Etc. Wooden spoon.

Not to be confused with the overpriced "Brazilian" restaurant downtown, I'm talking about actual wooden spoons.

I've recently started using wooden utensils in the kitchen rather than plastic or metal and love it. I remember my mom using a wooden spoon with a handle that warped from the heat of cooking. It looked like it had been handed down from my Mennonite grandmother (it hadn't) and remember always thinking food tasted better when she made it with that spoon, especially oatmeal.

I recently purchased and started cooking with a wooden spatula/paddle and love it. It absorbs the flavor of the food you cook with and doesn't ruin your pots and pans by scratching the bottom the way metal cookware does -- and it's cheaper than metal utensils. An added bonus.

-- Lauren Williams