Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

lemon or lime squeezer
global Japanese knife
handmade wooden spatula from Craft Fair
oxo peeler
corn on the cob slicer to get the corn off

I am proud to live in Massachusetts and have the chocolate chip cookie be our state food! It actually made headlines when it was voted on by our legislature... Maybe the politicos would get along better if they sat around dipping chocolate chip cookies in PA milk! :)

pasta salad so the tots can have noodles and small cut up veggies and the adults can enjoy it as well. I would include big bowls of chicken and shrimp for folks to add to the salad. Add fruit salad and skewers of beef and lots of yummy crusty bread. I have been cooking for kids for years and everyone loves a spread where they can mix and match what they want to eat. If corn is ripe in your area, add a big bowl of cooked corn too. Make sangria, lemonade and iced tea and give each tot a special sippy cup that they can take home. One of the best BD parties I did for my kids was a "puppy party" where they ate out of dog dishes I decorated for each child that they then took home. They ate out of them for weeks according to their parents! I did dog bone shaped cookies and mac and cheese in the dog dishes. They made "collars" by stringing big tube macaroni and went on a treasure hunt for the dog bone cookies. It was one of the best parties. Consider it when your baby is 3. Have fun, mine are now 22, 19 and 16 but I loved doing the baby parties and the cake ideas are great!

I use wax paper bags from whole foods which decompose quickly instead of plastic bags. You can find great lunch bags at Home Goods a division of TJ Maxx. I got a great little insulated bag there for my work lunches!