Jasmine Rice Salad

Sometimes I wonder if the grocery store employees mind me
posing their items and taking pictures. Then I drink to forget.

I've been cooking a lot using lemons and mint lately. That might be because it's summer and those are pretty damn refreshing flavors. It might be because there was a sale on mint and lemons. I've heard it both ways. The point is that I've got lemons and mint coming out the wazoo (Gross) and I'm sick and tired of making drinks and desserts. So I decided to make a rice salad that's awesome enough to please you and whatever vegetarians, or even vegans, you've been foolish enough to allow into your life.

Ingredients:

2 Cups uncooked Jasmine Rice (Jasmine Rice is an aromatic rice that originated in Thailand. Like Redbull. Or, apparently, NBA uniforms. Which is pretty messed up if you think about that acronym)
4 Cups Regular Old Water
3 Green Onions
3 Lemons
2 Cups Peas
1/2 Cup Pecans
1/2 Cup fresh Mint
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

The first thing you need to do is decide whether you're going to use fresh, beautiful, English Peas, or frozen garbage peas. If you elected to use frozen peas, congratulations! We can be friends. Well, maybe. Friendship isn't excluded based on your pea choice. That's the best I can offer. Because let's be honest. Frozen peas really aren't that bad. Some frozen vegetables always taste like freezer-excrement (I'm looking at you Lima Beans), but not so much with peas. And let's continue to be honest. Fresh peas are a hassle, especially when the dish isn't exactly pea-centric. They're an ingredient, not the belle of the ball. So just sit those frozen peas on a counter and let them defrost.

In the meantime, we're gonna need to cook some rice. There are two main schools of thought for how to boil rice. One is to put the rice in the water, and then bring it to a boil. The other is to boil your water, and then add in the rice. Like a communist. Regardless of your heathen methods of rice-cookery, you're gonna get the rice boiling in a pot along with your Water, Salt, and the zest from 1 of your Lemons. Clamp a lid on it, reduce the heat down to low, and let it cook for about 18 minutes. I say about because the specifics of your burner, pot, climate, and any gypsy curses you've been afflicted with could all play a part in slightly altering the cooking time. So keep an eye on it, and use your best judgement.

That's pretty enough to make me consider going vegetarian.
Upon consideration: meat is awesome. Consideration over.

While this is going down, you're gonna chop up your Green Onions, your Mint, and your Pecans. The Onions and Mint are pretty self-explanatory. Just dice them into itty bits. Cutting nuts is always a hassle though. Except in this case, because we're using Pecans. Pecans are like the shiftless hobos of the nut world. They don't have community, so once the times get hard and and the knife starts chopping down, they just crumble into bits. By now, your Pecans should be sad and broken, and your rice should be cooked. Let the rice cool down to room temperature, and add in the Green Onions, Peas, Pecans, Mint, Garlic Powder, Olive Oil, and the juice from your Lemons. Cover it and store it in the fridge for at least an hour to let all the flavors get to know each other. play some awkward icebreaker games, fall in love, and know heartache. And then enjoy! Bonus points if you remembered to check that your peas were defrosted and avoided costly dental work!