TheBanyanTree: instant pot

[Teague, Julie Anna]

There is a time and place to say "I'm sorry."  Such as, perhaps, you have said or done something to hurt someone and you realize it and you want to make amends.  But my lovely friend Leanna walks around as if everything is her fault.  She's sorry for Every. Single. Thing.  I'm sorry.  I'm sorry. I'm sorry.  It's sort of maddening. It's OK that you are one second late for dinner. It's ok that you burped.  It's ok that we started to say something at the exact same time.  It's ok that a napkin fell on the floor.  It's ok that we both reached for the serving spoon.  It really can get absolutely maddening. I try hard not to say something.  She knows she does this, but she can't stop doing it. Sometimes she'll laugh and say, "I'm sorry...not sorry."  


-----Original Message-----
From: TheBanyanTree [mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com] On Behalf Of Pam James
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 1:01 PM
To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own *original* writings. <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: instant pot

I recently read, on Facebook of course!!, that we should stop saying "I'm sorry" so often....  Instead of, "sorry I'm late" we should try "thank you for waiting"...  or in stead of "sorry I overcooked the beef" we should try "thanks for visiting even though great meat isn't guaranteed"
.... whatever....  I'm going to try it!!

On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 11:59 AM, Teague, Julie Anna <jateague at indiana.edu>
wrote:

> In re-reading this hastily typed thing, the first sign of life from me 
> to the Banyan tree in some long time, I realize I've made a tremendous 
> amount of typos and errors.  Not the least of which is the use of 
> "poor" for "pour".  Oh. My. Gosh. I'm just going to let this hang out 
> there rather than going through and correcting everything, since I 
> barely had time to write it, much less correct it.  WWJD?  She would 
> not apologize if it was a slightly tough beef roast, but something 
> which is published would probably be perfectly polished to perfection by the beloved Julia.  Sigh.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TheBanyanTree [mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com] 
> On Behalf Of Teague, Julie Anna
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 9:57 AM
> To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
> *original* writings. (thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com) < 
> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
> Subject: TheBanyanTree: instant pot
>
> I forget that present husband is of a different stripe than past 
> husband (may he rest in peace), and thus I need to watch what I say 
> because he listens closely and tends to make things happen.  A 
> wonderful trait, absolutely, but not if you are someone like me who 
> daydreams aloud about things that may only be half-heartedly desired.  
> We'd discussed, over the past few weeks, the idea of the Instant Pot, 
> i.e., the modern, non-exploding pressure cooker.  They are suddenly 
> all the rage.  My grandma used the old kind quite a bit.  I remember 
> the behemoth gray pot, her strapping on the lid in what that looked like some kind of bomb assembly.
> The rattling and the big pressure gauge and the nervous checking.  But 
> what she made in it I don't remember.  Roast and potatoes vaguely come to mind.
> I can't recall another meal that might've come out of that thing.  She 
> used it mostly for canning green beans.  I do remember that while she 
> was an otherwise great cook, her roast was a bland pretender to my 
> mother's.  Mom cooked beef roast the old fashioned way, in the oven.  
> The NY Times food section has been on an Instant-Pot-article bender since before Christmas.
> I'd been looking at recipes but had as much as talked myself out of 
> the thing.  Not the least of my concerns is that I now have the 
> tiniest of kitchens with limited storage.  I do like the idea of 
> getting a healthy meal done in 30 minutes because lord knows that time 
> is something we are always short of, and a quick salad when it's below 
> zero outside does not make anyone here happy.  But most of the things 
> Instant Pots are best at did not seem to be the things we eat, in 
> general--spare ribs, pork roasts, thick beefy stews. All good, but we 
> don't eat that much meat.  Or, I don't eat (or cook) that much meat.  
> Husband would eat that much meat in a heartbeat, right up to the point 
> where he ceased to have a heartbeat.  But we are already in a 
> polygamous marriage-me, husband, his grill, his smoker.  He doesn't 
> need another platform on which to sacrifice dead animals.
>
> So anyway, adoring husband and I were discussing Instant Pots and 
> their possibilities in, what I thought, was a more or less 
> hypothetical way.  But husband, anxious to make my every dream a 
> reality (Damn him!  Where did I FIND this guy?) came home with an 
> Instant Pot last night, and now I must either learn to use it or return it before I even take it out of the box.
> I'm sort of interested in the yogurt function because I eat a lot of 
> greek yogurt.  But how to make it thick and coconutty like Chobani 
> that already comes in convenient little plastic containers (which are polluting the
> earth...guilt) and contains too much sugar (oy)?   Can I make my own pasta
> sauce in record time?  That would be a good thing, no?  Tomato-y, 
> peppery, spicy Shakshuka with eggs in ten minutes would be a pleasant 
> surprise.  Of course, it takes only 30 minutes on the stovetop, and I 
> can watch the eggs closely.  I have it--beans from dried beans rather than canned beans!
> Delicious, spicy black beans! Lentils! Great Northerns! Chickpeas! 
> That would be lovely, in limited quantities: we're old so too many 
> beans can be deadly.
>
> I ask myself, WWJD? What would Julia do.  Julia Child has long been a 
> hero of mine.  Everyone should read her books-she's such a fantastic 
> human being.  I heard an interview with her once in which the 
> interviewer was trying, with leading questions, to get Julia to 
> "poo-poo" fancy-schmancy kitchen gadgets as unnecessary.  Julia said 
> while of course one doesn't need them to cook, why not get them and 
> try them if you want them!  Have fun! Try new things!  Julia was not 
> one for poo-pooing anything except apologizing for a dish that didn't 
> come out perfectly.  Never, in Julia's view, does the cook apologize.  
> Just serve, poor more wine, and trust that friends love us even for 
> the occasional bad dinner!  I love Julia.  I think she would approve 
> of giving the Instant Pot and drive around the block.  I guess it's off to see if I can find recipes!
>
> Julie
>
>