fried rice

Somehow, I got confused about the company meeting. It was scheduled for today. As an aside, it was the most professional meeting of this type that I've ever attended. They even flew a customer out from Los Angeles to talk to us. Then they served a huge dinner which I tried to sample lightly. Our company lawyer is retiring to Montana, so the whole theme was country-western (music, boot-shaped balloons, horse-shaped balloons, plastic saloon doors, a Montana flag) and barbeque. The trimmings were good.

When I got home, fried rice seemed like a good dish to make because you don't have to take a pre-set portion. I was a little hungry, but not dinner-sized hungry.

I chopped and set aside onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, napa cabbage, carrots, a tomato, and six small mushrooms. We opened a small can of sliced water chestnuts. In a small bowl, we beat two eggs with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. I got out the rice that I cooked last night.

Then cooking went fairly quickly. Over medium heat, I added vegetables in this order: onions, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, water chestnuts. Then I dumped in the eggs and some cracked pepper and made sure the eggs cooked up (scrambling them) and then threw in the rice, garlic, and ginger and cooked until warm. At the last minute, I stirred in the cilantro.

It came out well, a little nutty, perhaps because of the ginger and cilantro combination. And the dish is good comfort food.