What I did with my tax refund...

I've been neglecting the site for awhile. Although, I did update the penguin of the month picture for this month and I also decided to take down the kill counts graph. I haven't had problems with killing my car much lately so the graph would be rather boring. That, and I stopped keeping track of it.

Anyway, today we're going to pretend that we're in grade school and tell about what I did with my tax refund. Well, part of it. Some of it will be going toward the car loan. Anyway, on to the fun stuff.

When I started college, my parents took me out to Bed Bath and Beyond in Lincoln and we bought the cheapest set of pots and pans we could find. They worked while I was in school (not that they were used all that often) and they're still a decent set of pans. They do the job, but shortly after I moved into my apartment, I had a hankering for pancakes and made the mistake of thinking I could make good pancakes in my non-stick skillet. The sad half-burnt, half yummy pancakes (and when I say half, I don't mean half of them sucked, I mean half of each pancake was burnt) made me think about getting new pots and pans. So, I found a set that I liked and bought those this month. After the tax refund was deposited, of course.

I purchased the new Calphalon CS Non-stick dishwasher-safe set. They were pretty expensive, but totally worth it! They distribute heat evenly. Each pan is non-stick on the inside, steel on the outside and every single one goes in the dishwasher with no issues. I can even wash them with either gel or powdered soap. Below is a picture from an online catalog of the set I purchased. It came with two skillets (omelette pans), two sauce pans with lids, a stock pot with lid and a sauté pan with a lid. I'm debating on whether to order a mid-sized sauce pan and a larger sauté pan. We'll see how the cooking goes for now. Below is a picture from an online catalog of the set:

I also purchased a new set of knives. I had purchased a set of Chicago Cutlery knives when I moved and had problems with them from the start. I was shocked to find out that every single knife in the set was serrated. I found out later (after it was too late to return them) that it was a "feature" of the set. Although not prominently displayed on the packaging. After avoiding purchases of chicken and steak and basically any other meat I'd have to cut for months, I finally decided it was time to get a better set of knives so I didn't have to avoid cooking yummy things. So, I bought a set of Wüsthof Classic knives. Consumer Reports rated them as one of their "best buys" so I went with them. Plus I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg and these were plenty expensive from my viewpoint. Anyway, I can't even begin to explain how much better it feels to slice smoothly through a piece of raw meat before cooking rather than having to saw through it. It's like a breath of fresh air and now I can cook a wider variety of things without having the annoyance of a serrated chef's knife.