™

Heartwings Love Notes 770: Spring is a Back and Forth Season

Heartwings says, "Hot one day, cold the next spring is a season of surprises."

It always makes me laugh when someone says, "What's happened to spring? It's winter again!" That's what spring is: a back and
forth time of year. One day it's lovely out, the next it snows. It's difficult to make plans. Once many years ago my spontaneous father
decided to give an Easter egg hunt in the large house he had inherited from my great aunt Alice. He invited every member of a large
extended family and told them all to come at one on Easter for the party. Then he went to Maine, intending to return that morning to
host the party.

At eight AM it commenced to snow furiously. By twelve it had pretty much stopped where I lived, however my father, having been
snowed in was still in Maine. I was faced with hosting a party for a large group of people I had never met not to mention hiding the
eggs, providing the food, and being gracious. I called a friend and together we managed to pull off the party. It was quite an adventure.
I was rather put out with my father who very cavalierly said, "Oh, I knew you could handle it." Many times since I have been faced
with spontaneous hosting and he was right, it's no problem for me.

Chinese fried rice works wonders as a quick meal for such occasions. You must have the simple ingredients on hand; I usually do.
The secret of Chinese fried rice is that it is made with leftover rice. It is very quick to fix and popular with most. To serve four, Use a
cup of rice per person, one egg, half a cup of frozen peas, half cup of chopped onion, half a cup of chopped celery, and 2
Tablespoons soy sauce or Dr. Bronner's Mineral broth. If you have any leftover chicken, or extra firm tofu chop a half a cup of that
too. 2 or 3 sliced cloves and 2 or 3 Tablespoons ginger in thin strips is good too.

Take a half a cup large or extra large shrimp per person from the freezer, and thaw briefly in warm water. Peel if necessary and line
up on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 5 or so minutes. Scramble the egg without any extra liquid and fry in some oil or butter. Set
aside. In a large frying pan, sauté the ginger, garlic, onion and celery until transparent. Stir in the rice and cook 5 minutes. Add the
peas, the egg, broken up, tofu, chicken and shrimp. Stir in the soy sauce and cook 5 more minutes. Voila, Dinner is served.

May you find joy in spontaneity and fun in cooking.

 

I love to hear from readers and would be honored if you would comment and let me know any suggestions or thoughts. If a friend sent you this, you can sign up at my web site, www.heartwingslovenotes.com, where more love notes can be found in the archives.

Blessings and Best Regards,
Tasha Halpert
 

← Back to Heartwings (Index Page)

   - Click here to print this page

Prev|Next