Happy New Year and New Kitchen Stuff!

Perhaps on account of this blog and our increasing interest in cooking, both our families felt it appropriate to load us up with wonderful new kitchen gadgets and cookbooks! Here are some of the new things you might see featured on the blog in 2011:

For Patrick:
Le Creuset dutch oven (with extra oven-safe handle!) - I know how much Kathleen loves this all-purpose cooker. Used it for the first time for our New Year's Eve dinner - stay tuned to find out what it was!
Le Creuset silicone spatula - Very heat resistant; already came in handy prying waffles from my new wafflemaker
Le Creuset oven mitts - finally a matching pair of quality oven mitts, also with convenient magnets for fridge storage
Cuisinart wafflemaker - Whitney also got me some Williams-Sonoma waffle mix, and our first waffles turned out great!
The New Best Recipe - I love the scientific approach from America's Test Kitchen (the source of all three of these cookbooks), and this book is a wonderful first reference for cooking nearly everything.
Cook's Country Cookbook - A voluminous cookbook similar to New Best Recipe, but with a focus on American home cooking.
How to Make Pot Pies and Casseroles - Whitney knows how much I love pot pies and casseroles, so she got me this conveniently sized book with some great recipes and tips.
Bag clips - Finally a way to reseal those un-resealable bags!
Strawberry huller - How did I ever hull strawberries before this?!


For Whitney:
Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker - Santa knew exactly what I wanted! Lately I've had a craving for pot roast but no slow cooker, so here's the slow cooker! ... now on to the pot roast!
Art of the Slow Cooker - Santa tipped Mom and Jimmy off that a cookbook to go with the slow cooker might be nice.
Pie making goodies: pie pan, pastry flute, pastry stencils - Patrick certainly has earned the baker reputation this past fall and now I can't wait to "decorate" his goodies. (a gift from the Revelles)
Hello, Cupcake! - This cupcake book shows you how to prepare fancily decorated cupcakes with all the things you already have in your kitchen! Check out their website here.
Occupied Japan china set - Granny and Poppa's gift was the biggest surprise of all. Growing up I always admired Granny's collection of Occupied Japan figurines and now I have my own collection of a different nature -- a china set! Now our nice dinner nights can have even more significance.
A Visual History of Cooking - We love to cook so why not know more about the history of cooking? A fun book to see how cooking has evolved from Granny and Poppa.
Salad Spinner - Washing lettuce just got a lot easier. Fancy salads on the way! A wonderful gift from the Colebrooks.


Thanks so much to our families for these much-appreciated gifts! We can hardly wait to use them! Some have already been used and are set to post in the next few days. :-)

Happy New Year and Happy Cooking!

We weren't the only ones happy on Christmas day. The cats were spoiled too!

Albert waiting for Pebbles to get the new catnip toys open!!