Appetizing Muse

Yesterday afternoon I prepared two Ginger-Pumpkin Cheesecakes for Wilbert's office party. He was so impressed by the dessert after our Thanksgiving feast that he wanted to take the cakes to his employee potluck. However, this time around I didn't make the ginger-snap crust. Instead, I used a graham cracker pie crust pre-made at the grocery store. It wasn't nearly as good, but I suppose adding the proper amount of sugar this time made up for the difference.

We had egg rolls and fried rice yesterday afternoon as well, which was a bit of culinary heaven. Although Wilbert and I have been together for more than four years, I've never had the yen to assemble my homemade egg rolls. On the other hand, we've had ravioli, tamales, fried rice, stir fry, Italian, Japanese and Irish food from scratch over the years, but never my egg rolls. Needless to say, Wilbert adored the food and will probably find store-bought egg rolls pale in comparison from now on.

When I lived in Salt Lake City many years ago, I used to frequent the local Benihana restaurant. I learned how to make fried rice by watching the cleaver-wielding chefs prepare meals at table. In fact, it was on the occasion of my first wedding dinner in 1982 that I observed the Japanese chef toss scallions, peas and egg onto the grill. After the eggs were scrambled and chopped fine, the chef slapped on the rice then added soy sauce and other seasonings, combining everything together. After all these years, I have the recipe down pat.

My version of fried rice must be pretty close to the Benihana original - it's the first thing on the table to disappear.