A Battle Fought... And Won

It's funny. Sometimes, when you grow up with something a certain way, you just assume that that's the way it is. And sometimes, even when you realize that that isn't the way it is - or maybe that it shouldn't be this way, you don't necessarily go about changing. Now, this may sound serious and confusing but I'm really just talking about a frying pan my parents own. It's the perfect egg-sized pan, in my opinion; I suppose it's well suited for pancakes and omeletes as well. I'm not sure when my parents got it: either when they got married or shortly after - over thirty years ago now. One thing is clear though: It's never - never - had a good scrubbing. ...Until about a week ago, that is. Having moved out of my parents' home over a year ago now, whenever I find myself there again with free time on my hands (and we're talking serious free time; not fifteen minutes to kill) I end up cleaning.

But let's start from the beginning.
I started watching an anime called Yumeiro Patissiere which is about a more or less useless, clumsy girl who wants to be come a pastry chef. I'm not going to go into detail about the show itself (nor am I blogging it on Bokutachi no Blog; sorry) but they featured crepes in the first episode which made me want to eat crepes. In the show, the protagonist seemed to be using a cast iron pan as she was scraping her failed crepes out with a metal spatula. I've always made my crepes with a non-stick pan. But it did make me wonder if "real" crepes should be made in a cast iron or a non-non-stick pan. So I decided I'd try.

I followed this recipe for crepes: Martha Stewart Crepes 101 which was featured in the February 2009 issue. After a trial run with a non-stick pan, I decided I would try using the cast iron pan... Only it was dirty beyond dirty. Well, that's because I had cooked up some apples for the trial crepes and the syrup had turned into a caramel. So cleaning had to come before crepes. Now, this wasn't my first time washing the pan; I've washed it many times before in my life, but this was the first time I wanted to see its original colour, hidden by a thick, black coating of only God knows how much food residue. And so it became like an obsession, a battle between Daughter versus Dirt. I couldn't - no, I wouldn't give up until I had dismantled its armor. Soon after starting, however, I realized that a scouring pad was no match for its charred grease and so I cast aside my Scotch Brite pad and picked up a new weapon: plastic take-out spoon. But alas! plastic was nothing compared to years of hardened grease, and so for a second time I traded my arms for another: metal screwdriver. It sounds drastic, I know, but this was one foe not to be taken lightly. The battle fought was long and arduous; I had to retreat and rest a few times, but in the end, I was the victor.

Daughter: 1
Old Dirt: 0

Mid Battle

Results of Victory

I don't expect too many people to fully appreciate this epic tale - other than my brother and sister-in-law, that is, because they've experienced The Pan.

Oh: And I never did end up making crepes in the cast iron pan.