The kitchen happens to be our favorite place in the house. Our Kitchen is all about making cooking convenient and fun. When Dez and I get in the kitchen we're always tuning to our favorite music, cooking, and dancing and most importantly, having lots of fun. We believe all it comes down to is having tons of fun. I truly feel cooking should be about enjoyment and shared with those you love. It doesn't matter what your cooking level is or how big your kitchen is.

Our 10 basic must-haves in the kitchen:

• Sieve with fine mesh. For straining sauces.
  
  
• Pepper mill. One that adjusts from coarse grind to fine.
  
  
• Colander. The bigger the better — to rinse a few berries or strain a pound of pasta.
  
  
• Box grater with four grating surfaces. For shredding everything.
  
  
• Pyrex measuring cups. For liquids; two-cup and four-cup sizes.
  
  
• Jelly-roll pans (cookie sheets with one-inch-high sides). Buy the biggest ones that will fit in your oven.
  
  
• Eight-quart stockpot. For making home-made soups and boiling pasta.
  
  
• Kitchen timer. So you don't have to watch the clock when baking or roasting.
  
  
• Two-quart saucepan. For making sauces and oatmeal, or cooking for one.
  
  
• Sauté pan. For cooking fish, chicken and chops stove top style.

Here are Helpful Supermarket hints from our kitchen to yours:

Make a list. Often, when you walk into the store, you have no intention of buying two-thirds of what you end up bringing home. Even better, a master shopping list. It requires a onetime set-up but by creating a list of all the items you regularly buy, arranged by store - grocery, outlet, green market - then by aisle, you will save time every week and be ready to go at any time.

Our four simple steps to creating a master shopping list:

• Go through your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer; write down all the items you usually buy.
  
  
• Take this list to the grocery store and write the aisle number next to each item.
  
  
• Organize the items by aisle. Put frozen foods and other perishables last. Type the list as a document on your computer; set the list in columns.
  
  
• Save the file and print out copies. Clip them to your refrigerator. Check off items as you need them.

Share with us some of your cooking techniques. E-mail us your techniques or questions?