September 25, 2008

When you move to your place in Korea, your school will set you up with a few things, like a television, bed, and – more than likely – a rice cooker. If it’s a Cuckoo Rice Cooker, consider yourself lucky, because those are supposedly the best brand of rice cooker in all of Asia (or so a documentary on television told us). The Rice Cooker won’t be in English, though, so unless you can read Korean you’re not eating any rice. Fortunately, we have Korean friends who wrote out what every button means. Here’s what you need to know:

– The top left button: Keep Warm
– The bottom left button: Reservation – If you want the rice cooker to start cooking in a few hours. Useful if you want rice ready when you come home.
– The top right button: Start
– The bottom right button: Cancel
– The bottom middle button: Menu – changes cooking settings in this order:
Normal -> Quick -> Special -> Slow Cooker. The Special section is for any specialty rice you may have (whatever that may be. We just use regular rice).