News in my life

I just had a birthday.  I'm not ashamed to tell my age is 33.  I think the 30s will be the best years of my life.  I may have mentioned before that I've been married for 10 years.  I recently discovered that all those fabulous wedding gifts we got are starting to show their age.  Especially my pots and pans.  So, I bought myself new cookware.  I did quite a bit of research after first buying an $85 special at Target (non-stick).  A friend pointed out that non-stick may be harmful so the research began.  I did find that non-stick may cause cancer and that it isn't as good at copper, stainless, or hard anodized.  As far as I can tell hard anodized still has a non-stick coating so I stayed away from that.  I can not afford copper so I went with stainless steel and finally bought a Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless Steel set on Amazon.

With my set I got an 8qt stock pot, 3 qt saute pan, 8 inch and 10 inch skillet, 1/5 qt and 3 qt sauce pan.  I would still like to get a 12 inch skillet and have my eye on a few sales next week. 

I am happy with this set so far.  I actually used it for the first time today (four days after it came).  I know they'll never be as shiny as they are in this picture, but that just means they are well loved!

Oh, another note, these have a lifetime guarantee where as the Calphalon non-stick I got for my wedding had a 10 year guarantee.

Another thing I received for my birthday was the cooks How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.  My mother-in-law discovered him and I read the forward of his book.  As I was reading I noticed we have similar views when it comes to cooking.  1) Homemade doesn't mean it takes a lot of time and effort 2) Take time to plan your meals 3) Shop with your eyes (buy what looks fresh) 4) Take time to enjoy the act of cooking (chopping, cuttings, sauteing, etc.)