I rarely buy “cute” things for my home and I never do “cute” in my kitchen. But, there is a time for exceptions in life and this is one of those times. A very dear friend gave me this egg timer as a fun little gift and I’m hooked. Partly because of my affection for my friend, and mostly just because in my cool, sleek, modern kitchen this really adds cute spunk and cheerfulness.

It turns out this is from a store in my work-neighborhood in New York called Pylones. So, one day I had to stop by and see the rest of what they had to offer. While I didn’t buy anything, let me tell you that place put a huge smile on my face. And, while I may never buy anything from there myself, it is quite fun to imagine using a squid whisk or an elephant funnel.
When you need to perk up that kitchen some people also use as shrine, studio, laboratory or therapy, then I think Pylones has anything to fit the bill. The ladybug timer works just fine, nothing extraordinary, except the grin it brings to my face every time I see or use it.

The stone goes into the oven cold and they preheat together so that the temperature is completely uniform and transferred to the stone by the time you put the pizza on it. The peel is crucial to actually getting the pizza on and off the stone, so that you’re not messing your oven or floor even more than necessary.

I always had seen the stone as an extravagance, a waste of space, a once in a while tool for an everyday usage kind of girl. But, I’ve changed my mind and am thoroughly twitterpated with my pizza stone. What really blows me away with the pizza stone, is the crispy, crunchiness of the crust. The fewer toppings you have on the pizza top, the crunchier the crust. We discovered this since our pizza was half prosciutto-cheese-mushrooms and half cheese-mushrooms-olives-artichokes. The veggie side was loaded up more, the crust cooked slower on that side and the crust, while crispy, still had more spring in the middle.

The downside, and only one I’ve discovered, is that from the very first usage it gets stained. Even though I made ridges and curved crust and did all the preventive measures recommended by the manuals and pizza stone enthusiast foodie friends, the tomato sauce leaked. The cheese leaked. It stained the stone, it smoked in my oven. I was able to get the foodstuff off during cleaning with baking powder, water and scouring pad, but not every one of the stains. They’re in there, forever. I consider them my benchmarks, the measurements of adventure through the long relationship my pizza stone and I will share.

During my Christmas shopping this past season, I picked up 24 silicone mini-baking cups on a whim, liking their bright red color and making a quick impulse purchase. They sat in my cupboard drawer for two months until this past weekend. Why did I ignore them so long??

These silicone cups are convenient, easy and turn out excellent muffins. They are dishwasher-safe, freezer-safe and oven-safe to at least 450˚Farenheit. They are non-stick, you don’t need to grease them and if you let the filling within cool completely before removing them, they release the food very cleanly. For the mini-cups I baked muffins and the best removal technique is to pinch the bottom gently and pull from the bottom. You can also peel from the top-down but that didn’t work as easily for me since I overfilled the cups slightly.

They also hold the food’s form very well and I know I’ll use them many times now for parties and cocktail hours. I can imagine making peanut-chocolate cups, mini-tarts with fruit, fun ice cubes and so much more.

After removing the muffins, there were only a few crumbs but they were greasy from the butter in my recipe. I knew I’d never wash those little guys by hand so I placed them upside-down on the top shelf in my dishwasher. They came out pristinely clean and nearly dry except for the few that had flipped over and filled up with water. Given them a try, they’re fantastic!

Last year my husband and I bought our first apartment and moved into the largest place I’ve lived since I left college. My kitchen? It’s massive by New York standards. It has been wildly exciting for a variety of reasons, including my cooking prolificness. I have more storage and therefore, more STUFF now that I have a larger kitchen. As a result, I’m cooking more than ever. Some things are great enhancements, some things get shoved to the back of a drawer never to be touched again. During this winter, one of the best additions to my kitchen has been my beautiful enameled cast iron dutch oven.

I’m sure many of you have had one for years. But, do you remember the joy it gave you so long ago, when you bought your first one? Whether Le Creuset, Staub, Lodge, John Wright, Daniel Boulud/Sabatier or Mario Batali/Copco, the enameled cast iron pot is worth the heft, the investment and the storage space. I have thrown away three other pots and pans since buying my beauty. It’s amazing how evenly the heat is distributed throughout the pan. It’s wonderful that you can work on a slow-food winter stew, soup or braised meat all afternoon or evening without worry about burning, sticking or inconsistent timing of food due to the “hot spots” of the pan. While the nostalgia of seasoning traditional cast iron appeals to me, I am a modern girl at heart and I like not having to season it. I love my particular pot, for many reasons but I’m a sucker for the spikes inside the lid that supposedly drip the evaporated liquid from the inside of the lid back onto your food to baste it and keep it moist. Whether it technically works or not, I don’t know since I can’t watch it do that magic without removing the lid and defeating the purpose. Do I care? No. I believe it works because I’m in love. My soups taste better, the meats are more tender and the No-Knead Bread is beyond spectacular when baked in one of these pots or dutch ovens. Its uniformly golden crunchy crust perfectly ensconces the moist and delicately chewy aerated interior bread. In cooking, our tools and equipment have a huge impact on our results and now that I’ve got enameled cast iron in my arsenal I’m never shying away again.