Three Beautiful Things 04-05-2023: Mass for Robert Trecker, Vegetable and Rice Bowls, The New Remote Arrived

1. This morning, I blasted up to St. Rita's Catholic Church to pay respects to Diane Trecker's recently deceased father, Robert (Bob). Diane is one of eleven siblings and all of them were in attendance. The priest as well as Robert's son-in-law emphasized Bob's strong work ethic, the way that he passed this and other ways of living well on to his children and grandchildren, and emphasized how Bob's eleven children have all grown up to be superb people. I enjoyed seeing the members of the Class of '72 who were in attendance, including Stu, Lars, Sue D, and Mike Heglund -- Rick Chapman also attended. I had a most enjoyable conversation with Mike after the service out in front of the church. 

2. Back home, I assembled ingredients and made a very delicious and satisfying HelloFresh dinner. 

I began by peeling and mincing a plug of ginger, peeling and dicing a sweet potato, chopping a red pepper, chopping a couple green onions, and trimming and quartering and handful of mushrooms. I tossed the mushrooms and sweet potato pieces in a bowl with olive oil and hoisin sauce. I covered a baking sheet with parchment paper and roasted the mushrooms and sweet potato on one half of the sheet and the chopped red pepper on the other half.

While the vegetable roasted, I melted a chunk of butter in a pot and added the minced ginger and the white part of the green onion and let them cook for a minute. Then I added a packet of rice and cup and a quarter of water. I brought the rice to a boil and then turned down the heat, put the lid on so the rice could cook.

I also mixed mayonnaise, soy sauce, sour cream, and Sriracha in a bowl and let it sit. 

After the vegetable roasted for about fifteen minutes, I removed them from the oven, put the mushrooms and sweet potato in a bowl, added more hoisin sauce and sesame seeds, tossed them, put them back on the baking sheet, and roasted them for about five more minutes.

Once the rice cooked and the vegetables finished roasting, all Debbie and had to do was put the ginger-onion rice in a bowl, cover the rice with vegetables, and pour the sauce over the top. We could also add more sesame seeds and the chopped green part of the green onions to the bowl.

I was especially happy to learn the technique of melting butter and briefly cooking ginger and onion in the pot before boiling the rice. I hope I'll remember to do this with other dishes in the future. 

3. I experienced a mild sense of euphoria today when the Vizio remote control device I ordered arrived -- it replaces the one I stupidly tossed in the trash. My euphoria grew when I figured out how to remove the back and insert the batteries. My euphoria peaked when this new device worked!