a sticky situation

Last night, while I was whipping up my suppfast egg and cheese sandwich, I noticed something a bit unsettling - my non-stick pan no longer appeared to be non-stick.  This stickiness has actually been going on for quite awhile now but I've tried to ignore it for budgetary reasons.  But in this case, rather than being bliss my ignorance is caked on ick made of cheese residue, bacon fat, chicken skin and miso caramelization.  It's getting downright gross and it makes me sad to see the best crispy parts of some of my meals stuck to the bottom of a pan only to be soaked off overnight!  Can you believe that?  Overnight soaking?!  What is this, 1956?

Now, my non-stick teflon pan isn't the only skillet I rely on in my house.  No way, jose.  I was fortunate enough to inherit a beautifully seasoned and aged cast iron skillet passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then to me.  I use it pretty frequently but sometimes you just want the quick, easiness of teflon because you don't have to wait for it to warm up enough and you don't feel so bad about just tossing it in the sink with the rest of the dishes and letting it sit there until your lazy ass feels like busting out the Dawn.  I also love my cast iron skillet so much that at times, I'm afraid to use it and ruin it.  I'm such a chicken in that sense.  But I've heard horrible stories about them sitting in sinks and rusting or taking on weird flavors or getting too banged up and becoming unsalvageable.  It would be like losing my baby if anything happened to that.  And yes, I am referring to my KitchenAid when I say my baby.  So I think fear of ruining an heirloom cast iron skillet is a reasonable cause for being a chicken.

However, I digress.  What I need is a new non-stick, non-cast iron skillet.  I've been reading around in magazines and blogs about ceramic coated pans and how amazingly non-stick they are.  They were all over the cooking magazines during the holidays as the thing to get the foodie in your life.  The foodie blogs all rave about them.  And apparently the earth is cheering, too because they are way more green than teflon coated pans.  But that's not enough for me.  Do any of you have one of these magical non-stick pans?  Do you know someone who does?  Are you more in love with this pan that you are your significant other?  Even more telling, are you more in love with this pan than you are you KitchenAid? I need answers and advice and suggestions so pleasepleaseplease drop me a line if you've got a clue because this gal is clueless.  I plan on spending my long weekend researching and shopping around so your advice and tips are awaited and encouraged.  And don't worry, dear readers, y'all will be among the first to know about the newest addition to my kitchen family!