The Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale kicked off its summer session last week with a bounce house that featured inflatable pop-ups, a basketball hoop and two separate climbing walls to reach the top of two slides.

Children who attend Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale play in a bounce house on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Courtesy of Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families)

The center paid more to rent the Sports Dual-Lane Slide Combo Bouncer from Froggy Hops Inflatable Jumpers for an extra couple of days so the 64 children who attend Carol Matheys would have even more time to play, said Stacie Penn, the center’s executive director.

But when center staff arrived at work at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the 300-pound deflated bounce house was gone.

“We feel pretty violated by it, and the kids were so disappointed by it,” Penn said. “I’ve been here 30 years, and we’ve never had anything like this. It was huge, so it definitely was more than one person. They had to have a truck or a trailer. It wasn’t a random thing. Somebody had planned it, for sure.”

Police say someone stole the $2,200 bounce house and the $150 blower required to inflate it sometime between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday. The large metal stakes used to hold the bounce house in the ground were not taken, according to police.

Per the terms of the center’s contract with Froggy’s, Carol Matheys must cover the full cost of the stolen bounce house and blower.

Given the high deductible on the childcare center’s insurance plan, Penn said center officials decided to pay for the bounce house and blower outright rather than submit it to insurance. Center staff were able to raise the amount needed through an online GoFundMe fundraiser.

A rental bounce house was stolen from the Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale sometime late June 11, 2024 or early June 12, 2024.  (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

The fundraiser had raised $2,915 of its $2,500 goal as of Wednesday afternoon; center staff plan to use any extra funds to pay for the installation of a security camera around the entire center. The center’s current security cameras do not cover the back area where the bounce house was located, Penn said.

Center staff have been monitoring Facebook Marketplace to see if someone is selling the Sports Dual-Lane Slide Combo Bouncer online. “I really don’t think they were teenagers,” Penn said. “This took a little more planning. My guess is that this was somebody who was trying to make some money.”

Penn said the theft has led to some difficult conversations with the children, who range in age from 3 to 12.

“They were disappointed, but also really worried because somebody stole it,” she said. “We had to have conversations about ‘Sometimes people do bad things.’ It was a lesson on, ‘That’s why we don’t take things that don’t belong to us.’”

Police said the case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or submit a tip at cityprotect.com/agency/oakdalepdmn. Once a crime tip is sent, it will send alerts to police staff.

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If the social media rumors are true, your leftover rice may be trying to kill you. Experts on the matter, however, tell a somewhat different story.

It’s true that cooked rice left at room temperature too long can become a happy home to intruders, notably Bacillus cereus, a common type of bacteria that lives in soil and, therefore, in much of the food we eat. “B. cereus loves to grow in the warm and moist environment provided by cooked rice,” said Si Ming Man, a professor in the division of immunology and infectious diseases at the Australian National University.

What has made B. cereus more TikTok-famous than other food-borne bugs is that its spores are hardy enough to survive the cooking process, and then — when food isn’t kept cool in the refrigerator — can grow and produce toxins that even vigorous reheating won’t destroy, Man said. And yes, while the illness is sometimes referred to as “reheated rice syndrome,” since leftover rice is a common pathway, other foods (steak, pasta salad, milkshakes) have prompted B. cereus outbreaks. (The case that recently went viral on TikTok was caused by spaghetti left at room temperature for five days in 2008 — definitely don’t do that.)

So what about the countless batches of leftovers you’ve zapped (or even eaten cold) over the years, without a trip to the hospital? Martin Wiedmann, a food safety professor at Cornell University, said the reason we hear relatively little about those cases was because “the disease is typically very mild, unlike other food-borne diseases.” Symptoms show up in one of two unpleasant ways — primarily vomiting or diarrhea — but both usually resolve on their own within 24 hours.

“The illness is likely to be over by the time you are inspired to do something about it,” said Linda J. Harris, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who researches microbial food safety. “The exception,” she added, “is for those people who might have weakened immune systems” — children younger than 5, adults 65 and older, and pregnant and other immunocompromised people. But experts agree that even healthy people have good reason to follow the simple, common-sense guidelines below.

How long does rice last in the fridge?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gives us four to six days to eat cooked rice (and up to four days for most other leftovers), so long as it’s been stored in a fridge that’s 40 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler, and never left out for more than two hours (or at most one hour on particularly hot days). Some experts go with a more conservative four-day maximum and recommend reheating no more than once, since more trips out of the fridge mean more time spent in the danger zone.

Can you freeze rice?

In the freezer, cooked rice will keep for up to six months, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but limiting its stay to under two months will help keep it fresher. Andrea Nguyen, who wrote “Ever-Green Vietnamese,” recommends freezing rice in any airtight container you’d use to refrigerate it. “I don’t keep rice frozen for long so there’s no need to get fussy and complicated,” she said. Thaw it in the fridge, then reheat it as above, or toss it directly into simmering soups and stews.

How do you cook rice in the microwave?

For evenly cooked grains without the chance of scorching a pot, Priya Krishna, who reported on this very subject in The New York Times last year, recommends steaming rice in the microwave: Rinse the rice well and add it to a large microwave-safe bowl, along with twice the volume of water. Microwave it uncovered for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave (finding your exact timing may take a little trial and error). As the rice plumps and water simmers away, the microwave captures the steam, much like a lidded pot. (Pro tip: There is also no better time to wipe down the inside of your microwave.)

How do you reheat rice?

To warm up cold rice and recover much of its fluffy texture, Michael W. Twitty, author of “Rice: A Savor the South Cookbook,” likes to heat it in a skillet with a little liquid and oil, or another fat “until it’s spongy and steamy again.” Nguyen takes a similar approach, or just uses the microwave, sprinkling on a bit of water, then loosely covering and using high power. Both methods restore much-needed moisture to grains that tend to dry out significantly in the fridge.

How can I put leftover rice to use?

Kimchi fried rice is a stellar and simple way to use up leftover rice on a weeknight. Food Stylist: Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd. (Con Poulos/The New York Times)

Cookbook author Julie Sahni’s go-to breakfast is fried eggs nestled in zucchini or spinach stir-fried with leftover rice, cumin, garlic, chiles and cilantro, sometimes topped with roasted seaweed flakes or crushed potato chips.

To his fried rice, Twitty adds bits of pastrami or kosher surimi — for example, imitation shrimp or crab, as in California rolls and sushi bakes — in the manner of Carolina crab fried rice.

These days, Nguyen packs her fried rice with vegetables: “Like a 1:1 ratio,” she said. “Vegetable fried rice seldom has enough vegetables.”

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Fine dining has been evolving for years.

Most of it is welcome: More upscale global cuisine, more creativity, smaller menus, fewer white tablecloths and more a la carte options.

But sometimes, a tasting menu — where you have few (or no) choices to make and beautiful small plates come out in perfectly timed intervals — is just what I’m looking for.

And though fewer chefs are offering these ambitious menus these days, I’ve sampled three in the past few months that were worth writing about, and worth your celebration dollars.

Who serves your favorite tasting menu? As always, let me know at eat@pioneerpress.com.

Bungalow Club

This incredibly reasonable three-course menu might be one of the best-kept secrets in town.

For just $48 per person, you choose from a few options in each course.

The menu changes frequently, but we thoroughly enjoyed the spring flavors on the day we visited. The first course featured fresh, bright chilled pea soup, punched up by garlic cream and chive oil and one of the best salads I’ve eaten this year — bitter endive with some revelatory savory granola, funky blue cheese and sour rhubarb juice.

Chilled pea soup at Bungalow Club in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

The middle course centers on pasta, and a delicate stuffed pansotti, with a light, airy spinach filling, was the highlight, but the fresh pea clamshells, enriched with an anchovy-spiked sauce, were spring on a plate.

A lovely charred bavette steak and some perfectly seared scallops nestled in a silky cauliflower puree rounded things out.

Scallops at Bungalow Club in Minneapolis. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

Dessert is extra, but a spice cake with soft, fluffy whipped cream paired with a killer, rum-based espresso martini was just the thing.

Bungalow Club: 4300 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-866-3334; thebungalowclubmpls.com. Three-course tasting menu is $48 per person; wine flight an extra $25.

Joan’s in the Park

Viennese pastry at Joan’s in the Park. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

It’s been a few years (with a pandemic in between) since Joan’s switched to a tasting-menu format, which was honestly one of the best moves owners Joan Schmitt (Maitre d’) and chef Susan Dunlop (chef) have made.

From start to finish, our four-course meal was spectacular.

The first course is bread-based, and world-class pastries — a buttery Viennese rosemary and black olive and an onion knot with a whipped ricotta — set the stage for what was to come.

Poached shrimp, a dish from Joan’s in the Park’s four-course tasting menu. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

Shaved asparagus and succulent crab, a gorgeous poached shrimp in a rich cream sauce with snappy fresh fennel were excellent for our second course, but I think my third course — a chewy, nutty farro, studded with mushrooms and nestled in a vibrant ramp sauce, was my favorite dish of the night.

Seared scallops and a lovely filet mignon were our fourth course, but we wanted to end on a sweet note, so we ordered dessert for an extra $12.

The restaurant’s signature brown butter pudding, a tasty salty/sweet combo, was small but perfect given the amount of food we had just consumed.

I should also mention that the wine pairings here were phenomenal, with the sommelier choosing exactly the right complement for every course and even introducing us to a few varietals we had never tasted.

Joan’s in the Park: 631 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul; 651-690-3297;  joansinthepark.com. Four-course tasting menu is $85 per person. Wine pairings are an additional $45.

Meritage

Hiramasu crudo, the first course in Meritage’s five-course tasting menu. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

I have eaten at Meritage dozens of times since its 2007 opening, and I’m embarrassed to say I recently tried the five-course tasting menu for the first time.

We felt utterly spoiled by the little extras, the perfect execution of every course and the service, which was, as always, spot on.

Any meal that starts with gougères, the little French puffed cheese pastries, is a good meal, in my opinion, so a tiny plate with two of Meritage’s light and airy versions was a great introduction. And the little crock of saffron mussel soup was a perfect amuse bouche. It’s so rich and creamy that you really need only a few bites, which is how it’s served, and the perfectly cooked mussel at the bottom is like a welcome jewel.

The first official course was the best crudo I’ve had in a few years — hiramasu, thinly sliced, dressed in ginger and lime and topped with what looks like an egg yolk but is actually mango puree — a cute molecular gastronomy trick. A sprinkle of mint and jalapeno finish things off.

Next up, a savory, custardy pain perdu, or French toast, topped with a flaky olive-oil poached halibut, uber fresh asparagus and peas — such a great balance of seasonally on-point richness and freshness.

La Vacherin, a baked meringue dessert at Metitage in downtown St. Paul. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

Two meat courses — a tender duck breast accompanied by barley, fresh favas and morels for that spring boost, and a duo of juicy Iowa pork (tenderloin and cheek) with melted leeks and an apricot mostarda — left us so full that a light meringue accompanied by fresh berries was the light, refreshing ending that we needed.

Meritage: 410 St. Peter St., St. Paul; 651-222-5670; meritage-stpaul.com. Five-course tasting menu is $110 per person. Wine pairings are an additional $60.

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