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.