rice – GRACE FARSON

Oh how I wish I was good at math!

This summer, each of our team members took time reading Gladwell’s Outliers. The part that stood out the most to us was the discussion about rice paddies.

We were living in the world of muddy rice fields and it gave us an entirely new perspective.

“Rice paddies are ‘built,’ not ‘opened up’ the way a wheat field is. You don’t have to clear the trees, underbrush, and stones, and then plow. Rice fields are carved into mountain sides in an elaborate series of terraces, or painstakingly constructed from marshland and river plains. A rice paddy has be irrigated, so a complex system of dikes has to be built around the field. Channels must be dug from the nearest water source, and gates built into the dikes to the water flow can be adjusted precisely to cover the right amount of the plant . . .” – Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

[Photo: My favorite spot in Letang//Grace Farson]

i got back from indonesia and all i can think about is the same meal i had every day there.

* * * nasi goreng dan telur * * *

{fried rice with egg}

* eggs

* cooked rice

* soy sauce

* carrots

* frozen peas

* mint

* basil

* onions

* garlic

put oil in a large frying pan or griddle and saute onions and garlic until crispy. set aside. put oil in same pan or griddle and cook diced carrots until tender. add the cooked rice to the pan and mix the two together. wait until rice starts to golden and carrots are well cooked, add frozen peas and gradually add soy sauce until all the rice is a similar golden color. scramble and cook the eggs, add to the rice, carrots and peas mixture in the pan. turn the rice until everything is mixed together.

add the onions and garlic on the top on each rice mound. {i stuffed my rice in a small bowl and then turned the bowl upside down to preserve its shape}

serve with fresh mint and basil.

it’s simple, delicious and reminds me of a lot of good times!