The heat wave has finally subsided here. Temps in low to mid 80's which is normal. I did see 95 for Wednesday of next week but that will be short lived. Still no rain. Less them 1/4 inch of rain since July 12th. Probably lost about 20 conifers with another 5 developing that gray cast. When that happens the plant is dead or close to it. Rebuilding time next spring. I hope the market can sustain providing rare and unusual conifers for the collector. The outlook is not good with the bad economy. Most growers are pulling back and now providing the bread and butter conifers for sale. Right now that is where the money is and you can't blame them. Rare offerings will be at a premium next spring. That's the word that has been channeled to me. If your order up this fall for next spring delivery you stand a good chance of getting most of those. My want list comprised of 12 that I wanted. I will receive 7. My advice...go get them while the getting is good. The market is going in to survival mode. Dave

Mary, I'm very happy with my 11" cuprinox style fry pan. But like you, I've spent time reading all the cookware articles. If there is one pan in your arsenal that you want to be thick and heavy, it would be the frying pan, (at least for some cooking). I think the Demeyere Atlantis skillet would be a great choice because it is lighter,(than copper or iron) but still thick and would never warp at high heat-thanks to the stainless. Good cookware will sometimes make up for a less than perfect heat source. I have a powerful gas range with nice big star shaped burners, so I don't really need the thickest pan. But if you were to sear a steak with a weak burner, you would like a nice thick pan to hold more heat - once you preheat it. Otherwise, the meat would 'suck' the heat out of the thiner pan, before the burner could catch up and supply enough heat to get it hot again. I remember you saying you weren't sure on what you were cooking with, but wanted a good fry pan that's not too heavy. I think the Demeyere would be a good choice, I don't own it but I've seen the fry pan and it looks good.- should be easy to clean and is induction capable. I like the inside silvernox finish as well. Price is tough to swallow, but I saw one on sale that was the floor sample at a Sur La Table store...- so if you look long enough? What do I think about the All Clad copper core stuff? It is bomb proof, and I'm really impressed with it. It's not induction capable, and it's not particularly light (because of the copper). Total thickness at the edge, even with all those plies is not very thick. My guess is that the Demeyere Atlantis would do better as a fry pan, even without the copper, because the aluminum is so thick, - while remaining fairly light. Sure copper heats a little faster.. but the race isn't always won by the fastest and fry pans are one item that thickness and therefore heat capacity is just as important.

jterrilynn: yes, that looks like a good price to me. It looks similar to the all clad holiday promotion that efs referred to above (amazon has it for the same price). I think this is an excellent choice. The induction compatible thing opens a whole new can of worms... I went with induction when I remodeled and needed new pots and pans to work with it. I have a couple of cuisinart pans that are induction compatible, but I really had to be careful to make sure that they were magnetic. If I remember right, they were just switching over their tri-ply line to be induction compatible, so some were and some weren't (I think I was looking around this past May). Because of this, I didn't feel that I could order the cuisinart on-line - I had to buy local and bring a magnet. The cuisinart is cheaper than the LeCreuset tri-ply, but the quality difference is very noticeable. Like warmfridge, I really like the LeCreuset tri-ply. But all clad is the gold standard for most regular folk, so it a really nice gift. However, if you have a LeCreuset outlet near you it is worth checking out. They are having 25-35% off sale on pretty much the whole store through Nov 24th - linked below. Just a heads up that not all of the all clad is induction compatible. I was told at Williams Sonoma that the all clad copper core was induction compatible but would not work as well as the all clad SS (I think the copper core costs more, anyway). Here is a link that might be useful: LeCreuset outlet stores

We do the majority of our cooking in cast iron. We have 2 pans that were my husband’s grandmother’s. And 2 newer pieces we bought. My husband is a freak about them. The newer ones we seasoned when we first got them. Vegetable oil or canola oil and bake in the oven. Then use a lot! I have the lodge scrapers and use those and super hot water to clean. No soap. Maybe once in a while if I feel like it really needs a cleaning. When I do that I tell my husband because he will dry it and then wipe it down with some oil, his favorite now is coconut. My son and daughter are already making noises about who inherits what pan lol.