When we got married, thirty-odd years ago, one of the vets I worked for at the time gave us a large Le Creuset casserole dish. I had never seen one before. It was orange, and very, very heavy. I’ve learned since that at one time they only came in this orange colour, which they call ‘volcano’. And also that it was heavy because it was made of cast iron.

We still have that casserole. It’s done it’s fair share of cooking family dinners over the years, everything from macaroni cheese, to casseroles with dumplings, and it’s got a few chips and dings, and the enamel is slightly crazed, but you see, that’s one of the good things about cast iron: if you expose the metal, it’s actually good for you, because it slightly increases the iron content of your food. No worries there.

Anyway. For years and years (and years) we couldn’t afford Le Creuset cookware, so I loved that casserole. The Pyrex dishes we were given for wedding gifts are almost all of them gone, smashed to pieces or chipped or scratched too badly to use. And saucepans? OK, let’s talk about saucepans. Our original (second-hand) saucepans have been replaced many times over, going from new, thin, aluminium or enamelled pans, through Pyrex glass (never again!) to heavy duty aluminium and, with the advent of our induction hob, to stainless steel (you can’t cook with aluminium or glass on induction hobs, because the heat is induced in the saucepan itself by the use of magnets).

I love stainless steel saucepans, but the first ones we bought turned out to have un-coated aluminium sandwich bases which eroded to a knife edge in the dishwasher, and after cutting my hands one time too many on the damn things, we replaced them with better pans. The new ones were solid, with completely enclosed bases, but (bizarrely) aluminium alloy rivets, which were also eroding in the dishwasher. So the time came last week to think about replacing these ones, too, before the handles fell off when I was carrying something hot and heavy.

We bit the bullet and went to the newly opened Le Creuset store in the city.

Oh joy!

There we found our new set of saucepans on the ’sale’ stand, looking a little lost, with their ticket marked down from £204 to £153. What was wrong with them, you ask? Well, it was terrible! They were the old pattern and hadn’t got the magic words ‘Le Creuset’ stamped into the supporting grip opposite the handle. Oh no!! How could anyone possibly live with such defective pans?

I decided I could, and grabbed them, quickly, before someone else walked in and decided that they could live with them, too.

And then, on the same table, I spotted this beautiful blue skillet – the subject of my Macro Monday puzzle for this week.

I’d been thinking about buying one of these corrugated skillets for some time, because you use a lot less fat this way, but well, I just didn’t feel justified in lashing out on one. However, when you’re faced with a Le Creuset piece in such a gorgeous colour, just begging to be rescued from its ignominious position on the Table of Shame … well, I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog, especially when said underdog comes at such a knock-down price.

Yep, believe it or not, the price of my skillet was reduced from £65 to £45 because of that one, small dimple – which was completely coated in the requisite amount of satin black enamel, by the way. If you look very, very carefully at that picture, you may just be able to spot it by one of the pouring lips. If not, enlarge it by clicking once here, and then again on the next page.

There were also the most gorgeous kettles reduced by 50% simply because they’d been packed into boxes with the wrong picture on them. So, I say to you, dear readers, if you hanker after a piece of this legendary cookware, there may never be a better time to run off to your nearest store and get it. Always providing, of course, that you live in the UK, and you can get there in time.

I can’t see this stuff hanging around too long, even if it is still quite expensive after the heavy price cuts. I mean, look – the saucepans can even do tricks with their lids!

There. Isn’t that beautiful? Well, I think so!

But what is it? That’s the question.

Well, I can tell you that the colour is a tad misleading, because it’s not really that silvery. In fact, it doesn’t look silver at all unless you shine a bright light on it, which, of course, is what happened here.

I can also tell you that it’s not something you’re ever likely to take away from the house until it’s ‘dead’. Too damn heavy, for one thing, and well, I can’t think of anything you’d use it for if you did. Of course, those of you who’ve watched ‘Chocolat’ might have some idea … but there are better, more lightweight, items which would work just as well for that, and anyway, you can’t exactly tuck this thing under your arm while you nip out. With my luck, I’d drop it and then it would most likely break.

You might like to know that it’s not squashed, and I’m guessing it’s about three x life-size.

Oh, and that dimple? That’s rather important. I probably wouldn’t have bought it if it hadn’t been for that dimple.

Answers in the comments, please, and the answer will be added at the bottom of this post tomorrow in the form of a link. I’ll do it nice and early so you can all get the answer quickly.

No cheating, now!

What – are you still here? You want more clues? Well alright … just one more.

If you fancy some less demanding macros, pop on over to Lisa for the rest of the Macro Monday contributions.

OK, everyone? Ready for the answer? Here it is! And if you want any further explanation, go here.

So, kudos to Granny Grimble, who guessed every part of this puzzle, right down to the brand name – well done, Granny! I think you can safely be named as this week’s winner!

Congratulations also to Silverback, Baino, Brinkbeestinenglish, Kala and Jama, all of whom guessed the item correctly. Mara get points for her convoluted thought processes, connecting Johnny Depp with Chocolat and griddlepans, and Silverback loses his place on the winners list for not knowing that cast iron will break if you drop it! There, that was fun, wasn’t it?

Thanks for playing everyone – you all make these puzzles work so well!

Update: Following an impassioned plea, I hereby reinstate Silverback on the winner’s rostrum, despite the fact that he said ‘It can’t be that’ in his comment. He’s right though, he did say ‘cast iron grill pan’, so even though I call them skillets, he’s back in the list of Right Guessers!

Granny Grimble is still the outright overall winner though. She got everything right, and didn’t do any pussyfootin’ backtracking.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let’s see if this Macro Monday puzzle is easier for you!

This photograph was taken outside the home. Although this object is usually found indoors, more and more of them have been ‘escaping’ as it were. Now you often see them outside, most commonly in one of two particular situations, although there are exceptions to that rule. You can use it by itself, or together with one (or two) other similar thing(s).

All Westernised countries have them but I believe there are some cultures where you still might not see one, and if you do, they might be something of a rarity. They can be made of various different materials, and the size and appearance vary a bit, but the one in the picture is typical.

So what is it?

I really do think this one is fairly easy, so I’m expecting a better showing this week. Come along now, you know you can do it! A few more ‘winners’ if you please!

Well, that’s a most excellent showing! Pretty nearly all of you got this one! Don’t Bug Me takes the honour of being the first to answer correctly, but well done all of you! So, there being no clear winner (or three) in guessing what this is, I’m going to appoint Janet and Gattina the joint winners of the ‘Most inventive wrong guess’ category, and Shooting Parrots and BrinkbeestinEnglish tie for the ‘Most amusing comment this week’. Thanks for the laughs, you four!

Oh yeah. Here’s the picture link

And once again, thanks for playing!

When we visited the Oakham recently we saw something unusual. Oakham is the County town of Rutland, and usually a pretty conservative place, but there were all these brightly painted hippos scattered around. Some outside shops, like the one above, some just parked on the pavement in random locations.

After we’d seen three of them, we began to wonder what it was all about, but we couldn’t see any poster or inscription or label anywhere.

Done with our shopping in Oakham, we drove to Uppingham to find some lunch. Uppingham is another of those well preserved English country towns which maintain a fairly low-key profile, and yet – would you believe it? There were more hippos! I must say they were rather jolly.

We decided this one was our favourite, such a beautiful blue, with fluffy white clouds. It quite brightened our day!

So I did a little Googling and found that these hippos aren’t there to advertise anything, or promote anyone’s business or any particular event, they are just art. But not Art, with a capital letter, no. This is art for the people. It’s accessible art, which to my mind is the best kind. There is a quiz (more fun) and a competition to go along with them, but basically they’re just there to brighten the place up.

Rutland’s County Councillor for culture, Peter Jones, was quoted in the Rutland Times as saying “This is not high art, but art for everyone. From children to elderly people, everybody can have a laugh.”

And I think that’s a beautiful idea. Don’t you?

For more Friday Finding Beauty, pop on over to Claudia’s place!