Thursday, August 9, 2012

Rice problems.

I eat very repetitively, and I have been making a big batch of black beans for beans and rice about every 7-10 days for the past 5-6 weeks, and I usually have at least 1-2 bowls a day. The other day, I was pulling out the 20lb. bag of Goya rice from under my sink, where I have it tucked since it's still heavy at around 16-17lbs. (I've eaten a good bit of it), when it brushed up against the wood, and there was a tear and rice started spilling into the cabinet and on the floor. I set it in such a way that the spill stopped, and then I just got some out and made some and had some dinner, and decided I would figure out what to do with rebagging the rice after I finished dinner, since I was tired and hungry. After dinner, then, like 30 minutes later, I open the door to under the sink, and I see two very small black bugs skitter down from the tear in the rice. I look more closely, and shake the bag, and there's a black bug crawling here and there out of the rice to the surface, and then going back in... I figure, either they got in there during those 30 minutes (were they already under the sink? - I don't have insect problems that I know of, and keep a very clean apt.) - or they had gotten in through very small holes in the bag, because occasionally a rice grain would force its way out through the heavy plastic and leave a small hole in the bag, I could see, even though I kept the top from which I poured out of tightly bound with a rubber band. I then decided to save the rice, and got out a bunch of spare coffee cans, and ladled the rice in with a mug, and occasionally the bugs would rise, and I'd either kill them if I could get them, or ignore them and dump them into the coffee can. I figure, maybe the lack of oxygen will kill them, and if not, I'll wash the rice off in a strainer anyhow. If any gets into the food, it's nothing more than what's already been happening, or what happens with all food, since the USDA sets a minimum level for that stuff. I did have a hard time eating some rice I made up after that happened, though... When I got the rice out of the coffee can (I'm storing the 8-9 coffee cans under the sink), one little black bug did come to the surface, when I was ladling the grains out.

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