Learning Curve

A few days ago, i posted about my new toy, the NuWave induction cook top.

The beauty of it is it uses less electricity and is more precise than a typical electric stove top.  It uses magnets to interact with your steel or cast iron cookware, heating the food directly.  The pot itself doesn't get hot and then heat the food, the food gets hot, and the pot or pan gets warmer as the food itself heats up.

You can set the temperature very precisely, and as with gas cooking, if you turn it off, it's off.  You don't have to wait for a burner to cool down while you move the pot off the stove so the food doesn't burn.

As with any new item, there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's not much of one, and i'm enjoying this immensely.

After Thanksgiving, you have leftover turkey, so we always make a turkey gumbo.

Boiling veggies for a stock.

Once i had plenty of vegetable and turkey stock, and lots of roux (which i forgot to get a picture!  dang!) it was time to make a gumbo in the old cast iron pot.

Gumbo, made with love.  And okra, onion, turkey, bell pepper, celery...

The NuWave was pronounced a success, and has continued to be so.  It even turns out Sweetie's breakfast eggs just the way he likes them.

Eggs -- two whites, half a yolk, salt and pepper, as an omelet.

The one thing i had to learn to compensate for is that because the pan itself doesn't heat up, the food does, the food around the edges takes a bit longer to cook.

Altogether, i am glad i have this, and i'm looking forward to having the others Grandpa ordered for me.  My kitchen counters are going to need some rearranging.  



Today is:

AFL-CIO Day (date of merger in 1955)

Bathtub Party Day -- celebrate how much fun it is to take a nice, long, hot bath in these days when showers prevail; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Blue Jeans Day -- because they are now standard issue, aren't they?

Boycott Day -- commemoration of the city bus boycott begun this day in 1959 in Birmingham, AL, US in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks

Bizarre Bazaar -- Richmond, VA, US (Christmas shop until you drop; through Sunday)

Christmas Festival at St. Olaf -- St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, US (600 student musicians perform sacred and folk songs from around the world; through Sunday)

Constitution Day -- Sudan

Day of the Ninja -- sponsored by Ninja Burger!

Dingle-Fritter, Gooseberry Humple, Tiger-Get-By, LoneFolding, and Zimbor-Quattor's (Multiple Squishing of) Celebration -- Fairy Calendar

Discovery Day -- Haiti

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development -- UN

King's Birthday -- Thailand, also National Day and Father's Day (for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birth anniversary, the founder and "father" of the nation)

National Sacher Torte Day

Nones of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed
     Faunalia -- rural festival of Faunus

Repeal Day, celebrating the repeal of Prohibition -- US

St. Bassus of Nice's Day (Patron of Nice, France)

St. Nicholas' Eve  -- Belgium; Czech Republic; Hungary; Netherlands; Romania; Slovakia; parts of the UK; special observances include
      Avond -- Leewvarden, West Friesland (St. Nicholas visits and, if you are good, promises to return with trinkets and candies, which are left in waiting shoes)
      Bonhomme Noel -- France (Celebration of "Goodman Christmas")
      Klausjagen -- Arth and Kussnacht, Switzerland (with a procession of mitre-wearing figures by the Lake of Four Cantons)
      Krampuslauf -- Austria (St. Nicholas celebration, which begins the evening before the Saint's day, involving chasing and throwing snowballs at the Krampus, the imp who travels with St. Nick to punish the bad children)
      Zwarte Piet -- "Black Peter", the companion of St. Nicholas who keeps track of the good and bad children, arrives in many areas tonight

Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day -- because it's fun to try new ones

Tinsel Day -- remember when this stuff used to contain lead?


Birthdays Today:

Frankie Muniz, 1985
Margaret Cho, 1968
Gary Allan, 1967
John Rzeznik, 1965
Morgan Brittany, 1950
Jim Messina, 1947
Jose Carreras, 1946
Jeroen Krabbe, 1944
J.J. Cale, 1938
Calvin Trillin, 1935
Joan Didion, 1934
Little Richard, 1932
Otto Preminger, 1906
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Walt Disney, 1901
Bill Picket, 1870
George Armstrong Custer, 1839
Christina Rossetti, 1830
Martin Van Buren, 1782


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Band on the Run"(Album), 1973 (US release date)
"The Abbot and Costello Show"(TV), 1952
"Dragnet"(TV), 1951

Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63
An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465
All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496
London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766
Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775
C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846
President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848
Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876
The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879
The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893
University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908
The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929
The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933
Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941
A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow, 1952
The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States, 1976
Shuttle Atlantis launches world's 1st nuclear-war-fighting satellite. 1988
The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there, 2005