Bach'n It

A good and faithful servant.

It's been something like 8 or 9 years since I've lived alone. It's been long enough that I don't really remember living alone. Now I'm experiencing a short stent living alone again. Living with family, one often thinks: if only I had more time to myself I could get so much more done! I could do this, that, and the other-- a steady stream of gratifying accomplishments. Thinking that. Distractions and a complete failure of incentive is what I seem to remember of living alone. So far this time around history seems to be repeating itself; although I have managed to collect most of my stuff for taxes, kept the house pretty much as it was left, have the cleaning ready to go in, got the garbage and recycling out on time, and I've cooked a couple of pretty good meals trying out new recipes.

One meal, however, will go unmade. The other evening I did a pot of brown rice and set it aside. Next would be lentils. I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this but I thought I was onto something. Lentils in, water's on, phone rings. (There's that distraction again.) Twenty-five minutes later I'm on the computer and the house is starting to take on the sweet smell of burning sod (it's a Willamette Valley thing). Wow, it really smelled kind of good. And then it hit me-- Crap!! My lentils!!

I'd like to be sharing with you some type of clever recipe for a dish made with lentils, brown rice, and sauteed onion, carrots, and celery. Instead, I can share with you two very valuable pieces of information. First, All-Clad is simply the best cookware ever. I've had mine for probably close to 20 years and it remains the perfect utensil. Hardy and durable, All-Clad stands up to neglect, abuse, and distractions. Second, the best way to clean an All-Clad pan that has a rock-hard mask of lentils burnt to it's floor-- and char extending up to its rim-- is using a Brillo Pad. That, and giving the floor of that pan a generous soak with Bar Keeper's Friend, aka, the bachelor's friend in this case.

Don't worry Tam, the smell is gone and my little 2 quart sauce pan is shiny as new inside. Hurry home! (Hey, nuh uh, the outside looked like that before!)