There’s a moment in cooking where you stop checking the recipe and just… know. Sunday night, standing over a pan of high-protein crispy garlic chicken fried rice, I had that moment.

Sarah found the recipe - a high protein version from Sandra’s Recipe that promised crispy chicken and all the good stuff. She handled the mise en place, which if you’re not familiar is the fancy French term for “everything chopped and ready so you don’t panic when the garlic starts burning.”

The secret, as it turns out, is day-old rice. Not fresh, steamy, clumpy rice. Rice that’s been sitting in the fridge getting firm and slightly resentful. That’s the rice you want.

I seared the chicken until it was actually golden and crispy - not the “close enough” golden I usually settle for. Built the aromatics. Scrambled the eggs separately like a person who reads instructions. Let the rice hit that hot pan and listened to it sizzle and crisp.

And then it all came together.

Not in the “well, it’s edible” way. In the “this tastes like restaurant food” way. The chicken was crispy. The rice had that slight char. The garlic was everywhere it should be. Sarah and I sat down and just… ate it. No notes. No “next time I’d do X differently.” Just quiet satisfaction.

I’ve been cooking long enough to know that these moments aren’t guaranteed. Sometimes the rice clumps. Sometimes the chicken overcooks while you’re scrambling eggs. Sometimes you forget an entire ingredient until you’re washing dishes.

But Sunday night, the rice was right.

Stay full, friends.