Food Photos from Prior Post and Skinny Dipping

The garden where the herbs, tomatoes and cukes come from.  Joe Pye Weed in background

Cold Cucumber Soup with Avocado and Buttermilk and Fresh Herbs - No cooking! 

 

 

Orzo Green Bean Salad with Home Grown Tomatoes and Olives- Nice Vegetarian Dish

Last night we had Roast Pork Fried Rice which is featured prominently in World of Mirrors.  There is a party where the bad guy, the good guys, the KGB and the ex-Stasis mingle and drink.  Oh, and did I mention a North Vietnamese worker?  The evening ends with a skinny dip in the pond behind the house.

 Every book has a big party and a scene where everyone gets naked.  By now I feel obliged to keep up the tradition.  How will I work this into 1928 California?  Bet it's a cinch. 


Grapeshot

Fried Rice, Roast Pork and other possibilities

A major plot point in World of Mirrors centers around a party at which the main dish is roast pork fried rice. Obviously, this is not your father's thriller. That being said, the evening ends with skinning dipping with the KGB and smoking some serious weed, along with an attempted murder. My characters like to have a good time, and they aren't constrained by legalities, especially the World of Mirrors gang.

We're actually having roast pork fried rice for dinner tonight, and I am sharing the recipe and some commentary.

Fried Rice –
8 servings, but we have had four people devour it.

This recipe is either from the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times. My best guess is the Trib. It’s about a million years old, and never disappoints. I usually use about 2 cups of meat, but less is fine. Keep the bacon.

Tonight ours will be filled with leftover pork tenderloin, bacon, broccoli, celery, grilled eggplant, onions, scallions, garlic, a handful of unsalted cashews, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot oil, sugar and a smidgen of salt. Rice, of course. Good Basmati rice. Bacon adds a lot of salt, by the way, as does the soy sauce.

The nice thing about the recipe is that if you have the basics: rice, cooked meat, egg, onion, bacon and seasonings, you can improvise the rest. Mushrooms are very very good. Pea pods, spinach-- the list is endless.

Original Recipe:
1 ½ cups raw rice
3 T. oil
2 eggs beaten
¼ cook cooked ham or bacon slivers
½ cup cooked pork, chicken or beef slivers (shrimp will work, too)
½ cup chopped green onions and tops
2 T. soy sauce
½ t. each: sugar, salt
¼ t. MSG (I skip this ingredient)

Prepare rice early in the day so it is cool when you prepare the dish. Heat half the oil in a large heavy skillet. Scramble eggs until just done. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining oil, bacon, meat and onions. Cook and stir a few minutes, then add rice. Stir constantly so that the rice grains separate and become coated with oil. Add remaining ingredients and scramble eggs, cut into thin slivers. Serve hot.

Add additional ingredients when rice is added.