I Hate to Cook....

...not really!
Over the break, I was perusing Barbara's (aka my mother) cookbook shelf which is located in one of the kitchen cupboards, when I found a long lost treasure: Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book. This tiny tome, a mainstay from the 1960s convenience kitchen, is probably the beginning of my cookbook collection. My grandmother gave it to me when I was in high school or college, but I had misplaced it and couldn't find it anywhere. How it ended up in Tulsa, I'll never know.

The book was originally a gift to my grandmother from my mom's cousin Annie during a stay in Pecos, TX during the summer of 1964. Strangely enough, the New York Times published a story about Peg Bracken, her four marriages and the success of this strange little book just a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Bracken just passed late last year, her obituary is here.

Shopping for Your Kitchen


Real Simple published a nice on-line shopping guides for various aspects of your home. The list for the kitchen has some great sources, if for nothing else besides browsing and dreaming.

Also, Japan's Muji (a super-stylish and affordable store featuring a wide array of items) is opening two branches in New York. While this isn't necessarily convenient for me, I'm hoping this means there will be a branch of the web store for the States. That way, we can all get some of their wonderful stuff for our kitchen.

Happy shopping!