Author: kwmaku

Ever since the pandemic was declared more than 2 years ago, everything has taken a turn for the worse. But for the better, we’ve all learned a new skill or two during this pandemic. For me and my family, food is particularly important. We all know the feeling of  “hangry” and food always makes us happy and satisfied. I’m proud to say that I’ve experimented and challenged more recipes than I ever have and I have gained more confidence in doing it myself.

Lately I’ve tackled a recipe that I wouldn’t even think I would be able to manage due to the time consuming and labor intensive cooking method it involved; and that is Chinese classic comfort food, Chinese Sticky Rice 糯米飯. It is also a staple dim sum item which we also missed going to, hence the courage to take on this recipe. 

After comparing and finding the right tutorial video and repeatedly watching it numerous times, I’ve prepared myself for the arm workout. The traditional way of making this dish is by taking uncooked sticky rice that has been soaked for hours (also a must), and stir-frying it until cooked, which can take from 20-30mins of cooking time. There is a cheat to shorten the cooking process by cooking it in the rice cooker but the moisture and chewiness of the rice grain is just not the same. 

My Take on Chinese Sticky Rice:
Recipe Instructions

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked glutinous rice (soaked for 3 hours or overnight in water)
• 2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoons oil
• ¼ cup dried shrimp (soaked for 15 minutes in warm water)
• ¼ cup dried scallop (soaked for 15 minutes in warm water)
• 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water until softened and diced)
• 1 links Chinese sausage 臘腸 (cut into small discs)
• 1 Chinese Cured Pork Belly 腊肉 (cut into small cubes)
• 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
• white pepper (to taste)
• 2 scallions (chopped)
• roasted peanuts (optional)
• julienned egg crepe (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add Chinese sausage and cured pork belly and stir-fry until all the fat is released from the meat. Add the mushroom, dried shrimp and scallop to absorb all the fat. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Remove from pan. 
2. With leftover grease in the pan, add the uncooked glutinous rice and your arm workout begins. On medium high heat, stir the uncooked rice, from bottom to top throughout, add a few tablespoons of chicken stock at a time. Once you feel the rice is dry, add more chicken stock and stir until the rice is almost cooked. 
3. Add all the ingredients back into the pan and stir. 
4. Add the sweet soy sauce and stir-fry until the rice is uniform in color.
5. Garnish with scallions, roasted peanuts and julienned egg crepe.

Instructions adapted from thewoksoflife.com

The Verdict

I mean my arm got real tired after just ten minutes of constantly stir-frying. For the amount of labor, it was worth it! A few family and friends have tried it and the feedback were all positive. Definitely will save this recipe for special occasions.

My sleep deprivation came back when our 2 year old son decided to pull a stunt by climbing out of the crib. We were pushing our luck by keeping him in there any longer as he is a tall kid. But we don’t need another free roaming toddler in the house, just not yet. The twitter thread documents the critical thinking in my head in response to this incident.  

My 2 years old’s first prison break, he climbed outta his crib after nap time. Proud and escaped with no injury, he came looking for his favorite person, me. I was NOT ready for this. #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/G1B74t7i7X

— Vivian C (@v33v33an) November 8, 2021

The 8 Point Story Arc

1. Stasis – Toddler sleeping and STAYING in crib
2. Trigger – He climbed out of the crib
3. Quest – Converted crib into toddler bed
4. Surprise – He still wanted to climb using the frames of the crib
5. Critical Choice – Took crib apart and laid a mattress 
6. Climax – Free roaming toddler came for a visit in the middle of the night
7. Reversal – One person suffering is better than the entire family suffering from sleepless night
8. Resolution – Sleep training 

Gosh, I have watched so many online shows and movies that it makes it hard to pinpoint on a particular one. The trend or genre that I find myself leaning towards is comedy romance. As embarrassing as it is to admit as a +30 year old, teen romance draws my attention the most as it takes me away from my own reality and to have a good few chuckles. Recently, Never Have I Ever on Netflix is the one that fits the criteria and got me hooked episodes after episodes. 

I Binged it

Having a lifetime job as a mother and a full-time day job, life is hectic and time just goes by within a blink. As I am creeping to my mid-life, I can’t help but reminisce about the good old school days, being carefree and young. Never Have I Ever is a teen comedy revolving around the school and personal life of a first generation Indian American high school girl from school, friendship, love and family, which are all checkpoints everyone will experience in their lives. The title gives out a big clue as to what the story spine is about; the protagonist will experience a first in her lifetime and it is usually something significant and worth learning from. Each episode title adds on to the drama title Never Have I Ever: Pissed off everyone I know and it is the level of reality mixed with humor that makes it real and engaging, and also foreshadows what struggle the protagonist is able to face. 

The Rooting Character

Having an ethnic background, I am automatically drawn to the protagonist, Devi, as I can relate to the same feeling, stereotype, cultural heritage, minus being an academic genius, that she experiences. Devi’s personality is witty, nerdy and outgoing, however her struggle with controlling her emotions tends to get her into trouble. Her character shows vulnerability on what a typical high schooler would face from social pressure (a major one), school and family expectations. The story takes us on Devi’s emotional roller coaster ride, which “inspire empathy, love and bonding”, sharing those “universal feelings” on what makes us humans. Even though Devi makes questionable decisions and is a great anti-heroines, she is the character that I support, because she depicts some of the true raw personality we may have, normalizing that we may all make bad decisions but it is up to us to make that change, especially for the better. 

A Good Strong Narrat[or]

One unusual thing about the drama was the choice of the narrator. As the story centers around a high school girl with Indian ethnicity background, the story was narrated by an older American tennis player, John McEnroe. These pairing seems to be the polar opposites but McEnroe’s voice and humor blended so well together and made you think Mindy Kaling yet again, is a brilliant screenwriter, as she was the one who got McEnroe to be the narrator. There are a couple other narrators that play the inside voice of other characters. I don’t know about you, but I often find myself talking/thinking to myself inside my head, reflecting, reacting to a situation and that we all have the “angel/devil” conversation to ourselves.

It will be another long wait until season 3 comes out but the choices on Netflix are endless, it will keep me well entertained.