Jessica Landed Nick Through Cooking

Pop beauty Jessica Simpson invested in top-of-the-line kitchen equipment and learned how to cook - just to ensure her beau Nick Lachey would propose to her.

IRRESISTIBLE singer Simpson, who will celebrate her first wedding anniversary with the pop hunk later this month (26OCT03), admits she's not the most efficient when it comes to housework, because her mother did everything for her up until she left home.

But she quickly decided to at least sharpen her culinary skills when she realised it was her ticket to getting a wedding ring on her finger.

She says, "I'm a good cook. I cook good Texas chili; that's Nick's favourite. I like to cook a lot of Mexican casserole dishes... I'm good.

"I even have a breadmaker. I registered for that. It's fun. Everything we registered for was from WILLIAMS SONOMA. I wanted to become this chef because Nick would not propose to me unless I was grown up. Now I'm cooking and he's very impressed, even though I do it only once a month."