Costco put the Ninja Crispi on sale back in June and I tried to talk myself out of buying one for about three weeks. Expensive kitchen appliance that you’ll use once and then stick in the pantry. Object that takes up precious counter real estate. Gadget that does nothing you can’t do just as well with a stove and a frying pan and/or an oven. And then I caved, because I wanted to make crispy french fries and that’s what air fryers are known for.

I use it almost every day.

I bought silicon ramekins, and I put sliced cherry tomato and spinach in the bottom, add an egg, a sprinkle of cheese, salt, and pepper (and in the above picture, some cilantro) and then bake in the air fryer, along with a chopped up potato, for a delicious ten minute breakfast. I wouldn’t really call them egg bites, because the egg isn’t scrambled, but I guess it’s the same principle. And obviously, I could be using other veggies.

Around the same time, I bought expensive frozen fish from Nordic Catch. My logic was that about once a week, I would buy mediocre grocery store sushi for $15, and that instead I should buy delicious fish for $16 and make my own sushi. I knew I wasn’t going to be saving money, I was just upgrading the quality of a once-a-week treat.

This did not work out quite as planned, because it turns out that when I have delicious fish in my freezer, I am likely to eat it more often than once a week. But one of the things I got was tuna for poke bowls, and one of my favorite meals this summer, including breakfast, was homemade poke bowls. The veggies varied and I really should have pickled some red onion, but the key ingredient–well, apart from the excellent fish–is the furikake. Spicy mayo is good, too. Oh, and I like adding some fresh mint.

Sadly, that picture is of my very last of the tuna. It’s not a cheap meal — realistically, the tuna is around $8 a serving, and the salmon twice that — so I’m not going to rush to order more. But I’m writing this to remind myself that it was delicious and that I should do it again when I can.