A week in my kitchen: My big orange pot

I was a very lucky girl indeed when I received this as a 21st birthday present. I use this pot for everything, from boiling pasta to slow cooking ratatouille on for hours on cold Sunday afternoons. The reason why I love it so much (apart from it being orange, my all time favourite colour) is because not only does it look elegant, but it's entirely functional. The heavy base keeps the contents warm for ages, and it cooks your food evenly. It can go in the oven as well as on the stovetop. And, most importantly, the enamel coating makes it easy to clean. Its size lends itself well to cooking up large batch meals, which I like to do on the weekends. If I have friends coming over I know I can make a massive risotto or batch of soup and still have leftovers. You also know that you will never in your lifetime need to replace it, and most likely not in your childrens' lifetime either.

A week in my kitchen: Dragon pasta scoop

It feels so good to surround yourself with fun things in the kitchen, it makes the whole process of playing in the kitchen even more appealing. I bought this little guy when I first moved out of home and had my very own kitchen. He cost me all of $3 from Ikea and is on of my all time favourite bargain buys. I love his cute little face, the rubbery spines... even the shape of the prongs of the scoop are cool. He's both fun and functional - my favourite combination! I seemed to acquire a collection of blue kitchen utensils... blue crockery, blue cutlery, a blue popcorn machine, blue tupperware (of course I had a Tupperware party when I had my own place, and blue was in that year).

A week in my kitchen: My grandmother's cake cooler

I didn't know my grandmother as I was only three when she passed away. Apparently she was a bit of a feisty woman, and also a great cook. My mum tells me she made the best sponges and had a real knack for baking breads and buns. There's something so very homely about this cooling rack, it's seen so many things in its lifetime. It's a bit wobbly but there's no sign of it falling apart any time soon. Hopefully it will be cooling many more baked goods for many years to come!

A week in my kitchen: Global Knives

Gib gave these to me as a birthday present a couple of years ago and they make my cooking experiences an absolute joy. In my opinion, if you are going to spend any decent amount of money on just one thing in your kitchen, it should be your knives. They make everything from cutting your sandwiches in the morning to carving up a roast beef (or an awkward quince, for a non-meat reference) just so easy and enjoyable.

Globals are superbly balanced, surprisingly light in weight, keep their sharpness for longer, owing to the fact they're pressed as one piece instead of forged, and are made of a harder alloy of steel than, say, a Wusthof. Consequently I now hate cooking in other people's kitchens if they have blunt knives. I have come off second best to them a few times - they cut down to the bone so easily, like your finger was never there at all, but thankfully they cut so cleanly that even deep cuts heal quite fast. I keep strict rules regarding the use of my knives by other people and they're one of the few items I am fiercely protective of: whenever I go away I make sure to take my knives with me so no one else can use them!

A week in my kitchen: Green canisters

Each day this week I'm going to post about the things I love in my kitchen. They're things that keep me inspired, that keep me coming back to the kitchen to bake and cook and make the whole experience of experimenting with food that much more interesting. Some of the things in my kitchen have been passed on through the family, others are relatively new.

But I'm going to kick it all off with these green and brown canisters. I think they were given to my parents as a wedding present. There are four of them: two big ones, two little ones. They have always lived on a shelf next to the door leading to the laundry from the kitchen, they have always housed the flour and sugar, and have always been labelled with the same little blue labels made using one of those old, dodgy DIY label writers. It was only recently that I realised just how long we'd had them and how good the seals on them still are. The plastic hasn't cracked and the colours definitely haven't faded. Not only that, but it was only recently that I noticed that these canisters are the same colour green as all of the cupboard and pantry doors in our kitchen! I'd looked at them every day during breakfast and dinner time, I'd frequently pulled them down off the shelf for years to use for cooking, and I'd never noticed. It really is quite an outrageous green, but apparently it's an improvement because, before I was born, the cupboard doors were originally painted fuschia pink!

This is one labeled 'Soy grits' from when mum and dad used to follow a Pritikin Diet, but it has always been filled with caster sugar ever since I can remember (how ironic!).