IngenuiTea Teapot

Susan introduced me to this amazing teapot - the brand is IngenuiTea. She found them at Gong Fu Tea in Des Moines (very nice tea shop).

You put the looseleaf tea in, put water in, steep. Put the teapot on a cup, which strains the tea. The leaves are then left in the pot. Dishwasher safe (top rack).

Video of How It Works

My personal faves from Gong Fu tea are Kikucha and Genmaimatcha. Both really good green teas.

Rice Cookers

I have recently purchased a new rice cooker.

 If you like brown rice, or WANT to like brown rice...you must purchase one.

I previously had a cheap rice cooker like the one to the left.

I thought it was fine. It cooked Japanese rice well.   I have always wanted a better rice cooker, but have never purchased one since the one I had worked ok.

With this type of cooker (removable lid)...I could never cook brown rice in it. The water would fly out of the lid and all over everything in a five-foot radius of the cooker. Not fun. Very starchy.  So, I would always cook brown rice in a pan.

My new rice cooker is a lot like the one to the right. I saw this one at Tuesday Morning for $30. Went home and googled it and saw it is normally $60. Decided I could not pass this up.

Fabulous discovery. This kind of rice cooker makes AMAZING brown rice. I highly highly highly recommend it. Wow. There is NO comparison. Wow Wow Wow. So good. I just made some very basic organic brown rice from the grocery store. Not Japanese rice. It is so good. I am in shock.

Ok...if you don't own a rice cooker, but you like rice...buying a rice cooker will change your life. It is so simple, and such a no brainer to make rice in a rice cooker. I don't know how to describe it...but...especially this kind of rice cooker - cooks rice sort of like a pressure cooker, I suppose. It's just so good.