CRUSTACEANS WITH RICE

 A relatively languid day....and, since I'd just cleaned and organized my kitchen....it was time to make another big, tasty mess...... Without soaking, add long-grained brown rice to cold water and bring slowly to a simmer, adding sliced chile-spiced mango, sliced chunks of crystallized ginger, grated coconut, as much garam masala as you wish, some thin slices of dried Thai papaya spears, a handful of yellow raisins, a few slices of dehydrated garlic, a tiny bit of yellow sea salt and some very coarse-ground orange peppercorns. While this is cooking, saute some tiger shrimp, crabmeat or lobster in toasted sesame oil, sprinkling in a dash of hot rasam powder to achieve a bright, edgy aroma.....toss in some cashew nuts and some sliced scallion greens......cool the cooked shrimp to a few degrees below room temperature and pile the shrimp onto the shaped and formed rice...... served upon a salad of favored greens and broccoli sprouts, lightly flavored with fine rice vinegar......in concert with a cup of chilled cream of red pepper soup and sweet-buttered french bread ten minutes from the oven.... For dessert, some pistachio pudding with sliced not-very-ripe bananas, very ripe seedless blackberries and walnuts.....served in decorative ramekins....Now, to restore order!