Rice, savory and sweet

I grew up with white potatoes, not rice. It's taken many tries to appreciate this grain. Now my rice recipes are scattered, and I'm still not at ease enough to know which one I want. Often I settle for brown rice boiled in the bag. When I'm more energetic I cook the one I find first. So here they are, all in one place. (Yes, there's a dessert here too!)

Coconut Brown Rice

from Saveur

This is simple and delicious, especially with Indian or Thai dishes. To make it simpler, just use coconut milk for all or part of the liquid andcook brown or white rice the way it says on the box. Add a piece of peeled ginger if you have it.

1. Using the back of a large knife, pound the ginger until it becomes bruised and somewhat stringy and releases some of is juice. This will take a few good whacks.

1  1" piece peeled fresh ginger
1 cup brown jasmine rice
3⁄4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

2. Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds. Transfer the rice to a 1 1⁄2-quart saucepan and add the coconut milk, 3⁄4 cup cold water, and the salt.

3. Add the ginger to the pan and stir well to combine with the rice, making sure that the ginger is as fully submerged in the rice as possible. Place the pan over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil while stirring with a large spoon to prevent the rice at the bottom of the pan from scorching or burning. (Don't worry if the liquid thickens considerably as it comes to a boil; that's a result of the combining of the fats in the coconut milk with the starch in the rice.)

4. Allow the rice to boil for 15 seconds, while continuing to stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until the liquid is completely absorbed and rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the pot from heat; allow the rice to continue to steam, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

SERVES 2

Judy's Spanish Rice

Judy married Lou, from a Spanish family. I remember they had Christmas lights strung in the back yard for their wedding celebration. Eventually they divorced, but the recipe survived.

Sauté a couple of tablespoons olive oil and five cloves of garlic, chopped.

Toss in 1 green pepper and 1 red pepper, chopped. Cook a couple of minutes.

Add 1 pound shrimp or cut-up snapper or chicken and 1 1/2 C. rice.

Add about 3 cups water or water/white wine/chicken broth mixed, a pinch of crushed saffron, and salt to taste (I use 1 1/2 t.). Put the lid on and simmer about 15 minutes, until rice is cooked. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through. It will be if your pieces are bite-sized.

This is so good.

Mamma Pappas' Rice Pudding (Rizogalo)

This is from the Columbus Dispatch recipe exchange from a long time ago.

1 quart milk

1/2 C. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 T cornstarch

1 egg yolk, beaten

1 T. butter

cinnamon

Cook rice in 1 C. boiling water 10 minutes or until water is absorbed. Add milk. Return to a boil, cooking gently over reduced heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sugar and vanilla.

Dissolve cornstarch in 1 tsp. water (I use more). Add to rice mixture. Cook 10 minutes; remove from heat.

Add 1 C. of hot rice mixture to egg yolk & stir. Pour that back into the pan and stir it all. Add butter. Cook until mixture coats a wooden spoon. Sometimes I add finely grated lemon peel at this point. Before serving, sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bright Yellow Cashew Rice

*Not everyone loves turmeric

Sauté in butter 2 medium onions, chopped. Stir in 1 C. uncooked brown rice andfry a few more minutes. Sprinkle in 1 t. ground turmeric* and stir so it doesn't burn.

Add 2 C. water 7 and1 t. salt.

Bring slowly to a boil, then simmer about 35 minutes, or until rice is done.

Toss in 1/2 C. chopped cashews and 4 or 5 chopped scallions just before serving.

Garnish with orange slices.

Baked Chicken and Rice

from Cooking for Engineers

I discovered this in the cooking for the sick ministry at Good Shepherd. I made dinner for a family of four. The father was finishing up cancer treatment. I asked what was his favorite dish, and they said chicken and rice. My mom used to make a casserole with leftover chicken; hers had cream of chicken soup, and I think she used noodles instead of rice. You can add any vegetable; I like broccoli or spinach. (This might be how I discovered Cooking for Engineers. He has other great basic recipes, and I love his charts.) Here's the chart; the link explains it fully.

Oven Baked Chicken and Rice (serves 6)

Preheat oven to 375&176;F (190°C)
1 cup (195 g) rice	cook	cook	stir in	stir in	combine	place	sprinkle	bake 375°F (190°C) 1 hour
1 Tbs. (14 g) butter
1 medium onion	dice
1 clove garlic	mince
1 medium zucchini	cut
10-3/4 oz. (305 g) can cream of mushroom	whisk
2-1/2 cup (590 mL) water
4 lb. (1.8 kg) chicken parts
1 teaspoon (2.8 g) garlic powder

Beach Walk in SAQA Florida

Beach Walk, 65" x 23"
collage and paint

I'm happy that Beach Walk was selected for the Studio Art Quilt Associates show October 30-December 3 at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach!

Paint

God's paint job: sunset at St. Joseph Peninsula
(That's sand, not snow!)

Beach Walk: oil paint stick and acrylic paint

I thought I'd never paint anything but furniture and walls. Then I painted quilts. I love the strong oily smell of Paintstiks. I love to get my hands dirty with paint. I love paint color too. But the refinements of using paint -- of being a painter -- scare me. April, my media teacher at LeMoyne, made it slightly less so. Here's what I learned:

Acrylic. "When it dries it's plastic. It blocks water." April loves Golden brand. Then Utrecht, Winsdor-Newton, and finally Liquitex. Not always in that order, just kind of. Liquitex is least expensive, thinnest in color. "You might want that effect," April said. If so, buy Liquitex.

Gesso is white liquid that you lay down to prepare your painting surface. April uses it like white paint. She never buys white paint. Gesso, however, does not like permanent marker, April said.

The water-activated paints are tempera (dries chalky), gouache (you need just a dab; call it gwash), and, of course, watercolor. To indicate transparency, there are three slanted lines on the tube. If the paint is very transparent, you'll be able to see the lines clearly. For less transparent paint, the lines will be more covered up. Somehow, hue on the label means it will be more watery and permanence means high intensity.

I've got to play with all these paints, blending colors and layering until I understand them. I am going to work with the Lumiere textile acrylic and Shiva Paintstiks, leaving the water-based paints for postcards and notebook.

Encaustic

I've been keeping a tiny notebook of copies of art I like, and on the next page I make a sacrilegiously quick piece to mimic it. Today I'm melting crayons to approximate encaustic. Here's a copy of Bottles, the work of Carolyn Homan, the artist inspiring me:

Read the site of of Ann Onusko, for more about encaustic. You mix wax (usually beeswax), with resin (usually Damar resin). Melt it, brush it down on a sturdy, prepared, porous surface, let it cure for days or weeks, then polish it. I think you add pigment in the first step. I think you can also put color on top. You can scratch in designs and alter it in other ways. A blowtorch is involved somewhere, or maybe one of those little tools to bubble the top of creme brulée. In the end you polish it so it looks like a waxed floor. This is where encaustic loses me. I love its layered-ness and the misty fusion of lines, but I don't like art so slick you can skate on it.

But it was fun melting crayons. I chipped off little pieces and microwaved them on high for 2-5 minutes, depending. Oh -- the encaustic process is toxic and should be done wearing a mask and near an open window. So I'll air out the microwave. 

Here's what my melted piece looks like in the sun.

Mary's Chocolate Cake

Mary gave me this recipe many chocolate cakes ago, and it is still our favorite.

Mary's Chocolate Cake

Boil together in the microwave:
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 C. water
4 T. cocoa


Beat in 2 eggs.

Add:
2 C. sugar
2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. soda

Stir in 3/4 C. sour cream. Don't beat too much.

Bake at 375° in preferred shape until toothpick comes out clean. Use these approximate times
Two heart pans -- 25 minutes
Two 8"or 9"  pans -- 35 minutes
9" x 13" sheet pan -- 30 minutes
jelly roll pan -- 20 minutes
Cupcakes (Use paper cupcake liners -- the recipe makes about 24) -- 20 minutes

Icing
Melt a package of milk chocolate chips with a piece of butter. Watch so chocolate doesn't burn! Beat in powdered sugar and half and half. The more sugar and cream you add, the more icing you get. It's also better, I think.

Shortbread Cookies

Just one? Ha! Impossible.

I made these this morning for C's football friends. I've had the recipe forever. They are rich and delicious. If you eat them right out of the oven (how would I know?), the powdered sugar is hot and liquid.

Shortbread

Mix:
1 C. butter
3/4 C. sugar

Add:
2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
2 t. vanilla

Spread on ungreased cookie sheet, 1/4" - 1/2" thick. Sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar (no need to sift it through a strainer, just glop it on. Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes -- maybe less, if you've spread them thin. They get a little browned. C and I like them quite brown, but I think traditionally they are less well-done. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar, as soon as they come out of the oven. Then quickly cut them into diamonds, using a pizza cutter. Cool and then remove from pan.

10 minutes with Enrique Martinez Celaya

Here's a 10-minute movie showing the studio life of Enrique Martinez Celaya in Miami.

Enrique Martinez Celaya: Collected Writings and Interviews, 1990-2010 by Enrique Martinez Celaya
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Now that I read so much on the iPad, books themselves mean all the more to me.  This book feels good. I like the way the cover is elongated, then folded inside to the size of the book. The paper is creamy and has a tooth to it. The whole thing feels like a project, both intimate and austere.  Martínez Celaya himself autographed the title page with a narrow, slanted scratch.

And that's kind of the way he writes: it's more an incision than a view.  Simple and serious -- smart!  Lots of layers here.  Some people think visual artists can't use words, but this one can. Okay -- sometimes he's deeper than I like to delve. After all, he was getting his PhD in physics  when he abruptly (his parents thought!) chose art instead. Then he was a successful art professor at the fancy Pomona College in California, but eventually turned his back on that too

Now he has a slick studio (He would loathe the word slick -- but a recent video shows it is smooth and spare.)  in Miami's Wynwood district. I bought the book at Books & Books in Coral Gables -- mostly because C & I agree never to leave a bookstore without buying a book. I am glad.


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