Egg Rolls and Ecstasy

A few weeks ago, while grocery shopping, Spousal Unit and I encountered a package of egg roll wraps on sale for an exciting low price. We screamed with joy and threw them in our shopping cart with zeal. When we got home, we put them in our fridge and forgot about them.

Until now.

Their expiration date was drawing nigh, and we wanted to give them a proper send off, so we braced ourselves mentally and physically for the insanity of ingesting fabulous fried food.

I was practically shaking in my boots over cooking these unassuming little rolls. After all, I've made tempura before, which resulted in oil burns on my armpit. (I was wearing a tank top, and the oil splattered when I lifted the lid.) Unless you've made some splatterrific fried goods before, you have no idea what a pain it is. The extra drops of tempura batter resulted in an extra splatter factor, along with condensation built up on the lid. The entire stove gets oily, and you can never quite get all the grease off the teapot.

Thus did I don my long-sleeved shirt and begin the arduous process of dinner. The garlic was simmered, veggies were cooked, and (most fun of all) the veggies were wrapped all snug in their little packets of stretchy dough. Seriously, that part was more fun than I ever have with food.

Then came the oil. It came to a temperature that freaked out when splashed with water, so I grabbed the fork-ended cooking utensil (no clue what it's actually called), loaded it with floury egg rolls, and sent them on their merry way.

At first, I was terribly confused. The pan did not immediately erupt in oily splashes of doom. Had I done something wrong? But no, it began to bubble around the base - gently. In short time I turned the egg rolls, and the first batch was done. Minimal doom involved. Hurrah!

As I put more egg rolls in, the oil did get more turbulent, but never reaching the epic proportions seen with frying tempura. That was super awesome for me. No burns!



And so the egg rolls were prepared. Dinner was almost ready for us, though we lacked one crucial ingredient: a dipping sauce or two. Or three.


Okay, so we had four. The ones in the dishes are teriyaki and a goopier ginger teriyaki. Delicious, but I loved the horseradish sauce on them, as seen below.


Food is definitely a good thing.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    So what's the score against the universe so far, at least, for posts on this blog. U-2 A-1?

    ~SU

    ReplyDelete
  2. AllisonApril 4, 2011 at 2:24 PM

    Sounds about right. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. MomApril 4, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    So you put the wraps in the cart with zeal. What isle would they have zeal in? I looked all over the store and even asked the manager and he did not know either. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. VickiApril 6, 2011 at 6:54 PM

    Horseradish with egg rolls? Where are you from, again?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sally Anns and a Can of Spam

Image
Sally Anns are one of my favorite cookies. By their taste alone, they evoke a sense of home and comfort, reminding me of the kitchen at my grandparents' place and the simple happiness of mid-afternoon sweets. They're the only food that evokes the thought, This would be better with a cup of coffee. Making them was a good Easter activity, especially as I was stuck away from the family due to unpacking (the books are now free!) and yard work shenanigans (such as finding a dead mouse in the yard, which was lovely). With help from my mom, I found the recipe in the family cookbook (my great-great-grandparents are on the cover, and other awesome old pictures are scattered throughout). I decided that the transgression of buying a can of Spam (just once) was worth it for the sake of the cookies. Poke holes in the bottom of the can to allow for air flow. I didn't have enough butter for a full batch, but half of one made 18 Cookies of Unusual Size. I made the mistake of
Read more

The Beatles' Help! Scarf

Image
Remember when I posted about making Beatles-themed crafts after seeing Cirque du Soleil's performance of Love? I've finished the first one. Here's a refresher of the original Help! scarf. Source And here's my version: a massive thing that I gave my sister for her birthday. In these shots, it's wrapped around her neck twice. I didn't measure the beast before I sent it to its new home, but it's probably about 8 feet long. Made with Caron yarn on size 8 needles, this tube scarf was 40 stitches in the round. Each block of color is 20 rows. The only tricky parts are getting a smooth transition between colors and what to do with the yarn ends inside the tube, but they are easy problems to solve. When you transitioning, knit a normal row with the new color, then pull tight the last stitch of the previous color. That last stitch shouldn't disappear entirely, but it will be close, and your problem will be solved. Then, because this scarf
Read more

Data in Social Science

The science aspect of social science work is central to improving social systems. Data inform whether we are moving in the right direction or need to adjust our course. However, data and science must not be the center of our work; we must keep focus on children, families, and individuals, whose experiences are nuanced and filtered through systems that hold innate bias, which rests within the data . By maintaining awareness of these biases and their potential, we can keep people at the center of our work and focus on the true causes of injustice and pain that many families deal with. Lack of awareness can be a slippery slope to believing that individuals or families are themselves at fault for their situations, be it lack of housing, interpersonal violence, or other abuse. With data that are conscious of systemic issues and biases, we can examine the true issues at hand, such as racism , financial instability, and ableist policies.  What good are any manner of properly applied scientifi
Read more