things that cook themselves are good. i rummage around the fridge and to my astonishment there was a small piece of salmon that i had completely forgotten about. i bought it last week to steam in my ricecooker and ended up eating in the buttery all week. and i had a pack of dried shiitake mushrooms on hand, so i thought i'd try the recipe i saw on nibble and scribble. so i soaked the mushrooms in hot water, used the liquid from that (mixed with some soy sauce and a little vinegar) to cook rice. the salmon and mushrooms i arranged on top of the rice, and i let the rice cooker do its work. (it smelled heavenly all the time it was cooking) i also had some fresh mushrooms that i put into the cooker when the rice was nearly firm - then i mixed in mirin and soy sauce and sprinkled sesame seeds on it, topped it off with some flying fish roe and shredded nori and happily ate it out of the pot. i do like things that don't involve a great deal of washing up.