One of my favorites is our Mario Batali 5-piece Measuring Prep Set {$10 purchase here}. Each bowl has two different measuring amounts. They’re great for making a neat mise en place (i.e., prep space for your cooking). And they nest perfectly in one another for easy storage. I love these measuring cups so much, I’ve started buying them as gifts for others.

Now that I’m making salsa on a weekly basis, my lime squeezer has become a very important part of my routine. I have one squeezer that I thought I’d like because it has a little basin underneath the part where you squeeze it to catch the juice. The problem is it can be hard to twist the lime on it without the whole contraption twisting about on our slick granite countertops. That’s why I’ve fallen in love with this hand-held citrus squeezer from Oxo {$13.50 purchase here}. It’s probably not great if trying to measure exactly into a measuring spoon (or you’d need to squeeze the juice into a bowl first and then measure), but for squeezing the juice from a whole lime into my salsa? It’s fast and easy and ensures I get as much of the juice into my salsa, instead of on the counters, the floors, my clothes, etc.

I never realized the importance of good knives until I got a set of exactly that, really good knives. When Sweets and I registered for our wedding, we spent some time thinking about the types of knives we wanted. Many top-of-the-line knives are really heavy and I knew that’d be a problem for me (I already have issues with counters being too high, add in a heavy knife and I might not enjoy cooking very much). So, we spent some time handling knives. We settled on J.A. Henckel’s TWIN Cuisine line {individual knives begin at $50 each – purchase here), which was a very sturdy, high-quality knife that was comfortable to hold (it molded well to the palm of our hands as well as being light-weight). Good knives come at a price, but treat them right and they’ll last a lifetime (my mother has her Henckels that she purchased 30 years ago – and they are still solid!).

Having a good, non-stick frying pan is essential to any and every kitchen. Years ago, thanks to a sweet sale, I started off with a handful of All Clad products. Sweets and I added our 12-inch frying pan when we got married {$144.50 purchase here}. Sweets and I use our frying pan to saute vegetables, to make eggs and even to make skillets that go from stove-top to oven (note, make sure your frying pan has no plastic parts before placing it the oven!). We use it so often that after we clean it, we put it right back on the stove, instead of putting it away with our other pots and pans.

Years ago, people would tell you the must-have reference cookbook for every kitchen was the Joy of Cooking. We got that cookbook for our wedding {$22.73 purchase here} and Sweets used it exclusively at first whenever he had a question in the kitchen. However, a friend gifted us another reference cookbook called How to Cook Everything {$15.72 purchase here}. And while I appreciate the Joy of Cooking for its history, the fact of the matter is How to Cook Everything is easier to read, easier to reference and much more applicable to modern day cooking. I leaned towards this reference book from the start and just this weekend, Sweets acknowledged that he also likes it better than Joy of Cooking. There’s even a vegetarian version of How to Cook Everything. Talk about catching up with the times!

So, there’s my short-list of five of my favorite cooking tools in the kitchen. Runners up that I didn’t discuss here? Cuisinart Food Processor. Robert Welch flatware. Rubbermaid food storage containers. Do you have any kitchen favorites that you just can’t live without?

• Traveler’s cheques or credit cards when on a foreign vacation? Apparently, a lot of credit cards (ours included) charge an automatic 1-3% on all foreign purchases (it’s a relatively new thing, which surprised me when I saw the charges for our housing in Cayman). Traveler’s cheques often tack on similar charges. Maybe I need to look into the ATM cash option as that might provide for the lowest fees.
• Canada or States? No, not hockey (though the game over the weekend was most excellent, despite that team from the north beating us!). When Sweets and I drive out East this summer, we have the option to drive through Canada on our way there. Kyla seems to think we’d be crazy to go through Canada … far worse roads and a slower speed limit. But, for a change in scenery? Hmmm…
• I couldn’t fall asleep the other night, because I was thinking about going for a nice run through campus in Chapel Hill. (Maybe that’s what spurred the start to my outdoor running season!) Not that I have plans to travel to North Carolina anytime soon. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m waiting on a decision. And if I hear certain news, then I actually will be traveling to Chapel Hill this spring. So, my dreams could become reality. We’ll see.
• A while ago, I printed a bunch of photos from our wedding with the intention of framing and hanging them. They sat in an envelope untouched for months (maybe almost a year!). The other week, I finally got a frame for three of the photos. It’s all glass with a dark wood frame. It holds an 8½x11 photo of Sweets and me dancing with two smaller photos, each with our parents dancing. The photos look like they’re floating in the glass. I love how all three couples were captured on the dance floor. All the women are on the left, the men on the right. It’s symbolic for me. Our parents have each been married around 40 years. Their marriages serve as a model for Sweets and me.
• Sweets and I had our taxes done over the weekend. As it turns out, we’re getting a pretty really sweet return this year. The biggest we’ve ever had. Some might argue that we need to change our tax withholdings around so we see more of that money throughout the year. I don’t disagree (it’s like an interest-free loan to the government—what’s up with that?!). Though, I think for the next year as we adjust to some other financial decisions, we’ll keep our withholdings at the status quo.
• I was tortured through the Olympics. They kept showing commercials for shows like The Marriage Ref and Parenthood. And I had to wait. Weeks. Before watching them to know whether I’d like them. Well, the other night, we skipped our favorite Tuesday night shows (White Collar and Millionaire Matchmaker—what? I like a little trash. Sue me) in favor of checking out Parenthood. We laughed. We cried. Literally. And we walked away with a possible new favorite show. (But, don’t you worry, I have lots of favorite shows and this one could always be upended by The Marriage Ref which begins tonight.)
• This weekend, a girlfriend and I are road-tripping to Madison, Wisconsin to visit with another girlfriend. I can’t tell you the last time I had a true girl’s weekend. With these particular girls, it was likely years ago when we traveled to Spain together. But, we have a dilemma for what to do Saturday night. Go to the roller derby or watch the UNC-Duke basketball game (clearly, I cheer for my Tar Heels, but one of my friends is an avid Duke fan, so watching games together is always interesting). Dare I say that for me, the roller derby is kind of winning out—c’mon, need I even explain how effing cool, rowdy and fun that would be?

See… scattered! But, to bring it all home, I’ll just remind you to enter my giveaway. Enter once. Enter twice. Enter three times. But, you can’t win unless you play the game! What random fact do you want to tell me about your week?

]]> http://somispeaks.com/2010/03/04/listed-2/feed/ 32 http://somispeaks.com/2009/08/25/bridal/ http://somispeaks.com/2009/08/25/bridal/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:12:00 +0000 SoMi's Nilsa http://somispeaks.com/?p=1364 The week before our vacation, I got the following Facebook message from our wedding photographer: Check out the latest Brides Chicago Mag. You image is there … next to my interview.

Of course, the magazine isn’t online. And I was up to my ears at work, so I thought I’d have to wait until after our vacation to grab a copy of the magazine. Then, a friend offered to buy me a copy and drop it off the night before we left. Then, another friend who works in the magazine distribution business offered to pick up some copies for me. And then, magic happened at work.

Sort of.

I was having a crazy busy day at work (as one is wont to do in the days leading up to a vacation). When something went terribly wrong. As I was trying to put some finishing touches on a number of presentations, I realized we were out of one particular supply that was necessary for production. Damn! So, instead of taking a few minutes to myself at lunch, it was off to Office Depot I went.

Which happened to be next to Border’s. Which happened to have a large selection of magazines. In particular, wedding magazines. Being even more particular, Chicago wedding magazines.

And that’s where I got my hands on this beauty:

And then, I frantically searched until I found the interview:

And I smiled big. And not just because one of our gorgeous wedding shots was featured in a magazine article. But, because you know what? When we first started looking for wedding photographers, I was SURE I was going to find that hidden gem. The photographer that was new to the scene, but AMAZING. And dirt cheap. It didn’t happen. Well, not exactly like that.

We did find a hidden gem. Oscar does amazing work. He’s a great guy. Lots of fun. And makes it easy to be the subjects for some really incredible photographs. Also? He’s relatively new to the scene. Only been doing wedding photography for a few years. At the urging of family and friends who knew he had a talent. And while his price range might not have been in the CHEAP range I was hoping for, I still think we got a steal. Because I’m confident he will become a photographer who can charge in excess of $10,000 for a wedding. Yes, he’s just that good.

And so, it’s an honor to have stumbled upon him early in his career. And it’s fascinating to watch him grow. To watch him enter serious photography contests. And to be featured in local magazines. I think his next step is to be more recognized on a national level. He definitely has it in him.

]]> http://somispeaks.com/2009/08/25/bridal/feed/ 28 http://somispeaks.com/2009/04/08/contest/ http://somispeaks.com/2009/04/08/contest/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:06:00 +0000 admin http://somispeaks1.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/contest/

Guess what? Oscar, the S1 Weddings photographer from my wedding entered an industry contest. Over 3,000 entries were received. And one of the photos from our wedding was chosen as one of the top 100.