Old School

Because returning anything is never easy in this country and traffic is a nightmare in Istanbul, this morning I did something I think my Turkish mother-in-law would be proud of.

I had just opened a fresh package of brown rice to make my son's breakfast cereal, but as I rinsed it, little black specks of ... BEETLE floated to the surface! Dozens of them!

Horrified, my mind immediately raced through all the possible courses of action:

• return the rice to the store and demand they check all the other bags of the same brand's rice for bugs;
• write to the manufacturer;
• throw out the rice.

But the calmer, more realistic, more Turkish me soon took over. None of the above would make Baby's breakfast happen; and I didn't have the time or energy to take on a problem that is simply a reality of the pre-packaged food industry.

So I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed that rice, even picking a few of the beetles out by hand, and then I cooked it.

As for the rest of the bag, I poured the remaining rice onto a large cookie sheet and put it out on the terrace; within minutes, beetles were crawling out of the rice, off the tray, and across the table! Bye bye beetles!

The rice is now safely stored away in an airtight container in the dark, cool fridge.