That is not the recommended way to prepare rice...

Anyone who knows me fairly well knows I have a poor memory. Perhaps it's more than that, but to make things simple I say it's memory problems. (Also, one of life's ironies: needing to remember to take memory enhancing vitamins. Just saying.)

It might be forgetting to turn of the sprinkler for the garden or misplacing my phone (the most popular). It's not uncommon to see me suddenly jump up, muttering to myself, and dart away, or to hear me pound down the stairs shouting my dismay. (Of course, the latter could be because I just dropped my phone off the roof...)

Today it was rice. I have a bad enough habit with food as it is. I'm almost deaf to timers, and if I get distracted with some interesting book or movie or the like, I zone out everything, even the horrid smell of something burning, which is why it's best I don't leave the kitchen while food is on.

Rice should be easy. Put it in water, boil it, then cover and simmer for a good half hour or more. What's so difficult about that?

Right.

Mom called and asked me to make up a bunch for her, so I pulled out our largest pot and put in 5 or 6 cups of rice and set it on high to boil. Then I wandered away to finish a movie. I got distracted browsing barnesandnoble.com and accessories for books. I didn't take much notice for the burning smell arising from the kitchen. It wasn't until Allenna made a comment that it all came rushing back to me, and the jump-up-and-dart-away-mumbling routine began.

I know what terrible things can happen if rice is left on the heat too long, and I had given the whole huge batch up for lost before I reached the stove. But no! Maybe it wasn't as long as I'd thought. Sure, it was smoking and stinking up the whole kitchen, but the rice wasn't dry yet.

I grabbed the pot and pulled it off the burner, then flicked the switch to turn off the burner itself. Upon further examination I discovered that the only burnt rice was at the bottom. Pretty much all of it was almost perfectly cooked. Yeah! Not too dry, not mushy. Talk about miracles.

Is it weird that I then became weak with relief? I'll be honest, actually forgetting things is only half of what bothers me. What really gets to me are those horrid disapproving looks from the people who witness my memory blunders: shaking heads and severely angled brows and mouths that convey hopelessness better than a single word could. You'd think that alone would perk up my memory.

Now I'm coughing back the stench of burnt rice and laughing at myself. I'm also wondering if enough of this blunders will ever teach me. Or maybe it's time to buck up and down a couple Omega-3 tablets a day. I would prefer fish, but I'd probably burn it half the time....