pressure cooker

At my request, my mother bought us a pressure cooker for Christmas. Up until recently, had anyone asked me about pressure cooking, I would have given the vague reply that my mom used to can things in hers. I can picture it on her stove, the steam vent spinning and sputtering around on the top, emitting a steady line of steam. Several years ago there was an incident in which the cooker got stuck shut with a whole batch of what my mom said was her best sauerkraut. My dad was able to rescue the kraut by sawing off the top somehow, but she had to get a new pressure cooker. I didn't want it so much to can things, but to cook things rapidly, specifically beans and whole grains. I like to buy beans dried, both because they are cheaper, and often tastier, but I often forget to soak them in advance. Thus, the pressure cooker. In the fast few days, we cooked wheatberries (only 30 minutes!) and collard greens (20!). I also discovered that our cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Deborah Madison) has many variations for using the pressure cooker. My model is especially nice, because it doesn't use the stove, has low/high pressure, and saute and slow-cooking functions.