He said he had a special present for me when I got home from work . . . I couldn’t guess so I just had to wait until I got home.

And this is what I found!

Yep! A cast iron enameled stock pot!!!!!!!!!!
Yep! A cast iron enameled stock pot!!!!!!!!!!

 This baby is HEAVY!  I weighed it on my scale and it comes in at 15 pounds!  Tony is going to christen it today for his dinner menu.   The best part though?  Guess where he got it?  Sam’s Club!  And it was only $38!!  We’d been looking at LeCrueset brand stock pots, but they START at about $150!

I had to season it by rubbing oil on the exposed cast iron parts (basically the rim of the pot and the bottom lip of the lid) and baked it at 350 for an hour.  The lid can go to 400 degrees, the pot to 450 degrees, although it says it is so effective, you really only need to go to medium heat at most.

MORE GOOD NEWS!

Okay, since starting this blog two months ago, I HAVE LOST 10 POUNDS!

STATS BEFORE (9/3/08) AND TODAY (11/1/08)

  • 170 pounds NOW 160!
  • Hips – 42 inches NOW 40
  • Waist – 40 inches NOW 38
  • thigh – 24 1/2 inches NOW 24
  • tricep – 13 1/2 inches NOW 12 1/2!!
  • chest – 41 inches – NOW 40

I’d like to lose another 10 pounds by January 1 – we’ll see, especially during the holidays!

I slept in until 9:30 this morning!  When I woke up, Tony made me breakfast – so good!  I love pancetta!

Just doing the usual Saturday cleaning.  I expect my mom around 1:00.  We have to drop off some clothes to good will, then off to the Christmas craft fair!  See you at lunch!