Rice Cooker Pasta

So I discovered something pretty cool this evening, and although in my excitement I inevitably forgot to take a picture, I felt that I should share a post about my newest favorite kitchen appliance: the rice cooker. I myself have never been much of a rice eater or cooker as I always found the stove top cooking process to produce a starchy, gooey mess at the bottom of the pot. Thus, I would usually divert the rice cooking task to my mother -particularly whenever she would make her Veal Blanquette - and succumbed to the belief that rice and I would never really get along in the kitchen. It was a co-worker who mentioned a deep affection for her rice cooker, and it was then and there that I decided that such an appliance would be the ultimate solution to my rice dilemma.
Since my procurement about four weeks ago I have cooked rice exactly twice. Tonight however, as I debated what starch to eat with my organic chicken sausage and eggplant saute I was forced to note that my one and only pot and one and only pan were both in use. Thus, I pulled out the lonely rice cooker that was sitting next to the less-lonely toaster, but low and behold I had no desire for rice as an accompaniment for the simmering sauce in front of me. Pasta was definitely my preferred option, but would it work to cook it in a rice cooker, and moreover would it be ready quicker than by the standard method of boiling 4 times as much water than pasta. I proceed to measure out a cupful of mini pasta shells, adding it to the cooker with a pinch of salt and two cupfuls of water. I hit the button for cook, and would you believe that approximated 7 minutes later I had almost perfectly cooked pasta - if anything is was almost too cooked as I tend to prefer a little bit of bite to my pasta. An extra bonus was that there was just a slight amount of cooking water left in the cooker, so that when I added it to my sauce, it thickened it to the perfect consistency
Incidentally this discovery had me so excited that I proceeded to cook another quick round of pasta for my roommate's (M's) lunch tomorrow. And yes it has probably classified me as a rather eccentric culinary enthusiast;)