On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
My husband and I have been dieting for two months and the amount of food we consume at a meal has definitely decreased. As a consequence, I find I need to prepare half recipes. A few weeks ago, I make a whole recipe of meatloaf and put half of it, uncooked, in the freezer. It would come in handy one of my “I don’t know what to cook” days. I have a lot of them!
SIDE BAR: Tell me I am not the only one who has a love/hate relationship with cooking. Some days, I enjoy hours planning a meal, relishing the mingling of ingredients and flavors. Other times, I don’t want to have anything to do with a pot or mixing bowl.
I prepared the meatloaf for the freezer by lining my loaf pan with aluminum foil, then placed the meat in the foil wrapped pan shaping it to conform to the pan.
I can’t remember where or when I purchased the pan. It has a lot of scratches but I am pretty sure they are the result of the pan wars, you know when you are looking for a baking pan and have to shift the whole cabinet to find the one you want? Anyway, this pan was not used often. I tell you this because, this pan let me down, big time. So much for “made in Italy” equating with quality.
On one of my I hate the kitchen days, I pulled the meatloaf out of the freezer, thawed it a bit in the loaf pan then popped it into my newly cleaned oven. Instant supper! After about 20 minutes, I began to get a whiff of a burned smell. I peeked in the oven and everything looked fine. The smell grew stronger over the next 15 minutes so I checked the meatloaf again. The meatloaf looked fine but there was a blob of black on the floor of my nice, clean oven. I took the pan out and searched it for a leak but could not find anything dripping or that looked burned. So, I put the meatloaf back in the oven to finish cooking. When the meatloaf was done, I took it out of the oven and held it up, looking for a drip. Nothing there that would explain the big black blob. I did see one place that looked like a scratch/dent but no evidence of dripping.
My husband has breathing issues and smoke triggers coughing attacks so I opened windows and a door to try to clear out the smell before we sat down to eat. After supper, I put the loaf pan in the sink to wash and as I pushed it down into the water, two streams of water shot up. One in the bottom and one in the side. The hole looked exactly like the other blemishes.
Now I have a flower-pot made in Italy!
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.
Old Things R New 
You are DEFINITELY not the only one who has a love/hate relationship with cooking! And the older we/I get, the less I like to cook! Of course, our waistlines show it, as well! Shucks!
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Glad to know, I am not alone in this. Darn those waist lines!
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I love that your keeping it as a planter! Oh what stories you will be able to tell when folks come to visit.
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You can inherit it, then you can tell the stories!
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that was an unsettling experience for you. It does have a nice oval shape for a flower-pot, though.
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If I had been smart, I would have put a foil lined baking sheet under it, but then, I would not have had this story!
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I think the scratches give it character and I didn’t have to pay for them!
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I love repurposing…great new look for your pan.
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I think I will put some pink splash in it when colder weather arrives and put it on my kitchen window sill.
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