Rice: It's What's 4 Breakfast.. (REVISITED)

Yes. I am Caucasian (or, if you prefer, white). And there is always cooked rice in a glass container in the refrigerator. Most of the time, the rice is white. All of the time the rice had been cooked on the gas stove top
for 18 minutes followed by 5 minutes of rest time before it's (re-)moved from the pot.
The rice sticks and clumps. It's part of my pre-consumption food preparation process. You see... I measure what I eat. Sometimes I use a measuring cup or a spoon, but for the most part, I weigh the food. And cooked rice in a glass container can take the form of individual grains or solid boulders. Taking a fork to break it up and then spooning it onto the container on the scale reminds me of my days defrosting the freezer or removing ice/snow from my car.
I never had a 'relationship' with rice growing up. Believe it or not, it was an exotic in our home. Before the days of plastic packaging, rice was sold in a box. And my mother's 1 lb of Carolina extra long grain rice was in the cupboard for years. "Why did she even have it," you ask? It was used in her recipe for stuffed cabbage. The rice would be added to the chopped meat.

I'm not fussy about the brand I buy. In fact, I usually buy it from the big bin at Sprouts. I also don't vary on cooking time or methods of cooking. I've never owned a rice cooker and don't intend to buy one now. It would probably sit in the bottom cupboard next to the electric waffle iron or coffee grinder.

Rice, however, is not the meal in and of itself. The grain is generally accompanied by beans (or perhaps a variety of two different types of beans). I might add some cooked meat and cooked vegetables. I get a lot of comments (mostly by folks who insist that breakfast is either cold cereal or a fried egg).

So, where did this come from. A few years ago, I wanted to prepare myself for a trip to Costa Rica. Part of the adventure was to become familiar with the local cuisine. I was told that breakfast at a local café was something that one simply had to do. Since I was not staying at a restaurant that offered breakfast, I opted in and found a number of sodas everywhere I went.

Taken from WORDREFERENCE.com
Spanish to English
soda nf CR (restaurante pequeño) cafe, café n
snack bar n
Vamos a tomar unas tortillas a la soda de la plaza.
Let's get some omelettes at the cafe (or: café) in the plaza.

Soda is the local term for the cafés in the country. The food is inexpensive and never disappointing. And--IMHO--unless you're a vegan, something is very wrong if you don't like the food there. But that is for another time and place.

Rice has become an integral part of my food choices. It makes its way into most of my soups. I add it to steamed vegetables (baby carrots and peas). In/on Hawaii it's served with chicken in the form of two scoops placed next to a scoop of macaroni salad.

Another favorite dish that's found in breakfasts on the Hawaiian islands is egg, rice, and Portuguese sausage. It's so common that it is even on the menu at McDonald's!

While there are other grains that I keep on hand (barley, red winter wheat, bulgur), rice is still almost always on hand and ready made.