The Chiro's Confetti Rice

Harriet Van Horne said, "Cooking is like love—it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."

Like love, cooking can require patience, improvisation and a whole lotta prep work. Also like love, if you're doing it right, all the effort is worth it in the end. Feel free to quote me on that.

Last night I was craving Confetti Rice, a dish The Chiro took to making for me when I wasn't feeling well and was eating plain white rice day after day. He worried that I would get bored with my monochromatic meals and started adding different ingredients each time.

We never had a name for the dish until now.

Last night he chopped dark purple cabbage, ripe red bell pepper, and vibrant green italian parsely, minced two cloves of garlic and sauteed these in butter and olive oil with pine nuts and shredded carrots. All the while, the white and brown mix of basmati rices was bubbling.

He stirred the veggies as I snapped photos and suddenly asked me, "Can we call this Rainbow Rice?"
I laughed at the absurdity of the name, although in this variation it was entirely apt. "What happens though, when there isn't any cabbage or bell pepper?" I asked. "Wouldn't "Refrigerator rice be more fitting? You know, since we throw in whatever is in the fridge?"
He thought for a moment as he added the cooked rice, a pinch of saffron, a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a bunch of turmeric. He looked up at me. "Confetti Rice, then" he said. "In honor of your birthday."

So Confetti Rice it is.