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Welcome to My Favourite Things! All about life’s little comforts and luxuries. For my first ever post in this series, I'd like to highlight two items that work together beautifully: dim sum and my new, cheap and cheerful rice cooker. 

I recently came across the new M&S Dim Sum Selection at my local Marks and Spencer, and I was immediately interested. It’s been aaaages since I last had the pleasure of eating dim sum - I'd usually go to China Town for that or Ping Pong once upon a time. Admittedly, it's pricey at £8 (correct at the time of writing this), but you do get 18 pieces in a pack and I simply justified it as a lockdown treat! You mainly have vegetarian options and there are also a few prawn options too. This may well be made for sharing although, truthfully, I ate them ALL across 3 sittings on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. Delicious! 

Wellbeing in the kitchen

Now, the cooking instructions suggest using either a steamer or microwave. Well, I don't own the latter and didn't fancy soggy parcels of joy, so I went on the hunt for a steamer at Marks too and quickly realised that my budget wouldn't stretch to that and popped over to my local Wilko instead. Totally distracted by toiletries and household items that I don't really need, I eventually made my way to the Kitchen section, and a rice cooker caught my eye. Low and behold said rice cooker came complete with a steamer attachment, measuring cup and spatula. In my mind, this would encourage me to eat more healthily and promote my wellbeing in the kitchen. I was sold! Not only was it just a few pounds more than the steamer at Marks, but I have wanted to purchase a rice cooker for years. With my cheap and cheerful rice cooker in tow, I went back to Marks to pick up the dim sum and the perfect pairing was made. 

My new rice cooker

The Daewoo rice cooker is functional, comes in stainless steel and looks rather stylish on my kitchen countertop. The only downside so far is that the rice can come out crispy at the bottom, which is not my preference, and I find adding more water helps to sort this out.  This item has quickly become one of my kitchen essentials: saving time and proving extremely convenient, especially the warming feature.

Tip: Add a little more water for brown rice, as it takes longer to cook. Also, be sure to wash the rice well before using the rice cooker to avoid the build-up of starch whilst cooking, as it can get a tad messy otherwise! 

As this purchase wasn’t part of my budget this month, I will have to address that under my ‘lifestyle expenses’ e.g. discretionary or non-essential spending. However, it certainly feels worth it because I LOVE rice so much, plus it’s quick, easy to use, multi-functional and great value! More on handy tips for budgeting in a future post...

Links to My Favourite Things

At the time of writing, a similar rice cooker can be found on the Wilko website, but it’s from a different brand and is only available in the store. Here is the Daewoo rice cooker that I am using. That’s one less thing to think about at mealtimes!

Your ultimate kitchen essentials

Life can be hectic at times, so the small things that make life that little bit simpler can really make a difference, leaving more time to focus on our self-care and wellbeing routine.

Tell me, what are your all-time favourite items in the kitchen, the things that you simply wouldn’t like to live without? Let me know in the Comments section below and connect with me on your socials.

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