Cookware continuation

I began talking about the cookware back on Nov. 14 now the discussion can continue. If you don't want to go back and read it I talk about the wonderful cookware I grew up using and how I came by a set of it.

Now another piece has been added. A piece that shares a place in my memories with the rest of the cookware. A "lectro-maid". I don't think I ever realized this was an electric skillet, I always referred to it as the griddle. As in "THE griddle. The griddle that put all other griddles to same. The griddle of champions." This is a not-non-stick piece of art. (Non stick and I are mortal enemies). I LOVE this griddle...err...electric skillet. I grew up flipping pancakes on it, frying bacon in it, making swedish meatball appetizers in it. To me it speaks volumes of what a griddle should be. Huge. Heavy. And wonderful. (Pardon me, I WILL be referring to it as a griddle)

After Mike and I got married the first thing I bought was a griddle. And then another one. And then another one. In total I've probably gone through 5 griddles in 16 1/2 years. None of them compared to the "griddle" I grew up with and I managed to scrape the non-stick crud off of all of them.

My Mom, knowing my heart and knowing how much I cook, started looking around for the elusive Lectro-maid. The problem? West Bend no longer made the huge Lectro-maid we had come to know and love. So, being the great mom she is, she began to watch garage sales. And that's when she saw it.

This is the way I imagine it: as she walked through old downtown McCloud the clouds opened up and a light shone down on the old electric skillet sitting on a table. A chorus of angels began to sing. And my Mom stopped mid sentence and said "Sheri must have it! Oh yes! She must!"

In truth it was probably nothing like that, but it has a nice ring to it.

Back to the story. When I went home to visit a few weeks ago she was making pancakes and calmly said "Oh Sheri. I have one of these for you." "A pancake?" I thought to myself as I looked at her a little confused. She must have read my mind because she said "No! Not one of these (holding up a pancake) one of THESE (tapping the side of the skillet)". I looked around the kitchen and she grinned. "In the garage, under the sink to the left"

Had I been a cartoon character you surely would have seen a burst of smoke behind me as I shot out the back door into the garage.

You know what? The clouds opened up and a light shone down from heaven and a chorus of angels began to sing...oh wait...that was my 7 year old son holding a flashlight and singing "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me..."

Back to reality. I must make breakfast now.

I think bacon and eggs on my Lectro Maid is a great idea.

Don't you?

(There is one piece left. The huge roasting pan, which in my youthful ignorance I snubbed. Someday it will be mine. )