Not just for Asia.

When I moved in with my husband, I brought with me a college relic that I hadn't yet replaced: my old rice pot. Batter and bruised, and certainly not a nice version, it did the trick of cooking rice. My husband was totally amazed: the only other place that he had seen one of these gadgets was in the kitchen of a school friend. Said friend was Vietnamese.

After spending several years in Hawaii, my family considered rice cookers a necessity. Sort of like a blender or waffle maker - every household should have one. In fact, I would have to look up exactly how to make plain rice on the stove. I've only done it but a handful of times in my life.

Back to newly married life, this rice cooker was definitely low end. The rice ALWAYS burned to the bottom, meaning you had to soak it for 24 hours before cleaning. It was also very small. good enough for two - but it certainly wouldn't handle two.

My mom, upon a trip down here, noticed that I still had this sad little rice maker, and sent me an upgrade for Christmas. My rice is always restaurant perfect, never burnt to the bottom, and all I have to do is set it and go. Literally, wash short or medium grained rice three times, add 1.5 times the amount of water to drained rice, press go. When light flicks to warm, put two layers of paper towels to absorb excess moisture for around 15 minutes. Enjoy wonderful sticky rice! Good for a side dish, or maybe making sushi (oooh, I'll have to add that one day) :) I just have to note that you need to buy a good quality one. This is (unfortunately) one area where I think that the better brands are foreign made. Ours is Zojirushi.

Working on a wonderful new recipe for tropical muffins. My batch today was to DIE for, but I want to see if can improve yet again.

I'm thinking pizza will be up tomorrow. I know, I know...I have been promising. I just wanted to see if I could do one other thing to improve the crust. Turns out, I could :)