I belonged to a pot luck monthly dinner club for about 12 years. There were 5 couples and we alternated so you had a month when you were host and 4 months off. The host provided the meat course and all drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, and the guests brought vegetables, salad, hors d'ouvres and dessert. And that also alternated. It was very interesting because one gal didn't cook....at all! But was willing to learn....sow e had a few interesting things in the first few years...until she learned to read a recipe! LOL! When wew ent to their house, they almost always served steaks that he grilled ( and very well too I might add!) and hordouvres were things like a big bowl of shrimp, or a side of smoked salmon, sometimes some nice cheeses and deli spreads....but the vegetables and salads were the adventure! Over the years we all learned some things. One gal never made desserts and had no idea how to make a pie or cake, but she learned that brownies and icecream were good as were fruits and bought pound cake. I am bad at veggies to take, I don't make veggie casseroles, but learned to take fresh veggies to be quickly steamed on site or a dish of veggies to be roasted. But I have never liked no list potlucks. Years ago I hosted a lot of cast parties for the community theater. Very often there were 75 to 80 and once I counted 120 people....sitting on the stairs and standing anywhere they could find a square foot to stand in! It was the custom for the host to order food and soft drinks and to tell everyone how much their share was and then everyone would bring something to share. The usual "cost" was about $5 per person...that covered drinks meat and buns for sandwiches. So I decided I could do better.....and made a gazillion buns with one other person's help and bought a ham and had it shaved and bought a big beef roast, cooked it and had it shaved and bought and roasted a turkey and had my DH carve it. And used my own plates and silverware. Costs for that amounted to about $1.50 per person. I counted on others to bring potato salad, and brownies and such....and got bags and bags of chips and commercial dip... So the next time I made coleslaw.... and provided a sign up sheet for chips and dips, raw veggies, desserts and specified cookies or bars, potato salad and posted a category for "miscellaneous"....and some idiot brought a frozen pizza that had to be cooked, watched so it didn't burn and cut and served....and it only served 8! I hate to be surprised when I am hosting a huge party. Linda C

Batch #2 in progress. I tried using my juicer to separate the milk from the puree. Sort of worked. I also tried using the big hand press shown above. That worked about as well. Neither was a particularly streamlined process, though both were better than twisting the puree in cheesecloth. As for the experimentation, I decided to try adding stuff that I'd typically cook tofu with. So I made a mix of garlic, ginger, scallions, salt, a little white pepper, a little cayenne, sake, water, cooked that until the garlic was starting to brown, and mixed this into the curd before loading the tofu press. We'll see how it turns out.

So, many had to hide everything and it must have been so terrible as back then it just couldn't be, even more so families and people didn't accept. My mom one of her cousin I just saw him maybe twice and was told he was the black sheep and family didn't accept him but nothing was told about him and then finally I found out he was gay and living with someone and in montreal. I felt so bad for him the family treating him like that. And look what they did when Ellen tried to have her own show and it was found out and they cancelled it and she went into hiding or disappeared for awhile then came out and so many have. Do you know Grandma Walton she was and living with someone and it doesn't change anything about who they are. And also having families together is wonderful why should they not be allowed? I personally am proud and happy they can come out and live the free life finally and share like other couples can. I know there is always so much hatred too in our world of so many things, seems the world must always go at something. Media does so much hard too, the negative and the anger in our world doesn't make it easy.

The Golden Rule huh? Well, I would have others be friendly and wish me a Merry Christmas, or happy whatever holiday they celebrate. So what do I do about that? Great googly moogly. People are so uppity. A genuine holiday greeting is hardly the same or even close to condemning those who don't share your religious beliefs. If it is, as some people are inclined to argue, I better not put up my christmas lights this year. Someone might drive by, see my twinkling icicle lights, and interpret them as a multicolored middle finger to non Christmas celebrators. And my snowman holding the "Merry Christmas " sign might as well be mooning passersby, for all the fuss some people think will be made of it. And as for the nativity scene, well maybe I'll just set it up in the attic, and invite other Christians to creep up there in the dead of night for clandestine Manger meetings. I really dont buy that so many people are offended by a Christmas specific greeting. I think that a handful of REALLY squeaky wheels,who like nothing better than to have something to complain about teamed up with some bleeding heart ,guilt ridden(well intended,no doubt) suck ups to suck the joy out of the holidays. I have yet to meet someone of another faith or even of no faith express offense at a merry Christmas greeting. How's this squeaky? Have some eggnog,and unclench. However, I will agree that while not offensive,it is rather annoying to have sanctimonious bible thumpers condemn all non religious decor or celebrations of Christmas. They,also, need to have some nog and unclench. However, I don't equate wishing someone a Merry Christmas with trying to shove religion down someone's throat. If someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah, my first reaction would be to thank them and reciprocate,not stand in indignation at the the audacity of this....this...JEWISH PERSON,who dares try to degrade my own personal beliefs with their........HANUKKAH greeting! Oh the nerve they must have to greet me with such...such..DIFFERENT beliefs,which have such a HIGH impact on my own self worth,and so cheerfully too. The monster. The insensitive clod. The horror! (insert eye roll here) ETA: (mmmmmmm eggnog. Dang it,now I have to get up and go the the store. I hate when I do that to myself)