Happy September

We've been in Columbus for a month now!  Last night W and I took a walk around the neighborhood and I asked him if the time has gone by fast or slow.  He said fast, and I said slow. :)

In other news, some goodies arrived yesterday, and I was beyond thrilled:

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law sent these over.  Thank you!!! -

new heat induction rice cooker
electric water boiler
kitchenaid mixer
small clay pot
3 kinds of beans
ginseng extract

Not pictured -

W's hair wax
a bunch of geeky finance books for him
a green suit of his

The mixer is on loan as Janice (sis-in-law) just moved to NYC for school.  I can't wait to start baking, especially this winter when it gets cold.

I'm especially grateful for our new rice cooker.

But before I talk about that, I would like to write a little tribute to my old rice cooker, a basic Zojirushi 5 cup cooker.  The current rice cooker was a housewarming gift from my cousins back in 2001 when I graduated from college and moved to Westwood.  Countless pots of rice have been made and many people have eaten rice made in that cooker over the last 9 years, including myself, who eats rice almost daily.  When W moved to Chicago two years ago, it was dropped during transport from the car to the house.  It got cracked and a piece of plastic fell off near the area where you push the "cook" button, but we continued to use it.  It was never quite the same (sometimes rice-liquid would seep out of the hole that releases steam), but it chugged on. Two weeks ago, we had 25 members of my family over for a BBQ after my cousin's wedding and we served rice from that cooker.  One of my aunts asked my mom why the rice was so hard.  That is because we now mix our white rice with brown, and like to add beans or seeds, even though that rice cooker is not meant for cooking brown rice or beans. :)  I want to say thank you to my cousins who so thoughtfully bought me my old rice cooker years ago, and I'm grateful to have had a great rice cooker that served me and others well.

A week after my aunt's comment about the stiff rice, W's mom called saying she was sending us a new rice cooker for his birthday.  You can imagine my excitement.  It arrived, a nice, new and shiny Zojirushi  5 cup heat induction rice cooker.  It really just looks like an upgraded and more high-tech version of the old one, with fancier buttons, prettier curves and more functions.  It can cook white, brown, sweet and mixed rice.  I think even porridge.  And to top it off, they gave her a free Zojirushi electric water pot when she purchased the rice cooker, which I will probably use every day for my tea or coffee.

I'm so grateful for our new gifts.  I feel spoiled.