Jade DragonBytes

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With convenience food so easy to obtain in the market these days, almost everyone has grown a bit rusty even on  simple food preparation. Cooking rice is one good example. At the grocery store, I was astonished to discover cooked rice and vegetables inside the freezer section, all wrapped up, with an enticing label of “ready in 4 minutes”! Furthermore, you will discover packages of fried rice presented in numerous varieties of flavors and meats. Nuke and serve.

What exactly was I doing, perusing these shelves of comfort foods? Why I was trying to find my nuke-and-serve lasagna. Hey, I was short on time! The thing is, all of us are short on time, but with rising food prices, some meals would be best made from scratch with some of our useful kitchen appliances. A few convenience foods aren’t worth the hefty price. Preparing rice, for instance, is one such case.

Many Chinese food cooks scoff at the thought of preparing a great batch of rice and freezing portions for future meals. “It is so quick to cook rice, why hassle?” is what I normally hear. But, I think otherwise. I can cook rice in just one effort. Rice freezes well, so hold that bit of idea in your mind. This way, it would convenient for me to get a bag out from the fridge and just steam it in a microwave, especially when I am in a hurry. After all, that is what those expensive  food suppliers are trying to market: saving you the time and effort of cooking rice!

So, listed below are our two ways to cook rice that’s nice and fluffy and never sticky.

1. If you don’t have a rice and vegetable steamer, consider acquiring one.
   This can be a very beneficial kitchen appliance as it delivers effortless clean up, won’t have to be monitored, and yes, it ensures that you get the utmost nutritive value out of the cooked rice. They come in different sizes and prices from $10 to $20. Basically, it has a motor situated at the bottom level and a multi-purpose bowl that sits on the top. All you need do is determine the amount of rice desired, add water, put the lid on, and set the cooking timer on. Each and every device specifies the rice to water percentage, as well as preparing times, not only for cooking rice, but for a number of different vegetables. You may also dissolve a chicken or beef cube in the water for flavor. To bring in more aroma and taste to your rice, you may add in parsley or a few herbs like Chinese Five Spice.
2. The second method to make a nice, fluffy and non-sticky rice calls for a 3-quart microvable dish to produce 5 cups of cooked rice.
   To achieve this, estimate 2 1/2 rice cups into the bowl, add 5 cups of water (you may prefer to have it blended with a bouillon cubes) and a teaspoon of salt. Make sure to stir the salt through the rice. Put it in a microwave for thirteen minutes, and set the power level to 6 (based on an 1100-watt oven). There should still be water in the dish. By this time, change the power to level four and continue microwaving for 3 minutes. If the rice is cooked, and no water remains, it’s done. Fluff it up using a fork and cover with plastic wrap. Set it aside on the counter and allow it to steam for thirty minutes. It should be perfectly cooked by then.

If you want to have a fool-proof outcome every time you are going to cook rice, abide by these above procedures. Cooking rice is simple!

The Buddhist flags hung in honor of Buddha's birthday in Patan, Kathmandu

Buddhism is everywhere here in Nepal and it’s intermingled with Hinduism. It seems though that most people I come across are Buddhist. I have always had an interest in Buddhism; they say it’s a philosophy and not a religion. That may be true but here in Nepal it comes across as very religious to me.  The temples alone yell religion and then all the people performing different rituals also smacks of it. Religion isn’t so bad; it brings comforts to millions. Ritual is amazing; it creates energy like nothing else I’ve ever seen. And yet, I find myself resistant to it.  Here in Nepal though I feel slightly less resistant. When I am asked if I am a Buddhist the next question is usually if I am a Christian. When I tell them I’m nothing they don’t try and convert me, they just listen.

So Lord Buddha’s (as they call him) birthday is May 27^th and I happened to be in Nepal for it. It’s actually a national holiday here as you can expect. Being next to the gumpa that contains all the mini monks Buddha’s  birthday was an interesting experience for me. All the trumpet playing and horn blowing they have been practicing seemed to be for this day. It was a full moon and I went onto the roof to watch the boys playing their trumpets out towards the city.

I couldn’t get any good pictures from our roof so I decided to go up on theirs. I had my camera with me and as I went to go up on the roof many of the monks were outside the gumpa. They beckoned me and asked that I please, please come in.

Up to this point I had been afraid to go in. I can’t really tell you why. I guess I didn’t want to be disrespectful, this lame tourist poking around inside a religious structure. I think I was also waiting for an invitation. So I finally had it and I removed my shoes and followed the monks in.

It’s so beautiful inside with large statues of Buddha and some other folks. I learned that you always walk clockwise around any religious site here and so I followed the path around inside. The energy inside the gumpa was astounding; I could feel it circulating clockwise through the building. I could feel the energy of everyone that had come that day to pray. It was positively vibrating. As I walked around I saw mini monks stashed away in corners repeating mantras out loud, sometimes in pairs, sometimes alone.

The gumpa next door

Doorway to the gumpa

As I came to the end again there was a local prostrating himself. It’s quite something to see someone doing this. It’s so humble, almost apologetic. He was doing this movement over and over across the floor as if to say “forgive me, I am so worthless, make me better.” It wasn’t in the direction of Buddha’s statue and I wasn’t about to interrupt him to ask him to who or what he was doing this to. Perhaps it was just himself.

The mini monks asked if I wanted to learn how it was done and I hesitantly said yes. I have this fear of looking like an idiot because I don’t get something right the first time, but I know that it’s better to say yes and have a new experience.

One young monk showed me first. You stand up straight and put your hands in prayer position, then you bring them to your head, your heart, and then you get down on the ground and bow your head all the way down. Then you push yourself up without using your hands more than once for the push.

The first time I tried this I had to use my hands twice, I didn’t really trust my own strength on the hard marble floor and I was being watched. I could see on their faces that I had done it wrong even though they were obviously trying to hide it. I tried again and this time got smiles from the two monks. This is the kind of magical thing I hoped for, the sort of romantic idea that got into my head when I first heard the name Nepal. After this I felt uneasy, wondering what I should do now that I had made my rounds so I made my way out into the entranceway and watched all the young monks gathering at the lit candles. They were picking them up and bringing them inside for some purpose that I couldn’t gather, mostly because I didn’t ask. I kept having this sense like I was interrupting something, that I was an outsider. I felt myself shrinking back. I wanted to take a picture badly but was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to make a wrong impression or say something wrong but the photo opportunity was too good to let go.

I haven’t prostrated myself since then but I have this feeling like it would do me some good. I think it would do a lot of people some good. Do I have to prostrate myself to some religious god? Shouldn’t I prostrate myself in front of my own self judgment instead. I could learn to be easier and more care free…

Woman performing a ritual in honor of Buddha's birthday