Panned pots

The wok (a Teflon-type) has had the surface eroding for awhile, so after looking into problems that might be associated with that, I ended up flooding my head with cookware paranoia. Teflon... let's see... well, the fumes from heated Teflon have been known to kill birds. WHAT?!?!? Here I was, just worrying about eating the stuff, not breathing it. After an inventory, I realize that most of my daily cookware is Teflon, with a few items in aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, etc., and with Henry recently being diagnosed with asthma it was worrisome.

Well, what about aluminum? I've been eating food cooked in a couple of these old aluminum pots most of my life (durable!!). Aluminum is fine except for the fact that it MIGHT be contributing to the spread of Alzheimer's. AAACK!

Cast iron? Well, that seems to be generally approved as long as you don't mind a little extra iron in your diet, and you don't clean it with soap, and you "season" it properly, and don't let it stand with water in it because iron is good for you but rust isn't.

We've been heating our water for making coffee in the coffee press in this "camping pot", one of those steel things with the blue speckled enamel coating -- but it's had serious hard-water deposits on the inside for a long time. Well duh, I guess you're not supposed to use it every day of your life, stupid!

So I was on a mission to replace everything! That is until I started shopping and realized just how much this could cost. It made me think that maybe my Teflon won't be soooo bad as long as I don't super-heat it and make sure it's in good condition -- so it stays. The wok had to be replaced because of the pitted surface, so I got this great anodized aluminum thing - not so much a wok as a beast of a saucepan. They say that the anodized aluminum does not leach into the food so much, and I believe what the FDA and the corporations tell me (heh heh) so I'm not going to worry about that one. Replaced the camping saucepan with an actual tea kettle -- a beautiful stainless steel whistler. So come on over for coffee and stir-fry. I promise not to overheat the Teflon. Everything will be just fine. Everything will be just fine. Keep repeating...