French-Style Rice Salad

Menu: Japanese-Style Egg Rolls; French-Style Rice Salad

Lessons learned:

1. If the herbs are big enough for my husband to pick out, he'll take the time to do it.
2. Sophie loves these egg rolls.  Thank goodness!

I know this menu sounds strange, or at least awkwardly international.  Both recipes are from HTCEV, which is full of variations on themes -- that's what I love about that cookbook -- and often those variations are sensibly named after a national cooking style.  He's got to call them something.  But if you don't think about what the food you're eating might be named -- as my family doesn't -- then it turns out the menu isn't strange at all.

We've been eating outside lately.  The kids eat at their little table in the grass, and John and I sit on the futon couch that we never ended up bringing back inside.  It's nice to get out of the heat of the kitchen after I've cooked in it and sit under the fans we have on the ceiling of our back porch.  After being sick so many days, it's also nice to get some fresh air.

You know, the only thing that seems slightly odd about this pairing is the soy sauce in the egg rolls.  Next time I might just replace it with extra broth and layer some brie into the rolled crepes.  Why didn't I think of that last night?  I even have some brie!

On the other hand, everyone loves these eggs.  It's hard to want to mess around with that.

French-Style Rice Salad (adapted from HTCEV by Mark Bittman)

Long-grain white rice, cooked and cooled
Green beans, trimmed, cut into 1" pieces, and steamed briefly
Radishes, halved and sliced thin
Carrots, shredded (I only had teeny tiny baby carrots, so this was annoying even though it looked pretty)
Slivered almonds
Fresh tarragon (didn't have any, so I used some lemon thyme from my garden instead, which my husband picked right back out)
Chives
Citrus-champagne vinaigrette (made from citrus-champagne vinegar, a Good Seasons dressing packet, and olive oil)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Toss all ingredients together in amounts that suit you!