I bought a set of these measuring cups & spoons recently from Amazon.com The spoons stick together magnetically, and the cups have a metal holding ring. I’ve used a cheap, red plastic set of measuring cups & spoons for a while, but I’ve wanted a metal set that you could scrape off the top evenly. *Oh yeah, there is also a leveler with the set of spoons.
This morning early, I was looking through my pantry and saw a large plastic container of Jasmine rice. I decided to cook some rice, although for a long while I haven’t enjoyed the “finished product” because the rice turned out “mealy,” sort of dry crumbly. I think it is the cooking method I have been using which is to cover the rice with unmeasured water, and then when the water comes to a boil, cook for 9 minutes exactly and then strain the water off. The rice is cooked, but it may be that the method lends itself to this unwanted cooked texture. **I say this because this morning, I used my new measuring cups (1 C & 1/2 C) to measure out a cup of rice, and then 2.5 cups of water. I added salt to the water and started it to boil. I don’t recall how long it took, but I didn’t check again until most of the water was boiled off. But, when I tried the rice, it was perfect. Just like I used to like it. A little firm, but a little sticky also… and I added a little bit of bacon grease to one small container of rice and it was delicious. I also added some margarine and it was also delicious.
In the list of things I normally do not think about correcting or doing… I think this is the size of Country Crock Margarine (Original) that I usually buy, and it lasts a long time for me, although I use it when I make my Pastrami Rachel sandwiches at home, when I am cooking soups or beans, I add a little margarine (fat), etc. But, I also like to keep it out of the refrigerator so that the margarine is soft when I go to use it. But, toward the end of the life of the plastic tub, if I have left it out of the refrigerator, little spots of darkish mold start to appear around the edges of the margarine. This mold doesn’t affect the flavor, but I just work around them.
But finally, a month or so ago, I thought, “why not put some of the margarine in a small plastic container, and leave the rest in the fridge.” Now why didn’t I think of that? Ha! So, I got out one of my sturdy knives and the Country Crock container and started scooping out the cooled margarine. I filled up the small Tupperware container and put the lid on. The larger Country Crock container goes back into the fridge, and I move the smaller Tupperware container both in and out of the fridge. *And when I was almost empty in the small container, I needed some margarine for my breakfast waffle, so I put it in the microwave to liquify the margarine and then poured the liquid over my warm waffle. Took out another Tupperware container and scooped a fresh batch of margarine into it.
Bill Gibson, II 