Thanksgiving and a Restoration

There are a thousand tutorials on how to restore old cast iron

so I won't bore you with the how-to's of it.

But. . . 

I did want to share.

You might already be aware that 90% of my cooking arsenal

is cast iron or terra cotta.

Love them both!

For the longest time, I had what I called "a stew pot," of cast iron,

but I really wanted a true Dutch oven.

I wasn't really impressed with the poor quality or the high price

 of the new ones available in stores.

My mother-in-law is just awesome.

She likes to go to yard sales etc.

so I let her know a couple years ago that I would like one.

Not long ago, she sent me the following picture

with a message that read "$25 ???"

I said "YES!"

Brought it home, hubby took the wire wheel to it,

then I scrubbed and seasoned it.

And the results~

Oh but there is more :-)

It wasn't evident in it's rusted state,

but after cleaning it up,

we saw that it had one of our family names

 that is not entirely common

engraved on both the lid handle and bottom of the pot.

That makes it even more special.

MIL is going to go back over and ask about where they got it

as she kinda knows who the folks are who had the yard sale.

Until she finds out for certain,

we will be left to wonder.

I've not had a chance to use it yet,

but oh I will.

I am just thrilled to have it at hand.

Also, I wanted to wish each of you a very

happy Thanksgiving.

I hope you find the day enjoyable and are able

to give thanks for the many blessings received.

We are taught that we should be thankful not only for our easy times

but for our trials as well.

I know first hand how difficult that can be.

But, if that Dutch oven could feel & speak,

I have a feeling it would have known even in the rusted state

 what it was made of

regardless of what was present on the outside.

Because life isn't pretty at the moment,

doesn't mean it won't be beautiful 

in what is yet to come.

And yes, I see cast iron as a thing of beauty😊

If life is trying for you right now,

I would like to wish you even a greater blessing

in that there is beauty yet to come.

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends.

*~*~*Oregon European Potrack*~*~*

Mr. LB is a gem.

I saw a picture of a pot rack

that was hanging someplace in Europe.

I asked hubby if he liked it.

His response was,

"I can make that."

This is slightly different in that we added a light.

Never mind the hole where

the old off-center light was.

We'll get to that ....

at some point.

Everything in due time.

There are actually two more pans to go on it,

but we need to drill out the hole in the handle

of each as they were just a little to narrow

to fit on the hooks.

It is so nice not to try to lift out half the stack

to get to one of the larger ones that was on the bottom.

Those aren't light pans!

Again with the hole~

I just wanted to show the detail.

I like mixing curves and straight edges.

I am so happy with it.

I love my hubby.

The pictures look a little odd to me.

Karen Valentine gave some great advise

on her blog about how to remove the auto enhance

that blogger automatically does.

I will have to go back and reread it.

Until next time,

Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches