"I wanted to open up a place where people could come in and explore cooking," Bina Patel said on Monday during the opening of her new kitchen and housewares boutique, Copper Kettles, near the corner of 6th and Washington Streets.

The utensils and dishware for sale, according to Patel, strike a balance between affordability, style and quality. "You can go to any dollar store and stock your kitchen," she said. "But here you can find quality items that look great and still come in at a nice price."

Patel said she developed an interest in cooking alongside her friends and cousins, many of whom are in the same late-twenties, early thirties age group, a time when young adults begin to settle down into domesticity.

"We're not able to just mix things from scratch like our mothers," she said, referring to an era where women were more likely to be homemakers than small business owners. "But we're learning from each other."

She said she hopes that her shop will inspire visitors to experiment with cooking, and serve as a place where people can share recipes and find the right tools to fix exciting dishes. Patel also thinks her boutique, with its location, will fit in well within Hoboken.

"Family and community are important in Hoboken," she said. "Cooking is about bringing people closer together into a sense of community."

About Town is a quick look at the not-quite-news but still-neat happenings that occur in Hoboken all the time. Seen something wacky, wild, cute, cuddly, funny or fun? Got an incidental observation or a minor celebration? Shoot it to alanskontra@hotmail.com. We want pictures too.

Students suggest saying no to plastic bags 

Tuesday at 2 p.m., in City Hall, sixth grade students from All Saints Episcopal Day Middle School will meet with Mayor Dawn Zimmer and other distinguished guests to encourage Hoboken to ban the use of plastic bags.

Many of the current students were part of a Fourth grade class that made a presentation about litter to City Hall two years ago. The students took a walk and counted the pieces of litter lining the street, including cigarette butts, chewing gum and several pieces of plastic, particularly plastic bags.

Since then the school has participated in the School Reuse Challenge, a partnership between local schools, Kings Supermarkets and MY ECO, a green start-up company that encourages shoppers to use resuseable bags.

So what are we missing? Openings, closings, winners, losers or just plain strange, drop us a note, alanskontra@hotmail.com. And check back often.