Sweet and Spicy Rice Salad

Being new at a job is is both sweet and spicy. The days fly by, but every moment you are completely engaged. At the end of the day your mind feels saturated. It is only once you begin to wind down that you notice how your hair was out of place and your shirt was wrinkled. All day long you were bounced from one person to the next, learning this thing from that person and that thing from this one. People talk down to you when they are feeling particularly full of ego, but you know better than to take it personally and soon they feel embbarrased and apologize. The best thing to do is to enjoy it, the difficult times never last, and soon the challenge of the day becomes finding new ways to approach a comfortable task. Own your insecurities, but challenge yourself not to be limited by them. Speak your mind, but know that you have a tall ladder to climb before you have a full view of what is actually going on. Above all, stay active, and do not let yourself feel badly about not knowing everything. You are here to learn, so get comfortable being uncomfortable and enjoy the ride. When you get home, make yourself a nice bowl of sweet and spicy rice salad.

Leftover rice salad
1 cup long grain white or brown rice
Rinse rice 5 times before cooking according to instructions on package. Add 1-2 Tbsp oil to the cooking water and 1/4 tsp salt.
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
3 medium orange carrots, diced
2 medium white carrots, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
lemon zest
mix ingredients together.

Sweet and spicy dressing
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp grape seed oil
1 tsp muchi curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp raw honey
1 clove fresh garlic
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp champagne vinegar

Christina's vote: "This salad has moxie"