Sorry, I just saw there were more posts here about the socks. To robotropolis, the socks can get pretty hot. In the beginning of using them, it takes a few tries to get the right amount of time to leave them in the microwave to get the socks to the temperature that is most comfortable. If you put them in for too long, you can burn the kernels inside and you will smell them cooking. You want to put them in for less time if thatâÂÂs the case. Believe me if the socks are too hot, you will keep your feet away from them. And can push them to another part of the bed until they cool down a little. And I would think you would make that adjustment before you fell asleep. They stay warm when under the covers for a surprisingly long time. IâÂÂve never burned myself on the socks. We keep our thermostat down to 62 degrees at night with warm down comforters on the bed with flannel sheets. My feet are always cold and I usually have a sore muscle or two that appreciate the heat as well.

I use a pressure cooker for rice, and it is quick and easy. In addition to making plain rice (which I seldom do), and often add various vegetables, which required me to adjust the amount of water/broth, but that has not been a problem. For plain rice, I rinse the rice in a large strainer, put it into the PC and add 1-1/2 times as much water as the rice I originally measured. I have a portable induction burner that is compatible with my PC, and I set that for 5-6 minutes on high and then turn the heat level down to low (250°F) and let it cook for 6 minutes more. The burner turns itself off, and I leave the pan on the burner (which is not hot by now) until the pressure indicator goes down, and then I open the lid and fluff the rice. The last time I made it with zucchini, and I reduced the water by 1/2 cup for each zucchini (I only used one), but I also added half an onion and three cloves of garlic, plus some butter and parsley (because I have it in my yard). When I add fresh thyme, I bundle it with a bit of string and remove the stems after the rice is cooked. I generally add thyme when I add mushrooms, and I often use dried mushrooms, which I reconstitute first and then use the soaking liquid as part of the water. I recommend getting a PC instead of a rice cooker. I had a roommate in college (when I went back for my design degree) from Hong Kong, and he had a rice cooker. Rice was the only thing he ever cooked, and I was not impressed. I cannot imagine anything a rice cooker could do that a PC could not.

I have several Aroma cookers, the multi cookers that cook a variety of rices and grains as well as slow cooker, soups, sauté and simmer where you can brown your meat and vegetables right in the same pot. I love them. My whole family has them. I just recently bought a new one that has all the options at Costco for under $40 which is a steal. There are many variations of these with different options. Never had a problem with any of them and I have had some for many years. I have cooked brown, white, and a multi grain mix all perfectly. I have not yet done oatmeal but my sister does. On the aroma site there's a lot of recipes. I cook full meals in them.

Okay, back on laptop, the above was posted from my phone. I never liked figs, which were always dried, (OR fig newtons, even as a kid) until I had figs fresh over 20 years ago when a co worker brought some from her fig tree to work... they were astounding. They remain astounding! Occasionally I find them at farmer's markets, but I am now attempting to grow my own, a slow process. I have a Chicago hardy, and two very small fig trees, a Texas Everlasting and a Celeste (the latter two came in a reduced price package of three when I did some other ordering from a nursery this spring - the third died rapidly). Don't know when I will actually see them set figs! If you are interested in figs for breakfast, I came up withfigs and oatmeal in the rice cooker. For stuffing whole fish with figs, try this one. (This also contains the non-recipe of wrapping the fig with prosciutto as mentioned above.) Then there's a post I have of severalvegetarian fresh fig ideas, most of which don't require real cooking, other than the figs on portabella caps. I'd think they'd also be great cooked into savory dishes you might otherwise cook apples or plums into. Still, my all time favorite to date is the prosciutto wrapped fig: the prosciutto cuts the sweetness of the fig, and the fig cuts the fatty, saltiness of the ham, and they blend well on the tongue together! I could see serving with goat cheese, or putting in a Brie filled pastry alongside that particular cheese, then baking. By the way, I froze a bunch of figs, and the ones I got to eat were still great when thawed, though more useful not just as themselves but cooked or mashed into things. Unfortunately I lost the rest during the Connecticut macroburst power outage of April. They might have still been good, but I was ruthless...