by @stefanisteinla

 

It’s been ages: I missed out on sending the last three Sway newsletters due to a series of unforeseen circumstances. Life was life-ing in January (and frankly, it still is), but you might already know that from your own experience. I was talking with a friend recently about how bad luck rained down in threes last month: it seems like everyone had their “January Three” (trademarking this). Although I really hope you didn’t!

 

Here were mine: Family emergency, COVID, unfortunate kitchen incident that one of my friends dubbed #KnuckleGate resulting in stitches and a splint. *face palm* for that last one.

 

Getting knocked out of the routine that I’ve worked so hard to dial in the past months was frustrating, but also a valid reminder that—welp—life is out of our control. Sometimes grief/caretaking/sickness/whatever else requires much more of our energy and time than usual. So it’s up to us to be resilient and flexible and move through the days and weeks with whatever grace—for ourselves, for those around us—we can muster.

 

In the very wise words of Kate Arends: “Perhaps our attachment to how our life is supposed to be is our greatest source of personal suffering?” That one knocked me out. 

 

One more thought on our carefully crafted routines, though. Even when they're compromised, I think (I hope) well-established self care habits can help us avoid plunging into total chaos. A very wise person in my life advised me to figure out which grounding aspects of my routine I could reasonably preserve while riding out the January Three: a handful of habits that I look forward to or make me feel my best. Keeping those in place also makes it easier to transition back into “normal” life once the storm passes, so we're not building back from zero.  

 

Anyway, I can’t even tell you what a freaking joy it is to be back at my desk dropping links and graphics into layout after that hiatus. Thanks for being here. 

 

And there better not be a “February Four” in any of our futures.

 

🥒 I can’t stop eating Greek salad: I’ve been making this protein-filled Greek salad most weekdays for lunch. It. Is. So. Good. And so satisfying to take a few moments to chop & assemble every day (while enjoying an audiobook break). You throw everything into a bowl, including the dressing ingredients, and mix. Please send more easy salad recipes for when I inevitably tire of this one, because I am burning it out fast!

 

〰️

 

🍌 Banana bread slaps. I’ve never baked or really even eaten banana bread. It always seemed…not tasty? Well. I finally had a bunch of bananas go bad on me (before January flew off the rails), and resorted to making banana bread. WOW, was I wrong. The recipe linked is gluten-free and perfect. I was reluctant to share the resulting loaf with my husband, and it was so good, I baked a second round. Go heavy on the chocolate chips. 

 

〰️

 

💦 My humidifier is the highlight of my evening routine. It took me getting COVID 🥴 to finally unbox and use the Canopy humidifier I treated myself to last year. (My doctor recommended I use a humidifier this time around.) IDK how much it helped with COVID, but never, ever in my life, have I made it through a week-plus of cold symptoms without getting sandpaper-like skin all around my nose. UNTIL NOW. Obviously this device is keeping my skin properly hydrated and now refilling my humidifier tank is a cozy little part of my bedtime routine.

 

〰️

 

🦵 The Internet recently reminded me 10X that the “legs up the wall” pose exists, and now you can find me here every night reading a book. With my legs up the wall.

 

〰️

 

😵‍💫 Why is this so real? Shout out to my fellow self care snails. It shouldn't take this long, but it does. 😉

 

 

Addie, Sway contributor and all-around magician, and I returned from the holidays this year to find out that we’d both upgraded our cookware with non-stick pans from the Green Science Policy Institute's list of PFAS-free products (a very handy resource). Great minds ;) She went with Our Place, I had opted for Caraway, and a ~tale of two pans~ was born.

 

Quick recap on PFAS: Well-known for their use in non-stick cookware, PFAS (per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances) are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not fully degrade from living tissue, your space, or the environment, and are associated with health issues like thyroid disease, asthma and even certain cancers. The Green Science Policy Institute recommends avoiding non-essential use of products with PFAS.

 

Cooking on reputable stainless steel or cast iron is really the best way to avoid exposure to chemicals of concern while searing and sauteing, but I’ve made peace with the fact that at least one good, PFAS-free non-stick pan will likely always have a place in our kitchen cabinets. They’re very convenient for delicate foods like eggs—and honestly, most other things, too.

 

Here are our takes on our new pans—and please hit reply and tell us about your own experiences with them!

 

 

 

I am a total cooking newbie: coming out of undergrad with a meal plan to living on my own and being in charge of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Despite this, I am a try-anything chef, and was searching for all this different cookware to do different things. The Always Pan drew me in instantly: its 10 items-in-1 tagline proves absolutely true and allows me to be adventurous in the kitchen while using a one-stop-shop pan. 

 

First off: she’s gorgeous. Out of the box all the packaging is so beautiful, everything fitting together to make it not only the pan I’ll always use, but the pan that is always organized. 

 

The black color I got is sleek, matte, and feels grown up. The attachment for the spatula allows it to live right on the edge of the pan, freeing up just that more counter and drawer space. 

 

This week, we decided to make burgers (classic I know) to really get a feel for the searing action that the Always Pan is known for. Because the pan heats so fast, and evenly, we were popping these burgers off like it was summer time and we were on a grill, transporting us from a rainy January evening. 

 

One thing I did notice is that, post-burgers, we toasted our buns and by the time all five got toasted all of the grease from the burgers was completely soaked off, making it so easy to clean, and speaking of... 

 

Cleaning is the absolute best part of the Always Pan. It’s not dishwasher safe, which to me was a red flag because I’ll throw anything in the dishwasher or the hamper and hope it survives the wash. However, the coating on the pan is built to clean: seeing something as tough as burger residue slide off effortlessly was amazing. One swipe of a scrubby buddy and you’re good! 

 

Overall, LOVE my Always Pan. It cleans easy, has tons of different features, and cooks everything evenly and beautifully—there’s a reason it rarely makes it back into the drawer from the drying rack!

 

- Addie 
 

 

 

Since 2018, I’ve been cooking on old GreenPans salvaged from my parents house. And they are not in good shape. The Caraway Saute pan had been on my list for a long time: I’m a utilitarian chef and I love big pans made to cook everything at once. 

 

WOW, this is a lot heavier and feels much higher quality than my existing pans—but also, crap, I should have gotten a color instead of playing it safe with the off-white/neutral. Also: oops, I didn’t realize this wasn’t dishwasher safe…more on that later. 

 

Caraway pans look great: as good in-person as the product photos. And the metal handle is a very nice and noticeable upgrade from my plastic-handled pans. 

 

Chicken piccata! Which is always on rotation in our house. We tried to follow the Caraway instructions for using the pan exactement, which meant keeping the burner at a max of medium heat and giving the pan a few minutes to warm up. In that way, this pan is a little high maintenance, but the ridiculously effective non-stick surface makes up for it. Major upgrade from what I was working with.

 

I almost returned this pan when I saw it wasn’t dishwasher safe, but honestly I was too lazy to go through the hassle. And I’m really glad I gave it a go, because cleaning this pan is shockingly easy. I don’t think we’ve had to scrub it at all to date—the surface is so slippery that nothing really sticks or crusts on it, and all it takes is a rinse with dish soap and a towel to dry it. 

 

This was a super satisfying upgrade for our kitchen—me, a color glutton, has even come around to the neutral finish. After a few months of use, the pan is still in pristine condition without any stove marks on the sides or scratches in the pan itself, and I’m cautiously optimistic about it holding up over the long term. We’re still babying it quite a bit, so it might take a turn once we become more cavalier. Will report back!

 

- Jennifer
 

Addie tracked down the deals at all Sway-fave brands so you can scoop whatever healthy home essentials you need at a discount. Notable sales…

 

〰️

 

Last bits of housekeeping: We'll be back in two weeks (next week is reserved for deep work on a non-newsletter Sway project that we hope to debut to you soon). And since we never got to announce the Dry January giveaway winner in the newsletter (though we did on Instagram!)—congrats to Erika! And thanks, sincerely, to everyone who entered. We'll have another giveaway for you later this month ;)

 

Ciao ciao,

Jennifer @ Sway