Farewell to an old friend

Some of you know that I eat pancakes for breakfast 5 days a week.  I don't like cold cereal, and pancakes are quick and easy.  For the past 6 years, I've been using this electric skillet to cook my pancakes.

It died on Friday the thirteenth.

This skillet was not mine originally.  I commandeered it from a roommate when she left on a mission.  (Yes, that's the word we used when I claimed it--Pirates of the Carribean was fairly recently out, and it was fun to quote Jack Sparrow.)  She hasn't missed it, since.

This skillet did a great job.  It heated up quickly, cooked evenly, and was cleaned easily.  Okay, you're probably thinking that it doesn't look all that clean, but burnt-on grease doesn't count.

And now, I can't find a skillet like this anymore!  For one thing, they're all non-stick.  Which means that my lovely Cutco spatula (found at a thrift store) just has to sit in the drawer.

[As an aside, after David and I let a friend give us the whole Cutco presentation/demonstration, David had a lot more respect for that spatula.]

Our new skillet doesn't cook quite as nicely, either.  But it's hard to pick one when any skillet has a number of negative reviews!  So this is a farewell to my old, trusty skillet.  It served me well.