From: none@none.com99   
      
   On 11/9/2025 10:07 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:   
   > No. I don't want to know what skillet you like. I'm sure its superior to   
   > the skillet I want in every way. I just want what I want.   
   >   
   > Back in the late 80s I ran trap lines for two winters. The second season   
   > I was all in, running lines from first light to last light, and   
   > sometimes after. Often back in camp I'd be putting up fur and putting it   
   > on ice long after dark. I was out on a ridgeline once when the wind was   
   > so bad setting up camp was impossible, and visibility was so low I   
   > didn't want to risk taking my truck back down the trail. I dragged a   
   > sleeping bag up in the cab and slept fitfully through the night as the   
   > wind hammered the truck back and forth. Once I got both thumbs caught in   
   > a double long spring from the bottom side and had to dig holes in the   
   > sand for my elbows, so I had enough room to get my knees up on the   
   > springs. I broke through the crust over sugar sand and had to back my   
   > truck out 3-4 feet at a time with a piece of plywood for several hundred   
   > yards because flattening the tires wasn't enough to drive out. I once   
   > caught 21 fox in 18 traps in one night. It was the hardest I ever worked   
   > in my life, and the only job I ever truly loved. If I could have done it   
   > for a living I would have, but the fur market went bust the second   
   > season and I didn't even break even.   
   >   
   > There are a lot of memories and a few THINGS I remember from those   
   > months on the trail. One was an inexpensive skillet. I had other kitchen   
   > wear in camp of course, but that skillet was just perfect. It wasn't a   
   > heavy well-seasoned cast iron skillet either. I like food cooked in one   
   > of those, but I'll leave the care and tending of cast iron to somebody   
   > else. My favorite skillet, and I've not found one exactly like it since,   
   > was aluminum. It was heavy thick aluminum with a nonstick coating and a   
   > long wood handle. Felt like oak, but it could have been anything. The   
   > thick aluminum spread heat evenly, the nonstick coating was, with the   
   > rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, better than any I have used since,   
   > and the wood handle didn't burn my hand when I lifted the skillet off   
   > the shovel hole full of coals in the ground.   
   >   
   > I often had a fire for heat through the night. I carried a stove in the   
   > truck, but most morning I'd dig two small shovel bites in the ground   
   > near my fire and dump a shovel full of coals in each one. One for my   
   > coffee pot, and one for my breakfast. Like having a stove burner on the   
   > ground. Often at night after cooking dinner I'd run some water (I   
   > carried plenty) in the skillet, but more than once I burrowed into my   
   > bag before doing proper cleanup. Many times I dumped the cake of ice out   
   > of the skillet in the morning and put it right on my shovel full of coals.   
   >   
   > I didn't baby it. I'm not sure I had anything other than the regular   
   > metal implements. Maybe I had a PTFE spatula. I don't remember. I sure   
   > as heck didn't have silicone. It held up to normal use and careless   
   > handling, and it was still non-stick after a few years of use.   
   >   
   > When I was going "back" to college I rented a trailer lot and acquired a   
   > "travel" trailer. Bigger than most travel trailers, but maybe not quite   
   > as big as a mobile home. It was cheaper than living in the dorms, and it   
   > gave me more freedom. I had a big lot, and working on a car outside was   
   > not even in the way. I had room for my car, truck, motorcycles, and a   
   > tool shed with plenty of room to spare. I had that skillet then.   
   > Sometime after that it disappeared along with my surplus store US Army   
   > machete. The one with the good stiff blade, and the fat handle that was   
   > comfortable in my hand.   
   >   
   > I know I probably never will find one, but I've been looking for a   
   > skillet like that ever since. If I found one, I'd probably buy three of   
   > them.   
      
   Its better than I remember.  Seriously.  The old used Mirro "Teflon 2"   
   coated skillet works better than I remember.  I've used it 9 days out of   
   10 since I got it, and it just works.  I was afraid it wouldn't be as   
   good as I remembered, but its better.  I bought two more, and found some   
   matching (I hope) Mirro glass lids for them.   
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)