Le creuset love

(image is from here)

I thought that I would let you know that I basically cook with 3 pots in my house. If one of my recipes says, casserole dish, stockpot, or heavy based pan, this is what I'm using.

When I lived in London in my early twenties, I was house sitting a very nice apartment in Kensington. Even though the kitchen was smaller than my current ensuite bathroom, it did have gas and it did have a le creuset pot, one of the originals in bright orange (flame). I was instantly smitten - my life had been changed forever.

A great present giving arrangement came out of living so far from home. Everyone sent me money for birthdays and Christmases. I clearly remember walking in to Selfridges and excitedly purchasing my very first le creuset pot in azure blue. For a budget traveller, this was a strange purchase perhaps, with that money I could have flown to Turkey for a week. But no, I knew I really needed that pot.

That pot came home with me when I returned to Australia, and I bought another one with my first pay cheque here. Years later one of my blue pots came to an untimely demise. It was heart wrenching. All I need to say about the matter is: Do not try and make marmalade when you have a colicky newborn in the house. And if you do try jam making during a time like this, learn from your mistakes and DON'T DO IT AGAIN three weeks later. Fruit and sugar boiling away on the stovetop need constant attention, as do newborn babies.

Lucky for me, birthday money came to the rescue again and instead of purchasing a designer handbag, a knee length leather jacket or going on a weekend getaway. I bought myself two more le creuset pots in 'grown up' cream (dune). I have the 24 cm, 26cm and 28cm. Almost everyday, two out of these three pots are on the draining rack on the sink. There are two there now as I write. They are overworked and maybe a little taken for granted. They do their job so well, I couldn't live with out them.

Do you have a favourite cookware item you can't live without?