Cooking, cooking~

Today I finally cooked for myself for the first time~ I said I was going to learn to cook during summer vacation, but I really didn’t learn much at all; at most, when Mom or Grandma was cooking, I just watched from the side, and I didn’t even do that very many times. Anyway, cooking isn’t something all that hard, so I’ll just figure it out myself when the time comes~

Today I finally did it myself, so let’s start with something simple: washing rice and cooking rice doesn’t seem to have much difficulty. It looks like I controlled the water-to-rice ratio pretty well too; the rice came out neither burnt nor mushy, just right. The only thing is that I didn’t judge the quantity well—this one pot is probably enough for me to eat for several days…… Maybe tomorrow I’ll figure out a way to make egg fried rice and make do~

I made a vegetable soup, and by my own feeling it was even better than the soup Mom or Grandma makes: simple and refreshing, with the greens just the right side of tender, a little salt, some chicken bouillon powder, and a subtle bit of white pepper, though it seems like there was a bit too much soup~

Then I prepared to deep-fry two pre-made chicken wings. Although I don’t especially like fried chicken wings, I’d happened to buy them last time, so I thought I’d give it a try. As it turned out, the first one was obviously a failure—though I can’t blame myself entirely for that; while it was frying, a phone call came in, and by the time I got back after answering it, it had turned into a lump of charcoal…… Then I fried another one, which was more or less passable.

Finally I fried up a fried egg, and that made a dinner~

August 30, 2007

Latest comments

• Gua Chu

  2007-08-31 18:31:29 

  Let me add a little~ Today I really did make egg fried rice. The method was entirely something I came up with out of thin air—I first beat the eggs, added a little salt, MSG, scallion, oil, and a subtle bit of cooking wine, honey, cumin powder, chopped greens, and ham sausage…… then I mixed the cold rice into it, stirred it up, and left it alone for a while…… then I put it in the pan and stir-fried it (I was trying to make golden-and-silver rice; the result wasn’t ideal, but it was still okay~). The only mistake was that I put in too much oil (there was quite a bit of oil in the pan later too). Overall it still turned out pretty well; compared with the “scrambled egg mixed with rice” you get in many restaurants, my egg fried rice was still pretty good~ The grains of rice were distinct, and they had a nice chew to them; the subtle cumin powder seemed to work pretty well, though too much of it probably wouldn’t be good~
  The problem is that even though I made egg fried rice today and also wasted part of it, there’s still enough rice left from yesterday for two or three meals. What should I do……

• Yiwu

  2007-08-31 20:06:03

  …………honey, cumin powder…………
  Oh my God.
  I’ve heard that honey and scallions, or fish and scallions, are incompatible—you’d better be careful! Some people have actually been poisoned by them; it’s not like the usual rumor-type “incompatible foods”!!
  Cumin powder~You can come up with that too~~ It’s obviously Cantonese fried rice嘛~~
  This can only prove one thing————you’re not picky about food~ extremely not picky~~ such a good kid~
  Tomorrow? Get a bottle of chili sauce, mix it in~~ maybe it’ll be so spicy you’ll finish two meals merged into one directly…… heh heh…………

• Yiwu

  2007-08-31 20:06:53

  I said it wrong~~ it’s fish and honey or scallions and honey~ 

• Gua Chu

  2007-08-31 20:17:50 

  Scallions, tofu, garlic, chives, crab, and the like are incompatible with honey, but I only added a subtle tiny bit of honey, and only a very small bit of scallion, so it should be fine.
  I went from being an extremely picky eater as a child to being extremely not picky now, especially in terms of being open to all kinds of ingredients~ It’s just that if something is too spicy I still can’t handle it, and I also don’t like it when any sweetness, saltiness, sourness, or other flavor gets too strong

• Gua Chu

  2007-08-31 20:22:19 

  Egg fried rice has regional versions too? I thought it was a universal way of dealing with leftover rice~ Yangzhou fried rice is also egg fried rice; in Beijing it’s called scrambled egg and chive fried rice (muxu fried rice), but I’ve never heard of Cantonese egg fried rice……
  I’ll look up the origin of egg fried rice: http://bbs.55bbs.com/thread-461940-1-1.html, take a look: “Egg fried rice is a way of eating that came from abroad; it was not invented by people in the mainland. Its roots are in the Western Regions, that is, today’s Xinjiang area. Ban Gu’s Book of Han contains a rather indirect record. Judging from the name, egg fried rice should also be a way of eating among ethnic minorities in the Western Regions.” — So it actually came from your side after all~

• Yiwu

  2007-08-31 21:14:16

  Speaking of which, we have the terms Cantonese fried rice\Yangzhou fried rice here…. Could it be, could it be…. these all come from pilaf?!!
  We use muxu for wrapping dumplings.
  I’ve been a not-picky eater since childhood.
  Speaking of which, I still haven’t come over from that side~
  Don’t keep saying “subtle XX”~~ If it can’t be eaten, it can’t be eaten, okay!
  But~ feel free to add cumin~ next time maybe add some curry too, I wonder if that would be even more wonderful?~

• Gua Chu

  2007-08-31 22:41:59 

  Pilaf seems to be made with uncooked rice, right? Then it can’t be used to solve leftover rice~~ But I’ll try making one another day too.
  As for curry fried rice, I used to eat it at a snack shop, and I didn’t think much of it; maybe it would turn out better if I made it myself? We’ll see next time~
  Tomorrow I’ll stir-fry some lamb and toss together a salad~
  Cooking is really fun

• Yiwu

  2007-08-31 23:59:20 

  Salad! Salad is great~
  I wonder what Beijing lamb is like~~ Better buy the “Grassland Xingfa” shabu-shabu lamb rolls~~~

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.