Beans.

I can remember being in the church kitchen, watching Ugandan women bent over at a 90 degree angle, fanning the charcoal fire to keep the water boiling in the giant cauldron. A group of us, sitting on the cold concrete floor, pick the stones out of a pile of red beans. Another group bounces grains of rice on large woven discs, allowing the chaff and other debris to fly away.

I can also remember how WE (a group of 12 suburban white kid missionaries) thought WE would make beans one night for dinner, on our 2-burner portable electric stovetop. About 3 hours and 3 sets of rolling blackouts later, they were still hard as rocks, and we were still hungry.

It was with beans that I learned an important lesson:

Simple is not easy.

So that's why I wanted beans to be first. There's something about it. Something like a rite of passage. Can you take slingshot ammunition and make delicious food out of it? Can you do something simple, simply well?

1 pound of pinto beans. 5 cups of water. Salt.

Until its ready. Until you're ready.

Beans.

Ello dahlings!

Welcome to my blog. I got this idea to document my rice-cooker adventures while sitting in my living room, wondering what kind of legacy I would leave my children, other than a mountain of debt and some nice watercolor paintings. I dearly love my rice cooker, but was torn because I don't believe in owning single-purpose kitchen appliances (I believe one of the greatest indicators of wealth in the modern society is the amount of counter-top space one has in their kitchen - I already told you I'm poor so you know how much I have).

I knew there must be more to my rice cooker than, well, just rice. I just knew it. So I looked at my little buddy (endearingly named Francisco) and thought - "I wonder if I could cook beans in it."

"Cook beans? In a rice cooker?"

Apparently I had thought out loud. My roommate looked up with a sparkle in her eye.

"I mean, probably. You could, probably."

And probably was all I needed.

It didn't take me long to dream big dreams about me and Francisco, gallivanting along on our culinary adventures together. Why stop at beans? The world was our oyster!

Hmm...I wonder if I can cook oysters in the rice cooker.

Anyway, welcome to our grand adventure. I hope this can be a catalyst that sparks your own rice cooker journey, to boldly go where few small counter-top portable kitchen appliances have gone before.

To my fellow rice cooker cookers, I salute you.

Let the games begin.