May 14-- A memory

This represents the memory of "that one time that we burnt the brown rice NISHIKI in the microwave..."  We were going to cook it normally, but my sister suggested we should microwave it instead.  Since she was older, we decided to follow her advice.
       Bad idea.
       Her 30-minutes-in-the-microwave instructions were not very good ones.  At about 20 mins it was starting to smell weird in the kitchen, so we checked on the rice.  As soon as I opened the microwave door, green smoke billowed out and filled up the room.  We rushed to open all the doors and windows as the smoke alarm was ringing like no tomorrow.  My sister quickly tried to carry the bowl of burnt rice out the door, but had to set it down momentarily on the rug.  It melted a circle into the carpet before she could take it outside.
  The well-microwaved rice looked like this:

 

We got as much rice as we could out of the bowl and into a pile in the lawn outside.  Throughout the rest of the summer, you could still see pieces of it defiling the grass. 

 Nothing would eat the brown rice NISHIKI.

((undaunted in our rice-cooking by the slight setback of completely ruining the microwave, making the house smell terrible, and melting the rug, we started again at square one.  This time, the advice of the old wise sister was not heeded, and we cooked the rice on the stove.  It was much more successful.  While the burnt pieces of brown rice NISHIKI are no longer visible in the yard, the memory is still quite vivid for all involved.))  :')
-Kelly L.
 ((photo creds, Lynsey Witherill and Tara Lorenz))