Next week it will be my birthday. It’s strange to me how quickly it has crept up. When I was a kid, I would count down, always hyper aware of how many days until that special one.

Not to say that birthdays don’t mean anything anymore but they are’t the same experience as they were when I was a child. I don’t have big parties or celebrations. I don’t receive mountains of gifts. And all of that’s perfectly fine.

But it’s still a fun thing to come to home to a few goodies from the parents.

Will actually opened the box for me while I was at work and told me in a long and stretched out way over messaging what I had received.

A green pan! My mom was telling me about this last weekend when she was here for Will’s graduation and it sounds awesome. No oil needed and it’s designed to cook that way as both a health and energy conscious pan. While all of that is wonderful, I’m frankly just happy to have a decent pan. All of my Target brand ones have had the teflon scratched and I have to get rid of them. When we move into the new place, I’m planning to completely restock things like the pans and silverware that are really lacking in my kitchen.

Next up included two books:

The Starch Solution by John A. McDougall. I haven’t heard of this but if my mom recommends it, I’m sure I’ll like it. We have very similar views when it comes to food and nutrition. A good read that I’m looking forward to.

Now this one I have heard of! The Candle Cafe Cookbook, which has the recipes from a very famous Vegan restaurant in New York. Would you believe this is actually my first Vegan cookbook? From the day I started eating a plant based diet, I’ve relied solely on the internet as my inspiration and while that has definitely served me well in terms of every day ideas and simple techniques for getting a complete nutritional profile, I haven’t really been immersed in any gourmet Vegan cooking and I’m looking forward to trying some of the more decadent and involved recipes in this.

Last but not least…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rice cooker!

A baby rice cooker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s really all I need though. I don’t think I’ve ever needed to make more than a cup of uncooked grain at a time.

I feel like a rice cooker is one of those things that we all say we don’t need until we have one. I can just make it on the stove. Same thing.

This is what I’ve been telling my mom as long as she’s had her rice cooker and I always end up hearing back from her that I just don’t know what I’m missing. Well I guess I’m about to find out.

I was a little disappointed to see that this doesn’t have a timer function or even a keep warm function. For me, those are the two things that I found intriguing about a rice cooker. I could make my grain, walk away and come back hours and hours and hours later and it would be waiting for me as if I’d started it fifteen minutes prior as opposed to eight hours prior. I still have to scope out all the bells and whistles on this guy, though. He may have more offerings than first meets the eye. Regardless, I’m excited to see what all the buzz is about. And I love the size! Our kitchen is about to get a lot smaller (*sniff*) so cabinet and counter space is going to be at a premium.

I’ve been hinting to Will that I want a trip to The Container Store as my present from him. I know – I’m very lame. So many fun organizational things that I can get to maximize the small space we will have in whatever new place we get. With a few stacking racks and closet hooks along with my rice cooker, this is shaping up to be a very good birthday. And it’s still a week early!