Grocery Store Finds

I got this Nasi Goreng (Oriental Fried Rice anyone?) package randomly from Fiesta the other day. The ingredients didn't look too scary, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Plus, it was like 80 cents and I was already on a grocery store high. This was my first time going to the 24 hour Fiesta Mart near I-35. It was a religious experience. I went alone, which was perfect because I could peruse the aisles one section at a time. Their produce section is inspiring - not a lot of organic stuff, but a HUGE array of vegetables and fruit, a lot of which I'd never heard of, and won't even try to remember. The most exciting area of the store (though the section for work pants, cowboy hats and belts is pretty awesome) is the International section. There's an aisle for Indian, Thai, Chinese, but also Caribbean, Columbian, Russian, and more! They even had a tiny Argentine section I was happy to find, with cheap mate and all. This place is amazing. So by the time I got to the last aisle of the International section, I wanted to try something, and I wanted it to be cheap, so I spontaneously picked this up. We had some leftover brown rice at the house anyways.

The packet is harmless enough, but it looks kind of gross before you mix it in:

I threw in some chopped carrots, peas, some cayenne and a little bit of light sesame oil, what I fried the rice in before adding the Nasi Goreng package. Once mixed in, it looked much, much better and tasted quite nice. I added some avocado.

It's hard to mess up fried rice, though I accomplished just that plenty of time in my early cooking days (less than two years ago I was just beginning to cook for myself for realz). This package, for anyone who can find it or has access to Fiesta, is not bad and really nice for a lazy supper. The ingredients aren't horrifying either, here they are: Shallots, Tomato, Soy sauce, Vegetable oil, Salt, Chili, Garlic, Herbs, Sugar, Flavor enhancer (yeast extract), Antioxidant (Tocopherol).

For dessert, I treated myself to a piece of vegan Chocolate Ginger Cake from Wheatsville Co-op. My god, was this decadent like nothing I'd had in awhile. I can't believe I ate the whole thing, but I did. It was a night of total indulgence, and it was heavenly. I took a long hot bath and read for a long time. Then I realized I was getting light-headed and dehydrated and luckily right then Nathan got home from his improv classes just in time to catch me giggling, goofy and near faint and he helped me to bed. The End.


Look at that cake. Isn't it just so seductive? That little flap of cream coming off the edge in its little come-hither stance. It's actually kind of adorable.