I like to have tea with cats in Japan because I'm shy

Perhaps I should move to Japan after all. Cat cafés? Fantastic idea. Maybe animal shelters should coordinate with cafés and feature their pets. Or something. I don't now how it would work here.

I'd rather go to a cat café than a "family friendly" one.

Meow Meow Meow | VICE: "United States" 'via Blog this'

Wild Rice Pilaf (Hunger Games)

So I'm in this Book Club that my friend Grace started. It's all girls and we have had some pretty excellent discussions, both about books and Big Important Things. Mostly I joined to get me reading again, which in a sort of post-traumatic way I stopped doing after grad school.

ANYHOO we've been doing potluck book discussions and since the Hunger Games, as you can infer from the title, deals a LOT with food, it was themed around the hearty foraged foods in the book. The party was a feast - leek and potato soup, two hearty veggie stews with mushrooms, root veggies, kale, peas, carrots, etc. Several rounds of goat cheese, some wrapped in herbs, with crackers. Venison meatballs (these last two, I did not partake, obvs). Homemade tomato jam, homemade berry jam on fresh home-baked wheat bread, red cabbage and apple slaw, wild greens salad with edible flowers, caramel corn with pepitas, and mulled wine. My contribution was wild rice pilaf - I tried to base it off of one recipe but I kind of messed it up and didn't have some of the ingredients, so I added a bunch of white jasmine rice that I made just in case and it came out perfectly.

I'm also going for low salt due to my blood pressure so you might need to add more salt, especially if you use no-salt broth or water.

3/4 cup (6 oz) wild rice
4 scallions
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups or more broth (I used imitation chicken flavoring + water)
1 cup white jasmine rice
2 cups frozen baby peas
8 mushrooms (6 large, 8 med or 12 small)
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped or sliced almonds, toasted (see step 4)

Directions

1. Wash the rice thoroughly, changing the water several times. Cut off the green parts of the scallions and set aside. Chop the white part of the scallions fine.
   
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the minced white scallion and saute until tender. Add the rice and two cups broth. Bring to a boil, stir once and reduce the heat. Cover tightly and cook over low heat until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about thirty-five minutes. If necessary add more broth as the rice cooks. (Note - it took me about 45 minutes for the rice to cook, so leave extra time).
   
3. In a separate pot, prepare jasmine rice according to directions (usually: rinse rice, boil 1 1/2 cups of water, add rice and stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat & cover, simmer 10-15 minutes, let sit off heat for 5-10 minutes).
   
4. Meanwhile, slice the almonds and lightly toast them. Cut the green scallion stems diagonally into two-inch lengths. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices.
   
5. Five minutes before the wild rice is done, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the scallion stems, peas, mushrooms, and almonds and saute only until the mushrooms are tender and peas are hot.
   
6. Transfer both of the cooked rices and vegetable mixture to a casserole. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Mix lightly and keep hot for serving in a very low oven.
   

The next book club selection is a local Seattle food blogger (she owns Delancey -fancy pizza- and is known on the 'net as Orangette): A Homemade Life. It includes several recipes, but I'll be hosting it the day after Thanksgiving so we'll just have leftovers. Simplicity!