Hello again to you all! I'm not sure, but I get just the slighest little suspicion that Tommy might be trying to paytronise me... The way he put gourmet in those little inverted commas, kind of a small thing, but I noticed it. (I said I was sorry for not knowing about fennel, and maybe I'm less of a 'gourmet' than I thought I was! I get your point Tommy! I just haven't met too many knowledgeable folks like you before, and I think most of you good people seem to understand that and be patient). And the little thing about 'socially adjusted', which seemed to be a complaint about me mailing Mr Blumenthal with my question. Funny, Mr Blumenthal himself didn't seem to mind too much, and his answer was real nice in the end, like Suvir said! And I asked you a question, and you replied with just the letters 'Q.E.D.', probably thinking stupid old Doug, who didn't know what fennel was, wouldn't know what that meant. Well, what you meant was: 'Tommy's just proved his point about Doug being a big old idiot without having to say anything, because Doug's done it himself'. Well, sorry to disagree, Tommy, but what I was saying was 'sorry' for something I didn't know, so I don't see that you've really 'Q.E.D.ed' there at all, do you? What does anyone else think? I have the feeling that Tommy might just be a little bit of what some folks might call a 'snob', no? Suvir seems to know a real lot about food (and so does Mr Blumenthal, of course), and lots of other nice folks on this list do to and they manage to be real friendly and parient with me... (thanks to you all) So I'm learning from you, Tommy, I really am, but I think you could be a little bit nicer to poor old Doug, don't you? On another score, though, Tommy and me are in perfect harmony: I have a little thing that from another discussion going on on egullet about that crazy Washington sniper: 'if the guy receives a bullet to each knee, and 1 to the groin, 'accidently' upon capture, i'll be thrilled.' This was Tommy talking about that wicked man, and I couldn't agree more! He also said something that I've said a thousand times before: it's the PERSON who shoots someone, NOT the gun! These fools trying to ban guns are just barking up the wrong old tree. Nice point, Tommy. I like your politics, my friend, if only you could be a bit more patient with me over my knowning about food, I'm sure we could get along just fine. All good wishes to you. Doug