Christmas Gift Ideas

[Bo Diddley]

My Christmas gift to you all. Not much but It's what I can do. Arrangement by the ninja missionary

[Copelius]

I barely recognized you without the mustache.

The struggle is real. I'm just holding out hope that the brethren rescind the mustache ban for temple workers as the need for workers grows with all the new temples.

[Moliere]

My Christmas gift to you all. Not much but It's what I can do. Arrangement by the ninja missionary

I barely recognized you without the mustache.

[BigPiney]

Thank you

[BigFatMeanie]

Same. There is a lady I know at work that I have known for years. She was recently hired and is a few levels under me. I know she makes significantly less than me, but since my daughter's injuries, when she goes out on break she will often bring me back a Dr Pepper (that is my love language). It is so kind. I tell her thank you.




Link?

Here is the Consumer Reports ratings: https://www.consumerreports.org/home...e-sets/c29546/

You may need a subscription account to see them so here are the top scores:

Caraway Ceramic-Coated Non-Stick - 88 - Aluminum with ceramic coating - $355.50
GreenPan Reserve Cermaic Nonstick - 87 - Hard-anodized aluminum - $284.99
Oxo Ceramic Professional Non-Stick - 87 - Hard-anodized aluminum - $319.89
Member's Mark (Sam's Club) Hard Anodized Aluminum - 86 - Hard-anodized aluminum - $139.98
Zwilling Vitale - 85 - Aluminum with ceramic exterior coating - $535.85
Cuisinart GreenGourmet Hard Anodized GG-12 - 85 - Anodized Aluminum - $179.95
Le Creuset Toughened Nonstick PRO - 85 Hard-anodized aluminum with stainless steel base - $649.95
Blue Diamond Classic Diamond-Infused Ceramic - 84 - Aluminum - $79.99

That Member's Mark one looks like a really good value too, although you can to compare the various pots and pan sizes in the sets to kind of get equivalent.

And here are the Food Network reviews where the Blue Diamond was rated best ceramic nonstick.: https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/p...-cookware-sets

This is the Blue Diamond Ceramic set I got her: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Diamond-...ef=sr_1_2?th=1

It's made in China, as is most everything. The Le Creuset set is also made in China. Le Creuset only makes their enameled cast iron in France - their other stuff is made in China.

Things that were important to the Mrs:

• Durability of non-stickness - The Le Creuset scored a point better than the Blue Diamond in CR's ratings.
• Handle Sturdiness - The is the weakness of the blue diamond. It only scored 3 out of 5 points. If the handles turn out to be crap then it may be going to DI but for $79.99 it's a gamble I was willing to take.
• Dishwasher safe - Both are "yes".
• Oven safe- The Blue Diamond can handle up to 600 while the Le Creuset was up to 500.

If you like stainless, The Cellar (Macy's) Stainless Steel had the highest score in CR's review and was 4-5X cheaper than equivalent scoring brands.

[Copelius]

My Christmas gift to you all. Not much but It's what I can do. Arrangement by the ninja missionary

[Pelado]

This one?

https://www.costco.com/kirkland-sign...100494015.html

Yup. That's the one. I didn't use either of the frying pans, so I can't vouch for the quality of the non-stick coating. But I used the pots and the saute pan, and they were great. Good heft, and cleaned up easy. I see there that they are "recommended hand wash" which is lame, and I wonder if dishwasher use will impact the non-stick coating long term? But at that price, they are practically disposable. That's less than you would pay if you were putting together a set of decent pans at clearance prices.

We have that set.

We place them in the dishwasher.

We’ve had them forever.

They are a great base set for pots.

We use other frying pans but those are fine as is and at the price point you are right, who cares if someone destroys the nonstick you just throw it away.

We also have that set, or something very similar. We've had them for several years now and they have held up very well. My wife likes to handwash them, but I typically put them through the dishwasher whenever there's enough room.

The substantial, flat bottoms tend to work a lot better on the flat electric burners of the stove as compared to all the warped-bottom pots we had before.

go buy all-clad (costco has a good set) and real le creuset or staub, you cheap asses

I'll pass, but thanks for the invitation.

[PaloAltoCougar]

i guess thats cool, but pro v1s are cooler

It's embarrassing, but I don't like receiving golf balls as a gift because when I hit a gifted ball OB or in the drink, I feel bad that I've squandered the person's offering. And as my index has climbed to 14+ recently (damn you Lupron and radiation!), this happens all too frequently.

"Hey kids, you don't need to bother getting us a gift, but we are going to give you an assignment and you have to submit a report."

Haha.

My kids all claim they prefer this (since they were probably going to do some servicey thing anyway) to trying to find a tangible gift which they assume we either have or don't want. But it's very possible they're just being nice not to complain.

[Bo Diddley]

Mrs. Diddley bought herself HexClad pans last year. She's pretty happy with them.

I wanted to get one of those ceiling pan holders to hang them from, but she's not interested.

[Commando]

Mrs. Diddley bought herself HexClad pans last year. She's pretty happy with them.

I got a Hex Clad pan as my go-to non stick frying pan. It was $$$ for just one nonstick frying pan but it's amazing. I love that thing.

[Commando]

go buy all-clad (costco has a good set) and real le creuset or staub, you cheap asses

I got some All-Clad last year. They are great. What a relief to have real cookware.

[Bo Diddley]

Mrs. Diddley bought herself HexClad pans last year. She's pretty happy with them.

[fusnik]

Yup. That's the one. I didn't use either of the frying pans, so I can't vouch for the quality of the non-stick coating. But I used the pots and the saute pan, and they were great. Good heft, and cleaned up easy. I see there that they are "recommended hand wash" which is lame, and I wonder if dishwasher use will impact the non-stick coating long term? But at that price, they are practically disposable. That's less than you would pay if you were putting together a set of decent pans at clearance prices.

We have that set.

We place them in the dishwasher.

We’ve had them forever.

They are a great base set for pots.

We use other frying pans but those are fine as is and at the price point you are right, who cares if someone destroys the nonstick you just throw it away.

[Northwestcoug]

True for us, too. I think I've mentioned this before, and apologies for the "look at us!" element to this, but for several years now (after all of our kids were out of the house), the standing instruction is that in lieu of a tangible gift, we ask everyone, including the grandkids, to perform a meaningful act of service or gifting to others, and then provide us with a brief written summary. Over the years, we've added the summaries to a binder that the missus and I read each Christmas night. It provides a great (and pretty emotional) end to a nice day as we read of the dozens, hundreds really, of people in need whom our kids and grandkids have helped.

An early example: our youngest son, then an impoverished college student, got some friends together and took their gaming platorms (xBox, PS3s, Nintendo whatever, etc.) and having gained prior permission (this was pre-COVID) set up their rigs at Childrens Hospital and played video games with the patients for hours. Many of our grandchildren love buying something they really want for themselves, and then giving it to a similarly aged kid in need (found through the Church or a local charity).

I'm already looking forward to our presents this year.

I'm sure those stories are worth their weight in gold PAC. And good for you for starting a tradition that will likely endure generations.

But I gotta tell you, it's way easier just buying a gift

[Moliere]

One benefit of having a side hustle that uses a lot of random tools, is that I can easily make a list of tools under $20 that I don’t really need or want but that can be useful. My kids or others close to me buy that stuff. I also can just buy a big, expensive tool and have MJ “gift” it to me. My parents and in-laws just get me Home Depot gift cards. Works great and everyone is happy.