Sparkling New French Press!

Reflecting on my new French Press, because unlike the others, which were mostly glass and one small plastic one, this new one is stainless steel, yes, UNBREAKABLE. 

Over the years, ole Murphy's Law seems to have a special category for French Presses, which generally have a glass carafe. The more you like that French Press, the better the plunger/filter and more suitable its size, the more quickly the carafe will shatter.

After my 1.5 liter French Press, with the fantastically made plunger/filter shattered, my fault entirely, I pulled out the too small "6 cup" with the awful bent plunger/filter that always allowed coffee grounds to invade my mugs and spoil my mornings. I had no choice. Around once a week, I'd perk Israeli Elite Turkish coffee in my classic stove-top stainless steel peculator.

Rumor got to me that it's possible to buy an unbreakable stainless steel French Press. I asked in some Israeli stores, but nobody sold them. So I went "modern" and checked on the internet. I found a few on Amazon, but I don't buy online.

Now that I had a solution, I patiently awaited my savior. My good friend who has been supplying me with American coffee has an Amazon account. She finally came for a visit.  We put in the order, and I paid her to cover costs. At first we were going to have it delivered to one of my Jerusalem kids, but that would double the price. Instead it was delivered to her home, and last week I was able to pick it up in Jerusalem.

This morning I had my first coffee from my new AMORA stainless steel French Press! What a pleasure to use. And the coffee was great. It'll be such a relief not to worry about breaking, thank Gd.

Saying "Goodbye" to The Pan

The "Pan" I'm referring to here isn't Peter Pan as played by Mary Martin. The "Pan" is my old trusty covered frying pan, which I'd used for so many years to make everything from fish, vegetables, omelets, potato latkes on Chanuka and more favorite foods.

This large frying pan and matching cover were the most used pieces of the set of EKCO pots my late mother-in-law had bought me when I got married. The cover was also used for the large "soup pot" in the set. This EKCO set was for dairy cooking, and I got a similar set for meat cooking but Farberware. I got married in 1970, and I must say that the pots have all survived amazingly well, though many are missing their handles, as are the covers.

Actually, it was because the large cover's handle had become shaky of late that I finally decided to retire them from use. This has been rather traumatic for me, since I cook in it almost daily nowadays. I've been a fan of stainless steel pots and pans "forever." Nowadays they are very hard to find, and if you do, the prices are outrageous. I'd still recommend them for people just starting out. They last a lot longer than most marriages. My kids will be able to divide my old pots up after I reach my 120. They are worth more than most of my jewelry.

I gave in and bought a specially treated aluminum pot with a glass cover. It doesn't claim to be covered with Teflon or silicon, materials I don't like at all. And I sent a note to the local email list that anyone who wants can take my old beloved dairy pan and cover from next to my front door. It's still usable, even as a dairy cake/pie dish, since the plastic handle is ancient history.

If I had found a good stainless steel replacement, I may have shelled out the money, but I didn't see any. I looked in a number of stores. So far I used the new pan and cover set once and for parve (neither meat nor dairy) cooking. I don't cook dairy for myself anymore. Yes, I'll, bli neder, blog about it, and I'll have to get used to different cooking temperatures.