"Don't cancel reservations last minute, and then fight with the restaurant about their cancellation policy.".

Strain the cooking liquid into a bowl; discard the solids.Skim off the fat and return the liquid and meat to the pot.

Add the mushrooms, carrots and daikon.Cover and braise in the oven for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender..Transfer the roast to a work surface.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a deep serving platter; cover.Boil the liquid until reduced to 3 1/2 cups.

Stir the cornstarch slurry and whisk it into the simmering liquid until thickened..

Remove the strings from the roast and cut into thick slices; arrange on the platter and pour the sauce on top..I'm more about the measuring part because the other part was more intuitive.

I could probably do it now, but usually I do measure my rice.At my restaurant, I cooked rice in a rice cooker, and I didn't measure the water.

I just look at the amount of water over the rice in the rice cooker, and know it would be the right amount of water, so I think that's what my mother did.And no, I didn't absorb that at all..