Yesterday, Clean that Cast Iron

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now I need a place to hide away, from yesterday.

That was a pretty song. One of many songs written, played and sung about yesterdays.

When sitting on the porch on a hot summers evening it's sometimes nice to think about, talk about and reminisce over yesterdays. It's even nice to pull out the guitar and sing some of the songs about yesterday.

Heck it's even better to make up your own songs about some of your own yesterdays!

I guess with all the songs and stories written about yesterdays it's no wonder we tend to dwell on yesterdays. Even history is written about yesterdays or things that happened yesterday.

My yesterday was interesting. I had decided to clean a huge, cast iron, two burner, stove top griddle I have in my kitchen. That and my cast iron skillets usually wait until better weather for a really great cleaning to get the heavy baked on gunk with the consistency of concrete off of them.

That is when I build wood bonfires in the fire pit. I toss the cast iron skillets in the fire and burn the crust off of them and then retreat them. Usually by frying bacon in them, which I find oils them better than anything else. That also gives me one more excuse to eat lots of bacon.

Anyway, as I was cleaning the griddle I had a moment of inspiration!

I'm burning wood in my wood furnace...

Why couldn't I just toss the griddle in the furnace instead of waiting until spring and better weather for a roaring fire outdoors???

I took the griddle to the furnace, opened the door and pitched it in on top of the fire. About an hour later I went back and used a huge pair of pliers to pull it back out. Then I sat it on the concrete floor, brushed the remaining ash from the crud off with a small wire brush. Took it back to the kitchen, wiped off the loose rust and oiled it up and put it in the oven to bake the oil in.

Heck it worked so well I decided to do the rest of my cast iron skillets too.

And I had an excuse to have bacon for dinner!!! That always has a way of making me smile.

So now I don't have to waste any time when the weather is nice cleaning my cast iron cook ware. I can do it during the winter.

By the way almost all of my cooking is done with the cast iron. It heats evenly, holds the heat and it is the original non stick cookware.

Some like my huge twelve inch skillet which weighs in at eight pounds is a little heavy, but it has two handles to help you move it to the sink to rinse it out. A knuckle brush helps to get the little bits of stuck on stuff loose.

And it's fantastic for fried chicken and fried potatoes. The smaller eight inch skillets are only three pounds.

I keep a heavy pair of leather gloves in the kitchen specifically for working with my cast iron when it's hot and I have to move it.

BUT! Back to today's blog. Those darned old yesterdays.

While yesterdays are sometimes nice to talk about and can carry some fond memories. While some of the things we learned from yesterdays can be very useful and valuable. While many memories of yesterdays can make us smile and make some people wonder why we're smiling.

Yesterdays are not something to dwell on.

Yesterdays, the things that happened, the people that were in our yesterdays all have a way of holding us down. Keeping us back from the today's and the future.

That is if we choose to dwell on them and allow them to.

Like I did with that cast iron cookware when reminiscing about the bonfires and cleaning them, do something about today.

Quit wasting away your life struggling with the problems and hurts of yesterday.

There are some smiles in remembering yesterdays, but there are many more smiles ahead in your today and all your tomorrows.

It's only by leaving behind your yesterdays, that you will be able to find those smiles.