Ok Fine Cooking... I read somewhere that one of the purposes of this challenge was to find out what we (the readers) like and don't like about the recipes, new format, etc. I really hope I'm not the only one who does this, but I find myself (again and again) only skimming the recipe before I am actually ready to start cooking. Because of my inability to plan ahead, I end up not being able to make a dish or eating much later than I had planned. This recipe called for COLD brown rice. Even though I read the ingredients list before I went to the store, I did not notice this dish called for cold rice. So I got all ready to make my quick meal and ended up eating 2 hours later because I had to let my rice get cold. My suggestion is that the recipes that require some planning ahead (brining the chicken, cold rice, marinated skirt steak, salted roast pork, etc.) should have a special symbol. I'm not sure what that symbol should look like but it should alert the reader, "Hey dummy, read this recipe all the way through before you attempt to start cooking, it requires a 2 hour marinade!" I guess I'm just the kind of cook that looks at the picture, reads the ingredients and decides I’m going to make this. I don't actually read the whole recipe start to finish until I'm ready to start cooking. I hope others out there have come across this problem and I'm not the only one who doesn’t plan ahead! That said, this dish was tasty. I had some trouble cooling my rice. Since I wasn't using leftovers, I had to cook the rice and then find a way to cool it quickly. I had the great idea to spread it on a baking sheet on top of parchment paper and let it cool down on the counter. Then I moved it to the fridge to get cold. This method didn't really work very well. I still ended up with sticky rice that didn't fry very nicely. I really liked the addition of the edamame; I thought it added a nice crunch to a softer textured dish. The Canadian bacon was great too. I ate mine with a little Miso Dressing poured on-top. I also suggest using the recommended non-stick pan. I didn't have one large enough and I ended up with quite a cleanup. One last thing, it might have been nice to know how many cups of dried rice yield 4 cups of cooked. I had to guess.
