I haven’t written anything for weeks.  Mornings have been spent doing things to get us settled.  Afternoons have been hot and humid and are officially designated as nap time.

The heat and the bugs have pretty much eaten or killed the garden.  So there isn’t much material there except that we have a lot to learn about gardening in this environment!

The kitchen is still unfinished. No counters, no cupboards, no dishwasher or garbage disposal and no window covering.  It is hot and primitive. Before we do cupboards, counters, dishwasher etc we need to lay a sub floor and tile the entire kitchen and pantry.  We have had 4 different attempts to get the work done and so far not one of them have panned out. Very frustrating! We finally decided we should do it ourselves. Scheduled to start next week. All of which is the the long way of saying that it is pretty hard to write about food when your kitchen is inadequate and you aren’t cooking very much.

Last week I finally got a little smart and bought a new appliance: an electric pressure cooker. We need to be able to cook quickly and with as little heat as possible. If you read this site you know that I am a long-time fan of pressure cookers. The problem with them in this environment is that the steam heats up the kitchen. So I finally started looking at electric versions.

Turns out there are a few things to learn.  For example most of the electric cookers on the market only go to 12psi (pounds per square inch) and to be really efficient I wanted one with 15psi.  I could only find 4 that met that criteria.

But the most annoying problem for me is that the manufacturers want to over-simplify the experience. So they create a bunch of fancy controls and panels for operations. You need to spend an hour on the instruction book or have an electronics degree. Forget that!

I finally settled on the Cuisinart 1000-Watt 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker, Brushed Stainless and Matte Black.

When you cook on the high pressure mode, it cooks at 15psi,. I has friendly, minimal controls and a great brand name. I have had several Cuisinart products over the years and they have always worked well and lasted for a long time.  My original Cuisinart Food Processor is well over 20 years old and still going strong.

The day it came I got it out of the packaging, washed it and put it to work.  Boiled up up 4 lbs of red potatoes in 6 minutes! The unit worked flawlessly and didn’t heat up the kitchen. Since them I have used it to cook black beans, beets, polenta and string beans.

My overall impression: I love it!

If you have been thinking about getting a pressure cooker; don’t bother with the old-style conventional one; go straight to the electric.  The price is actually pretty close to the same.  If you have a conventional cooker and are looking for a change or want a great suggestion to add to your Xmas list here it is.

Hopefully we will continue to escape hurricanes, finish the kitchen and cool off.

News at 11.