To Rice...

Rice is my staple just like bread is to some. I can eat rice three times a day, everyday. Rice was probably the first solid food to touch my mouth and it will probably the last. When Bubba, in the movie Forest Gump, took all day to name all the shrimp dishes he knew of, I could probably have matched him dish for dish but with rice. I'd start with steamed rice, fried rice, rice soup, rice pilaf, rice cake, rice noodles, rice wine......and on and on.

Rice is such an integral part of my eating habit that I take it for granted. It is one of those things that I assume will always be there, like air. I don't really notice it until it is gone. Like the time my sister and I traveled through Europe for a month. After a couple of weeks, I started feeling 'not right'. Couldn't really put my finger on it, but something was off kilter. Like the V8 commercial or the tower of Pisa, I was leaning to one side but just could not fathom the reason. Until one day, when not any amount of fondue, pasta or bratwursts could sate my hunger, I discovered what it was that was waiting to fill that pit in my stomach. RICE! We were in Paris by this time, and all my good intentions of sampling the famed French cuisine had to be set aside as we searched for the nearest rice monger. We found satisfaction in the form of a small Korean Restaurant within sight of the Eifel Tower.

Once hooked once more to rice, we proceeded to find every China Town or oriental restaurant between Paris and London. I guess you won't be seeing me on any carb free diets any time soon :)