BETWEEN BOOK-WRITING AND OTHER PROJECTS, I’ve been exceptionally busy this fall. And though I’ve always viewed slow-cookers with some suspicion, I have to say that this All-Clad Slow Cooker, which my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday, rocks. I’ve used it several times a week, to make lamb stew (with Guinness), gumbo, spaghetti sauce, cornish game hens, etc. It’s a little weird to be preparing dinner at 8 a.m., but it’s pretty nice to get home at 5:30 or 6 and find it cooked, and the house smelling nice. At my brother’s recommendation (yes, we Reynolds men tend to be the cooks in our households) I got this cookbook, which rocks, too. (My sister-in-law gave me this cookbook, which has great recipes but most of them are kind of heavy on prep work; I prefer the “fix it and forget it” approach, most of the time.) I should have gotten one of these things years ago. (And my apologies for stepping on Bill Quick’s turf. . . .)