Kitchen essentials: Microplanes & Rice cookers

Tonight I made Beef Vegetable Stirfry (see family recipe below) and used two of my new Christmas gifts...a microplane from Helen and a new rice cooker from Sarah. I have concluded that both are essential Kitchen tools. I used to think that the Pampered Chef zester was essential...it does zest well. But I think the microplaner is destined to replace it. The only problem with the microplane is that it does such an efficient job that you end up with a big pile of your ingredient instead of just 1/4tsp (thus we had a very gingery dinner). So all you hubbys, if your wife doesn't already have one...forget the flowers for Valentine's Day, get her a microplane or rice cooker instead. Well...maybe you had better check in on that, not everyone finds a microplane as romantic as I do.

Beef Vegetable Stir Fry
Sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1tsp sesame oil
2 gloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp ginger (fresh or powder)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 Tb sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame seeds

8 ounces beef sirloin, cut in thin slices
Vegetables, a big bowl full, maybe about 4 cups or so. Examples: cabbage sliced into thin strips, onion, carrots, celery, broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, green pepper, etc. etc.

Stir fry vegetables, remove and set aside. Stir fry meat. Add sauce and cook until bubbly and thick. Readd vegetables. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.