Sunday, June 13, 2010

Rice Cooker 炊飯器


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I have completely broken my pledge to everyday blogging, and for that I apologize. We only have a few more days left before we move back to the U.S., and during the last week of IUC hanging out with friends was top priority, followed closely by the many tasks involved with moving. As I begin to think about the many boxes of belongings that await my return, I've been thinking alot about the many kitchen appliances that I have missed over the past two years, and the one kitchen appliance that has gained a spot in my heart while in Japan, my rice cooker. We eat rice on a daily basis here, and I have come to love the perfectly cooked grains that are produced by a quality rice cooker. When we lived in Ono, and before we purchased a rice cooker, we had a friend over for dinner and cooked rice on a pot on top of the stove. I will never forget the look of astonishment on her face when she saw how we were cooking rice, and now that I have used a proper cooker for nearly two years I understand where that look came from. Simply put, rice cooker rice is just better. In Lawrence we had a cheap under $20 cooker that always burnt the rice on the bottom layer, an appliance that I fully plan to jettison when we return and replace with a more upscale model (I'm thinking about this one). Here, we generally purchase a 5 kilo bag of unwashed short grain white rice, which lasts us about a month. Above is our copper pot with the small rice strainer that allows us to drain the rice easily when washing it, below I am draining the rice. While I prefer brown rice for health and taste reasons, white rice is the prefered grain here, so the brown variety is generally more expensive and a bit more difficult to find.
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The rice cooker at the end of the cooking cycle, which generally takes about 35 minutes for two cups, enough to make two large rice-bowl meals or two sides of rice with leftovers.
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