Started 2025 with a trip to Las Vegas

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It’s now December 31, 2025 Im drinking tea in an ice cream shop in Ottawa realizing I never finished this post. I drafted this post earlier in the year but it’s all still relevant.  The  way the world has changed in the last few months I feel like I need to explain that I went to Las Vegas in early 2025 because I knew things were going to change after January 20. I didn’t know how. I was expecting more violence and less direct flights. I never expected that things would change so quickly in a few months. It is now the beginning of March and it’s hard to keep up. Anyways flights and tourism to US destinations are already significantly reduced from Canada. I finished this trip knowing it would be awhile before I visited the US again and it was a pretty perfect trip for my memories and I am glad I took it.  I have been to Las Vegas many times you can read about some of my previous trips on this blog. I don’t think I have ever been in January. This time I was supposed to go w...
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November 8, 2017 using an Instapot for the first time vegetarian pasta

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I used to have a multicooker which I loved the problem is once the pot scratched on the inside I couldn't find a replacement pot. I always knew the Instapot would be better because of the stainless steel pot and the slow cooker function but it was always something I didn't need. I had a pressure cooker and the soup maker.

When I saw the Instapot was going on sale at London drugs for $60 off I told my friend I would give her my electric pressure cooker. The pressure cooker was too big for the small meals I make and I wasn't using it. The instapot was sold out before I got it but my friend still got my pressure cooker and she is happily pressure cooking large batches of ginger tea. My microwave has also stopped working and I decided I don't need a new one.

The only problem I have been having with no microwave is warming food I have to do in a frying pan and cooking pasta.  This makes more dishes than I want to wash. I figured the instapot will help me as I can heat food and cook pasta with one pot to wash. I bought an older version at regular price of $109 and debated on if I should return it and wait for a sale or just keep it and save money on eating out.

After reading lots of reviews I decided to keep it and open the box. I intend to make pasta in it tonight. I have unboxed it and am reading the manual now. It says to do a test run with water so I am going to go do that now. Right now I love the look of the stainless steel pot and am happy that it came with a spoon and a ladle.


The water is successfully cooking in the pot for my test run. I can smell the water cooking, it smells like the new plastic I am assuming this is just the newness smell. I can't find a recipe on how to cook pasta for my version of the machine so hopefully my experiment works out.

The test run is done. I was wondering how I would know when it is done the pot beeps and switches to keep warm. The instructions say unplug the machine and wait for it to cool. I don't know how long I have to wait for it to cool. The pressure didn't come out of the seal like my other pots used so I am curious what will happen when I open the pot. I don't know how long I have to wait for it to cool. After I waited 5 minutes I turned the dial to vent and a lot of steam came out luckily I know from my past cookers that could happen so I used an oven mitt to open it could be dangerous.






My ingredients are in the pot now I started with sautéing onions, mushrooms, and zuccinni which worked great. Then I added a bag of pasta, the jar of sauce, seasoning, and 3 jars full of water. I am using cheaper ingredients because I am not sure if it is going to work out. There is no pasta setting so first I pressed the button for multigrain and it said 40 minutes then I set it to rice that was 10 minutes. I started it on rice and then decided 10 minutes will be too long my past cookers took 6 and google says 4 so I manually put it to 5 minutes. I have noticed this cooker takes a really long time to come up to pressure I am hoping my pasta will turn out though.


Now the pot has beeped that it is done. I have turned it off and waiting for it to cool so I can open it and add the cheese and basil. I like how every time I open or close the lid it beeps the same beep that happens when you win on a lottery ticket makes me think I am a winner when I get the lid on. The pasta is cooked but the sauce is really watery. I put the cheese and basil in and put the cooker on warm to melt the cheese hopefully that will thicken the sauce a little. Next time I won't add as much water.
Time to eat

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