tinypliny - 05/29/11 10:45
Excellent points (e:metalpeter). I have actually stepped on a cap and "reaped the benefits". Somehow, this device seems too elitist to make it to events where you actually might step on caps. lol

And some of these devices that you buy have a way of getting lost when you need them. ;-)

metalpeter - 05/28/11 16:11
This Is a great Idea for two reasons
1. Ever stepped on a bottle Cap? Not fun... what do you do with a bottle cap once the beer is open ..... What about at a picnic or a park where little kids are running around in bare feet.....

2. Anyone who has gone to The Taste of Buffalo has seen the pride that one shows in the stack of Beer cups they collect.... Well now you can do that at home or at a party......

I would get one of these and never use it... It would be good for something like Coke Glass bottles where you want to keep the cap... Also for those that like to recycle I think this would be a perfect way to keep all the caps and then recycle them.......

All that being said this is one of those for fancy Kitchen devices really people but it does have some practical uses but I don't drink much bottled stuff.....

libertad - 05/28/11 08:42
That is really dumb.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 02:57
haha you caught it before I could whine about it

paul - 05/28/11 02:52
You and you bugs, lol. Apparently, titles could not have # before.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 13:10
I need to check this place out! Do you think they will be open on weekends?

paul - 05/28/11 12:33
Oh ya, that is totally the closet thrift store - I had forgotten about it. It is the St Vincent De Paul thrift store on Main near Ferry.

libertad - 05/28/11 12:32
I haven't been there in years, maybe it isn't the salvation army, actually come to think of it I think it is something else. I ride by it on my bike so it is somewhere between W. Ferry and RPCI. I'll check on Monday.

OK, I just remembered. Sorry for the misinformation!

This must be the address, you can call to verify.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Diocese of Buffalo, New York
1298 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14209
716-882-3360

tinypliny - 05/28/11 11:23
It houses the Buffalo Area Services, the Buffalo Citadel and the Buffalo Citadel Corps: :::link:::

tinypliny - 05/28/11 11:19
Do you mean the Salvation Army building? Do they really have a store there? I think it's only a Salvation Army drop-off and community centre for other activities that Salvation army is involved in. It is also a soup kitchen for the homeless. I don't think it's a regular store. Take a look: :::link:::

libertad - 05/28/11 08:46
There is a thrift store on 960 main street

tinypliny - 05/28/11 00:08
Grant and Ferry - that's a somewhat sketchy hood as I can recall from a couple years back. I felt people were carefully watching me as I walked down Grant towards Guercios. Has it improved? Are these shops across the street from La Nova? Are they new?

paul - 05/27/11 23:25
I think the hardware store called Dibbles and Mr. Seconds both near the corner of Grant and Ferry count as very useful. Its nice to be able to get some hardware stuff without having to travel so far north.

The salvation army on Elmwood near Hertel isn't such quick walking distance but its easily busable. I guess though if you go that far, Value is there as a hardware store too.

jbeatty - 05/29/11 14:25
We have Wüsthof knives and All-Clad skillets and sauce pans and while were at it Chicago Metallic Sheet pans. I'm sure the copper makes some sort of difference, but what that difference is would probably be lost on me. I would really love one of those beautiful copper stock pots just because I think they look nice and I don't have a proper stock pot but they are well out of my price range and I imagine there are such diminishing returns on such a massive investment.

All of the all-clad stuff is bonded by some patented rolling process. They have a line of copper core now too. Like I said I doubt I would really see a huge difference with the copper core stuff to justify paying double for it. However cooking is such a huge hobby for me and necessity for my family that if I had the tons of disposable income you could be sure that I would own a set. Anyone who can cook, can cook with cheap cookware and knives. But the process is easier and end result are far better with good stuff.

tinypliny - 05/29/11 13:32
And since you are here...what kind of stainless steel kitchen stuff do you have? Do you think it's good to go the copper bottom or the aluminium encapsulated bottom route?

I have had all copper-bottom stuff thus far. All except one pan are from home and handmade in South India - where the steel is made and the copper is mined. But I am seeing more and more of the aluminium-encapsulated-bottom cookware now. Any thoughts?

tinypliny - 05/29/11 13:29
You said knives! Do you have one of the Shuns????

tinypliny - 05/29/11 13:29
That is very interesting - I think stainless steel isn't non-stick either and the occasional sticking accident does happen. I make resolutions to not be so stingy with oil the next time but after a couple months I am back to my "OMG, this is waay too greasy!" phase till something else suffers a sticking-disaster.

I am not even going to describe the flipping accidents I have had. One of the worst was when I decided that I was better than the chinatown chef and flipped an entire pan of singapore noodles off the pan onto the ground. I will admit that I did rescue around 75% from the kitchen floor because I am fairly confident that my kitchen floor was clean that day and was really starving!

I was making some crepes in my brother's kitchen earlier this year and got pretty excited about the results. But I completely burnt my palm off because I forgot about the handle being part of the body of the skillet and getting super-hot. I think it's somewhat uncomfortable to cook with kitchen mitts on all the time though. :)

When did you get your LC? I have heard that the lifetime now holds for only 20 years. (Admittedly, that is quite a swell lifetime though!)

jbeatty - 05/29/11 13:01
We have a couple of enameled cast iron dutch ovens and find them absolutely indispensable for all sorts of applications that I think an uncoated cast iron pan would absolutely suck for. Enameled pots aren't exactly non-stick but on the flip side I don't need a quart of oil to keep vegetables and meat from scorching. We have a regular cast iron skillet which only seems to get used for focaccia, bacon, and the odd apple cake/tatin my wife makes. It has utterly destroyed a mushroom potato cake that I attempted this winter presumably because I should have doubled the amount of oil I started with. The main reasons I don't use it much is it's way too heavy to flip food in and the handle heats up.

Although Le Crueset may be the "Apple" of the dutch oven world the truth is we will never have replace ours. Whereas my iBook G4 moves at snail speed and the power cord has been customized with electrical tape. Good cooking gear cost beaucoup bucks but will more than likely never need replacing as long as you take care of it. Apple's whole deal is to keep you coming back for more. Maybe I am a sheep for having brand name cookware and knives but I have owned no name pans and knives and can attest that you get what you pay for and eventually will need to buy more. As for lodge I can't comment on the price or quality of there enameled pots as I have never used them.

tinypliny - 05/29/11 10:46
haha, yes, Shun is the apple of the knife world. I was just talking about the knives scene with (e:Paul) yesterday!

metalpeter - 05/28/11 15:47
I don't really cook myself but find this interesting... I thought that there where something that Cast Iron where very good for and somethings cooked better in glass and the same with knives.......

tinypliny - 05/28/11 13:33
And please note that my comment about getting Lodge over Le Creuset was directed at (e:Paul) who remarked that Le Creuset is expensive. As far as I can see, you never mentioned Le Creuset in your comment before. How would I know you had a Le Creuset? You could have well had Lodge Or Mario Batali or Emmeriware or any of the zillion brands that Williams Sonoma retails.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 13:27
(e:Jason), calm down! This is a fun discussion and you can say whatever you want just because Julia Child is not watching. ;-)

I am sure Le Creuset is awesome cookware. I have cooked in it at several of my friend's homes during cooking parties. And the bread we made in those pots were phenomenal. So were breads made in "knock-offs".

I do make whatever statement I please here - which is why I also insist that you NEVER take me seriously here on (e:strip). In fact, I am sure if I made that particular comment on Chowhound or (e:gullet), I would get exactly the kind of response you posted and probably get banned for life. :)

jason - 05/28/11 13:17
Wow. That's an awfully ballsy thing to say. Instead of saving money and carefully choosing cookware based upon quality and durability, I must be a blind sheep because Tiny says so. Nobody is preventing you from buying a knock off and enjoying it. I regret contributing to this discussion.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 13:06
The enamel on Le Creuset-like pans is made of porcelain and blocks the iron from leaching into dishes. It is exactly like non-stick pans but the difference is that porcelain is not as toxic as teflon because it's basically organic mud, if you think about it. But then if I get the enameled ones I won't get any iron. It will be like all the other pots. The heat conductance qualities of iron is poorer than those of copper or aluminium. In fact, that is why cast iron pots heat up slower than copper and aluminium vessels.

Howver, they retain whatever temperature they achieve exactly because they are poor at conducting it away. So you get a pot that heats slowly but holds on to the temperature for a long time. No wonder, no knead home bread enthusiasts prefer cast iron big saucepans and dutch ovens for baking bread. The heat retention does wonders for a crispy hard home-made fragrant crust.

I toyed with the idea of getting a Le Creuset like pan but then after some research, I think Le Creuset is like Apple of enameled cookware. Tons of blind sheep who just empty their pockets because it has such a flashy froggy name and is promoted by cooking monsters such as Julia Childs and other widely marketed chefs. Lodge makes some cheaper decent enameled cast iron cookware which I am sure is just as good.

But enameled cast iron doesn't give me iron!!

libertad - 05/28/11 12:29
I use it like (e:jason) does, not for everything. I'm not too worried about getting too much iron. I usually don't use it for saucy things, I have another pan that works well for that kind of stuff. I love cookware. I inherited some from my mom's neighbor who died, very nice stuff from the QVC.

I think you should go for it (e:tinypliny)!

paul - 05/28/11 12:18
I think the enameled coating prevents the leaching. (e:matthew) wants one of the :::link::: Le Creuset ones so bad but they are so expensive.

jason - 05/28/11 11:55
I have an enameled cast iron skillet, and an enameled cast iron dutch oven. I use the skillet primarily for searing meat or making the odd frittata, and the dutch oven for stews/soups/one pot meals.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 11:39
I find the idea of getting extra iron from cast iron pots EXTREMELY attractive though. I take supplements every day, and even then worry that I am not absorbing much of the iron I consume. I have always been borderline anaemic and can use every single absorbable iron source I can get.

tinypliny - 05/28/11 11:37
Actually, my mum does use mild soap on her cast iron skillets but doesn't scrub in the maniacal way that I do. If you knew Indian flatbread and dosai (a sort of crepe/pancake combo), you would never wonder about the oil. There's an ABUNDANCE of oil used in all the dosai/adai/parantha recipes. In fact, you drip a tbsp or so of oil all around the pan for every single dosai in a traditional cast iron skillet. Partly the reason why I dreaded using that skillet and was never any good at making Indian flatbread/crepes/pancakes because I am always cutting the oil short.

libertad - 05/28/11 08:57
Looks like I commented on cast iron on the wrong post. Is your mother a vegetarian too? Cast iron is actually really cheap and if I could have only 1 piece of cookware it would be my cast iron pan. It's funny that you ask about this because I have thought about writing about how much I love mine. Like I said before you can't use SOAP!!!