Monday, January 14, 2008

Picture 252 or 4 of 365 -- SpaceShip Rice



This is my rice spaceship. The Loving Husband spent way too much money on it. Basically all it does is cook rice. Lots of rice. I think I've cooked more than 30 cups of rice since Christmas. We've rice pilaf, rice with gravy, rice and Thai stir-fry and many rice balls -- both tuna and peanut butter and pear preserves. I've also ordered 6 different varieties of rice to try out -- 2 different brown rices, black (or forbidden) rice, green bamboo rice and a red rice. The spaceship does cook perfect rice.

And I am discovering the beauty of rice. More than half the population of the world eat this staple every day. Some eat in the order of 400 pounds of rice per person per year -- an average of more than a pound of rice a day. It is life giving. It is a crop borne of water. It may be the only food some people may eat today. In some Asian languages the word 'eating' is synonymous with 'eating rice.' The word rice in Vietnamese said to another person before a meal means "Good Appetite." There are 10,000 varieties of rice available in the world; short, medium and long grained; high gluten, low gluten; brown, yellow, black, white, red -- the same colors as the earth or our skin tones.

Things to think as I eat rice.

(Note: I am slightly bothered by the cost of the spaceship. And amused at the high-tech aspect of it all.)

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