What do characters in fiction eat? This is a food series for what characters eat from the interactive novel Cranberry Moon Empire that I am writing it as story app.
This is something I expect Nina would make after a busy day on Thursday. She lives in Portland, Oregon. She is learning to cook, but Thursday afternoon was just a hard day for her.
The Drive
The drive from Portland to Beaverton––the traffic rush was just too much for her that she just wanted to come home and make something quick today. She wanted to go socialize with her friends, but she is already on her way home.
She just wants something easy and simple today, but something that still tastes as she made it too. Something quick as like store bought and something homey as in something that can be prepped at home quick.
What is for Thursday Night’s Dinner?
As she was pulling up to her driveway, she figure out what she is going to have for dinner?
She will be making rice own her own while she will be making Chinese chicken in the convection oven.
She walks into her blissful home and reaches for her remote. Now, she rather get Siri to do that.
“What is a good Thursday night music with the sound of the rain?”
Siri takes her to her playlist.
There is a collection of dance, grunge, R&B, contemporary rock.
Nina tells Siri to turn on her dance collection. She shakes her head and hips to a couple of songs.
She then walks into the kitchen. Her island style kitchen smells like cranberry tea infused with lemon. Her bamboo floors are sparkling clean. That’s because she was hardly at home for the last three days. She was out with prospective clients.
The convection oven on her counter has hardly been used but that is goal this year, to use it as much as possible.
She opens her kitchen pantry and scoots out her favorite wine glass from the back. Nina uses her wine glass for many differnt types of drinks. She lays it on the counter. She opens the fridge and grabs her favorite drink.
Time for Chinese Chicken and Rice
Thirty minutes have passed, and her collection of songs has shifted to rock music. She takes two more sips of her favorite and gets ready because its time to cook chicken and rice.
She opens her freezer and pulls out her frozen chicken. Nina’s Chinese chicken is store bought.
Taking the chicken pieces out from the package
She layers them on a good baking pan.
Layering Chinese chicken to bake
She then pushes the pan into the oven.
Now while that is cooking, she is making some rice. She is deciding should she make red rice, white rice. Sticky rice or jasmine rice. She grabs the long grain white today to cook.
She thought of using the rice cooker, now she will go for the stove top.
And in under 20 minutes, the rice is done, and the chicken is ready to serve.
She tosses the chicken in the marinade.
She takes a spoonful and mount the crispy chicken on the bed of the hot rice.
This is pretty good Chinese chicken and rice, she says chewing it and then taking a sip of her favorite.
The only thing missing is …maybe some toasted sesame seeds on top.
Yea, she meant to do a side of a green, but she is still learning.