I have one of those large cast iron skillets with a cast iron lid. It came from my great aunt's house where a friend was helping me with the estate. When she saw that she said "you have to keep that, it's great for frying chicken!" I rarely fry chicken (I can count on one hand the number of times I can remember making fried chicken) but it is good for other things. And yes, very heavy.

I've started using the pressure cooker because it's here, and it really is much faster than boiling beets till tender. Once they're cooked, peel and slice. I'm trying to use the various pieces of cooking equipment that have been stashed in the pantry to see if I want to keep them or not.

Another dose of wintry weather is headed here after a warm start to the week (it should reach 80^o today.) I don't believe this is a named storm. But wait! I just pulled up the forecast - they've named it "Oaklee." [sigh] I will finish my running around today and plan to hunker down the rest of the week if need be. I have appointments on Wednesday and Thursday that I'd like to keep, so we'll see if it's just cold as can be or if it precipitates and makes travel dangerous. I think we're at the bottom edge of a southwest-to-northeast-oriented storm predicted to form overnight.