Dear world, I’d like a Le Creuset French Oven (medium or large), and a braiser. Any color will due, although, extra points are given for ‘Carribean’, ‘Cobalt’, or ‘Onyx’. Perhaps you have an extra lying around, or your dear great aunt in San Francisco has a stockpile of them in her kitchen and can’t really lift them anymore because they weigh a ton. Perhaps you are reading this from the Le Creuset or the Sur La Table corporate office, and think to yourself, today, this very lucky young lady in Noe Valley will have a package shipped to her. If you are any of these people, don’t hesitate to contact me. I can barter, trade, and provide you with tasty sustenance in return. Your generosity will be greatly, greatly appreciated.

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One difficult thing about moving across the country in a couple of suitcases – taking your kitchen with you.

The easiest to bring are the little tools, which can be boxed and arrive in no time flat: like David Lebovitz, I’m a big fan of my scissors, and I love my tongs, my Kyocera ceramic knife I picked up at Zabars, and my knife set, and my little stovetop espresso maker, my graters, my Moulinex, my Silpat, my whisk, my measuring cups, wooden spoons, silicone spatula, williams and sonoma kitchen towels, and silicone pinch pots. Along with these came my collection of bento making supplies: boxes, rice presses, tiny fish shaped soy sauce holders, mini utensils, silicone muffin cups, and box bands.

My expansive spice collection was also shipped, and I have since supplemented with a collection of spices and spice rack from Martha Stewart which was on sale at Macy’s for under twenty dollars. I couldn’t live without my spice mixes from Penzey’s, my Super Special Spice Mix from my grandmother in Istanbul, my assortment of curry powders, garam masala, five spice powders, mace, turmeric, corriander, and excess of cumin.

Fortunately, I am blessed to be living with someone who was given a very, very nice set of calphalon pots – so I didn’t have to shlep my slightly shoddy pieced together collection of pots and pans with me. He also came with a lovely red tea pot which, I’m glad to say gets significant amount of daily use.

He also gave me the very best present on earth for my birthday, a Martha Stewart Blue Kitchen Aid mixer, and in the next few months I will be saving for attachments… I think he deserves to be rewarded with the results of the Ice Cream maker attachment, and after several attempts of homemade pasta made with a rolling pin, I’m looking forward to the pasta attachment.

Bakeware is also a pain in the neck to ship, but fortunately for me, I live close enough to the Recycled Cookware store on Divisadero that I managed to pick up things like bundt pans, baking sheets, and loaf pans, and even a gently used coffee grinder for a few dollars a piece. My mother this weekend was a very kind soul to donate two Madeleine pans from her cupboards to my “cause”, because after six months of searching for “affordable” Madeleine pans, I had determined it a failed quest.

I’ve been a fan of Cook’s Boulevard, which, being right in the neighborhood, is useful, when, say, I’m in desperate need of ceramic bakeware for my herb baked eggs, or last minute meat thermometers, silicone popsicle makers, or, really great three dollar peelers.

Ikea has been a savior for a new mortar and pestle, a digital kitchen scale, and glass jars in which I keep all of my bulk supplies – dried beans (currently I have Christmas Limas, flageolet, yellow indian woman, and popping corn, all from Rancho Gordo)  rices (jasmine, arborio, sticky, and plenty of brown), whole grains (wheatberries, farro, bulgur), nuts (almonds, walnuts), chocolate chips, flours (white, wheat, cake, wheat bread flour, wheat bran, corn meal), and sugars (white and dark brown).

And of course, rounding everything out is my collection of cookbooks – most every Jamie Oliver tome, and an ever growing collection of signed books from the weekly talks at Omnivore Books on Food, the only cook book and food book store in San Francisco, and currently my favorite bookstore in the world.