swt61

Maximalism can get pretty hard. It just can't sustain it as long anymore.

You're just jealous because I have more Birkenstocks and plaid than you. I don't however have any wool socks to wear with my Birkeys, so your lesbianship is under no threat. And I don't own a single bandana.

Excellent! And the idea to swap the boards above and below the niche was spot on. Everything is proportionate and balanced now. I also love the simple look of the mantle, with the elegant tapered legs! Personally I would avoid staining. It never matches quite right, but I like how the lighter mantle kind of mimics the frame around the hearth tiles. Really nice design!

So, zoodles and floodles?

They are, and they're definitely Men's sandals. I have a friend that works at Birkenstock and gets me 50% off. I really like these sandals, though they're not great for putting in lots of miles at a time.

Do you use a spiralizer tool?

That '41 Chris Craft gives me wood.

Day 4.

So, two woodworkers, both with incredible skills. One known for reasonable deadlines, the other known for projects that span the length of Halley's comets orbit around the Earth. Both known for biting off a lot. One of them is flying to the other, with a project in mind. The project? A simple fireplace mantle. Timespan? A few days. Absolutely no news so far! Tune in next week for the dramatic next episode in our serial... "Here, hold my wood."

Hmmm, I wonder if he'll stretch from Atlanta to Marin County? We can try that later, for now have a stupendous day Sir!

Fair enough.

I think the more interesting question is why are you eating at Denny's?

Day 3 of seasoning.

Sounds great! I'm just looking forward to a cheaper rate at the movie theater. It's 65 here, it was 55 in Texas. That's OK though. I'll happily wait the extra 10 years here in California. Haven't really checked into any other benefits besides Medicare.

I'm being all butch again. Thursday dinner with Dorothy Corrin and Alden.

I'm so old, I remember when he was a teenage prodigy.

Hard to pinpoint exactly, but it's a Mahogany derivative of some type. Could be Sapele.

^ Maybe I need to buy a new knife too!

Round two of seasoning. It's starting to get a nice, toasty Brown appearance. Just 9 more days of seasoning, before cooking some fried eggs!

I expect to read in a few months... "More than 40 elected officials across Russia have been found to have been poisoned".

It definitely is something I want to try. I want a modern Stargazer skillet, but I'd love to find a cheap Lodge and finish it up, then compare the two.

Not sure how that happened. The other thread has all of the pics, so if the mods can combine the cast iron post on this thread with the original on the other thread, that'd be great!

It's not only about smoothness. The Lodge has hot spots. Most likely due to variations in thickness. Most of the modern pans heat much more evenly.

She has been one of my favorite female vocalist since the 80's! Definitely in my top five.

Next projected purchase is a new 12" cast iron skillet. Older cast iron cookware, including Lodge, used to come with a smooth interior. That changed along the way due to cost. The sandy texture of modern Lodge cast iron is straight out of the green sand molds, with no finishing. Back in the day they would smooth the pans out on the interior, but this added labor cost. Today there are several companies making artisan cast iron cookware, retaining those old methods of interior finishing. Even the nobby textured Lodge will eventually season up to be very non stick, but the smoother the finish to begin with, the faster the non stick surface can be created. Many of these newer companies are also putting emphasis on creating a product that heats up more evenly. More even heating correlates directly to better cooking. I've settled on the Stargazer Cast Iron 12" skillet. I chose this over other new models for a few reasons. First reason is cost. At $145 this skillet is about $50 cheaper than it's closest competitor, Field Cast Iron at $195 for the 11 5/8". The Smithy 12" skillet retails for $220 and that is cheaper still than the similar skillet from Finex, that retails for $300. Reason #2 is that from every reviewer I've come to trust, it's the best rated of the three companies. The Field is highly rated, but has the typical short handle, and really stubby, little helper handle. A helper handle on a heavy 12" cast iron skillet shouldn't be an afterthought IMO. The Finex, while beautiful, has some unnecessary details IMO, that add to the cost but don't actually equate to better cooking. Such as the octagon shape and beefy coiled stainless handle. The Finex is also only machined smooth on the bottom, and not the sides, and is a bit smaller than it's competitors, holding 1.7 gallons compared to the Field at 2 gallons, the Stargazer at 2.3 gallons, and the Smithy at 2.5 gallons. Finex skillet. Smithy skillet. Field skillet. Stargazer skillet.