I have a bad habit of checking my phone in the morning, so all the current news was already swirling in my head when I made my way to the kitchen for breakfast.
I started with fruit and toast, and got the coffee going. When I added whole milk to my coffee, I noticed that the expiration date on the milk was today. It was a half gallon that was still nearly full.
I made yogurt last week so I didn't need to make more yogurt.
Since Chuck doesn't consume milk anymore, I didn't want to make a pudding or custard.
Then I remembered the sweet rice and milk Mom used to make. I haven't made that since we lived at the farm, so it's been a couple of years. It's a recipe I have not written down, but was pretty confident about being successful. And having food for breakfast that reminded me of Mom would be a bit of self nurture.
Mom used a double boiler to make rice and milk for two reasons that I know of.
Milk does not scorch in a double boiler.
Milk does not boil over in a double boiler.
I no longer have a double boiler, but I have a new rice maker.
I wasn't sure how it would work in a rice maker.
Turns out that though milk does not scorch in a rice maker, it DOES boil over. After cleaning the counter of warm milk, I found a way to prop up the lid at a slant so that the steam could be released.
It wasn't good enough. There was air flow, but the boiling milk lifted the lid back into place and then milk overflowed onto the counter again.
I put a ladle into the pot to hold the lid up permanently. A few minutes later, the next overflow let me know it needed a larger gap than the width of a flat metal spoon handle.
I tried putting the spoon in sideways to hold the lid higher, but you can guess the rest, right? It righted itself and boiled over again.
At this point the rice was cooked perfectly.
I thought of taking a photo of a rice cooker surrounded by milk on a granite counter top, but chose to skip that in favor of keeping the milk from dripping down off the edge and onto the floor.
So my counter top has been thoroughly washed several times today and I have sweet rice and milk ready for breakfast tomorrow, and a rice bowl soaking in the sink.
Sweet rice and milk was a comfort food from my childhood. This is the recipe I got from my grandma, who taught my mom.
1 quart milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup rice
Cook it until the rice is tender. It can also be baked instead of cooked, in a large covered casserole with room for bubbling milk. 😊 Can be served with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
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I subscribe to Dianna Butler Bass, who has been writing about the things happening in our country and also how to walk through these times while maintaining our well-being, our faith, and our values. You can find her web page at the link above. Her writing is on Substack and can be linked from her web page.
She wrote about ten practices, each of which begins with a W, and today I’m practicing more than one. I walked this morning after making my messy pot of rice and milk, and the making of rice and milk is a combination of work and wide-sight.
When you find yourself reactive, or scared, or threatened, your sight tends to narrow and you can’t see all that is around you. Wide sight is remembering to look around you, at the edges, to see what else is important. She describes the practice as one of using soft eyes.
So today, I’ll still contact my representatives, I’ll still listen to some of the news, and I’ll keep my vision as wide as I can manage, including making things, messing up, and cleaning up my messes. And while getting all of this into words, I accidentally practiced one more W...write. Diana uses that word broadly. Writing is one of her primary creative endeavors. So for her, writing is creating, and more as creativity is a way of soul keeping. Writing is also one method I choose, but cooking can be another. I have friends who sew, or garden, or work with wood.
At any rate, if you have a chance, and you'd like to practice all of the Ws, look up Diana's post, titled "What are We Going To Do?" published January 28.
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