Fried Rice

Just what it says in the title. Fried Rice. Really though, it’s one of the simplest dishes to make. It involves a lot of chopping, but once you get that over with, it’s smooth sailing from there.

So I guess a little update on my situation here. At my mountain, in mid December, I was offered the lead hand position. Within 24 hours, I was offered a supervisory position. Right when that happened, I was working over 40 hours a week (I think I managed 60, so this was like Hobbiton days all over again, except more enjoyable). I no longer had the time or energy to keep up with my swimming. But it was good, because I knew I was a very big part of the team (I always knew it!). Either way, it wasn’t something that made me change my ways. I just kept doing what I usually did. The only difference now, was that I had to print off reports, so really, no biggie.

Before all that happened though, I told them I had an interview with a company that I didn’t think I would get in with. So my mountain still went ahead with promoting me, and I hid nothing.

One week later, I was offered a full time, permanent job late December, and since then, it has been go, go, go. As soon as January rolled around, I reduced my hours to weekends only, because the second week of January saw me in Milton, Ontario for orientation. The following two weeks saw me back in Vancouver doing my hands-on training in the field. Then I had one weekend to move all of my stuff to Edmonton. It was only a 1.5 hour flight away. Easy, right? Especially because I did the same thing when moving to New Zealand. Nope. Nope nope nope. Because now I have to find a real place to live and I’ll be signing leases and stuff, and with that, furniture. AHHHHHHHH the expenses!!

Anyway, I managed to find an AirBnb spot, which is pretty sweet. In the past two weeks of being here, I’ve had my landlady’s dog bark and growl at me every single day, he’s chewed up my work shoes, and left a small present outside my door. It sounds pretty horrible, but I’ve had pets before, and my landlady’s been super nice. She’s paid for a new pair of shoes, and has been extremely apologetic. I’ve had pets before, and I’ve had to clean up diarrhea and vomit before. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with it in the past, even with humans.

So in the past week, I’ve found a place to live sort of downtown Edmonton. $925 a month, with heat, water, and parking included. I just have to pay for power. It’s not going to be so bad, because I could be traveling up to 50% of each month, so I really don’t have much to pay, except to keep the fridge going. That, and I get overnight bonuses, and $35 per diem. Boss says that if I don’t use the full amount per day, I can roll it over, and do a huge grocery shop when I get back home. Pretty sweet, eh?

ANYWAY. Enough of that. Back to the actual task at hand.

Ingredients:

NOTE: As with most Asian cooking, there is no real measurements. It’s pretty much “put as much as you want in it.” If I can put a measurement on it, I will. Otherwise, have fun! 🙂

• Rice (I don’t have a scoop, so I eye-balled it. Usually for white rice it is 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of water. If you’re going to use brown rice, add a bit more water, say 1.5 cups. This is using a rice cooker. I used a pot because I don’t have one yet *cries*)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/8 of an onion, diced
• 1 large white mushroom, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 stalk of spring onions, diced
• 2 pieces of BBQ pork, diced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Directions:

Cook the rice in the rice cooker.

Wait maybe 10-15 minutes before the rice is finished (because this part is fast). Put some oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Throw in the garlic and onions, and stir it around for about a minute, or until the onions start to become translucent. Throw in the mushrooms, and stir until mushrooms and onions are almost soft. Push them off to the side of the pan, and lower the temperature to medium.

Drop in a bit more oil, and crack the egg over it. Hopefully the egg is bubbling. If not, turn the heat back up to medium-high. Use your spatula (or whichever utensil) and chop it to bits, so it becomes scrambled. When all of the egg white is now solid white, mix all of the vegetables together. Add the spring onions and BBQ pork.

Hopefully now the rice is done, otherwise you’ll have to put the pan aside (or else the stuff will burn). Leaving the pan on medium-high heat, throw the rice in to the pan, and mix with the veggies and meat. Keep stirring it around so everything is mixed and heated equally. Then put in the oyster sauce (drizzle it over everything), and stir it again.

Serve hot.

This is about the amount you get at a Chinese restaurant. Maybe less. 1.5 of this recipe could make up a decent sized dish. It’s a whole lot cheaper too. 🙂

Now, back to couponing!