Congee (The Village of Gruel*)

I love congee! I first encountered this soupy rice (or ricey soup) porridge in China a year ago. It was served at breakfast buffets with an assortment of strange-smelling condiments, including dried fish flakes. Dried fish, especially dried scallops, are a delicacy in China. I didn't enjoy the bland gruel or its condiments. But now I am learning to cook it my way.

I got a new cookbook, "The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Classic Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing" by Grace Young, who grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown. The first section is on the importance of rice and congee (pronounced "kahn-jee." I think.) I have a bad cold right now, so I promptly made myself some healing congee. It was good! Here's how I do it:

Combine 1 cup of white rice with 3-4 cups of chicken stock and 4 slices of ginger. Bring to a boil, then simmer for hours. Yum yum! It was like risotto at first (without all the butter and cheese), and then changed to a soupier texture, especially when I added more water. Why congee is better than risotto: you don't have to stand there and stir it for 45 minutes! Ariel likes it too, and she likes toast with her soup. I walked away from her for a minute this morning, and she was spooning her congee on top of her toast, folding it, and calling it a congee sandwich. Too cute.

Oh, and I must tell you (I must shout it on the internet for all the world to hear), my daughter said, "I love you Mom," for the first time! Yay! Happy New Year!!!

*The Village of Gruel is a restaurant we drove by in Guangzhou. I'm pretty sure it was a congee house, with a really bad English translation!

Potty Mouth Mom

One of the things I love about blogging is that I can cradle the notion that anyone cares what I think. The internet does wonders for the ego. I do want to apologize for my language on my last post. I had been on vacation for a week, and I let my hair down, swearing whenever I felt like it, even in front of my daughter. This habit is hard to break. But I am trying to clean up my potty mouth. I love to swear, but it's not cute on a baby. Wait -- I take that back. Have you seen this video?

Vacation on the island of Cozumel is truly a wonderful thing. Everyone should go on vacation once a year, wherever your happy place is. The biggest decision I had to make each day was which bathing suit to wear. I accomplished nothing, except a tan without burning. Ariel didn't get sick, except once when she barfed up a bunch of Burger King french fries. (Please don't ask me how come we got Burger King -- it's a long and sad story.) You CAN ask me where and when the barf went down -- it's a hilarious story! (Oh, woops. My DH probably won't appreciate that. Sorry, husb!)

Chinese New Year is Sunday, and I am preparing for that. A feast that shall include dumplings, steamed buns, tea eggs, and pork noodles. But mostly it is mental preparation. Our regular new year on January 1st doesn't do much for me. I need a month to get into it. Two weeks from today is the anniversary of Ariel's adoption. Two weeks after that is the day we brought her home. March 5th is my official New Year, when I started this new life of motherhood. I'm feeling it. I am feeling it, baby. This is my New Year starting Sunday, Feb 15 through March 5th.

And I do not resolve to clean up my language too much.

Ketchup is a Vegetable

Our esteemed president, Ronald Reagan, served two terms while I was growing up. He declared ketchup a vegetable, in order to make school lunches cheaper. Gone with healthy meals for children in public schools! Jesus Christ almighty, is this shit for real? I don't even believe in Jesus, but OMG, this shit is for real!

Today Ariel had a hot dog for lunch (back off all you health-nut mothers or wannabe parents who think you know what's best for everyone else!) She asked me for ketchup, and with her young speech I thought she was saying, "shut up" (which was weird to me because we don't say shut up in our home). So I gave her a boatload of ketchup, she ate her hotdog, and licked the ketchup off the bun. It was hilarious! Ketchup TOTALLY IS a vegetable. For the love of ketchup!

Oh, and BTW, catsup may possibly be a Chinese word, meaning tomato sauce.