Raindrops on roses...

I love reading the 'Favourite Things' column in the 'Good Weekend' each week and always thought I could easily name my three favourite possessions. The first is a cinch - my granny's polka dot tea set. Six cups and saucers, six cake plates, a fabulous teapot and a rectangular dish for a milk jug and sugar bowl with the piece de resistance, that fantastic matching sugar spoon. This set sat for as long as I can remember in the china cabinet in my grandparents' lounge room. I don't ever recall seeing it in operation - like a lot of her 'good' things, they were kept for best and best never really happened. Much like her rarely used Parker dining setting which sat proudly in the rarely used dining room for so many years - that is, until I got my hands on it and now it has all the bumps and stains and scratches of a piece of furniture in daily operation. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing, though I don't know what she would say if she was still alive. I try to apply the same philosophy to the tea set and have rolled it out at the end of many a dinner party. But I admit I would be heartbroken and probably a bit spooked if a piece were to break. I doubt it has any monetary value, but as far as sentimentality goes, this tea set is right up there. For now it sits in that same cabinet (made by my grandfather), affectionately known in this house as Granny's cabinet - yes, I pinched that too. I hope Granny doesn't mind.

Item number two was a toss-up between my red KitchenAid stand mixer, my entire shelf of cookbooks and this - my incredibly heavy blue Le Creuset cast iron pot. Angelo bought it for me our first Christmas together. He got big brownie points that year. Then again, I got him an iPod, so we both did well. This pot has been used dozens of times, and will probably be used a gazillion more. It has a sturdiness that I trust will last all of my lifetime and beyond. I use it for stocks and soups and stews mostly. When I cook in it, I come over all housewife. I feel like I'm creating traditions, nourishing myself and my family, warming things up. It's just a pot, maybe, but whether empty or full to the brim with a hearty winter casserole, it's solid and honest and I love it.

I was struggling to come up with a third favourite thing but it came to me today after a glorious drive across the bridge to Balmoral Beach to see beautiful Ruani followed by a phone conversation with Aimee (beautiful too, indeed) during which she made passing mention of not having a car and how hard it is to not be able to jump in it and go anywhere. And for all my dreamy organic enviro-friendly ideals of one day having chickens and turning compost and making my own yogurt and yadayadayada, oh, how I love my car. It's nothing fancy and it only just fits the three kids and the mega-pram. But it does the job and it lets me do things like pack up the babies and glide on over the bridge to spend the day at Balmoral Beach with beautiful Ruani. 'Nuff said.