It’s lucky Friday October 13, an auspicious day to start writing for what I hope will be another adventure in the blogsphere. Let me introduce myself as your new guide on cookwarereviews.org.

My name is Loey Werking Wells. I’ve been a Portland resident since 1993, when my husband and I moved here for me to study law. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was more interested in tortes (of the delicious, chocolately kind) than torts (civil actions regarding non-criminal behavior). Studying for finals usually meant an increase in cookies, breads and multicourse meals in our home; anything to distract me from law school.

Along with cooking I’m an avid traveler. In 2005 my husband and I sold everything we owned, he quit his very lucrative job, and we un-enrolled our 8 year old daughter from school, so that we could travel around the world for a year. While traveling we always found time to shop; whether for sleek, modern culinary tools at Japan’s Muji or tiffin tins at the street markets in Mumbai.

It’s my philosophy that cooking is not hard, not a rigid science where creativity conflicts with tradition and not expensive. Look, people who live in grass huts without running water or electricity manage to make meals every single day, so there’s no excuse to not cook! I fiercely believe all a cook needs is a decent knife and a pot and the rest is gravy—we’ll talk more about gravy during the holidays—but there are so many fun tools, gadgets and appliances that it seems a shame to shun them.

We’ll learn more about each other as this blog continues. Yes, I’ll be freely disclosing all sorts of things about me you didn’t even know you didn’t want to know and I hope to have plenty of comments. There are all sorts of opinions and helpful hints that cooks can’t help but share, and this can be the place to gather together.

So welcome to a recharged, and reanimated website, and may the feasting begin.

Take that to the bank

It’s quite a phenomenon, this world of blogging. I’ve hardly gotten my feet wet, and I already feel overwhelmed by the network of other bloggers and interested folks who are eager to read, share, suggest, swap, and high five over great ideas. My already-buzzing brain has been inundated with great input, and now my fingers are itching to post and share!

A glance into the past week:

Over pints at a local public house, my friend yelled through the din to sing the praises of her new yogurt maker (soon to be reviewed right here, dearies), and said, “You gotta meet my friend! She loves food!” Enter, friend. We’ve swapped a few emails – she’s got her own blog going on, loves food and experimenting with it. Her new adventure is vegan baking – she says it’s great for the wallet!  Her opinions on the kitchen must-haves were very helpful.

My sister feeds six hungry mouths several times a day, and after she heard about my new undertaking as a cookware blogger, she rattled off the gadgets she can’t live without – high on the list was a gargantuan freezer! Must stay well stocked.

I took a quick trip to Florida last weekend to meet up with some family, and my mom had brought my Great-Grandmother Magyar’s rolling pin to pass on to me. It’s about 30 inches long and slightly tapered at both ends – sort of resembles a table leg. I’m told she would roll out sheets of pasta dough before cutting it into small squares to make csiga, the classic Hungarian egg noodle that’s named for the humble snail. Another great kitchen tool to test and review!

And a tip of the hat to my new Twitter-mates (do we call them “tweeters”?) who rain down the great ideas and links in response to my inquiries. The abundance of generous minds and spirits is truly impressive. (Follow me! I’m CookwareCritic.)

It seems like everyone has a favorite thing that they want to share with the world, and I’ve got a notebook filling up with juicy ideas to crank out in the weeks to come. So, let this be a preemptive nod of appreciation to the great cooking community out there that is supporting my blogging endeavors. Glad to be along for the ride! More reviews to come shortly. If you have ideas to share, I’m always at: info@cookwarecritic.com

Old Faithful

Modern times have brought us some pretty nifty advances in cookware – multiple plies of metals, nonstick surfaces, heatproof silicone – but oftentimes, the best old-guard supplies come out superior to the newfangled gizmos. Such is the case with the heavy, enamel-coated, cast-iron Le Creuset French Oven (so they call it, as a French company, rather than the traditional Dutch Oven). I have an old red girl (5 ½ quart-sized) that I use so often she rarely leaves the stovetop. She braises my meats, bakes my beans, boils my potatoes, and browns my giblets, and never raises a fuss. Sometimes it seems like she does the work for me.

As anyone who’s had one of those old cowboy skillets knows, cast iron is a superb cooking surface. It retains heat well, cooks evenly, and offers a perfect heavy bottom for browning and braising. However, they require some maintenance as they rust easily, so you have to keep seasoning them regularly, their surfaces can react oddly with some foods, and they can retain flavors of previous dinners.

Le Creuset French Ovens are covered with a nonreactive enamel coating, so they’ll never rust on you and they can stand up to a good scrubbing. The phenolic (read: plastic-looking) handle on the lid withstands heat up to 375°F (190°C), and the whole kit and caboodle is dishwasher-safe.  They’re still made in the factory in Northern France where they were first cast in 1925, and come in a rainbow of vibrant hues.

The cons? Yes, she is so heavy. Especially when filled to the brim with steaming, bubbling stew, which will take your mind off the heft. She’s also an investment, but I have gotten mine back in spades. No whirligig plug-in blending-toaster-juicer-convection appliance will ever get as much use as this pot. Honest, versatile, faithful – what more can we ask of a partner?

The What-For:

Where to buy?

• Williams-Sonoma
• Amazon
• Your favorite local kitchen supply shop (This is mine)

How much?

• Off the shelf at retail, you’re looking at around $220-230

Hints:

• You might be able to score a reduced-price item if you find one in a discontinued color, or at a discount or outlet store that sells seconds.  This will, of course, take some diligence and patience, but could pay off in the end!

Then what?

Make some of these delicious things:

• Beef and Three Bean Chili
• Double Celery and Apple Soup
• Sourdough Bread (really!)
• Pork Ragu
• Slow-Braised Short Ribs, Lardons, and Baby Vegetables