Slacking Off: Day 4: Blue Chicken and Sketchy Root

DAY 4: BREAKFAST
Again, I was not awake.

DAY 4: LUNCH
Thai food: Hawaiian (pineapple) fried rice. Note to self: Make it. Ingredients: Rice, pineapple, green onions, cashews, shrimp, chicken, soy sauce(?).

DAY 4: DINNER
Dad just sort of took over dinner. Since I didn't do any of the shopping or cooking, I don't know how much anything cost, and I have to just relate what I think happened.

Soup
Mom wanted to use a chicken for a soup. Guess what color the chicken was? Indigo-colored. It was really really small, small as in slightly larger than a large mango. And the chicken that we used wasn't just a thigh or a leg or a breast. It was the entire chicken: body, wings, head, feet, talons.  The only thing that was missing was the guts. Dad took a big pot full of water, put the entire chicken in (after partially defrosting, washing the chicken to fully defrost it), put the lid on, and started heating it. He said: "With soups, you first put the water and the meat in first, wait for the water to boil and the meat to cook, and then you add vegetables and other things in and cook it again, because vegetables cook really quickly."

The 'vegetable' was white and tuber-like, cylindrical, about a foot in length and two inches in diameter. I'm not sure how long it had been living in our refrigerator. My dad didn't know what it was either, though mom possibly did, because she told Dad to treat it like a potato. He used a peeler and peeled it, then cut it into little wheels about an inch thick, and discarded the ends. I watched him chop it. It sounded crispy, like cutting an apple (or uncooked potato) and it also had this weird starchy liquid that would follow the knife. I don't know.

Leftover Pineapple Fried Rice
Microwaved on a microwave-safe plate.


Peas and Eggs
I didn't actually watch him make this, but it's related to one of the few things I knew how to make before all this started (fried rice), so this is how I would make it:
Buy package of frozen peas.
Put a little oil on pan. (Or, use non-stick pan?)
Turn on fire.
Crack eggs into the pan.
Stir eggs around until half cooked.
Pour peas into eggs.
Stir until eggs fully cooked. (Peas should be unfrozen by now.)
Serve.


Shrimp and Cucumbers
These were cocktail-size shrimp, and they were probably made about the same way as the peas and eggs, except you had to un-shell the shrimp first, and wash and cut the cucumbers into wedge-shapes.

This all seems really simple, but it's a really satisfying dinner, and simple is ideal for the academic year. You can skip the soup and the leftovers, and unless seafood makes you swoon, even the shrimp and the cucumbers. I highly highly recommend that you try peas and eggs, if you can.