Karen Karn

When I was very young, my sister had a friend who was a proper hippy. She was married to a Sri Lankan man and had some kids. Her hair was long, unmanaged and slightly transparent. She wore corduroy jeans and cheesecloth tops. She was of the tradition of never arriving at someone's house empty handed. One day, she came with a book. the Tassajara Bread Book. Since then, the book has been in my possession. Well loved and well utilised. Here's a short excerpt from the film How to Cook Your Life, featuring the book's author, Edward Espe Brown. "It turns out that we'll pay a lot of money not to cook, not to actually confront a half a potato."

My lovely daughter has just moved into her first proper home - her own place, a grown up, unfurnished, one bedroomed flat. We've talked about everthing a person needs when moving into their first home - the essential, basic stuff, like a bed and a duvet, scissors and a spoon (at the very least a spoon). So I looked to see if there was such a list online. I found some ridiculous ones, like this one , which lists for the kitchen measuring cups and spoons, but not a saucepan. So, I decided to make one, to print and send. The list isn't finished yet, but there will be an empty table on the back for adding items by hand.