JSD

My understanding is that the IRS doesn't require receipts for amounts under $25. The company I worked for used the same guidelines, so that we would be in compliance if we were audited. For a time, I reviewed expense reports which was sort of interesting to see what people tried to get away with, and what their supervisors approved.

My sage was huge too, so when I transplanted it, I split it into 3, and now I have 3 huge plants. A dish I like is Italian sausage with a pumpkin sauce with sage, over pasta. It's very autumny.

We ate dinner together every night for years and years, until 10 seconds after our son started high school. Suddenly he has school activities scheduled at dinner time several nights a week. I hate it.

I used a Donvier which I liked because we didn't need any salt or ice. It makes a smaller amount, but it's not a big production like the old fashioned kind of freezer. It does have to be cranked by hand, but that's where the teenager comes in handy. I'm also thinking of making rhubarb ice cream. We often top vanilla ice cream with stewed rhubarb. I wonder if it would be better to make actual rhubarb ice cream.

My recipe for rhubarb sorbet called for vodka, but I left it out due to the teenager in the family. I guess depending on how much you put it, it could be sort of like a margarita or pina colada. Alcohol in it would make it harder to freeze, but I wonder how much harder?

I've had a Braun for 4 or 5 years. I used it for blending soups, and sometimes making smoothies. It's fun. The bottom is plastic, and has an O ring or something around the where the blade connects, and part of it sort of crumbled and fell off. I guess we ate it! Since I noticed that, I stopped using it, and started using my regular blender. I don't even know if it can be fixed, but I don't want to eat any more O ring.

We just tried rhubarb sorbet tonight. It was good, and refreshing on such a hot day. I cooked the rhubarb with water and sugar until soft, then blended it, and refrigerated it until we were ready to freeze it, about 7 hours later. Then we froze it until it was still a little soft. Everyone liked it, but I think the addition of another flavor such as orange might have been nice. I'd definitely try this again.

After reading this thread, I saw some at a garage sale today and bought the lot for $40. They hardly look used. They include 14 large books, and 14 spiral bound books. I have Germany, Provincial France, Chinese, British Isles, American, Middle Eastern, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal, Vienna's Empire, Wines and Spirits, Latin American, Japan, India, and Italy. Which am I missing? I'm excited to look through these.

I think this is true. It's a kind of inertia.

We don't have any in our area, but I guess I'm dyslexic, because I thought read the name as Stone Cold Ice Cream (a la Steve Austin)!

I just recently tried the Triscuit Cheddar, and thought it was quite good. Is it new?

Stewed rhubarb over vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Yes - how tall is a 16 layer cake?

Ladybugs are great in theory, but they don't realize that they live in your garden now, and the grass looks greener down the street, and so they fly away. Also, they're not cheap. We had aphids on our peach trees, and we sprayed with insecticidal soap. It's not poisonous, but we definitely washed the peaches well before eating. I'm not sure if that would be good to use on peppers, but hosing aphids off works pretty well also. For an insect that is large (such as a potato bug), I would use the pick and squish method. If you can't stand that, maybe your husband would do it. If your kids are game, you could pay them so much per bug. I don't like to use poisons anywhere in my garden. I took a gardening class last year and the pesticide class was sobering.

"The problem isn't with the leaves rotting, it is with the actual zucchini rotting, I think my father said it was something like blossom rot." This might help you blossom end rot info I had it on my tomatoes last year.

I thought this was so the house wouldn't be burned down accidentally..

I hope your lattice is very sturdy because wisteria is extremely heavy and needs a really good support. We had put in our veggies last week when it was nice, and then nearly everything died when it got cold, and we ended up having to replace it all. Not only was it expensive, but it put us behind a week. I buy plants at the nursery because our season is so short. I learned my lesson and have walls of water around everything now.

My mother has talked about recipes that call for 25 cents worth of ground beef.

I saw cardoons at the plant nursery today, but wasn't sure if I should get any (one or more?). Artichokes are an annual here, so would it make sense to plant this? Would it be a perennial here, like horseradish? I love artichokes so I'm intrigued with this. The fact that the nursery is carrying them doesn't really mean anything, because they also carry artichokes, which I wouldn't bother with here.

I grew epazote for the first time last year. It grew to be about 4 feet tall. When the first frost threatened, we cut it down and hung it in the garage to dry. Just a few days ago I stripped the stems of leaves and put them in a jar. It really smells horrible. I can't emphasize this enough. But after it cooks, it doesn't smell the same. I started using it in my Pork and Beans - Pork Shoulder and black beans, which I cook in my pressure cooker. I used the fresh epazote all last summer, and found no difference between fresh and dried. I add it to the dish towards the end. One of the plants from last year has some new green sprouts coming up. I doubt it will take over our yard, we can't even get mint to do that.

I agree with no calorie counting, however, a lot of people are surprised by how many calories bagels have. So if someone was going on a 1000 calorie a day diet (very stringent, nearly starvation), and they ate 2 bagels, they've blown their whole day.

Did you know a dry plain bagel has 400 calories? I thought not since you were worried about 39 calories in gum.

Well, I guess that's another way to lose weight, but it sounds a lot harder than giving up alcohol. Another good way to drop a lot of weight quickly is to have your wisdom teeth out.

Good luck. I didn't see it mentioned, but one way of losing weight is to cut out alcohol. When I did this, the weight melted off without me even thinking about it.

Yum, definitely. I never had parsnips as a child, but somewhere along the way I started putting parsnips in pot roast instead of potatoes. They add a nice zesty flavor.