What if Colonialism had not happened and we gradually moved to a world community – discovering new ideas, ways of doing things, different foods that we are used to eating and cooking, etc. instead of developing a society which claimed some foods and ways of cooking as superior and some to be shunned.? What a rich and very fantastic place this would be.
What if today we shun that Colonialism and come together as a one world community giving and sharing what we have with others on an equal basis. Mine as just as good as yours and yours as just as good as mine. What an incredibly rich place this would be and the knowledge which circulates using the new technology would facilitate an awesome life. Instead that technology is used to manipulate, persuade, lie to, and we are all the poorer for it and enamored forever in war, brutality, white supremacy, nazism and its cousins, and so much more that destroys us and totally damages our children.
Assuming this first, we look for greatness in societies and cultures and discovered a way of cooking rice that is great.
I didn’t much care for rice, but then I only knew white rice which took 7 minutes to cook and had a skim covering on top that looked like and probably was talc powder. Hope I’ve missed the cancer that kind of rice is rumored to cause and that I discovered organically grown rice in time. Now, today, with my new found knowledge, I buy organically grown rice and I am careful whose organically grown rice we buy.
Problem with that was in the cooking. It would take a long time and I could never count on the rice being great. Sometimes it turned out in a sensational way and sometimes it was not something you wanted to eat – either too hard or too soft.
A friend came over to show me how to cook this rice and we put on a cooking show for our Bettina Network Hedge School guests. This now very close friend is not someone who my mother would have allowed into the house as my playmate, nor would she have been a part of the many “play dates” I was taken to as a child.
Those who joined us for dinner were in my Bettina-Hedge-School-Home to learn special cooking skills and so thy were invited into the kitchen to help prepare the dinner.
Rice was the main dish since that was the reason for my very-skilled-at-cooking friends’ presence.
She started by putting what to my eyes and sensibility was a very large amount of butter in the glass corning pot in which we were going to cook the rice. I winced as I saw all of that butter. (It actually was three tablespoons – but if you try this you should use your own judgment and your own taste.)
She let the butter melt and bubble awhile and then added the rice. She cooked the rice in butter for several minutes and then added water, a little salt – Himalayan salt, turmeric and I added a dash of cayenne pepper (because every dish I cook has a dash of cayenne).
We put the top on the pot and in about 15 minutes we had the fluffiest rice I have seen. And the tastiest. I think I will give up potatoes and take on rice. Well, maybe I will just add rice cooked in this way as another food I can add to my menus.
Everyone at dinner thought the rice was spectacular.
A SUGGESTION:
If you are vegan, you might want to start this rice in coconut oil, or some other kind of oil with a high smoking point. I would not use the famous Olive Oil because it goes rancid quickly in heat. We only use Olive Oil for cold dishes like salad dressings, etc. As a society we have become so accustomed to what we call th “Mediterranean diet” which is anything but, that we assume Olive Oil is a universal oil and we try to use it in everything. So much so we have become accustomed to the taste of rancid olive oil and assume that is normal.
Enjoy!
______________________________________________________________
Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!
[give_form id=”3763″]
______________________________________________________________
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you. Please also tell us if you want your name as your byline or if you want your article to appear without your name.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Cookbook, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, food shopping, Recipe
