We were in Sète, France, my first French host family and I, lazing about for a week at their summer abode. Every morning I would run through the terraced seaside town, hoping to sweat out every gram of chocolate I’d filched the day prior.

I was sixteen, and a wannabe vegetarian. But I’d been too polite to tell the Provençal family who’d taken me in that I didn’t eat meat. Au contraire, the more they piled onto my plate, the more I ate.

There were lamb chops and grilled sardines that we inhaled until our teeth clanked against the bones, headcheese and calf’s testicles that I thought would land me in the local clinic. Every chance I got–breakfast, late afternoon and even late night–I’d steal a hunk of baguette with butter, jam or Nutella. A sweet antidote to all those other toxins I was pumping into my body. Or so I thought.

I ran because I fretted about what my mother would say when I got off the plane back in New York. Oh, honey, we sent you to France and you gained ten pounds?!

The day Colette was making la bourride for lunch I was, literally, running late. The creamy fish stew, a local specialty, was coughing up its last few bubbles atop the stove when I got back, and Colette was already snipping the fresh parsley to be sprinkled about at the last minute.

In one hand she held a juice glass crammed with the bright green leaves. In the other, a pair of kitchen shears. She plunged the blades into the glass, and just like that, thwack thwack thwack, she minced those little herbs to merciless content. Transfixed by her handiwork, I dawdled even longer. My mother never cut herbs like that!

I thought of this accidental lesson recently when I opened up a surprise package of cookbooks sent to me by Colette, and it was the 30th frigid day in a row, and suddenly all I wanted was a burst of spring on my tongue.

I went to the market, stocked up on fresh herbs and put together an herb salad concocted by Patricia Wells (much like this one). I paired it with a creamy mushroom risotto, and some fresh parsley snipped à la Colette.

It seemed like a fitting anecdote to tell in my first Plummelo blog post, because that summer in France was my first taste of culture shock. I was thoroughly, deliciously out of my comfort zone, and the second I got home was–to my surprise–the second I wanted to go back. As a working journalist, I get paid to replicate that feeling almost every day. But I don’t write about myself. Ever.

I’m guessing it’ll take some time for me to get comfortable with this forum, but I’m looking forward to the chance to share with you all kinds of thoughts about putting food on the table, and feeding the ones you love. I’m counting on you to tell me your own stories, from the good days and the bad!

While there are days of the week that call for marching out of your culinary comfort zone, everybody needs a handy trick or two that can quickly transform a kid’s dish into an adult’s delight, a banal arrangement into a bright set of bites. Snipping fresh herbs is one of those quick fixes; it turns a cumbersome task into a cinch. Just make sure your shears are clean and your herbs patted dry.

As a bonus, I give you this recipe for a baked risotto. Purists will say that baking rice in liquid does not a true risotto make, but I find this rendition comes pretty close to replicating the creamy, luxurious finish you’re seeking. It’s perfect on a weeknight when you don’t have time to babysit the stockpot, stirring stirring stirring.

What more can I say for now? Bon appétit!

My New Year’s Resolution has been to clean out my cluttered kitchen junk drawers. You know you have one. Well, I have three. So in my attempt to clean house (or just the kitchen), I realized I could not bear to toss some of my beloved kitchen gadgets. And there were a few that made me scratch my head and ask, “What is this thing?”

My most loved gadgets in the kitchen are always the ones that can do more than one job. So here is a list of my hall of fame double (and sometimes triple duty) gadget tools.

One. Egg Slicer: I know many of you are shaking your head. But please hear me out! Not only do I reach for it when I make the best Egg Salad, but I also reach for it when I make the coveted Banana Pudding to slice all six bananas perfectly. It’s much better than slicing all those bananas with a knife! I also use it when I make this delicious Avocado Shrimp Salad to slice my avocados into equal slices. I make sure to push the banana or the avocado through with my hand instead of pushing them down onto the bed of the egg slicer. Just make sure whatever you’re slicing is super soft.

Two. Garlic Press: Some prefer other garlic gadgets, but I prefer the old fashioned garlic press. Where’s the double in this apparatus? I found when I was making this Key Lime Pie, that I could actually use the garlic press to press the juice from those tiny key limes! I was jumping up and down at the joy of this discovery. Seriously, up and down.

Three. Cast Iron Pan, Enamel Cast Iron Dutch Oven, anything Cast Iron: Other than being able to brown and slow cook things, a cast iron pan (or dutch oven) can defrost that frozen chicken that you need to cook in 10 minutes (without any heat!). Try it if you don’t believe me. I line the pan with plastic wrap so it’ll be easy clean up and I toss the frozen meat on it (again, no heat). It will defrost much faster than just leaving it out on the counter.  If you like half frozen and half cooked meat, then you can always use the defrost button on your microwave… but we don’t recommend it.

Four. Microplane: Need I say more? This one little tool got rid of my nutmeg grinder and my citrus zester. I love this thing! I not only grate cheese and nutmeg, but I also use it to mince my ginger. One tip about ginger: peel the ginger and keep it in the freezer. It’ll zest even faster on the microplane when it’s frozen.

Five. Immersion Blender: Because of this gadget, I have no need of an ungainly, counterspace-hogging blender. Instead I use this to puree baby food, make protein smoothies for my husband (who is currently obsessed with Power 90X, a totally different post), and make a single serving of pesto. With an immersion blender, you don’t need those informercial bullet-shaped appliances with a hundred parts. And when you are done with it, it’s easy to clean and it fits in a kitchen drawer, neatly tucked away. I promise, they don’t pay me to sell these things…

Six. Salad Spinner: We always need more than one colander, especially when we are throwing a dinner party. One time I reached for the inner part of my salad spinner to use as my second colander, and I keep going back to it. I also use the outside part as a plain salad bowl. Why not? It’s a bowl, it’s big, and it’s not too bad to look at.

These are some kitchen tools with which I can’t part. What are some of yours?

(It took me a week or so to pare down my kitchen gadgets, and I’m happy to report that I’m now down to only two kitchen junk drawers.)

Photos by Melissa Devereaux and Paul Jin