It’s all Costco’s fault that we didn’t wait.
Richard actually went there on a Saturday in December, grocery list in hand. Brave man.
Boy did he come home with a grin. They’d goofed and forgotten to change the “fresh fryer legs” on the ticker thingy to the type of thick slab of beef that they slapped the next label on as they weighed it–nearly four pounds, yes, but under five dollars?
He asked at checkout to be sure because, um, hey guys, and the clerk called the manager over because that was the protocol but she already knew what the answer was: this was their mistake and his good luck.
Then she admitted that one had come through like that yesterday–and it was prime rib.
The mind, it boggles.
So. Back on Black Friday, we were at Sam’s house, of course, and she happened to have an Instant Pot, which has been the big fad of a kitchen gadget of the last year or two; I asked her what she thought of hers.
She LOVED her 6 quart. Uses it all the time.
Amazon was selling the 8 qt cheap for the day…
I looked at hers and we debated, bigger than that? No. Too big, too much counter space, there’s just the two of us at our house; it was a shame the one her size was at full price–but even that might be a bit much for us. I had no experience with them and I just didn’t know.
So she and Michelle drove me to Target so I could check out the 3 quart mini version in person (which they happened to have on sale, even if I didn’t want to schlep it through airports.) That I can definitely do, sure, I told them, looks good. It would be great for throwing dinner into while I drive off to get Richard from work in the evenings. I could time things and then have them kept warm if we ran late.
I fished through my purse on the very off chance that…
I did! I had them!
I’m in a lupus study at UCSF that once every year has me on the phone answering questions for about 75 minutes, and in response they’ve sent me small gift cards to Target the last two years. I’d never used them.
The upshot is that we ordered that Mini Instant Pot from them and it cost a grand total of $11 including shipping and taxes.
Sooo… Then the question was, when do we open it? What label do we put to this thing? Birthday? Christmas? And there it sat.
Till Richard came home with that roast today that would in no way fit into our suddenly-tiny toy. Well, alright then, and he whacked it in half and we can try two different recipes with it.
We read through the instructions. We prewashed the tub. We ran a steam cycle to test it like they say, and then we started that first pot roast.
Did I remember the part about putting the carrots and potatoes in at the last ten minutes? I did not. In with the seared meat they went.
Ten minutes later, the kitchen was already started to smell like the Sunday afternoons of my childhood.
Twenty-six minutes left. Not that I’m counting or anything. (I hopped up to check just now and Richard instantly wanted to know, too.)
Proofread post. Edit. Get up and check. Twelve minutes.
Oh wait–that should have been ten more minutes on that recipe oops I read it wrong, but we didn’t figure out how to add more time till after we’d already pronounced it good enough and dug in. And it was already tender enough, although next time it will be more so.
Yeah. I think we’re going to like this gadget. Band, meet wagon.