F is for Frog and also Freakin' Fantastic Fried Rice

ABC Wednesday
The letter is F for Frogs
and F for Freakin' Fantastic Fried Rice

When one can not make up one's mind

then it falls to one to present

F in Twos....

Shall we start with Hilaire Belloc, who wrote a compassionate

poem to The Frog

1870-1953

A twentieth Century English Poet

controversial, but nevertheless praised

for his humour and poetic skill

Belloc was said to be the best English writer

of light verse 

since Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.

Here is his poem to The Frog.....

Be kind and tender to the Frog

And do not call him names

as "Slimy-Skin" or "Polly-wog."

Or likewise "Uncle James,"

Or "Gap-a-grin".

 or "Toad-gone-wrong,"

Or "Billy Bandy-knees":

The frog is justly sensitive

to epithets like these.

No animal will more repay

A treatment kind and fair,

At least so lonely people say

Who keep a frog (and by the way,

They are extremely rare).

Hilaire Belloc's Book of Beasts,  to be followed by

More Beasts (For Worse Children)

are quite hilarious and I don't know why I have not

thought to buy them for the great-grands...

And now let me tell you about this Fantastic Fried Rice recipe

which was one of my father's creations

in his later years, when he was alone.

To get the perfect fried rice you will want to use yesterday's rice

as it will have had a chance to dry out a bit.

Let your pan warm up nicely,  It will ensure that whatever ingredients

you use will fry quickly and that each grain of rice

gets hot to the core.

Don't poke, prod or turn and make the rice all soggy,

and if you are going to add other ingredients

(like shrimp, or veggies)

cook them separately and put to one side,

adding them at the last.

You will need two to three cups of day old rice, sixteen shrimp, or thereabouts, medium sized.  

a half to one cup of red onions, and garlic if that is one of your staples.

half a cup of peas and half a cup of corn

or whatever other veggie you might have in your fridge

and a little bit of chili powder

Wash and marinate the shrimp with a tsp of chili powder and salt

for about half an hour.

In a wide mouthed pan heat 1 tsp of oil and add the onion to saute.  

mix up the peas and corn (or other veggie) and stir in....

set aside in a separate container....

Then, in the same pan heat another tsp of oil and cook the shrimp 

till it is just done.

Add the rice, check for salt, let it stay in the heat

until the rice is heated through.

Mix all together gently, and enjoy!!

My Dad was very casual about this dish

as I am, too.

All sorts of interesting things go into it.

Try some mushrooms.

And a dab of pickles.

An egg or two - oh, but that's something altogether different....

More interesting Fs here

at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to those who maintained this charming meme

in the past, who do so in the present

and plan for the future.