The Rice Expert

For this week, MacGyver was out of the house by 1PM and was expected back after 10PM.  This meant that the kids and I would have to take care of dinner.  Last Wednesday was the first time this situation has come about and we both wanted to make sure that there would be minimal or no impact on the regular routine.  In other words, we wanted to make sure the family would still able to have dinner at a reasonable time, regardless of what time I was able to get home from work.

Wednesday :  I started off the Korean  Beef Stew in the slow cooker.  MacGyver would be able to flip on the switch to time it such that it would be ready in time for dinner.  I got a call from MacGyver in the late afternoon.  He had checked on the kids but had forgotten to remind them to cook rice.  When I got home, I found that MyGirl was responsible enough to cook rice.   All good.

Thursday :  I figured Hainanese Chicken would be simple enough for the kids to manage.  Our recipe is a rice cooker meal so all the kids would have to do was to put the ingredients into the rice cooker and "press start" (as we like to call pressing the rice cooker switch).  I pre-cut the chicken and put the initial marinade before going to work, then left instructions on a Post-It for MyGirl to prepare our meal for the evening. (I mean let's face it, the boys wouldn't REALLY do the cooking if they didn't HAVE to, even if it was only a matter of putting everything in the cooking had pressing start).  All went well, there was a lot of rice and two pieces of Hainanese Chicken left after the four of us had dinner.

Friday : I decreed we would have left-overs but MacGyver still prepared some chicken to augment the meal before he left for work.  There were three odd pieces left from the batch of chicken we had purchased for the Hainanese Chicken meal. (I had set these aside because there were only so many pieces of chicken we could squeeze into the rice cooker.)  He had marinated the chicken and cooked them in the turbo broiler.    He emailed to tell me that I just had to flip the turbo on for ten minutes to re-heat.  

When I got home, RD proudly announced that he had cooked three cups of rice.   I didn't think we'd need new rice because I knew that there was still some left over rice from the previous day (a small container of left-over rice and the Hainanese Chicken rice) plus there was some sotanghon from Tuesday's dinner.  All of these were in the refrigerator.   Not to mention, that upon entering the kitchen, I immediately spotted a small Tupperware of rice on the counter beside the stove.  Then found a fresh batch of fried rice inside the pan on top of the stove.  

"OK,  RD," I said,  "thanks for cooking rice but my question is you cooked rice because you  DIDN'T SEE any rice? "

And we both had a good laugh, especially when he relayed that he had taken the initiative of transferring the cooked rice from the rice cooker (which he put in a Tupperware and placed on the counter beside the stove), cleaned the rice cooker, refilled the rice container, measured out the rice and water for cooking then five seconds after he pressed start, the phone rang.  It was his dad calling to check up on them.  And MacGyver's question was, "Did you see the fried rice?"   [Yes, the fried rice that is right beside the Tupperware of cooked rice you put on the counter.]

Obviously he didn't see the rice, but it was a good thing he had cooked new rice because the kids thoroughly enjoyed the turbo chicken and, guess what, I was the only one who had left-overs that night.

Saturday morning :  MacGyver and I were enjoying our cup of coffee and I was waiting for MyGirl to come down since she said she was willing to do breakfast for us.  When she didn't emerge from her room, I figured she was busy with something and decided to start breakfast off because I was almost certain RD would wake up sometime soon.  (Apparently MyGirl was just waiting for me to call her.)

I started off with RD's omelette then moved on  to prepare MyGirl's. Then I remembered  I  had to reheat the rice so I poured some water over the left-over rice in the cooker and flipped on the wall switch.  I was finishing off MyGirl's omelette when RD came down.  His first question, "Is there rice?"

Everyone had a good laugh because of Friday night's rice fiasco.  I told him, just check if it has already popped.  He checked and said that the switch was up. (In my mind, that was quick.)  He proceeded to get the oven mitts and transferred the rice cooker from the kitchen to the table.  

I was busy with GI's omelette when RD asked, "Did you add water to the rice, Mom?  This rice is hard."  I replied that I had added water.

With the reassurance that I had added water, he proceeded with his breakfast.  Immediately after taking his first bite, he exclaimed, "This is still COLD!"

Oops, I added water but I must have forgotten to press start.  

Sorry, RD.  (But didn't you even notice that the rice cooker wasn't hot?)

So now, RD is officially our resident rice "expert". 

The photos below will tell you two things -- (1)  We're going to run out of rice soon and (2)  MyGirl has been at the rice container again.