What to cook, what to cook...

My dad and I have a weird relationship - in case that hasn't been obvious to anyone. He stopped buying me birthday presents when I was 30, around the same time that he stopped buying me Christmas presents. Why? Because we were so poor at that time and could not afford to send him one. Seriously. He called me one day and said "Listen, we're not going to exchange this year since you can't seem to afford it."

So much for that whole "It's better to give than receive" thing.

Well I am going to be 40 this year. So dad called me last week and said "Listen, your going to be 40 this year so I'm gonna buy you something. So I want you to pick out something that you really, really want. Something that's ONLY for you." First off, I am blown away. Second, I am not even 10 seconds in to my thought when he says "Do you have good cookware?" I'm just not a quick thinker sometimes and I didn't realize where this question was leading so I just said "No". I truly don't have great cookware, but I get by. So he goes "GREAT! That's what I'll get you!" So now, not only do I NOT get to pick out what I want for my birthday, but now it's not even a surprise!

Dad can be very generous when the mood strikes him. His heart can truly be in the right place but more times than not you can end up with some pretty sketchy merchandise. When my sister was getting married for the first time, he shopped a lot for her and everything he bought seemed to come with a "free gift". You know, buy this set of dishes and get a free phone. Now, it wasn't good quality merchandise, but he comes off like he is giving two gifts. It got comical after a while when we were getting these free black and white TV's with everything that we got. So when he made the cookware announcement, I have to admit, I got a little bit scared.

There was a time when I was little that my Nana knew that my mom wanted some new cookware and so she went out and bought it for her. It was cast-iron and weighed like 1000 pounds. She always wanted to know how mom liked them. I don't think she ever had the heart to tell her how unusable they were and I honestly don't remember them staying around long. These are the memories that came to my mind.

When I got home today, there was a gigantic box waiting on the front porch. Nick nearly got a hernia from moving it in to the house. It sat in the living room for a while before I got up the nerve to open it. Oh but wait, here's the kicker, dad called my while I was up in NY to tell me that he had ordered me this set but that there was part of it that he wanted ME to ship to HIM! I'd understand when I saw it and that I wouldn't want it anyway. Free gift, anyone?

My curiosity was piqued and so I cautiously approached the box and began to open it. I'd like to say, ladies and gentlemen, that I was pleasantly surprised. Inside was a set of Wolfgang Puck cookware. It's a really, really nice set and there are about 32 pieces to it and I can truly say that I cannot wait to cook dinner tonight and play with it.

I'm so glad to see that his tastes have changed. Maybe crazy Nancy is not such a crazy influence after all. Thank God for small miracles.