I’m attracted to small pots, little stovetop receptacles that I can use to whip up a morning serving of hot chocolate, brew some chai, or cook an individual serving of spaghetti. I use my larger pots to make a batch of toffee or caramel sauce, though they’re still small compared to kitchen standards. My largest pot, which I use to cook the occasional stew or fabada, was given to me, and it’s the least used pot among the lot.

My attraction to little pots stems from the fact that I have a small family: it’s just me, Boo, and my Bin. And most of my meals at home, at least on the weekdays, are taken solo. So I don’t really need large pots, although I confess to having fantasies about buying those colossal stock pots that restaurants use: I dream about making caramel sauce in them and then crawling in to luxuriate in it.

This predilection for the puny progresses when I chance upon these two little pots. Too cute for words, they’re made for two or three-cup amounts. If it weren’t for their tags proclaiming, “Serious little heavyweights for stovetop use” I would’ve mistaken them for mammoth measuring cups. Made by US company, Endurance, of 18/10 (the highest grade) stainless steel, these pots are heavy to the touch and cool to the feel. Half-cup gradations inside the pots’ sides make it easy to see the amount I’m cooking, and in a pinch, could double as liquid measuring cups. Let’s hear it for dual-purpose kitchen equipment!

So far, I’ve used my cute little pots to cook some soft-boiled eggs to eat with sea salt and toast soldiers (“sticks” of bread, toasted and buttered), simmered some hot chocolate ‘til it was thick enough for my spoon to stand up in, and whipped up some hollandaise sauce for some asparagus and boiled baby potatoes that I had for lunch one day. I’ve even cooked some old-fashioned oats in them on low and slow flame for the ultimate bowl of creamy oatmeal. Boiling water hardly takes any time at all in these pots since they’re so mini anyway. Now that’s what I call small but powerful.

Endurance 18/10 stainless steel pots
Available in 1½, 2, and 3-cup capacities.
Prices begin at P645.
Available at Rustan’s Makati.