 |
| Tonight's guests for Vegetables au Manoomin Jumbo Wild Rice. Joe, Jennifer and Kathleen. Bachelor No. 1, Danny Martin, dropped by briefly, but left before he could be asked to take this picture so that Stan might be in it as well. |
Thank you for the generous present of Canada's Manoomin Jumbo Wild Rice that you left with us last August as a parting gift after our golf outing. The bulging plastic bag has been stored in the canned goods section of the pantry since the day you drove away. We've been puzzling over it ever since, not sure just what to do with it or when to tackle it. The helpful information sheet tucked in the packet says that the wild rice, when roasted properly, can be stored indefinitely. This was important when wild game was scarce, the note says, as it could often mean the difference between life and death for the Ojibway people. So we didn't worry. We did finish off the lovely can of Canadian blueberry jam that you left. We know what to do with that.
But the Wild Rice is a bit of a project. It says to wash it first. Anything that says to wash it first will generally get put back on the shelf in favor of something that doesn't need washing first.
Fortunately, our youngest daughter, Jennifer, said she was coming over tonight. She's no hippie, but occasionally she does dabble in foods that sometimes seem to be more bother than they are worth. Your Wild Rice seemed just the thing. I called yesterday to alert her to this opportunity and she jumped on it.
Wayne, you gave us two and a half cups of Manoomin Jumbo wild rice. This was most generous. Upon careful reflection, we felt that it would be unlikely that we would ever tackle this project again in the near term, so we elected to prepare your entire gift at once.
First, may I say that the Canadian wild rice was delicious. The two hours of preparation time yielded a marvelous bed for a variety of colorful vegetables, complemented by two bottles of German-sounding wine from Joe's private stock. The thing is, during the hour or so of preparation, the wild rice expands to over three times its original size. We knew this was going to happen, but were powerless to do anything about it once our lot had been cast.
So we happily gorged ourselves on a product that has no cholesterol and more protein and fewer calories than brown or white rice. Jen's colorful vegetables disappeared as we watched the president's wonderful memorial speech in Tucson.But now we have leftovers. Jen has agreed to take a generous portion back to Nisswa where it will doubtless reappear in a healthy meal.
We're sure it will keep a few more days and would look great as a bed for Beef Burgundy with red wine. Would you and Mary Ann be doing anything this weekend?
Your fellow retiree,
Stan
------------------
Wayne writes:
OK....Now that the hard part is completed, try adding wild rice to your next batch of pancake mix. Byerley's wild rice soup is excellent too.
And, yes, we do use Canadian rice in Chinese stir fry with French bread, German wine and throw in a Polish joke for good time.
