Cookwhere to Cookware - 1

In the local radio ads of the yore, one would often listen about cookware stores that claimed to be  'pathira kadal' or 'pathira chakravarthy'. My kitchen can be called one too. I have almost every type of utensil you could see in such a shop. The lofts are filled with gunny bags of cookware, the shelves are loaded with them and the big kitchen is teeming with vessels. And yet, like a woman who cribs about not having clothes to wear despite the overloaded wardrobe, I crib everyday about not having a decent cookware (and also about my dislike towards cooking :)).

My father-in-law owned a wholesale cookware store and when he retired he had to sell the shop as none of his children was interested in it. So he had a truck load of vessels and my beloved thought it would save him money and trips to the store and received a good share of it. This is how I ended up with numerous and huge Aluminium pots. 


Some months ago, when we visited my in-laws' place, I was trying to give my baby boy a bath (he hadn't learned to stand on his own then). Seeing me struggle with him, my MIL asked me to bring 'annakoodai' from the kitchen. Having no clue about this mysterious annakoodai and not being brave enough to ask her to describe that said thing, I ventured into her kitchen looking for it. 'Annam' could mean(AFAIK) either rice or a swan (In Tamil language) and 'koodai' is basket. So I was looking for a swan patterned wire basket or a closely woven basket that could hold rice and it should somehow help me bathe my baby. I was frantically ransacking her kitchen and noticed my FIL dart in, grab a vessel and dart out. That vessel was annakoodai and they use it store and serve cooked rice (and also bathe small babies in). While my MIL owns a 'annakoodai' big enough for me to soak in, my hubby had bought a small one. I use it to soak and wash veggies.

Anna koodai

Aluminium is second in line in my list of never-to-cook-with materials.The first one is of course plastic of any kind.

There are some stainless steel vessels I own, but they are all so thin that if I am not quick enough, they will start a fire in the kitchen (and a fight between the couple who owns them). 

With a new house, we decided (well,I convinced my beloved) to give away almost all of our vessels and bring in a new kitchen in every sense. Yippeeee..

Though I'm happy to be able to shop for my kitchen from the scratch, I'm quite confused by the choices available and difficulty in making a choice that also fits our budget.