It's been very hot here--yesterday it was over 100 degrees--so I haven't had the desire to fire up the oven to bake anything. Actually, today was much cooler but I'm still cooling off from yesterday. Instead, I took a trip over to Marshalls, one of the better discount stores of their kind, and entertained myself by browsing the housewares section. If you haven't read my post about baker's tools then you haven't heard what a great place these stores can be to find low cost, high quality, brand name tools for the kitchen.

Today they had many tempting things, but since I'm saving to remodel my vintage 1970s kitchen I limited myself to only two items. I passed up a couple of very nice griddle pans, tea kettles of various shapes and sizes, mixing bowls, bamboo cutting boards, and professional cookware of all kinds. What did I buy?

A mini rose bundt pan from Nordicware. Six 3/4 cup roses of pure joy. I couldn't pass it up for only $7.00! I just did a quick search at Yahoo shopping and this pan averages $29.95. This is the same brandname bundt pan you'd buy at a place like Crate & Barrel or Williams Sonoma. I've said it before and I'll say it again, fabulous bargains are to be had at Marshalls. There's also a recipe on the cardboard sleeve that came with this pan for "Lemon Cream Cupcakes" and you know it's just something I'll have to try. I can't wait to feature the finished product as soon as it's cool enough.

But I didn't stop there, oh no. This 13" x 9" rectangular spring form pan was calling my name. A quick check on Yahoo shopping shows this miracle of convenience anywhere from $32 - $50. The Baking Fool's bargain basement Marshalls' price: $14.99. I can use this pan for any recipe that would call for a regular 13 x 9 pan and just pop it out for easy serving or decorating. As you can see, another nice feature of this pan is that the bottom extends out further than the walls of the springform so that moving it from countertop to table won't take much prestidigitation.

As for me, I think I'm going to go back to ice cream--I think I mentioned before a 5 herb ice milk that I'd really like to try. My roommie and I just went grocery shopping and I bought the last of the 5 herbs needed (tarragon) that I don't already have growing in my herb garden. I do have some cookies to bake--I made the dough the other day--so if it's cool enough tomorrow I'll cut them out and bake them.