her good behavior earned this pear. It kept her busy for about 45 minutes. In the end I think she ate the whole thing, stem and all.

More than a Hobby

I enjoy food. I enjoy it way too much and it worries me a little bit that many of my childhood memories are centered on what I was eating. The only thing I remember about being in pre-school is the graham crackers and that when we would sing 'The Farmer in the Dell' and the cheese would always have to stand alone. Sometimes Brandon will bring up an event that we went to in the past and I will respond with something like, "Is that where we had that amazing spinach dip?" I usually can't recall who we talked to, but I have a detailed menu of the whole night stored in my brain. I know exactly what foods go with specific holidays or seasons and I have great memories of having delicious meals as a child and as an adult.
When I was 20 I went on a road trip that lasted over a month. I have a lot of memories about all the different places that we went, but the most vivid memory of all was the night I returned home. It was cold and dark and I was so hungry and when I walked in the kitchen was warm and smelled like spaghetti. It was like heaven.
It is no wonder that I spend a large part of my day playing with food. I check out the recipe books at the library that have full page photos of each dish and look through them over and over. I watch cooking shows, and read cooking blogs.
Cooking is a tricky hobby, especially for those of us who have a tendency to overeat. Too often I feel like I'm wasting time and wish that my guilty pleasure was rock climbing, playing soccer, or something else equally cool.
Preparing food just seems so house-wifey, old fashioned, and really un-hip.

I felt a little better after reading an article in the New York Times, "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch" by Michael Pollan (who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food...Oh, by the way, I also like to read non-cookbooks that are related to food). He talks about how many Americans watch more cooking on T.V. than they actually do themselves. He brings up the idea that cooking is one of the things that only humans do. He made me feel that by putting in all those hours at the stove I was joining with generations of people who have lived and enjoyed food for thousands of years.
Then I heard an interview with Ruth Reichl who was the editor of Gourmet magazine. She used to be the food critic for the New York Times but gave up the job because she wanted to be able to cook dinner for her family. I couldn't believe that a woman with such a great gig would make that kind of sacrifice. Think about it...her job was to go to all the best restaurants in New York and get paid to eat.
But she said that those hours she spent in her own home preparing food for the people she loved was the best time of her life.
It helped me feel validated about the time that I spend chopping and mixing in my kitchen. I can let myself enjoy the smell of the ingredients and the feel of the heat from the oven and marvel at the way flavors can combine with texture in innumerable ways.
Even in our society of fast food and restaurants we still hold home cooking on a special pedestal. It represents peace, comfort, family and love. I guess it is because we know that if the food was cooked at home it was done by someone we love and who loves us.
I guess it's a pretty hip hobby after all.