Chicken Fried Rice

Based on how delicious my chicken fried rice looked in the picture in my last post, several of you, my faithful readers, have requested the recipe. Let me start off by telling you how I came about said recipe (and I use this term lightly)
1. I had chicken fried rice at P.F. Chang's in Seattle and it was so wonderful I've been craving it ever since.
2. I had leftover chicken and a wok I had never used.
3. I called Corinne (the only person I've ever known to make their own fried rice)to get some instruction. Her instructions were basically: saute whatever veggies you have in some olive oil, then add some cooked rice, then scoot that to the side and cook an egg in the same pan, then season with soy sauce. I modified this recipe slightly and provided it below. The main difference is I used veggie oil instead of olive oil. I have heard that olive oil will get too hot and burn in a wok, so I took that to heart and made the switch.

1. Heat wok on med-med/high heat
2. Crack two eggs into wok and scramble them. Remove from wok when cooked.
3. Add about 1 Tablespoon veggie oil to hot wok
4. Add chopped onions and carrots to oil (I chopped about a cup of each)
5. When onions and carrots are starting to soften (after about 3 minutes) I added some frozen, whole green beans that I chopped into bite size pieces. Saute until they turn bright green (just a few minutes)
6. Add cooked white rice (I did about 3 cups?)
7. Add another tablespoon or two of veggie oil
8. Mix the rice with the veggies and let it 'cook' a few minutes. I recommend using a very flexible plastic spatula to turn the mixture while it's cooking.
9. Add chopped cooked chicken and mix with rice and veggies
10. Cook until it looks warmed through and some of the rice is starting to turn a very light golden brown.
11. Add previously cooked chopped up scrambled egg to mixture and fold in.
12. Remove from heat, but while wok is still hot, add a few drops of toasted sesame oil and low sodium soy sauce.
13. Toss thoroughly to coat the mixture and then pig out!!!

As you can see, this is a very in-exact recipe. I just winged it and it was amazingly good. Daniel made me make it again the next day for lunch. There is no way you can screw this up! Next time I will add green onions and maybe snow peas, but the toasted sesame oil really makes this recipe.

The last of the 20's

To start, a big thanks to Meg for requesting a new post. It was just the kick I needed to take care of bidness. Since my last post, I have celebrated (heavily) my 29th birthday. I really don't get that stressed about getting older. I sort of get stressed about not being stressed about getting older. I can't stop thoughts like, "wow, by 29, I really should be doing this or that..". But, thankfully, I still feel about 23, so those thoughts are pretty easy to push aside.

My birthday started very early this year. At 6:30 am I was sitting at my laptop at home with a cup of coffee studying up on work stuff. I was in the office by 7:30 and spent until 3:00 pm with a client that was in town for a 'QA Summit'. Sounds really serious and important doesn't it? Well, it was serious and important I guess, but the names people give these meetings really cracks me up. It's like 'Ice Storm 94'. Dun dun dunnnnn....Sorry, I'm getting off the subject. My department surprised me with a carrot cake, a card, and a gift card. I love those guys...After work, I opened presents from my Mom, Jennifer, and Daniel. They all did splendidly on gifts and I shall be all the more stylish and sweet smelling for their generosity! Daniel gave me a bottle of perfume that I have been wanting for months, but was too cheap to buy for myself. If you have never smelled Bond No. 9 The Scent of Peace, you are missing out! Ahhhhh...Heaven....From here it was on to City Grocery for drinks with the Jacksons and another present! (I really racked up this year! I sure do have awesome friends and family!)


After a drink, Daniel and I went to the University Club for a wonderful dinner! I had a fried green tomatoes with crab meat and some kind of sauce on top appetizer that was to die for! After dinner, we went back to City Grocery to meet up with the Jacksons and Anna. I had a wonderful evening and quite a few white russians! Though I felt a little wobbly the next morning, it was a wonderful birthday!




Some random updates:
1. Bailey is about 12-13 weeks old and is up to 23.3 lbs. She can sit, lay down, drive us crazy, and be disgustingly cute. We have some issues with her taking advantage of Mommy, so I've got to work on that with her. I'm reading the Dog Whisperers book, so let's hope it imparts some useful knowledge.


2. I made chicken fried rice for the first time ever and it was awesome. I got this wok from my boss as a wedding gift and I am shocked at how well the fried rice turned out. YUMMY!


Sorry this blog is so scattered. While trying to write this post, I have attempted to help Mom with computer issues, had a brief meeting, worked on a work issue....hard to stay focused at work!

Can we move to Seattle?

We made it back safely from our Seattle trip. I am suffering from a little jet lag and a small virus I think I picked up on the plane. Somehow I managed to sit by people that were coughing and sniffing on both flights. Oh well, it was worth it.

Daniel and I did stick to some of our plans, but modified some as well. I will say, the moment we crossed from the plane to the terminal and could feel the cool air coming through the cracks, we were sold on Seattle. I actually had chills at noon on a July day! We took a 'green cab' to downtown Seattle and, with the windows down, marveled at the trees, the water, the houses, the weather the entire way.

We reached the Crowne Plaza in short order and were happy to discover our room was already ready. Ok, now it's time for a brief rant. For the price, the Crowne Plaza was very disappointing. The hallway on our floor (and several other places throughout the hotel) had a disgusting, garbage-like odor. Thankfully, we couldn't continually smell it in our room (mainly because we kept the AC blowing the whole time). The room was ok...nothing fancy by any means. I understand this hotel is older, and I can accept that. They did provide ear plugs, an eye mask, and a relaxation cd in each room. I guess that was supposed to make our room luxurious? The bell men/concierge were the worst. Very rude- except of course when we were leaving and they wanted a tip.

Saturday we ate lunch and then took the monorail to Seattle Center where the Space Needle is located. Isn't it amazing they let Daniel drive the monorail?
We waiting about 30 minutes in line to get to the elevator to get to the top of the Space Needle. Felt very much like Disney World.
The views were amazing from the top (as you can see in photos below), but it was very crowded. You can see Mt. Renier in the background. Our plane flew right beside it on the way into Seattle. Seattle Center also contains a small amusement park, a huge fountain surrounded by green grass and art work, the Music Experience and Sci-Fi Museum, and a few other attractions. Next trip, I will definitely spend more time in this area checking stuff out. As it was, we just walked around everything and relaxed in the park a little.

Saturday night we went to Salty's on Alki Beach for dinner. We didn't take the limo because we decided to take the Water Taxi instead. Unfortunately, we just missed the water taxi, so we had to take a regular taxi over to Alki Beach. Although we ended up being almost an hour early for our reservation, they had an amazing table ready for us right in front of a huge window overlooking the water and the Seattle skyline.
The food was phenomenal (we both had salmon dishes) and their signature dessert is this white chocolate filled white cake that tasted so much like our wedding cake! We did catch the water taxi back to Seattle and got some of the amazing sunset pics below.
We considered acting out a scene from Grey's Anatomy on the ferry, but couldn't come up with anything that we could take while Daniel held the camera. Note to all- You have to walk down a big hill to get to the Piers from the Crowne Plaza area which means, you have to walk UP a big hill to get back. Flip Flops and being incredibly stuffed from dinner do not make this trek an easy one. At least we got lots of exercise though.

Sunday we ventured to Pike Place Market.
I had no idea how huge this market was going to be. There are two stories of vendors selling fresh seafood, veggies, fruits, breads, you name it. Next trip we will definitely get a place with a kitchen so we can hit up the market and cook with all the fresh ingredients available. Sunday's in the summer they also set up vendors in the road outside the market. Directly across from the market are several 'famous' businesses. One such place, the original Starbucks.
I had to take a pic to prove I had been there, but it was so packed inside, I didn't attempt to get coffee here. We had breakfast just a few doors down at Piroshky, Piroshky. This 'restaurant' was featured on Anthony Bourdain's 'No Reservations' tv show. Besides having seen it on his show, the smell coming out of this place drew us in immediately. Daniel had a spinach, egg, and cheese piroshky and I had a cinnamon/cardamon twist. YUMMY!!!

We moved on to Elliot's on the Bay for lunch. They had a huge selection of fresh oysters to choose from. Daniel ordered a blue cheese topped oyster dish and I got an order of the crab cakes. Both were ok, but didn't compare to Salty's. Pioneer Square was next on our list. This is a picture of the Pergola (1905), designed to shelter passengers waiting for the cablecar that used to travel along Yesler Way. We decided against the Underground tour since we both had on flip flops and were pretty tired. We also got hit up for money here, so that sort of turned us off looking much further. There were great shops here and I would come back and check it out in more detail next trip. Just don't sit on any benches or you risk getting hit up for money. At least he sang to us for his $2.

Ok, I will update you on the rest at a later date. I'm sure you are blogged out.

Seattle here we come!

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. Daniel and I worked the Ole Miss Rotary booth at the streetdance the night before. It was wonderful weather and the band was very entertaining! Wednesday we went to N.A. for the annual Rogers celebration at the lake. Needless to say, we ate entirely too much! It was great getting to visit with everyone though! Apparently I have more blog readers than I realized...oh, the pressure!

Daniel and I leave tomorrow morning heading to Seattle. We will spend tomorrow night in downtown Seattle...at the Crowne Plaza no less! We found a great rate through seattlesupersaver.com (otherwise we would be at the holiday inn). I hope to hit up the Seattle Center and Space Needle Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we plan to eat at Salty's on Alki Beach - supposed to be the best view of Seattle skyline as it is across a bay or lake or something from it. They also send a complimentary limo to pick you up for dinner, so that's not too shabby! We'll be pretending to lead the life of the rich and famous (for a night at least!). Sunday we plan to hit up Pike Place Market, the original Starbucks, do an underground tour of Seattle (used to be a story lower)and Pioneer Square. I'm sure some great food and drinks will be enjoyed several times this day! Alas, Sunday night we have to head to Bellevue, WA for the rest of our stay. It's just about 10 miles or so from Seattle downtown, but not sure if we will get to make it back to Seattle proper or not. My conference is all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Daniel will be working from the hotel during this time. Then Thursday at noon we head back home. I'm getting really excited about getting away for a while! Jonathan will be house/dog/cat/garden sitting for us while we are gone. I'll post pics as soon as I can!

Fried Fish Fins

Brady Bunch Reunion went well this weekend. It was great hanging out with my Mom, Anna, the step brothers and others. Ate entirely too much, but that's pretty standard for any of our family get togethers. Anyways, Daniel gets bored by blogs that do alot of talking, so let's get to some photos, shall we?

This is Bailey in the car on the way to Cleveland. This is one of about 20 pics Daniel took of her in the car (think he likes his dog?). She is incredibly cute though, so I can't blame him.


This is a photo of Anna and I about to enjoy our very first fried fish fin. Although we grew up in the area of the catfish capital of the world, we had not had the pleasure of trying any fried fish fins. Mom was shocked that we even considered it, and Anna and I found it quite humorous that we are trying it in our dining room with the china cabinet behind us. Something about that just doesn't fit... Regardless, the fins just had crunch and tasted like fried. I don't really have any desire to eat them again, but mainly just because the idea of it grosses me out.


This is just a cute pic of Anna and MC. No funny story attached to this photo, but I can make one up if you require it.


Here we have MoMo (Molly) and Bailey enjoying the coolness of the kitchen floor. Bailey was so excited to see another dog (particularly one that looked like her), but Molly was not quite as excited. She spent most of the weekend growling and running away from Bailey. I think she was scared of her, but by Sunday they were slightly more relaxed in each others presence.


Just a note...I used italics in this post for no other reason than I wanted to. If you have a problem with it...tough. Happy Monday!