Crock pottery

[ksmith]

So two months ago, I ordered a Cuisinart slow cooker from ikitchen.com. I knew they were slow. I had already cancelled one order from them because a month had passed with no delivery--come to think, it was another slow cooker. But they answered emails, their prices were lower than average, and the model I first ordered was very popular and thus likely to be OOS. So I gave them another chance, and placed another order a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.

Two months later, I finally gave up and cancelled it. I did receive part of the order a couple of days before Christmas, but no slow cooker. Finally, after a couple of more rounds of emailing, I gave up. Still bound and determined to shop online, I ordered this slow cooker from Overstock.com. It's a little bigger than I'd like, but it's attractive and programmable and shipping was only $1. Yes, I did find this same crockpot for $35 elsewhere, but shipping was $20. Funny how those low low prices can be wiped out by the shipping charges.

But after all this, I'm afraid ikitchen.com has lost a customer. Yes, they state on their website that products can take a while to arrive, but two months for a crockpot is a little ridiculous.

Comments

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Instead of salt, try fresh herbs. Flat-leaf parsley and thyme and basil will give you a nice clean flavor without the sodium. I don't care for fresh sage, but them as likes it say it's great in stock. I have a recipe for turkey soup that uses a splash of soy sauce--that is really good--and there's also the citrus option: squeeze in some lime or lemon. Then grind in some fresh black pepper.

The ham stew was a little too flat and oniony (I don't like onions all that well) until I added the tomatoes. That zinged it right up.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I will keep more fresh herbs on hand when the slow cooker shows up (Overstock.com just emailed me that shipment is pending). Since I usually don't cook during the week, any supply of fresh herbs that I have on hands tends to go off before I use them up.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I went a little nuts in the fall and bought some potted herbs and stuck them on the windowsill. Now I have a constant supply of rosemary, thyme, and basil. Otherwise I had the same problem--would buy them, not use them, and lose them.

Dried herbs work, too. Thyme is good as a salt substitute: it's got that sharp, almost salty flavor on its own. Ground cumin, if you like the taste, can do wonders for a turkey or chicken stock. Just a pinch will brighten it right up.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Dried herbs, I've got. I had an oregano plant that I harvested over the summer, which resulted in more dried oregano than I know what to do with. I didn't do anything with the thyme plant I had, which was a mistake. Then there was the rosemary shrub, which is on its last legs. The leaves/needles were falling off, and I was just vacuuming them up until I realized, idiot, just harvest them. So now I have more dried rosemary than I'll use in a year. I hope it keeps--the stuff you harvest yourself beats the pants off the bottled store stuff.

If I had better lighting, or a window box, I'd try to grow herbs year-round.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Dried herbs keep pretty much forever in the freezer.

I am having thoughts of window boxes myself. The kitchen is on the south side, so has optimal light for plants.