Out of the frying pan...

I love cookware.  And I love cookware that is resilient, tough, hardworking, and classic.  Like Revereware.  These copper bottomed pots and pans have been around for awhile and when I went off to college, my mom and dad sent me with some of their pieces.  Pieces they'd gotten when they were married.  Yes, classic Revereware was well made and it has lasted.  Until now.

Sadly, I ruined my Revereware skillet a while back after cooking bacon in it when it was WAY too hot.  As you can see, it's done ruint:

I tried everything to get the schmutz off, to no avail.  But try as I might, I just couldn't part with it.  Maybe I'll find SOMETHING that will take this junk off, I thought, and my baby will be good as new!  Nothing worked and so it sat in the back of the cupboard, unloved and unused.

Fast forward a few months later when Michael and I finally opened the box of non-stick cookware his Mom and her boyfriend Carl had given us for Christmas last year.  Suddenly I had three new skillets in addition to the 12" heavy duty copper bottomed  one we received as a wedding present.  And that was the moment when I knew I needed to get rid of the old Revereware.  Just as I finally mustered up the courage and tossed it in the box of trash and new cookware wrappings, my husband lamented over it's fate.  "Yes, honey," I said through gritted teeth.  "It IS a shame.  But I don't know what else to do with it."  He shrugged, picked up a new skillet and made a joke about what a clean slate we were starting with and the light bulb went off.  Wait a minute?  Clean slate!?  AHA!

So here's what I did with my old Revereware skillet:

I painted the inside with chalkboard paint and it became a menu board for the kitchen!  Now I'm happy and my beloved skillet has a new life.  Recycling at it's finest...

Chalkily yours,
Kelly