Congee...

Ugh, reciently, aka this morning and perhaps a bit before, I was struck with a particular kind of melancholy. I'm not sure why. It could be a combination of lack of sleep, adult conversation, personal time, and last the upcoming changes to my home/hideout/lair/space.


With that said, to day I cut my hair..again..a lot. I find that my hair directly relates to my moods...not so good unless I accept all consequence for taking scissors, dye, clippers to it. I figure I have wigs and I could get a weave..but mostly that I am loved for who I am...that hair grows back, and wouldn't it be oppressive if I felt that I shouldn't do the things I want to because of anyone else's opinion?


New Hair.

In the past two days I've finished two books.

 The first, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a tale of a life-long friendship between two girls as they mature to women. I enjoyed the book..I put it in the category of brain candy...easy to read, interesting enough to finish but not life changing...those are few and far in-between.  That said, this book is not for the squeamish as it has graphic descriptions of foot-binding.

The second, An Artist of the Floating World, is a contemplation of an  old man's life. The book is set in post WWII Japan with flashbacks to his youth and career as an artist. His reputation has changed since the war ended, and he reflects on choices he made. I did not enjoy reading this. I'm not sure how to explain that the writing was circular... except that it was...I prefer narratives with beginning, middle, and end. *face palm* Sometimes.


Lately, my reading has been very specific in genre...historical fiction located Indochina-ish....I need new ideas though I have plenty books I've picked up and put back down because I'm not ready to read yet...




 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee


So..what I came here to blog about..Congee, it's whats for dinner.


I started by putting some olive oil in the bottom of a Sauteuse Pan ( I had to look that one up). Than I finely chopped some garlic, onion and ginger root. 

Pretty simple right? When the onions turned transparent I added enough water to fill the pot 3/4 of the way up, a splash of fish sauce, a bullion cube and finally two pieces of lamb..

At this point it smells amazing but is not the most beautiful dish on the planet...yet. This can be an all day recipe depending on the kind of time you have on your hands...I have quite a bit, so I like to leave the meat uncut in the pan letting it soften and break apart as I do other stuff around the house.

While it may look like she's pulling out the clean dishes and putting them on the floor, she's actually helping me put them away.


After a few minutes...or a couple of tasks later I add about a cup full of rice. Stir. Keep on low. Two hours later, after a nap and half, I cut up some scallions and baby spinach. I stirred the spinach in, turned the stove off and let it sit for awhile. When I was ready to eat, I sprinkled scallions on top with freshly ground pepper. 

(^.^) YUM.