i am entirely sick of pouring hot water onto powdered things and calling that a meal. buttery 29 is closed on weekends so i thought i'd get up and cook something today. so it was *curtsey* choonping's apricot rice and i will tell you why. had a really rotten tossy night of it night before, couldn't get any sleep till nearly six and then had to get up to turn off my alarm at 7.30. woke up again much aghast to find time now 2pm. dressed swiftly because usps was supposed to redeliver a package today (they didn't show up.) i wander into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and see what there was for the eating and find my roommate has planned a dinner party - by the hill of implements and ingredients high on the kitchen table, quite a fancy one too. swiftly i throwing my own dinner together so that i would be able to clear out and tidy away before she has to start entertaining. something that can be quickly prepared, that could be left in fridge till wanted, and not involve scrubbing pans. and so, choonping's apricot rice, first try: no celery, but there were green apples and walnuts and almonds and dried apricots. no balsamic vinegar, or rather there was a new bottle but as it hadn't yet been opened and my roommate had obviously bought it for her dinner party i wasn't about to touch it. but we do have kikkoman, and there was a large tangerine that had been sitting out for a while and there didn't look like there was good eating left on it, so i peeled and squeezed it over the rice. 20minutes and i washing the pan. it's easy following choonping's recipes because it is extremely p. he doesn't tell you how much to use of anything and how long to take it's all very chinese grandmother where the sole unit of measurement is "yi xie" or "yi dian."