JSD

I made a rhubarb pie yesterday. As I picked the stalks, I tore off the leaves, and then dropped them in the compost pile. Today I read this: I have been tossing rhubarb leaves into the compost for years. Online I found pros and cons about this. One site pointed out that you won't be eating the compost, and that the oxalic acid breaks down anyway. I asked a master gardener about this and she said she composts her rhubarb leaves.

Who needs to eat for the rest of the day after that? Is anyone else thinking this: Jethro Bodine!! who's that You know, the Clampett family of Beverly Hills.

4 Cups of milk? Why? Do you eat cereal in a large mixing bowl? How much cereal do you eat with it? I have a large bowl. I fill it up to the top. Holds about 6 cups of cereal. On top of that I put a banana, and whatever seasonal fruit I have (in winter I use a pear). Then I pour in the milk until I can see it...sometimes I top it off with more milk as I'm eating if the milk gets low and the cereal is too dry. I don't actually measure out how much milk I use in the bowl, but since a gallon of milk lasts me 4-5 days I am estimating that there's around 4 cups of milk per bowl. And there you have it - breakfast of champions! -Eric Who needs to eat for the rest of the day after that? I feel faint, just thinking about tackling that kind of breakfast Is anyone else thinking this: Jethro Bodine!!

As a test, I checked, and I just now put a hold on Tsuji's "Japanese Cooking". It's checked in, but at a branch I don't go to. It'll probably be at my branch in a day or two. I get a lot of cookbooks from the library. Sometimes I buy them later if I like them. I bought Cucina de la Familia and Marcella Hazen's book that way. I don't think they have old magazines. Many times, though, I've requested books I've read about and they've ordered it, and I'm the first to check it out. To have a book for 3 weeks gives me a much better opportunity to really study it, rather than leafing through it at a bookstore. I don't think they can get old books, either. However, they already have a lot of old books, only they got them when they were new! Several times a year they have a big sale where they get rid of books, and I've bought many cookbooks at them. Many times I've bought books (at bookstores) that at first I had checked out of the library. I really love the library.

We grew up with skim milk. At college, they had whole milk and it made me gag. Now I still drink skim milk, when I drink it, except I put half and half in my coffee. I love the richness with the strong coffee. In contrast, I put skim milk in tea.

I used to buy a lot of books. Now I check them out of the library to decide if they're really worth the money and space in my house. My local library has its entire catalog online. If I hear about a book while listening to the radio or if I read about it in the paper, I can look it up and put a hold on it immediately. They have lots of branches and they'll even send a book to the one I usually go to. They even phone me when it's available. I can't believe how much money I used to waste at bookstores.

I had planted lettuce, spinach and carrots, and they've all come up!!! Today, I thinned them a little bit. Last year we grew carrots for the first time, and I highly recommend them. They were a million times better than carrots from the store. They were so good that my son actually got angry when I offered them to guests.

I have one of those measuring cups but never use it. One of the gadgets I really love is my OXO locking tongs with rubber handles, which I use all the time. I also love my Fiskars kitchen scissors, and use them to open packages easily rather than struggle, and to trim green beans, among other things.

This is the plant I suggested. Around here, a very hot dry climate, it blooms all summer. It will spread, so if that's a problem, you might not like it. Click here for a picture of Mexican Primrose

How about Mexican primroses? They spread, like dry soil and fill in the empty spaces. Regarding the earlier post about growing lettuce in pots: Around here, it gets pretty hot in summer and the lettuce bolts early. Growing lettuce in pots if you're in a cool climate would probably work, but if it's hot, pots get hotter than the ground, and the lettuce would probably bolt sooner. Arugula seems not to mind the hot, and so it would probably do better in pots.

We had pork shoulder last night: In a pressure cooker with black beans, onion, garlic, cooked until tender. Toss bone to dog, add epazote, salt and pepper, top with hot salsa.

Yes, be careful, my neighbor used too much coffee grounds and made some of her vegetable beds too acidic, and now she has to correct the problem. Before you incorporate the compost into your garden, get a pH tester, or take some samples to your local cooperative extension. I planted lettuce, spinach and carrots this week, and now it's going to turn winter again.

Yes, that's the one, and I think it was Office Depot (I really can't remember, it's the one next to Costco??). I actually bought it for weighing fiber, but I usually put a plastic camping plate on it and then reset it, so cleaning hasn't really been an issue. I had gone to a restaurant supply store to look, but they were all incredibly expensive, over $200. For casual use, this has been a pretty good deal.

I bought a Sunbeam digital electronic scale for about $30 at an office supply warehouse. It measures in grams and in tenths of an ounce, has the tare feature, and goes up to 5 pounds. I looked everywhere before I bought this one and really thought it was the best for the money. I usually put a plate on it for measuring, because it's really meant for postage.

I bought one of those pans this past year from a junk store, and I love it. I put the oil in and 3 or 4 kernels of corn, let them pop, then add the rest of the corn. I never noticed any difference in the batches, but I usually pop the corn to make caramel corn, which I then bake. I can make a lot of popcorn fast with this pan, and it always turns out perfectly. I think it's only drawback is that cleaning it is sort of a nuisance. I think buttered popcorn is usually buttered after it's popped.

I covered my lettuce and other greens with netting, weighted down with rocks. I bought it at a discount fabric store very cheaply. As long as I made sure the wind didn't undo it, it kept the birds out. I'm not sure if it would work with rabbits though.

Wild Oats Market carries Grade B. It was about the same price as Grade A.

Well, I did have canned corned beef as a child, and it was horrible. The can opened with a key, and the contents were sliceable. We'd have it on car trips, in sandwiches with mustard. I'd starve before I'd eat it again.

If you can't bring yourself to throwing it out, I recommend using it as a door stop.

Some of my most interesting cookbooks I've picked up at used bookstores, garage sales, or the library's annual sale.

140 on the shelf. My favorites are Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Debrah Madison and Cocina De La Familia by Marilyn Tausend.

Yes, 5 degrees south of Minneapolis. It's plenty cold for snow (17 degrees this morning), but no snow on the ground. My husband suggests zeriscaping the garden in anticipation of the apparent drought.

Last week we started pruning our fruit trees and grape vines.

We have them joust with toothpicks in the microwave. I saw this somewhere, and little kids love it, so we do it every year.

This is interesting. Last weekend I was talking to an acquaintance about a local high school basketball game, and he thought it was appalling that it was at 5 pm. "That's dinnertime! It should either be before dinner or after." I laughed and then remembered he was from the midwest. Actually, he may have said supper. I don't really remember. I grew up with dinner (on the west coast) at about 6:30 every night. Now, we have dinner at about the same time. Breakfast at 6am , lunch at 11:30 or so, and dinner at 6:30. Wine with dinner nearly always. Nap on couch afterwards. Actually, I heard that weight loss or rather inability to lose weight is related to lack of sleep.