Iron Skillet

I wanted to write more about this, but haven't had time. This is my favorite Christmas present this year. I knew I was getting it (though not as a gift). It cost a bunch of money to ship to myself. It is a family heirloom, though I think they are common enough old and new.

It is an Iron Skillet.

I directed a play once (written by my high school english teacher) of the same name. The adult children give their mother a similar skillet for her birthday, and she ends up blugening them with it. There was a 'moral' at the end of the story: Don't give your mother an iron skillet for her birthday. I thought it was about the presumptuousness of giving a cooking tool when I was 17. Now I wonder if my teacher was thinking more of her mother and the danger of giving her such a heavy, potentially dangerous weapon?

The skillet made me think of that, even though I don't respond to it the same way. This one belonged to my great grandmother. It was given with a new book about skillet cooking (and care-- I had to coat it in Crisco, then cook it for an hour).

This meal (pictured above) is the first time I have used it. I had been on a cleanse (more on that later), so this is the first flour, tomatoes, cheese, wine, or turkey I had had in two weeks. That made digestion a little surprising, but it was so good. This skillet has lasted me three lunches and two dinners so far.