I don’t have any photos of my own of this hard worker (actually I do, my camera is acting up and I don’t know where the card reader is, we still have boxes.. in Brooklyn) and I’ve been told that small appliance photos are not really exciting.

However, it’s what’s been cooking inside that counts. In that vein, I hope to start posting again about my cooking and food adventures. I also hope to work on trying to take photos of food that make it look at least half as appetizing as it tastes.

I leave you with two questions:

1. What’s your favourite rice dish?
   Mine, without a doubt, is vegetarian (allowing for egg) dolsot bi bim bap. And guess what? Model ECJ-S35S will help me do it! (Since I have yet to cure my dolsot pots, this is a very good thing).

2. What should I name this rice cooker? I don’t know why I want to name it but I do.

The kitten still needs his new name, but it’ll come. He’s definitely calming down and starting to feel more at home. He hopped onto the bed last night and the look on his face when he saw me there was priceless. He had no idea whether to bolt or where to go. I made the mistake of moving (trying to entice him to come cuddle) and he jumped off and went under the bed.

Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series
by Cat Bordhi

Yikes, I’m the first on GoodReads to review Cat’s new book? I’m not sure I can handle the pressure, or give the book justice.

First off, contrary to popular belief I actually don’t hand out 5 stars to every book I “like” anymore. Those that don’t get high star ratings probably didn’t even get into GoodReads in the first place. Cat deserves it for this book because she has made me think outside of the box, provided clear instructions and illustrative drawings, and in my eyes most importantly, helped me get my sock knitting mojo back.

I believe I’m a pretty expert sock knitter at this point in my knitting life. I can knit socks I like for my (tiny) feet in my sleep. I’m also a pretty lazy sock knitter and don’t always pay attention to the minute differences different yarns, needles sizes, moon phase make to the resulting tension. Thus my socks fit me great most of the time but if I paid attention to a few more details, they’d fit perfect all the time.

I think Cat may be able to help me out here with this new publication.

I am currently knitting the discovery sock and following Cat’s directions (for once) and so far so good. I’m almost at the leg opening. On Ravelry while preparing these few words, I saw some project notes from other knitters indicating difficulty with the heel and leg fitting. I’ll revise this review after I get there, but so far so good!

I love Cat’s brain and I’m thankful for her publishing her thoughts and giving inspiration for those who want to think a bit creatively different.

The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook : 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker by Beth Hensperger

Melanie spoiled me with this book a few weeks ago. I finally sat down to read through it and to write up a few thoughts. This is a very well researched book. It covers everything from the basic differences in various rice cookers to all those varieties of rice on the store shelves. I haven’t yet cooked with this book as I’m waiting to see if a new rice cooker (which I’ve been begging for years for) magically appears on my counter in the next week or so. (If it doesn’t I won’t be disappointed and I’ll work through these ideas with my vege/rice steamer). I wish I had this book when I had a basic on/off model as I learned various other things I could do with it. I like that it branches out past plain rices and into pilafs, risottos, porridge, and beyond into whole meals (even if those are things I’ll never eat). I’m quite thankful that it isn’t scratch and sniff because just reading the recipes made me hungry.

For Shabbat, from Flavors of Korea: Delicious Vegetarian Cusine, I made Kongnamul Bap or Bean Sprout Rice… mostly. I had a can of stir fry vegetables which I used instead of fresh bean sprouts. Of course I’d rather fresh local ingredients, but sometimes you have to use what you have on hand. I also substituted brown rice as I need to cook up the pantry in preparation of the new cabinets (no I do not know when they are coming). The Sesame-Onion sauce was made without green onions as I had none. In any case, E and I enjoyed it and I will make it again.

From The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen I made Cheddar Corn Bread. This turned out yummy. I will probably put in more cheese next time as I couldn’t really tell this had cheese in it. I also finally broke out one of the silicone pans I was given years ago since my kitchen is now “mostly-new”. I refused to use them until we fixed the kitchen. They’re kinda fun and I didn’t notice any difference using them over a traditional pan. It did feel a bit weird putting plastic into the oven. I also need to do more research given all I’ve heard [especially recently] about carcinogens and plastic (I have sworn for years that water stored in plastic tastes weird but that is writing for another day).

Tonight we ate stuffed grape leaves. My FIL has been after us to purchase a certain brand of canned stuffed grape leaves available at our local supermarket. He’s been raving about them. I decided to turn them into a full meal by sautéing diced chink’n strips with some garlic, onion, and turmeric and then adding in some tomato sauce. I placed the stuffed grape leaves in the sauce to warm them slightly. This was a pleasant surprise. It saddens me greatly that I grew up with grape leaves in my back yard and I don’t think we ever thought to cook with them. I will attempt to make my own some day. I think this would be a very pleasant shabbat lunch. It does make me miss pita, but I’ll find something by this summer. Yes, I am thinking toward summer already, I don’t mind winter but we missed Autumn this year so I’d like it to be summer so we can try again.

Monday I wanted something Different. Something that could potentially use up a pantry item or two. I succeeded with the first thing that looked mildly appetizing and that was Rachel Ray’s Creamy Spaghetti and Beans. It surprised us in that it was pretty tasty, however, in my desire to stay GF (and a long Monday afternoon which involved too many confined places with people who smelled quite strongly of either smoke or perfume) I didn’t have any spare ideas to come up with anything to substitute for the pancetta. E commented that it was “missing something”. I added lots of pepper. It was quite good and I don’t think he’s yet realized I fed him GF (corn) pasta. :)

Tuesday and Wednesday were lean days as I walked on average about 5.1 miles each day and did not eat very much. Arriving home much after 10pm added to the “lean days”. Oddly I seem to be the same weight I was months ago. I guess the “fat” converted to muscle? (I have not had any change in waist size either).

Thursday was a tomato soup and grilled cheese type of day. I didn’t buy any bread but found some pita and made E his grilled cheese in that. I only had rice cakes around so I attempted to “grill” those and I do not recommend it. They were not bad, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I do miss grilled cheese with tomato soup. Maybe once the kitchen is completed I’ll invest in a GF friendly bread machine.

Friday found me turning on the slow cooker for my own lunch. I enjoyed some rice stew with pickled veges. I had found a HUGE container of mixed pickled veges the day before for $3. I also cooked up the last of the tiliapa I had in the freezer. The pickled vegetables are quite spicy due to something. I think it might be the pepperoncini but I’m not sure.

I had a hard time figuring out what to make for shabbos dinner that was GF and different than things I’ve made recently. I ended up running to the store at 3pm and picking up some tofu “hot dogs” and we had a splendid meal of hot dogs, sauerkraut, and french fries. For dessert I had mistakenly grabbed a container of “lite” vanilla fudge tofutti (instead of plain vanilla) but it wasn’t too bad. It was strange how tasty that meal was. :)

Today I’m battling unhappy sinuses and have been trying to eat anything spicy I can get my hands on. Tonight just now, I heated up some leftover rice stew and mixed in some feta and freshly ground pepper. It was good if unorthodox.

On Monday I purchased that 1.5 quart slow cooker for $10 at the drug store. With it I have enjoyed breakfasts and lunch all week. For my morning meal I toss in a handful of peanuts, at noon, sauerkraut. I need to learn to make kimchi or find a better varied pickled blend of vegetables (we’ve had them, I’ve just not see them on the store shelf this week).

Thursday (the next night I cooked) I made a most marvelous pasta “sauce”. I was inspired equally by this NYT article and an urgent need to empty the crisper. It ended up a bit of this a bit of that (asparagus, yellow bell pepper, grape tomato, onion, garlic, grey squash), and it all ended up melding together wonderfully into a very nice addition to our pasta. E really enjoyed it with his penne (shuddup). I had it over some corn spaghetti and found it quite enjoyable. I hope I don’t continue to have veges languishing in the drawer until they are about to go bad, but it is nice to try things and have them come out ok.

With high expectations I approached shabbat dinner. I wandered through the union square market looking for inspiration. I found it in a slew of baby and fingering potatoes, some purple, some completely red, and others I don’t recall. I was determined to make a delicious gluten-free meal. Once armed with my colourful potatoes I had a hard time figuring out exactly what I was going to do with them. I returned home after stopping at two different grocery stores with many items and no firm plan in mind. In the end I put half of my final proposal into place, mostly because it had started raining and I wasn’t running back out just for goat cheese. I cut up all the potatoes to be roughly the same size and boiled them for about 15 or 20 minutes. In the meantime I created two sauces for a “sauce it yourself” adventure. One was a melted herbed butter (parsley and pre-mixed italian seasoning), the other was a slightly spicy dijon mustard with mayonnaise concoction. My plan had included peas, but I forgot to add them to the water so they sat in the freezer. It was an ok meal, I’ve done better, but after the success of Thursday, it was a major let down.

Overall I’ve improved on my staying gluten-free. Spelt is now definitely out. Which doesn’t upset me too much as the taste is quite heavy. I’ve found a bunch of quinoa including a mix, so that should help on the convenience factor. We’ll see how I do with the millet.

The breakfast hot cereal is quite tasty, but not instant. I need to find a better way to prepare it on days I’m at the office.

The last dilemma facing me (as I prep for Rhinebeck) is the size and weight of all the lunch containers both before I’ve enjoyed my meal, but especially after. I’m trying hard to slim down what I carry, but more on that another day. I need a container that can keep food warm for at least six hours. Has anyone tried these?