20 March 2011

the eye of the beholder

it is clean - or so i thought. i remember weeks ago scrubbing and scrubbing this frying pan with dish soap and one of those all-natural scrubber things because the steel wool soap pads were gone. i shined up the copper bottom like i always do, dried it, and hung it up. and when i took it down this morning -- look. a maze of color and movement on the bottom of the pan. the swirls i can sort of understand: i heated up leftover pasta in this pan. but the colors - how can that happen? it must just be some sort of chemical reaction, the tomato sauce on the stainless steel. but regardless, i thought it was fascinatingly beautiful. artistic, like a fine silk fabric. 

one of my favorite quotes, in the sidebar for years, is it's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. perfect example here. 


8 comments:

Irene said...

It's very pretty alright. It must have been a joy to cook in that pan. I can't wait to see what happens to it next. Will you show us?

Linda said...

Yes...I can 'see' that!!
Love your quote!

37paddington said...

organic art. beautiful!

Tabor said...

Beautiful...but lets hope it is not giving off some metals that are not good for you...just saying.

~she~ said...

That IS neat!

Tonya said...

yeah it does look very artistic amazing how things can do that

.. said...

Who knew cleaning after you cook (a task I hate) could be beautiful.

chris said...

i was a bit uncertain about writing that post, lest someone think i was a shoddy housekeeper or just plain weird. it sure was unexpected, though, and i think that added to the fascination.

Samanta, i hate to cook - but i love to clean up! all that suds...Linda Chapman, tonya87, and ~she~, glad we are all like-minded in our appreciation of "found" art! Nora: i reluctantly went after the artwork with a soap pad...and it's now gone. as much as i wanted to keep it, i needed that pan! Tabor: i've been a stainless steel cooker for years and have never seen that phenomenon before. truly, i think it must have been the result of not enough elbow grease and/or not enough soap. but you can be sure every time i use that pan, i'll check it first for "organic art" (thanks Angella Lister!)