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There's a legendary event in our family that we do not speak of, because it's still a touchy subject. My sister went through an earth mother phase a few years ago, and planted all kinds of herbs near their house, on their farm. A couple of years later, wheat harvest ground to a screeching halt for hours as her husband and their hired custom cutters abandoned their equipment to pull mint out of the wheat fields. It wasn't a good day, and there was an uncomfortable silence at dinner. Needless to say, the iced tea did not contain mint.

I posted another story on another tipping thread about the madcap adventures I've had while dining out with my father, who thinks $5 is a generous tip for any bill over $30. Problem is, we often dine with other relatives, and I am reluctant to embarrass him in front of them. He deserves it, of course, but actually it's lost on him. He believes he's right, and if pushed, will start in with stories about being a 14-year-old dishwasher during the Depression. I've learned to carry extra cash with me, and stuff a few extra bucks under the edge of my plate, or whatever I can get away with, without him noticing. I usually also try to keep some small envelopes in my purse, and if necessary will go to the ladies' room, and hand the envelope, with his/her name on it, to the server, or to a host or hostess if necessary, on my way back to the table. I despise having to go to such lengths, but I can't figure out any other way to handle it. My husband, while we were dating, pulled a stunt like that once. Once. I let him know, a few days later, that I thought a 15 to 20 percent tip was mandatory, given what servers make and how hard they work. He got the hint. He can figure 15%, down to the penny, in his head. Myself, I just call that a minimum and put down the next highest dollar amount.

Thanks to everybody for the advice on the asparagus. I think I know where I can get some crowns. The local nursery is beginning to get in their herbs, and the fever hit big time on Saturday when I saw them. I now have, set out into their containers for this year, flat-leaf parsley, oregano, chives, rosemary, basil (1 plant), and 2 varieties of thyme. I will be planting peppermint (definitely in a container, don't worry), much more basil, curly-leaf parsley, tarragon, ...and who knows? Right now, everything's in my little red wagon, so that I can bring it outdoors during the day, and put it in the garage at night, to prevent freezing. We're supposed to get a rain and snow mix tomorrow and Wednesday, so it looks like they'll spend a couple of days in the garage as well. It was around 70 degrees here on Saturday; the high tomorrow will be only 40. We are definitely seeing the ups and downs of a Kansas spring. To come: arugula, peas, tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, and beans. This is my first year to grow anything other than tomatoes and herbs, so I'm trying to keep it reasonable. I'm also going to put the tomatoes in large containers for easy maintenance. We inherited an 8 x 10 concrete slab smack in the middle of the back yard when we bought the house, so the tomato containers are usually placed there. A few years ago, I found something that has worked well for me, that I'd like to pass along. I use slats from plastic miniblinds, cut into 8-10 inch lengths, and write on them with Sharpie markers, as plant markers. They are waterproof and cheap! Also, the nursery has chocolate mint, orange mint, and a couple other varieties. I'm trying to decide whether I "need" these. Anybody have any suggestions on how to use them?

Okay, I'm going to add a suggestion here, but it's not highly specific. A few years ago I ran across a recipe in a magazine. I've made it several times, but I've had to adapt it because I couldn't find the exact ingredients the recipe called for. So here's a general description: You need 4 pieces of spongecake or pound cake, the length and breadth of a loaf pan. When I was in a hurry on one occasion, I used a Sara Lee pound cake, and made 4 horizontal (parallel to bottom of loaf pan) slices. I think a light-colored cake looks best. You also need mousse, perhaps vanilla or almond, or any flavor that compliments the remaining ingredients. You need 3 kinds of fresh fruit. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing it to drape over the sides, for easier unmolding later. Line the bottom and the sides with cake, trimming to fit. Put about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch layer of mousse in the bottom. Cover the mousse with a layer of one kind of fruit. Next layer is mousse, next layer is another kind of fresh fruit, followed by more mousse, more fruit, and more mousse. Top with the last piece of cake and cover with excess plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm. Unmold, discard plastic wrap, and set on a serving plate. Then slice as you would any loaf cake, so that you will see 3 rows of fruit surrounded by mousse and framed with cake. This is good for not-quite-in-season fruit, which may have acceptable but not great flavor, which won't be noticed so much because of the mousse and the cake.

Actually, I've been looking for some molds to make the sugar eggs. When I was in second grade (this would have been about 1962), a classmate's older sister made one of these eggs for everyone in our classroom. It was the most enchanting thing I'd ever seen, and absolutely the most beautiful thing I'd ever owned. It is one of my most treasured childhood memories, and I would love to make these eggs for some of the other children in my life. Fortunately, a few years ago, I happened to strike up a conversation with a woman in a local store, while waiting for a friend who was doing business there. To make a long story short, she was "the egg lady"! I was so excited to be able to tell her how much that egg had meant to me, and she was dumbfounded that someone had remembered after so many years. I'd appreciate any leads anyone has on where to find the sugar molds. Today's kids, with all their fancy toys, aren't going to be as excited about them as we were, but it's still worth a shot.

Today on Jacques Pepin's show on PBS, he made a lovely grapefruit gelatin dessert. Grapefruit supremes were placed in a custard cup. Over them was poured a mixture of gelatin, honey, grenadine, and mint. When set, it was turned out onto a plate and a sauce of orange marmalade, orange juice and Gran Marnier was used. Looked great to me!

Maybe a dessert soup, with melon and citrus?

I'm planning my garden in my head, and I have a couple of questions. 1. I live in the middle of Kansas, zone 6, and it can (and usually does) get scorching hot. Although we had a milder summer last year, it's not terribly unusual to have roughtly a month or more of temperatures around 100 degrees or more. I'm going to plant 3 or 4 kinds of tomatoes, including an heirloom variety if I can find one, and I have the choice of planting in a spot that gets sunshine well into the hot afternoon hours, or in one that will have shade from the garage after about 3:00 or so. Which do you think is better? 2. A neighbor, last summer, let me know that in another location, she has access to a large field of asparagus, more or less growing wild at this point. She's invited me to pick (and believe me, I intend to hold her to it), but I'm also thinking about asking if I can transplant some. If I do that, when is the optimum time for transplanting? Also, can you give me a nutshell course on growing asparagus? Thanks

My dog, Fred. In the middle of the night. My cats, in the middle of the day when we're not home. The water dish is in the kitchen... And me, when I get frantic and forget that I did it. Or when I get tired and failed to notice. Oh, how I wish I were more anal in the kitchen. But it's just not in my nature.

One of my recent purchases is a rectangular server that contains a tray that has a gel inside it, and when put in the freezer for several hours and then reassembled into the server, will help keep food cold... or at least cool. One side is flat and the other has indentations for deviled eggs. There is a removable divider that would be useful for arranging fresh vegetables. This is not something one would use in a professional kitchen; it's designed for everyday home use, for picnics and potlucks. Although I haven't used it yet, everyone I know who has one is crazy about it. I'm looking forward to using it a lot over the summer as we attend the various functions we do. Much easier than working with ice packs and trays I already have. Every line, whether it's Le Creuset, Tupperware, Oxo, or All Clad, has pieces that are well-designed and pieces that are not. PC has pieces I'd never use; one of my friends bought a food chopper, similar to one I owned years ago. Although it does chop onions, nuts, etc., well, these things are a pain in the butt to clean. But this woman is elderly, not interested in developing her knife skills, and has arthritis. It will probably be a very useful tool for her. And to me, that seems to be the bottom line. I may not need it, and you may not need it, but it's a godsend to her.

I use some of their products. Their $8 offset spatula is a better deal than the one Williams-Sonoma wants $20 for. Perhaps the one at W-S is better made (I don't know) but I only use this tool a few times a year, and the PC product is plenty sturdy for me. This item cannot be found anywhere else in the city in which I live. Many of the people on eGullet live in large cities, and those who live in large cities don't often have a clue as to what it's like to live in more sparsely populated areas. Pampered Chef brings products to people who otherwise would not have access to them. And they have a few products that aren't available anywhere else. The items in their catalog are of decent to excellent quality. I don't know whether professionals in the food industry would be interested in Pampered Chef products or not. They are intended for home use. When a customer has a party, she or he is eligible for a certain dollar amount of free products, depending upon the total sales of the party. (Tupperware and many other companies work the same way.) For young people just establishing their kitchens it's a way to get fairly good-quality products at very low cost, and can be a godsend to people on a strict budget. Whether they live in New York City, San Francisco, or Inman, Kansas.

I have to share a Houlihan's memory. In 1977, just out of college, I worked in a clothing store on the Plaza and would occasionally scrape together enough cash to eat at Houlihan's. The French onion soup was one of my favorites. In the fall, there was what we Midwesterners call a "gullywasher" rain; an enormous amount of water fell on KC that night, and the ensuing flood ultimately claimed somewhere around 30 lives. I remember an especially sad story about an entire family, including young children, being killed when the rising water swept their car from a bridge on the Plaza, and they were all drowned. The Alaskan Furs shop on the Plaza blew up (gas leak), and water did substantial damage to most, if not all, of the stores on the Plaza. It was heartbreaking. One of my friends was waitressing in Houlihan's that night. We were all sitting around a few days later swapping flood stories. It was well known that crowds at Houlihan's on weekend nights could be on the rowdy side. But that was really brought home to me when my friend told me that Houlihan's diners continued to order dessert, even though the water was ankle-deep, and finally, when the water was nearly knee-deep, the waitstaff was physically pushing people out the front door, and telling them to go home.

Strawberry shortcake.

I have three Cuisinarts; the CFP 5A (metal base, no on/off switches, purchased in 1978), a smaller one that also has a juicer attachment, and the DLC-10. I have just recently retired the CFP 5A. It's been lovingly placed in a box in my garage and I cannot bring myself to part with it even though I no longer use it. It represented my first major purchase out of college, and has had a long and useful life. I recently have considered replacing it, and am looking at both the Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid models that sell in the $200 range. You might want to check out the product reviews on Amazon.com for both the Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid food processors. Many recent Cuisinart purchasers, sad to say, are extremely unhappy with the company's service, since they have been purchased by Conair. These reviews alone are making me lean toward the Kitchen Aid. I would echo the opinions about staying away from cheap food processors. Absolutely sound advice. I also would concur with the things others have said about what these machines are and aren't good for. Before I bought my mandoline, I used my Cuisinart for slicing potatoes when making scalloped potatoes. It did a faster and more uniform job than I can do with a knife.

Butter or olive oil, and copious amounts of parmagiano reggiano. Sometimes also freshly ground black pepper. Couldn't be simpler. Unfortunately, it's pretty high calorie, and so I don't fix it unless I can come up with some reason why I've had a rough day and need to indulge myself.

This is so true. If I needed a reason to live, cooking and food would be it. Life is so much richer when you have a passion. I feel like life is more exciting now; there's always something new and interesting to look forward to. I overheard someone say a few days ago that if she weren't employed outside the home, and had to stay at home all day, she would be bored to death. I can't imagine it!

Here's an example of someone who's really making this happen. The venue is somewhat different than we've been discussing here, but it's still an act of reaching disadvantaged people: Doing time in the kitchen

He's long since moved to another city, and I haven't spoken with him in years. However, we did discuss it at the time, and it was a recipe that "everybody" uses. Which means it was either on the molasses container, or it was in the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

How incredibly sad! Let's hope they have an awakening and realize that it's also their heritage, and it's important. I hope you'll keep after them to teach you their cooking traditions. Maybe through such requests, they'll begin to realize what they have is so valuable.

Whatever the foreign influence, bring it on. While dining on Vietnamese food at lunch today, I couldn't help but be thankful for the Southeast Asian and Middle East influences on local food. Without them, we'd all still be stuck on Big Macs and chicken fried steak. Of course, trends tend to hit the Midwest a few years later than the coasts. So we'll be enjoying whatever predictions come true, in 2011-2020.

The only thing I can think of that has not been proven harmful to those who eat it, is chocolate. . . . . . . . . .which, if you believe what you read in the papers, is often harvested by child slaves. Virtually nothing, if you look extensively at the issues surrounding it, is free from all harm. Choose your poison.

Besides the PuPu reference.. I also remember some of them had a burning pot with them.. So you can cook i think something on a stick. So you have a chance to say PuPu and play with fire in one swoop.. I think that dish is pure genious. ← This, burning pot and all, is still served at our favorite Chinese restaurant. It's rare for us not to order it.

If school home economics classes are anything like the ones I attended in the late 60's, their disappearance is no loss. Highlights from mine: >Memorizing can sizes and ounces. Remember No. 202 cans? I don't remember how many ounces they had, because not long afterward, the government made the manufacturers put the volume, expressed in ounces, on the cans. >Powdered eggs. Oh boy. Our school couldn't afford fresh eggs, but apparently the feds had mountains of egg powder that was sold very cheap to schools. Learning how to handle eggs properly wasn't a priority; making muffins for the teachers' lounge was. I also remember making a cooked thousand island dressing with this stuff. Not a skill I ever needed after that class. >"Master Mix." That's where the teacher took the dry ingredients for a master cupcake recipe, and instead of teaching us to use them, put them together in a master mix, which made cupcakes for the teachers' lounge. (Is there a pattern developing here?) I'm sure there were many other useful and lovely things taught in that class, but it was a long time ago...

I think that one of the best things about this last show, is that it puts more Americans on notice that there is a vital, exciting culinary presence in Canada. Many Americans think of wilderness and Mounties when they think of Canada. Feenie's win makes it obvious he's more than just a token. Personally, I'd love to see a show on Food TV that highlights chefs from outside America. We certainly do have some excellent chefs in America, but we can all only benefit from seeing what's going on in other countries.

As a (very feeble) attempt at defense, I will state that I paid for the ingredients for the meal myself. All of them. It still doesn't excuse eating food that was intended for consumption by others, especially where charity was involved. But they really were very, very, very good cookies. Confession is so good for the soul. I almost feel better!