HOLIDAY PRESENTS OH ELEVEN

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from T. best christmas present I've received! and a mint copy of Terry Allen's Lubbock (On Everything) and a smaller cast iron skillet

sweet sweet cash

lego architecture burj khalifa
gift certificate for encore records in ann arbor (already redeemed)
33 1/3 on pet sounds
miles davis bootleg series live in europe set
smashing pumpkins siamese dream remaster box

super excited for my wife's gifts too:
wusthof steak knife set with box
le creuset french oven

wtf is w le creuset all of a sudden?? My housemate was talking abt his and then abt 35 ilxors got them for Xmas and jeez what is up w these things??

Can't speak for your life, Stevie, but maybe this is a case of you just starting to notice? Because it's not a sudden thing, Le Creuset has been a super-nice cookware name for at least 20 years that I can vouch for.

xp Been a heavily marketed thing in Europe for at least 10 years ime (and probably before that too). They're not necessarily better than comparable cast iron casseroles but they come in funky colours and they are indeed *everywhere*.

idk i agree w/stevie at least in usa/canada its become sorta a ~thing~ in a way that they werent before w/in the last 3 years

Maybe as they got more name recognition in the US, they started turning up in discount shops, the parent company opened outlet stores, etc, it's made them more accessible and more common, but I still think 3 years is WAY too little time. My friends were getting them as gifts just like on this thread at least 10 years ago, and my mom's had hers since I was a kid.

Predict it's also a bit of the aging cohort stage, like as people get a bit settled w their housing, get to liking to cook, it's an obvious kind of nice "welcome to adulthood" present?

yeah i couldnt find any annual reports online so w/e. it could very well be a case of only noticing how many ppl drive hondas until after you buy one

I got tickets to see Adam Ant.

(x-post)

And they're recommended by Jeanette Winterson:

"...when she first arrived in London as a boyish twentysomething, she serviced frustrated married women from the Home Counties in hotel rooms off Knightsbridge and Sloane Square. Having minimal access to the hard stuff, they paid her in Le Creuset."

I think Le Creuset is definitely more prominent in the States than it was 20 years ago, though it was here then. I'm pretty sure most of mine is second-hand or used - it's not cheap.

I got mine from an outlet, they are def $$$ but I adore my French oven SO much.

Basically I got:

A Sweater
Some money that I used to buy work clothes
Gift cards that I also used to buy work clothes

lol

oh, also the Patti Smith book and Devil in the White City from my secret santa at work

I had never heard about Le Creuset before now, definitely outside my wheelhouse. I only know my wife has wanted one forever, because her mom still has an 18 year-old one she uses on an almost weekly basis.

re: enameled cast iron, comparable pieces from Lodge are = or >, and much cheaper.

i got a galley copy of the Will Hermes book, but put it on my xmas list anyway because the cover art was so nice

xp I'd bet that's true, but it must have had to do with LC being European and therefore prestigious to Americans, somehow? Also getting to the market WAY before Lodge--I just had a look at the latter's website, and it's not very well-designed, items don't come in all colors, and there aren't many colors to start with. They could have identified and gone after the yuppie market years ago but their site won't even let you click on photos! Having a poor website for your retail item is just throwing money away.

le creuset french oven

never heard of it, but i pay about negative 46 attention to the french oven scene

It's never occurred to me to look at Lodge's own website -- I always check prices at Amazon.

the outlet prices are pretty damn good - mine was around $130 for a 4.5 qt round oven. the 7 qt one was even cheaper than that, but it was a bit too big for me.

i got some things.

like the pkd exegesis
h.p. lovecraft letters vol. 1
dream quest of unknown kadath 1st standalone printing
comics like black hole, fat freddy's cat, and modesty blaise.
i got a jacket for my birthday.
i got some socks
and swedish fish
and a game about being a werewolf?
and some eco-friendly playing cards
star trek mug
star trek t-shirt
star wars boxer shorts

will someone plz sing the praises of le creuset and what makes it so nice?

enameled cast iron v easy to clean, super beautifully conductive, everything browns and cooks and braises so well and colors make them v pleasing to look at.

I love reg cast iron & stoneware too, but LC is just kind of classic. Makes my kitchen feel older, and reminds me of my grandma and all her ye olde utensils & cookware

chocolate
a shirt
more chocolate
a sweater
carcassonne
and also one garden centre voucher with which I'm gonna buy me a god damn pond

carcassonne?

I think the benefits of LC are the same as those of all enameled cast iron cookware. But some of the other available brands are clearly knock-offs of LC at lower price points, and after applying high heat, browning, washing, etc, the enamel gets damaged and cracks or flakes. LC, otoh, used to have a life-time warranty where you could return any piece with damaged enamel to them to be re-coated for free. (I imagine, like other luxury/top-quality products that have gone mass market, that the lifetime warranty is either invalid now or has some many limitations that it might as well be?)

http://www.irawoods.com/Le-Creuset-Warranty-Information

Staub is pretty good upmarket French cast iron cookware, too. My LC dutch oven is pretty old and as perfectly functional as ever. I've been in kitchens in France where some of the LC cookware dated back to the 50's or older.

carcassonne?

it's a board game sorta thing. think it's german? basically you have to lay tiles down to build roads and cities and stuff. looks simple enough to play with the kids but also looks like you can also get deep enough into strategy if you want to play more seriously

not the city in france then, ok

Jumper
Two scarfs
Loads of chocolate
Bodywash, face scrub, stuff like that (some nice, some meh)
Journal
Book with all the photos of Alfred Stieglitz and his Camera Work magazine from 1900-1920s (win)

why did they stop calling them dutch ovens?

they started making them in france

Don't they call them Dutch ovens in the US anymore?

whiney calls them british ovens

They do prepare blood sausages best tbh

I always thought "Dutch oven" was strictly US terminology.

It is, although wikipedia taught me tonight it was a British person in 1704 copying the Dutch pans and exporting them to America where they became known as Dutch ovens. Plus, "The name has lived on for more than 300 years".

sweater
chamois shirt
pizza stone (!!!)
mess o books - the singapore grip, my early years by churchill, letters of sacco & vanzetti, rashomon & other stories
tiny bottles of maker's mark & hennessy
socks

PS3 Skyrim
an Edna Crabapple + desk + accesories Simpsons toy (sort of an in joke)
set of coffee mugs that stack up to form a stylized geisha image down their sides
espresso glasses (man, I know I drink coffee but geez guys)
ABC Shop giftcard
small bar of Lush solid shampoo from Lush-employed friend
various bottles of wine, if bringing them to xmas eve party counts I guess

letters of sacco & vanzetti

Ohhh, great gift, great book!

black beret (!), paisley shirt, pair of grey cord trousers. couple belts. also a cookbook by "revolutionary" chef alice waters. and one of those vacuum-seal things for open wine bottles. all very practical and appreciated.

pizza stone (!!!)

Nice!