One minute, you're just some lady heading out for a bottle of soy sauce and an evening stroll with your baby in the days before Christmas and the next you're suddenly the proud and somewhat puzzled owner of a pistachio-green Cuckoo rice cooker. True story!

The strangest thing about this is that I am, shall we say, conservative when it comes to electronic appliance purchases. I've been thinking about buying a standmixer for the past decade, but can't bring myself to pull the trigger, both for the cost and the precious counterspace it would take up. I had a food processor when I lived in New York, but that was a gift (I had to leave it behind when I moved to the land of 220 volts). Besides a toaster, which we use every day, and an immersion blender, which is easily stashed out of sight, I just don't want to be encumbered with stuff.

(Though that's probably a discussion for another time, my allergy of stuff. Ooh, how I hate stuff.)

And yet, in less than twenty minutes the other day, there I was, handing over cold, hard cash for this not-so-little green machine (its casing is sort of hideously 1970s, but I'm trying to ignore it). I hadn't discussed it with anyone, I hadn't spent months poring over online reviews, I hadn't searched for the lowest possible price point. Nothing. I just went into the little Korean store, was handed my bottle of soy sauce, got distracted by the lineup of rice cookers and then, bam, there it was in my hands and the next thing I knew I was heading out the door with it.

Since the purchase, I've used it almost every day. I am all aglow for it, keep stealing glances at it sitting quietly on the countertop, running my fingers along it when I pass it on the way to the fruit basket. I've used it for sushi rice, basmati rice and brown rice so far, all with wonderful results (the brown rice needed a touch more water, but I'm blaming that on my shoddy math skills more than anything else). It's been such a delight to use and the joy of perfect rice every time I turn it on has already more than made up for the price of the machine.

Do any of you have a rice cooker? Are you as taken with yours as I am? Do you use it to cook anything else besides rice?

To serve along with the gorgeously sticky sushi rice I made the first day I used the cooker, I cooked up a pan of teriyaki turkey (adapted from this perfect recipe) and lo, it was as good as in any Japanese restaurant. Ooh, was I proud!

Now that I have a 5-pound bag of sushi rice to use up, tell me your favorite uses for it, would you? Thank you! And do you have any must-have appliances that you couldn't live without? Mine are the toaster, the immersion blender, the mini food-processor (which I use for Hugo's meals) and now the mighty, mighty rice cooker.

Happy New Year!