The pan story

This blog post is an admission of a naughty trick we have just played on my poor Mother.

On Easter day we were invited over to their house for a nice roast dinner.  Andrew and I washed the pots afterwards, but while I was washing her pan  (which is a nice deep frying pan, almost wok like) I said to Andrew - "Steal the pan".....  AND HE DID !!

He calmly walked past my Mum whilst still drying it and laid it on top of his coat which was laying in the hallway.   She failed to notice it sitting there, so once he had finished drying up, he took it and went and put it in the car.  Right on the seat, in full view.

Now, we weren't really going to steal it forever, just borrow it for a while.  And the definition of theft is....

Basic definition of theft.

(1)A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

so, we didn't really steal it at all  :)

We gave my sister, Julie, and her partner a lift home that evening, she had to move the pan to sit down.   "Why do you have a pan in your car?" she asked.  "Oh, it's mothers, we just stole it".   "Ok then!"  (aiding and abetting)

Now, the challenge began to see just how long she would take to recognise her own pan.   We started to use it to cook as much as we possibly could in it, and post photos on her Facebook wall.

Andrew had scrambled egg for tea. (posted by me on Monday 21st) 

Garlic Mushroom & Pearl Barley Risotto tonight (posted by me on Tuesday 22nd) 

Tonight's dinner. Pasta and Burger (cut up) with tomato and marmite sauce.  (posted by Andrew on Thursday 24th) 

Tonight's dinner was quorn and broccoli curry. (posted by Shona on Friday 25th) 

Yummy poached eggs. (posted by me on Sunday 27th) 

This Baxters healthy soup is lovely. (posted by me on Monday 28th) 

Lovely carbonara made with gammon (posted by Shona on Monday 28th) 

Been to mums. Got one of her famous omelettes but she used a different Pan this time. Tasted great! (posted by Iain on Tuesday 29th) 

A couple of days later my sister texted to warn me that Mum was going to be 'dry-frying' sausages for her tea and she might miss her pan.  She didn't.  She must have used a different pan.  So I carried on.

Got some stuffed parathas from HDM Spice Shop yesterday, cook from frozen, 2 mins per side. Beautiful. (posted by me on Wednesday 30th) 

Nommy veggie chilli. (posted by me on Tuesday 6th) 

Stir-fried broccoli with toasted mixed seeds. Yum. (posted by me on Thursday15th) 

At this point I am getting a bit bored - why has she not noticed her missing pan?
So today, when she popped round for a brew, I left the pan on the cooker top with the handle touching the kettle.   "Go stick kettle on" I said - she did, moving the pan out of the way to do so!!

In the end I had to admit what we had done, she was a little dumfounded to say the least, and left without her pan saying "well you better have the blooming lid to go with it"

I think I just won myself a nice (expensive) pan   :)