I love garage sales. Who can resist stopping when there are treasures piled on tables just begging to be bought for pennies?
There aren’t usually garage sales here, with one exception-when an expat goes back to the States and sells all their stuff. Treasures, I tell you!
I happened to be there when one family’s boxes were first opened. Judy had dibs, she’s the business manager, and then it was my turn. I scored lots of Tupperware, a bread maker, and a Crock Pot. But not just any old Crock Pot-this one was 220 volt! Perfect to use here!
On top of that, any kind of meat is usually pretty tough here. What’s better for tough meat than several hours in a Crock Pot? Ok, I could use my pressure cooker, but I’m always kind of afraid it’s going to explode, so I don’t like to use it that much. And it heats up my kitchen.
But a Crock Pot…just throw ingredients in, turn on, and hours later-delicious! That’s my kind of cooking. A Swedish friend was with me when I scored the Crock Pot, and she didn’t know what it was. As I was explaining how it worked to her, it began to look a little less than perfect for where I live.
See, we have electricity from 6 pm to 1 am. Um, that has me getting up in the middle of the night to get the food out of the Crock Pot and deal with it. In the dark. Hmmmm.
Well, they say we’re going to increase to twelve hours of electricity someday soon, that might make the thing more convenient. For now, it’s in the armoire in the guest room…
Haha! My mom says she blew up a pressure cooker once. Red beans. Painted a red circle on the ceiling. Sticky mess! Dad mopped the ceiling on his tiptoes.
Here’s the TRUTH from my Rival Crock-Pot cookbook: “Your Crock-Pot is a sporty traveling companion…On a long trip, let a complete meal cook overnight while you sleep; then it’ll stay warm until you stop for lunch the next day.” I’ve done it on many trips. You’ll be able to use your new Crock-Pot until the electricity goes off in the AM, and it will still be warm the next morning, when you can eat it for breakfast or fridge it for lunch. Do you have a fridge?