I've been with GW since it's beginning. Have followed Trudi from day one. She's moved on after getting all of us hooked - she's published her method and has it copyrighted or patented (I think), has her own website and continues to educate people from all over about this method. I've done it in Zone 5a and zone 7 with great success. The excitement just about kills me every year when I start seeing those little green heads poking up. Now with the economy going up and up - I can't get over how much I save financially. My home has large, south facing windows so this year I'm able to start plants indoors but I still do a very heavy planting with winter sowing because I love the hardiness of the seedlings that emerge. No leggy seedlings. You still need to be mindful of the right time to plant after frost (here May long weekend). This whole idea should come with a warning - highly addictive. Glad you are joining our merry gang. Cheers, Peggy

If you love your PC you might want to try my favorite recipe. German Potato Salad (pressure cooker) 6 slices bacon, diced 1/8 tsp. pepper 4 medium potatoes, diced 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 onion, thinly sliced 2 TBL. Water 2 to 3 TBL. Sugar 2 TBL. Parsley 2 TBL. Salt 1/3 cup vinegar Heat pressure cooker and brown bacon, pour off fat. Add potato and onion. Combine remaining ingredients and pour into cooker. Mix well. Cook for 5 minutes in pressure cooker and cool cooker at once. (I all ways double recipe) Enjoy! Kathy G in MI

Thoughtful quotes. I really get a kick out of the last one. When I was single, I did not date the really handsome, well dressed or muscle men, because I knew how much time and effort it took to look that way. I figured they would put themselves first and everyone else second. Huxley, got that one right.

I get it, Sleevendog! I'm not good at brevity, and it gets worse when I'm tired, as I have been lately. So sorry to go on to the point of exhaustion. The actual cooking--or I should say prep and pre-cooking--was amazingly brief and casual. Could have been just as easily done on my stove, which can even be programmed to turn itself off, but easier from not having to figure anything out. Just dump, dial, push to start. I get it about reading manuals, too. I think that was part of why it took me so long to open it. But the manual is pretty clear and has all the information about how and how much and makes it easy to conceive of how to use it. You absolutely do not need one of these, unless, maybe at your other home if you have electricity and need something besides the wood stove. I was thinking this would be a great device for an RV, if we had a small RV. There's one I really like from Canada that's pretty much the size of a standard van, but has a full bathroom and a murphy bed, but only the most minimal of kitchens. The multicooker would be perfect for it, especially if it could be secured for cooking while driving. I haven't looked at the specs, but it might even be able to run off a battery without exhausting it. At home, I have all the equipment you mentioned and more, but no pressure cooker. I certainly didn't need this, but it was a gift, and not of the kind that one can dispose of. It worked so well, I'm sure I'll find uses for it. Cynic, The book says the maximum capacity is 4.5 quarts, but there are some things you're not supposed to fill past half way up--but that might be for pressure cooking, or dry beans/grains/legumes--I don't remember. Minimum is one quart for slow cooking. There are very clearly marked levels in the pot so there's no guesswork in the measuring. They're molded in, however, and dark, so it's best to check them and know what you're aiming for before putting the food in. They make a bigger model if you want to make more. This size took a pound of beans (weighed while dry), a pound of beef, 10 oz. of carrots, two baseball sized onions, four celery ribs, a can of tomato paste, a bottle of chili sauce and generous glass of wine, and was 2/3-3/4 full, which is kind of perfect for my purposes. I can't imagine wanting it for big cooking. In the end, there were about 6-8 servings. The inner pot is metal with a coating. The unit has a CA Prop. 65 warning, but I'm not sure about what. It could be the pot, or it could be the circuit boards for all I know. :) The description from the company on Google says: Ceramic-lined Inner Pot – PTFE and PFOA free ceramic coating with textured base. The steamer basket and rack are bare and shiny. The sensor underneath is indeed for temperature. Clean-up is easy. The pot cleans as easily as the old ceramic ones--it doesn't have the built in handles, however, just a small rim--but that probably is to encourage you to dish out the food from the unit, rather than trying to pull the pot out hot and full. Oh, yeah, and I'm sure it fits better for the pressure cooking seal of the lid. The manual says you can put the pot and lid in the dishwasher but advises not to. Probably because some dishwasher/detergent combos can etch. There is a rim around the edge of the unit for catching condensation dripping from the lid, and it even has a little overflow cup. The lid itself comes off and on easily, and it has a silicone gasket that is easily removed. It's a little harder to get on, and much easier while sitting at a table, than standing at a counter. There are instructions for cleaning out the valves and a recipe for clearing odors from the unit. For what I made yesterday, the clean-up is as easy as it would have been if I'd done it in a pot on the stove. The official name is Breville Fast Slow Pro. The one with a "6" is the bigger one.