Reposted…

My rice cooker’s non-stick coating lived up to its name – it didn’t stick around. So rice tends to stick to the bottom of the pan. Cleaning it is a pain – you need to soak the pan for quite a while to soften the rice enough to remove it.

This evening I was making soup for tomorrow’s lunch when I had a mini-brainwave Normally we thicken soup by adding a lot of grated carrot and maybe a few red lentils. This evening I made the stock in the rice-cooker pan, allowing the hot water to soften the coated rice. So when I added the stock to the vegetables, it was enhanced with extra thickener in the form of rice-starch – and the rice-cooker pan was ready to be washed without any effort.

We’re at the end of day 2 of living below the line. My hostess is missing her caffeine but surprisingly I’m not. I am missing fruit but I think we might swap the teabags we’ve bought but not used for some apples. I had a foul headache yesterday afternoon and evening but I think that was due to not being able to find my current glasses, wearing an old pair and staring at a screen all afternoon.

Currently I’m reliving my lost alternative youth with a CD of a 1976 Sex Pistols gig – wonderful stuff!