I’ve been on a mission lately to find Chinese roast pork in the grocery store. And I don’t think it’s gonna happen. One day I will stop being lazy and just pick up a container of it from the local takeout place and make my own fried rice with it. Because lately I can’t seem to find good fried rice. It’s either bland, too yellow and not brown enough, has too many onions or green onions, not enough meat, or all of the above.

So yesterday I was in the grocery store and saw these really nice stir fry beef strips. The last thing we had on our weekly menu (yes, Mrs. Mikey and I try to do that) was fish, and I had not thawed it, and want to be especially careful thawing seafood. So now then. I suddenly had a vision in my head for fried rice. Basically watching a lot of “Chopped” and “Top Chef” has made me try to think more creatively than usual lately.

So I took the beef strips and marinated then in teriyaki sauce for 15-20 minutes or until I prepped the other ingredients–Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice (poke a few holes in the bag and nuke for 3 minutes for absolutely perfectly sticky and delicious brown rice), carrots, 1/2 an onion, some snow peas, ginger, canola oil, sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, some cilantro, a lime, and a couple of eggs. I chopped the ginger up fine, chopped the carrots (I used baby carrots) and the onion, and then sliced the snow peas into slivers. I put about a tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet and when hot to the 2-inches-away touch, put the veggies in the pan and stirred, adding a bit of salt and pepper. After the onion just started to brown I removed the vegetables to a plate and added the beef to the pan, with some salt and pepper. The beef started to brown but I wanted it to be slightly charred in spots, or in this case a bit overdone to make it like a sponge for the teriyaki sauce if that makes sense.

Then I put the beef on a plate, and poured a little bit of sherry and soy sauce in the pan to deglaze it. I added a touch more canola oil, a sprinkling more of sherry and soy, a few drops of sriracha and a few drops of sesame oil. I put the veggies back in, chopped the beef into small pieces and added them to the pan, followed by the rice. Then I stirred, and added a little more teriyaki sauce and set aside to keep warm. Meanwhile, I heated a small nonstick skillet over medium heat and cracked two eggs in it. I put the rice in two bowls, topped each with a sunny side up egg, some chopped cilantro and a lime wedge, and there you have it….Mikey’s Beef Fried Rice!

My only regret is I forgot to snap a picture. But I will say it was some of the best fried rice I’ve ever made, and Mrs. Mikey agreed. Damn, now I’m hungry again.

As things you can be addicted to go, seltzer water is not something that can do the body much harm. It’s basically carbonated water, and thanks to my SodaStream device, I drink even more fizzy water now than ever before. And because sometimes the flavor extracts can get boring, I like to use real lemon or lime juice (or small amounts of soda syrup). But that’s not always easy; that is, it’s not easy squeezing citrus juice into a small mouth bottle.

But now, there is a product that makes it super easy to have water or carbonated water with a twist of real citrus juice. The product is called CitrusZinger and the concept is simple. There are two ends to the plastic bottle–a large mouth screw top with a juicer attachment; and a small mouth drinking side. So basically you cut some lemon, lime or orange, juice that and close up the bottom of the bottle. Then you flip the bottle over and add water, seltzer or even maybe cola or iced tea. And you’ve got instant and fresh twisted beverage.

Of course, there are a million ways to use CitrusZinger, but I was boring and only tried it with lemons and oranges and the combination of the two. But you can even add sweeteners, herbs such as mint, and spices such as cinnamon. If you look at the booklet, you’ll see what I mean. But there are also a VodkaZinger, AquaZinger and SaladZinger–which means seriously endless possibilities.

Right now the Zinger products are only available online and at Brookstone Stores. For more information, please visit the Zing Anything website.