Mabelline

No, not up to now. But I've been considering going. We have another get together in the end of the year like Pamplona, but we use sheep. And some of them are wearing bandanas. Like I said, give them boys some time. Did I also mention we have a lot of small breweries, too?

The limerick about pi made me remember something out of OMNI years ago. In the late 1800's the Missouri state legislature voted and passed a law to change pi to 3 (I'm serious). It always made me wonder if the builders paid any attention or if you really needed to inspect any thing built then?

Montana has got a testicle festival. You give a bunch of cowboys some time and the'll think up something to promote the state's image

I have to tell about this cuz it was sooo good. Went to WalMart the other day for a bunch of the Christmas baking(for one thing, beautiful Texas pecans) and looked in the meat case to get an idea of their meat prices. There were Excel packs of beef cheeks all stacked up and marked 30% off. Got a 4 1/2# package for $3.63! Came home, cooked them up today on a flame so low you couldn't see it. Used red wine vinegar and oyster sauce and ah! they were so delicious that I'm buying more tomorrow. Nobody else knows what to do with them, so please let's don't tell. Everytime somebody popularizes cuts or organs some folks grew up on, you can't afford them anymore.

It's not just you- how bout the years the government covered for TOBACCO?

Especially if you are typing it out very clumsily while bandaged up.

It hurts when you snort tea through your nose.Messes up the works too.

The suet pudding done in the crockpot worked excellently. I've got a big old Rival that I use for beans mostly because it's so heavy, one piece and cannot get element wet. I set it up in my pantry and it's happily working on #3. Ah - not wetting elements made me think of something-use a piece of tinfoil and cover it up to cut down cussing time.

I never ate in a Magic Pan, but they sound fabulous! What do you reckon happened to them? Very nice column, Francis.

This summer I read a book called "Caviar: the strange history and uncertain future of the world's most coveted delicacy". It was sad and sobering and fascinating. Oh yeah, the author's last name is Saffron. Can't recall the first name. There indeed will not be Caspian caviar in the very near future.

Okay, this is a no brainer-don't grab hot cast iron bare-handed. All of us-have done it. But I'd really like to know how come periodically we have to take the refresher course-or I HOPE someone else is too! And can you get a doctorate in hotpanning?

Rice,beans of every taste& type, root vegetables, cabbage, onions, tomato paste,sauce,Ro-Tel,oil,butter,all-pur.flour at least,cous-cous(I've got a dependency on it of late, and my treasury of vinegars(my motto is if it'll make vinegar,you are supposed to use it.) Oh. And lemons. Lots of lemons.

Will they be driving themselves? I ask because that traffic can be scary, and I don't want nobody hurt. Somebody more current on the state of Interstate repair(or lack thereof) can tell you. But them being from there they know their ways around for sure. It could be anywhere from around 30-some to forty-some miles.

Suet pudding with hard sauce. Pecan pie. Boston creme pie. PRALINES. Turtles. A huckleberry-rhubarb pie. This year I'm using a suggestion from an absolutely winning Brit cookbook I found in the library to use my crockpot to steam the pudding in. That was so obvious I nearly slapped myself. Matter of fact, I'm going to try the first one overnight. What luxury.

Crap. Pure crap. I was used to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, which has a good Wednesday Food, and believe you me, the Billings Gazette is nada importada. There's not even a food section, and when the holidays come around, they just pull syndicated stuff like how to cook a turkey. So I get a good food section from a NDAK paper.

LIZ, if getting there ain't a problem, what about Fort Worth's cafe at the Modern Art Museum? Cafe Moderne is way beyond reasonable, beautiful, and a museum in the bargain. Is this the same meemaw in Victoria?

Yep, diesel fumes have always made ME want to gamble. I too, am not a gambler-life's big enough at that- but I always pictured a group sittin' around throwing out what would make the strangest gamblin laws. By the way, you did not illuminate the conclusion the Perlows came to.

ANY tamale eaten in Texas would work for me. Lacking that, I make some and I've got somes amigas on the side that I met in the hospital that i'm ordering from(after quizing on the ingredients because I wanted rocket fuel replacement caliber).

I got to thinking about it , and the last time I was there was 97, and I used to pull off there so I could check on racehorses(such as are there the same # we left the house with?) Just a shack kind of outfit with BEE BAYOU on top. And Hell, by now it could be a truckstop-casino (by the way, what do you reckon the people makin' sense of Blackeyed Peadom would make of the devilishly twisted law whereby a casino is on the river unless it's at a truckstop? I always figured the G.O.B.'s had truckstops)!

Yep, should be. I'll check later and make sure, okay?I'm finally goin' to eat...

"Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish." wish it was mine, but Mark Twain thought it up first.

The thymol in thyme is a very powerful bug fighter. We used to make it by mixing it with oil and leaving it set, and used it primarily to rub on mesquite scratches on our horses' legs (&us). Worked.

LONE STAR, thanks for that review! I'm transplanted to Montana, it's about 16 and snowing and I just imagined that meal before sitting down to turkey and blackeyes soup with jalapeno cheese bread and pickled okra and corn relish! I may go out and howl at the moon when I've ate. There's gooood catfish at Calhoun and Bee Bayou in la. too.

The only thing I can come up with at the moment is the "Experiment" that was carried out reminded me of several years ago Tipper Gore and some other wives tried living for a month (if I recall) on fed assistance in a project or whatever, and I seem to also recall a similar decision that you can't do it. I do recall thinking "yep, and most folks ain't got Secret Service." I don't know why the politicos didn't EXCHANGE their existance for a week with their counterparts. Maybe that way people would be at least just as cogent of what their life was not like.

The very best places in Texas toast Midnite with Champs an' hoppin'john.