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Mexican Rice

I hadn't planned on doing a Poker Fight Night for Cinco De Mayo primarily because KPT is in mid-season. I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the Sunday games because i normally would cancel out a Sunday Tournament because of the effort involved with two consecutive Poker Nights... Naturally many of the KPT players inquired (or assumed) if i was going to do it especially because it was Cinco De Mayo, but even then the thought of cleaning up for two successive nights of poker-drinking debauchery made me want to vomit...

In any case i was going to watch the fight somewhere (maybe even at home with just a few friends)... Perhaps the Korean had a very good point and perhaps it was ultimately why i set it up. Basically he pointed out that i really had no Good reason for NOT setting up a Fight Night on such a night (He was right. It was a BIG fight night on a Cinco De Mayo weekend-- does get any better!!!)... Well, with the help of some Filipinos too who promulgated that its Tradition for me to put Fight Nights together. How could i say no to that?

So a week leading up to the much anticipated Fight Night i sent a mass text to the boys about my decision (much to their delight i'm sure-- especially the Korean). I decided it would be a Potluck because our first and last one on the last Fight Night (Labor Day 2006) was shockingly successful. Most notably Jonathan's home made egg rolls. Everyone practically begged Jonathan to make them again... In an effort to equal this fabulous KPT potluck (with the help of the Korean) i created an official potluck roster. Jonathan, naturally, was atop the list for his KPT famous Egg Rolls. I volunteered Frank for dessert because he is a self-proclaimed dessert expert kind of a guy. Rolland, Allan, and Conrad were designated to butcher up some Korean Short Ribs and Carne Asada for grilling while i volunteered myself to roast up some Chicken (although i ended up just Baking them lol). I asked a the guys to bring chips & salsa, sour cream & tortillas, pico de gallo, Kimchi for the Korean BBQ, and about 10 people to bring Mexican beer (Yup, can't forget that one)... Originally i had asked Gerry (Filipino Guy) to bring the Mexican Rice but since he canceled (two days before fight night luckily) i asked the very next person to call me to bring it instead. This person was Scott Berman (a White Guy) whom i originally designated to bring a 12 pack. I figured rice is cheap enough so it wouldn't be too bad... While this Mexican Rice delegation seemed arbitrary and innocuous enough (I mean its Rice what could possibly go wrong...) it turned out to be such the entertaining one...

On Saturday afternoon, Scott called asking if he could skip the Liquor Store run because he'd just spent $40 on the Mexican Rice. Apparently he got enough Rice to feed 30 (although i was only expecting around 23 people). I was incredulous... It took me a couple of seconds to comprehend this rather perplexing news and when i did i felt almost embarrassed for him lol... Forty Dollars worth of Mexican Rice or any type of Rice for that matter just seemed exorbitant and crazy. When i got Mexican Rice the last time we had a Potluck it cost me a measly $7.50 (and if you're a real cheap bastard you could make it yourself for less than half that...) for about the same amount Scott got... Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed (and maybe in an attempt to justify the price) he promised the Rice was really really good. I don't know if i necessarily agree with that claim because the Rice seemed to taste just like all the other Mexican Rice i've ever had for as long as i've been eating Mexican Food. I started to feel that maybe Scott was trying to make a point with the Rice because it was the Biggest tray of Rice i have ever seen. Maybe he figured Filipinos, Thai's, and Koreans consume Rice in abounding abundance even with the plethora of other foods available (lol)... All kidding aside i was glad Scott had taken his delegated duty wholeheartedly because if it had been anyone else we might have run the risk of running low on Rice (And we don't want that to happen especially with Asians around lol). So Scott grossly mis-calculated how much Mexican Rice to bring, what's so bad about that?? While abundance is never really a bad thing, its the amount that Scott paid that is bothersome. The irony of it all is that the rice while generally considered dirt cheap and easy to make was the most expensive item in the Potluck. Nevermind the impressive tray coz' no one in their right mind would ever pay that much for Rice, Mexican Rice no less. Not even the Korean Short Ribs that fed 24 people cost nearly as much as that tray of Rice. There is something very unrighteous about this whole thing lol...

The potluck was just as good as the last one, maybe just a little less exciting. Perhaps because there were no more surprises... We already knew how good Jonathan's home made egg rolls were and that Frank was going to bring what has become his BBQ/Potluck signature, a Big fruity cake (thanks Frank it was good)...

I guess i'll see you all on Sunday....

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Friday, May 11, 2007