New Toys

“I was hanging in the Nashville BRMS store yesterday, and saw lots of new toys..

The one that I thought was AWESOME, but not sure how I would use it yet was this 'backpacking pressure cooker'.

Titantium, with all the features of the gawd heavy pot your mother used to drag out to pressure cook beans and stuff with when you were a kid.

So someone help me out here.. what sort of meals should I envision cooking using that new toy if I talked Santa into bringing me one?

Roasts? Vegetables? I am not sure what you cook in a pressure cooker.

I could ask my mom I guess. *s* Come on TT'ers would I have fun with this thing?

By the way, the new LED headlamp rocks!”

“My wife uses a pressure cooker for, like you mentioned, foods that take a long time to cook. I'm not sure how much of an advantage that would make for the typical BPer food.

Personally, I would much rather have one of those backpacker ovens. Pizza or hot bread on the trail... now that would be tasty!”

“Seems like this think might be more suited to car camping,,,”

“TD, I'm thinking that you would use it on a hunting trip, to quickly cook meat that you just killed. I mainly use my pressure cooker to cook meat that is not as tender as steak, like pot roast or top round. I add carrots, potatoes and onions to make a stew. On a hunting trip, dehydrated vegetables would probably work just as well. For a backpacking trip, though, it sounds impractical to use a ti pressure cooker.”

“Oh and don't forget to glaze the pressure cooker with whiskey or brandy, and add it to your stewbowl. Helps clean the pot and adds nice flavor to your stew.”

“I would not buy it.

My husband (the cook at our house) uses his pressure cooker for things like beans that take a long time to cook. I can see where it might be useful at very high altitude where you cannot get your food to cook at all.”

“Ahh.. good information so far. :)

I didn't think about the connection to hunting.

As for car camping.. I don't know.. really light -- so BPing it would not be a problem.

I just can't figure what I would cook in it yet.”

“Actually, it may not be a bad idea depending on the weight. A pressure cooker can cook anything faster than it would cook normally. I'm thinking at least twice as fast? It could save alot of fuel on a long trip.”

“Speaking of new toys.. have you see all the new cook gear and stoves?

My gosh, it can't get no better.”

“What, are you gonna make fresh hummus out there or sumtin? Cook a couple of artichokes? Sounds like a fun item to try using but not own...”

“Like Joy said, everything cooks faster in a pressure cooker. You can cook almost anything in it depending on how big it is. You could probably even cook something like gumbo in it.”

“I see a trend with TownDawg.

Food, Food, Food.”

“Nuthin' wrong with that bacpac. One of the real joys on the trail is eating well.

The pressure cooker is faster, but how much faster do you really need to cook that mac & cheese? ;-)

TD, any idea how much that cooker weighs. I've found that everything feels light until I put it all in my pack!”

“heh.. go ahead.. eat those Ramen Noodles and protein bars.

I called BRMS, the pressure cooker weighs in at 4.26lbs”

“Gasp! I will stick with my six ounce aluminum pot.”

“heh.. I hear ya.. like I said.. I was in the store yesterday, and was like.. wow.. kewl.. now what would I use it for?”

“TD, the pressure cooker might be light, but whatever you might cook in this will add some weight.”

“chili36? Tennessee? where?

email me if u want.”

“In Memphis TD, sent you an email to hotmail acct.”

“A pressure cooker would be great for non-instant beans or rice, but at over 4 lbs - I think I'll pass.”

“SnowPeak Ti stove = 3 oz
Ti pot & lid = 4.1 oz
Mtn House = 2.5 - 3 oz


Water boils in 3 min (I'm usually above 10,000'),
Mtn House cooks in 10 min”

“I got this response back concerning my post.. thought I would pass it along.

That backpacking pressure cooker is for high-altitude cooking - it allows you to cook food hot and quick instead of the v*e*r*y s*l*o*w way stuff cooks when water boils at such a low temperature because of the reduced pressure at high altitude. Your mom probably used the pressure cooker at home to get stuff hotter than normal boiling temps on the stovetop. Good for cooking pot roast faster, etc.”

“and this response also..

You can cook lentils in a fraction of the time. Chicken justs melts off the bone. My Sherpa mates all use them and wouldn't travel in the hills without them. Make sure it's got a valve to let the pressure out. They do take a bit of practice, especially when cooking legumes.”

“but I agree.. It seems to me that it would require lots of HEAVY food to cook in it...pot roast, whole potatoes, stuff like that.”

“I have an indian friend who cooks her lentils in a pressure cooker too, but I don't get it. I thought that lentils cook pretty fast anyway. The recipes warn you not to overcook them. I thought that they might be good for backpacking, in soup, since they have a good protein content. Am I misunderstanding something here?”

“It's the red lentils that cook quickly, yellow Channa dhal and mung dhal takes ages, chick peas, unless you soak overnight well forget it.
The trick is to boil up your lentils until the pressure cooker starts to whistle, then let it cool, then open, chuck in some more water and boil up again.”

“Hm....I thought this was a thread about some other kinda new toy..grin{}

I don't know nothin bout those *other* kinds a toys..

Smile{}”

“Oh, I didn't realize that the lentils had different cooking times. Chick pea flour, mixed with other flours, makes a good coating for deep frying onions and zuchini. Crisp and tasty, with more nutrition than just wheat flour or cornmeal.”

“Still hopin' for some information on the *other* toys..

Where are AmyG and Mel when you need them? Bob? BOB!! Is there a BOB in the house??

Anyone?”

“Here's a new toy for Trail HO's on the horizon.”

“Someone needs to get laid.”

“I got this..

and this.....

”

“BOB can't whisper in your ear!”

“how would YOU know? LOL!!!!”

“lol. I am not EVEN going to go there.”

“TX- you talkin about a titanium baseball bat?;>”

“OMG jerbear.. lol.. you remember THAT pic?.. what am I talking about EVERY guy alive remembers THAT pic.”

“Bob will hum in your ear. Or any other orifice.”

“Okay, so they're old toys.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/02/the_10_star_wars_toys_that_look_like_celebrities.php#more”

“The Hospice I work for bought all the home health aids new phones. Wow! We're now able to do all our charting and paperwork right on the PDA and have eliminated all paper but a single sheet of paper once a week. The cool thing is it has IE. I asked the IT guy if it was OK for us to be on the internet and he said, "Sure, it's free.".



Features

* EV–DO, 1X RTT Capable
* Windows Mobile® 6 Professional
* Microsoft® Office Word Mobile, Excel® Mobile, and PowerPoint® Mobile; Adobe® Reader® LE PDF viewer
* View, edit, create Word; Excel files; view only PowerPoint, PDF files
* Internet Explorer® Mobile
* Windows Media® Player 10
* Memory: 64MB RAM/256MB ROM
* Wi–Fi Connectivity (802.11 b/g)
* Slide Out QWERTY Keyboard with Trackwheel Navigation
* 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, auto–focus and video capture
* 2.8" Display: 240x320 pixel; 64K color TFT
o Touch–sensitive LCD display
o Portrait and landscape orientation

* microSD™ memory slot (up to 4GB)
* Voice command capable
* Speakerphone
* Security locking features
* Text, Picture and Video messaging (MMS)
* Wireless Sync capable
* ActiveSync® capable (v4.5) and Windows Mobile Device Center®
* BroadbandAccess Connect capable


Specifications

* Dimensions: 4.3" (H) x 2.3" (W) x 0.7" (D)
* Weight: 5.8 ounces
* Battery: 1500 mAh Li–Ion
* Usage Time: Up 324 minutes OR
* Standby Time: Up to 340 hours
* TTY enabled for the hearing impaired
* Hearing Aid Compatibility =M3”

“Sweet! My phone does that crazy stuff too, but I don't pay the extra $25.00 a month for internet, so I can't play away from home.”

“What is the name of the phone???”

“George”

“*smack*”

“FRED - ask any electrical engineer - a device like that is always a FRED”

“my wife helps run the informatics department for some hospitals here in town...they've been almost paperless for about 4 years now...all the doctors have those or laptops”

““What is the name of the phone???”

It's a Verison XV6800. The internet speed is pretty respectable when in cellular but it also has Wi-Fi too which would probably be faster.

I wish it had a GPS program but it can only hook into another gps unit. Of course they have the GPS tracking so the supervisors can see where we are.”

“I picked up the VZ G1 One (the hardend phone) but it just doesn't do a whole lot, limited connectivity etc.”