Egg Rolls Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken breast (may substitute with beef or pork)
• 1 8 oz package mushrooms
• 1 can bean sprouts (I use fresh when I can find them)
• 1 package tri color coleslaw/cabbage mix
• green onions
• cornstarch
• ginger
• soy sauce
• 1 package egg roll wrappers
• Canola oil

Dice 4 or 5 green onions (or an entire bunch and save some for fried rice).  I use leaves too.  Shred mushrooms in food processor.  Place onions and mushrooms in a separate bowl.

Grind chicken in the food processor with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.  If chicken is not completed covered add more soy sauce.  Add seasonings – ginger 1/8 teaspoon and salt and pepper to taste. This mixture is supposed to sit for 5-10 minutes but I usually skip that part.

Stir fry mushrooms and onions in about 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil for 1-2 minutes.  Push mushrooms and onions to the side of the wok making a well in the center.  Add seasoned ground chicken to that well.  Stir fry until no longer pink, incorporating the mushrooms and onions. Add bean sprouts and mix well continuing to stir fry.  Add coleslaw mix, incorporate and continue to stir fry until crisp tender.

Remove filling to a colander placed in the bowl used for the raw mushrooms and onions.  This allows liquid to drain through.  If you use enough cornstarch you may not have much liquid.  Allow filling to cool.

Wash out wok.

Roll filling in egg roll wrappers according to package directions.  Add canola oil to wok and heat oil to 350 degrees.  Deep fry the egg rolls 3 or 4 at a time until the wrappers are golden brown.  Lay on paper towel covered cookie sheets and let cool slightly.

Enjoy!

 

Reflections

It was a Sunday. Just your average normal day. The Sunday before the 4th of July in 2006 to be exact. We’d planned to celebrate early. Supper at 5 and fireworks at sundown.

Things sort of sucked around the Dub households that summer. Well not ours directly but notice I used plural. Households.

H was 10 months post cancer treatment to remove the aggressive tumor from her leg. She was doing well despite having been through hell. And as things looked brighter for her, the other shoe dropped.

H’s dad (B’s brother D) had been recently diagnosed with cancer himself. After months of going to doctors only to be misdiagnosed from dermatitis to scabies, he finally had a name for what ailed him.  His cancer was different than H. Same type as a cousin. That year it became painfully clear that our kids hit the unfortunate genetic lottery. Cancer runs rampant in the family tree.

D’s road to recovery was just beginning. Things looked promising. Highly curable form “they” said. He had an appointment for Thursday to get his treatment plan.

Instead fate intervened and he died that day. That otherwise normal day. Than random Sunday before the 4th of July in 2006.

The events of that day are vivid memories. Painful. Stark realities. The tumor was pressing on an artery and during a coughing fit, the artery already weakened from the pressure ruptured. He bled out, dying in his father’s arms.

Still EMS took him away. B and his mom followed behind. Knowing the worst had already happened. His dad stayed at the house to clean up. Why? Pure love. So his wife of 44 years did not have to return home to that gory scene.  On hands and knees. Mopping up your child’s blood which had splattered everywhere. Unimaginable.

The actual date is tomorrow the 2nd but the first Sunday of every July is the marker. The day still almost too painful to endure. The day where we retreat into our own head space with thoughts, wishes, and regrets of what if. Alone yet together.

You’d think after 12 years we’d find a way to mourn properly. Instead we hide. Just goes to show there is no such thing as proper where grief is concerned.

I’m dealing by writing. I want to give an annual Public Service Announcement. I always wonder what the symptoms are in cases of mortality because “they” say early detection saves lives. But since so many symptoms overlap who’s to say what’s serious and what’s not? How do you know when  to act and when to wait?

So here it goes …

If you have a rash accompanied by a cough that won’t quit coupled with night sweats, make them do a blood test. D also mentioned a yeasty taste in his mouth. In the literature afterwards we saw where that combo of symptoms was quite common. Disclaimer that combo might be something else entirely but you never know.  Cancer needs to be ruled out.

As always, more to come.