Random Ramblings and a Recipe

I may be a few days late, but hey! Thanksgiving went very well chez Pumpkinknitter. The turkey master cooked up two turkeys, one in the traditional oven format and the other in the deep fryer in the backyard. All the local kids showed up to stuff themselves and Nana was allowed a four hour pass from the care center. I was up at 4:30 to go to work for eight hours, then I came home and helped with dinner and the massive clean-up. I also finished the first of the Mystery socks while I was boiling up turkey carcasses for stock that is now in three big containers in the freezer. Buddy enjoyed the day as well, since it was the first year anniversary since he came to stay with us.

Friday evening it began to rain and turned quite cold. The next day we could see snow in the mountains which has lasted so far through today. I can't recall having snow in the mountains this early. Perhaps we will have a colder, wetter winter than we've had for a while now. Saturday night we had the first fire in the fireplace. This, too, is an early first. Usually this cold weather doesn't start until after the first of the year.


One thing good about being laid up with a bad back -- and the ONLY good thing -- is that I'm halfway down the leg of the second Mystery sock. Too bad I can't show it to you until January.



Tonight I made fried rice and bulgogi, a Korean barbecued meat. I meant to take a picture of the bulgogi, but I forgot until nothing was left on the plates except bones. But I did take a picture of the fried rice, and I will tell you how to make it here. I learned many years ago from Barbara's godmother, who is from Thailand and taught me how to make a number of Oriental dishes.


I take three cups of uncooked medium grain rice and cook it in the rice cooker. I then heat up the electric wok to 350 degrees. I dice up 12-16 ounces of bacon and toss this in the wok. As it cooks, I toss in any leftover pork I have around. (I will dice up and freeze leftover pork chops or pork roast just to add to fried rice. No pork gets wasted in this house.) When the bacon is cooked, I toss in about a half tablespoon of minced garlic. I then clear a space in the bottom of the wok and add three or four beaten eggs. (The bacon grease is NOT drained. It makes very flavorful fried rice.) When the eggs are about halfway cooked, I toss in some of the cooked rice and stir everything up together. Once the eggs are all stirred into the rice, I add the rest of the rice as well as frozen corn, peas, and carrots or any other vegetables I want to add. (Edamame, diced green beans, etc.) This is all frequently stirred and cooked for another 5-10 minutes until everything is hot. Depending on what you toss in here, it can be a complete meal all by itself. We will be eating this during the week with sweet and sour meatballs. Yumm!!