Gyoza Fried Rice

I made gyoza last weekend. It was a happy day. Midway through eating, my stomach started to hurt. So I kept eating until it went away. I made 52 gyoza and froze half so that I could have another happy day sometime in the future. There was, however, one dark cloud in my otherwise perfect gyoza filled day: I ran out of wrappers before the filling was used up. My eyes teared up at the gyoza that would never be made. Never would the filling be warmly nestled in a wrapper, never would it be lovingly caressed by the hot oil that would give it a perfect brown crust. The weight of this culinary crime was almost too much to bear until the dark cloud broke, revealing the silver lining: I could save the filling and use it to make fried rice.

Gyoza Fried Rice:

I had about a cup of leftover filling but any amount will work - fried rice is good like that.

Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a frying pan/wok. Don't be shy with the oil since you need enough to fry the rice in as well. Toss in a carrot, half a medium onion, and a few garlic cloves, all finely chopped. When the onions start to brown, add the gyoza filling and break it up into small pieces as it cooks. When the filling is cooked through, I put in a quarter of a chopped head of cabbage. (I had it left over from when I made the gyoza and I though it would add some nice color and texture) Let the cabbage start to wilt and then dump in 4 cups of cooked rice (2 cups uncooked). I seasoned mine with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and ginger (get it, just like gyoza). Let the rice fry, turning occasionally until a crust starts to form on the bottom. Serve immediately and reminisce about the wonderful gyoza of days gone by.

Fathers and Sons Campout

The first time I went to a fathers and sons campout my son was only 10 months old, so I took my daughter instead. The next time, I took my son but he threw up on the way. This time, I put Return of the Jedi in the DVD player to distract fom the windy road and we arrived sans barf; it was the best fathers and sons campout yet and we hadn't even set up the tent yet.

We camped at Camp Zion on Mt. Lemmon. It's got nice facilities, including pallets for tents, a mess hall, an amphitheatre and outhouses with toilet paper! The city of Tucson is right behind me in the above picture. The city lights were pretty amazing when we came back to our tent after the program.

Chubs was excited to sleep in his new Darth Vader sleeping bag. I was excited to sleep on an air matress.

The next morning, there were 15 carnival games set up for the boys. There was a ring toss, lawn darts, steer lassoing, a cross betweeen a battering ram and bowling, paper airplanes, a jumping castle, and several others.

Of course, walking around on a montain can be treacherous. The paved paths help but little boys aren't very good at staying on paths.

This is the sad face after tripping over some rocks.

The overwhelming favorite activity was the rockets. We made tubes of construction paper, taped a soda bottle cap on top, and added some fins for stability.

The launcher was a PVC frame with a tube coming off one end with a two liter bottle attached. Place the rocket on the pipe sticking up and stomp on the bottle.

It probably would have been one of the best fathers and sons campouts even if chubs had puked on the way up.

I'd Never Thought of it Quite Like That...

From my three-year-old-son at the dinner table: "My water flushed the bread into my tummy just like the water in the toilet flushes the pee and poo into its tummy. Because toilets eat pee and poo."

I Know My Son Loves Me Because...

"We could put daddy in jail for the rest of his life. That would be stupendous!"

A Long Time Ago In A Family Room Far Far Away...

My kids love watching Star Wars.

My kids love having lightsaber fights while watching Star Wars.

My kids fight over who gets to be Darth Vader. (Usually whoever has the red lightsaber)

They had a laser gun fight in the backyard yesterday.

It warms my nerd heart.

Fear the Pi

In honor of pi day, I should probably stop wasting time designing t-shirts.

Happy Pi Day

Pie Steam Vents

I like to make pie but I don't like to make regular steam vents.



I was looking back over some of the steam vents that I've cut over the years.

I think they're getting more elaborate.