I think my mom is really getting into her role as mother-of-the-bride (and also mother-of-the-groom, because my brother is getting married in May!), because the day after I set up the registry, she went out and bought us two of the things on it. We have pots & pans now!! If you followed my flurry of tweets on Monday, then you know that while I have 31 mugs and 5 springform pans, I didn't have any cookware. What I didn't mention on Twitter was that this wasn't an accident--I've been looking for the perfect cookware for the past 5 years! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find stainless steel, copper-bottom cookware with glass lids at a reasonable price? I finally found two sets--in the same week, and both at Target, actually--one by Paula Deen, the other by T-Fal. I chose the Paula Deen set for 3 reasons: insulated handles, nonstick interiors on the skillets, and full-copper bottoms (the T-Fal just had weird copper squiggles). After inspecting (okay, playing with) them last night, I definitely made the right choice. They're heavy and solid and beautiful. And her story on the box--about designing stainless steel, copper-bottom cookware because that's what her mother used when she was growing up--made me cry, because it's exactly why I was looking for them.
Choosing the things for our registry (and sorting through the things we already have) has made this whole marriage thing so much more tangible to me. The past six months have been so difficult, especially being apart, and at times it's felt like the future is this unattainable dream that we just can't catch. But it's beginning to feel so real to me, like it's just around the corner, and after all of these hard months, we'll finally get the big payoff. We'll be together. Cooking dinner together with these pots and pans, sitting down to dinner at this table, drying the dishes with these towels, snuggling under this quilt. It's an amazing feeling.
My grandparents recently bought a new dining table, so they've given the old one to us!
The 8-qt. stockpot (foreground) and 10-in. skillet (background). Isn't the gleam of the copper so lovely? The 12-piece set also included 1-, 2-, and 3-qt. saucepans (with lids), an 8-in. skillet, a lid for the stockpot, and a couple of utensils. We've also registered for the matching 12-in. skillet and 3-qt. stack & steamer pot w/ insert.
Ok, so, I love the cookware. But this is my favorite gift so far! A 3.5-qt. porcelain enamel cast iron casserole dish (also from the Paula Deen collection). It's SO HEAVY! This will be great for baking mac & cheese. Yummm!! (A side note: the Paula Deen stuff is seriously great. Besides being beautiful and reasonably priced, the quality is amazing. Everything looks & feels so durable. I know I'll be using these things for years--maybe even the rest of my life.)
