When I make tacos, I feel like they should have some sort of side dish. I always mean to make Mexican rice. The same box has been shelved in the pantry for a year. By the time I remember I want to make Mexican rice, it’s too late. It takes 30 minutes to cook and I’m pulling the shells out of the oven.
When Meredith and I were grocery shopping this week, a new kind of Mexican rice caught my eye. We have a fairly large Hispanic population, and as a result the Mexican foods shelf has expanded into half an aisle at Meijer.
This looks pretty close to what they serve at El Rodeo. I read the back of the box and it looked easy enough and I assumed it was probably much healthier than what I normally order. I threw a box in the cart without any memory of the box that’s taking up space in the pantry. It’s Goya. It looks authentic.
The directions were very straightforward. No more difficult than instant couscous. I boiled the water, added the olive oil, and stirred in the “rice and seasoning packet.”The rice was completely devoid of color and there weren’t any bell peppers or tomatoes to be seen. It smelled like white rice. The familiar spicy tomato smell I expected wasn’t there. I shook the box to make sure I didn’t miss a packet of dried vegetables and cumin.
Nope.
Nothing.
I thought, “Well, maybe it happens by magic while it cooks.”
It’s always completely logical to assume something will happen by magic.
When I removed the lid after 25 minutes...
the rice still begged for soy sauce.
My mother in law would have written the company a letter. She would have received a coupon in the mail for a free box of rice. She would have given the coupon to me and I would have lost it or thrown in away. So, I’m saving myself time and chalking it up to my incomprehension of the Spanish language. I’ll stick with Uncle Ben from now on. We speak the same language.
My mother in law would have written the company a letter. She would have received a coupon in the mail for a free box of rice. She would have given the coupon to me and I would have lost it or thrown in away. So, I’m saving myself time and chalking it up to my incomprehension of the Spanish language. I’ll stick with Uncle Ben from now on. We speak the same language.
1 comment:
You can buy spanish rice in the microwave packages by Uncle Ben - it takes 90 seconds. :)
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