One pot wonders

I live in a fairly comfortable era and I don't take that for granted....well sometimes I do. I have every conceivable appliance at my finger tips. There is a machine for your every requirement, and appliances that you never knew you needed.

I have my environment friendly washing machine, my power hungry dryer, my trillion watt hairdryer, my best friend the hair straightener, my time saving dishwasher, by instant gas stovetop, my car that runs on liquid gold (gee petrol is expensive but what would I do without it), my convenient plastic card that makes purchases possible (these days my kids don't really understand that you actually need money to purchase things..bad mum), my self cleaning oven, my friendly GPS that tells me to kindly make a u-turn because I have missed the street...again.

I could go on forever, the list is really quite endless.

Lately, and I guess it's because it's winter, everyone has been getting out there slow cooker and their rice makers. Put your requirements in the pot, press a button and by mealtime you have a warm, comforting meal.

Mum bought me a slow cooker a couple of years ago and it really has made winter cooking much easier. But the rice cooker.....really, how hard is it to put a pot on the stove, put rice in the pot and boil it to death until the rice is ready. Really, why did I need to spend umpteen (i'm sure it's a word!!!) dollars on another consumer product that made rice....it's not rocket science.

For a little while I've been battling with myself about the need for a rice cooker.

I was in the city on Thursday and I had a little time to spare....sparetime is never good for the bank balance. I dashed into David Jones (department store) and decided I would check out the cookers. Ewan had given me a gift voucher for my birthday which I hadn't used and I had decided that if a brand took my fancy I would just bite the bullet and purchase the cooker with my voucher. Within 10 minutes I was running out the store with my well researched (it looks nice) purchase.

I am now converted. You just chuck the rice and the required amount of water into the cooker, shut the lid, press the on button, and presto 20 minutes later you have perfectly cooked rice. No watching the water boil over, no cleaning of the stove. Why had I fought this need. And it is a need.

At the start the kids were excited, but 4 days of rice later they are a little over the magic, but I'm not. Anything that makes my life a little easier, simplier is all right by me.

I heart appliances.