I didn't extrapolate - I just had already added onions to the ice water bath, and you can always omit spices (didn't have tumeric and didn't want hot peppers) so decided to follow that one rather than making it with full cup of sugar I usually put in fridge pickles, and processing for 5 min as in the Cross-cut recipe. Bread and Butters My Way, page 89 (though I think I would like to double her sugar). I thought you could always change salt (except in brined pickles) and sugar amounts, as well as dried herbs, to taste. I dumped the pickles - decided to open the jars in the fridge, but saw they were mushy. The unprocessed ones in the Classico jar aren't, but don't taste like much except tangy (vinegar and/or onion) yet, so I added a bit more water to those - may add more sugar too. But those should be OK since they're not sealed tight (PB lid doesn't fit well). Just for future reference, if I suspect something doesn't have enough acid, I know I can reprocess within 24 hours, but for something you don't want to reprocess (like pickles), you would *open* the jar and stick it in the fridge, right? What is the safe time limit for that (again, assuming that it's something like pickles and you're not going to cook them)? NCHFP course just has a test question about 5 days tomatoes with no acid (dump them jars and all), doesn't say what to do if you discover it sooner (other than reprocess w/i 24 hrs). Thanks, I'm still trying to learn.

Well, that's got some merit, if the only reason you use hot water is for killing dust mites. But there's many more reasons for using hot water for washing and use lower dryer temps as many newer dryers do. Actually many new dryers don't give the temp to do this. If you have a very old or very cheap dryer, the high temp can still be there. And given the "return" to clotheslines that's becoming more common today, There's a decrease (albeit not massive and complete conversion) in dryer use. There's a lot of threads on performance in the laundry, appliance and cleaning forums so I won't go into great detail here, but here's a few other reasons: -Powdered detergents and additives dissolve much better in hot water -Enzymes, many detergents and additives work better in hot water -Using a profile wash will remove many stains better -Using cold wash and a hot dryer can set stains in clothes so that they're difficult or nearly impossible to remove (if not impossible!) No sense rehashing what's far better explained elsewhere, but just some more info to consider.

Sponges are horribly filthy- they hold bacteria even if you put them in the micro/dishwasher. I thought so too! But then I read a USDA report on putting sponges in the dishwasher with a hot dry cycle, and it said that it sterilized the sponge. I didn't believe it. So I let a sponge get stinky, brought home agar plates and sterile swabs from work (I teach physics and my lab is right next to the bio lab) and I streaked a plate. I put the sponge in the dishwasher with the heated drying cycle, and then streaked another plate. The first one was covered with colonies as you'd expect; the second was clean. Nothing was growing. It looked untouched. I had to change my tune. The dishwasher does a good job when you use the heated drying cycle. In fact, here's the USDA paper's conclusion: "Thus microwave heating and dishwashing with a drying cycle proved to be the most effective methods for inactivating bacteria, yeasts and molds on sponges. These simple and convenient treatments can help ensure that contaminated sponges don't spread foodborne pathogens around household kitchens of today's busy families." Here is a link that might be useful: The entire article

Just a quick hello from me - to let you all know my heart goes out to all of you going through tough times; it's so good to hear from you all, and I wish I could somehow get the words out to give needed comfort and hope to everyone individually, but somehow they're failing me, and have been for some time. I too miss Virginia amongst others, she was so kind to me and to so many others when in difficulties. I've been having a s**t time since November when I rashly thought I'd have a little outing into the city one evening... and relapsed (several rather traumatic events happened during and after that evening, all in quick succession, so I think that's what caused the relapse; I might have got through one or two of these challenges but not all of them, one on top of the other. As Ingrid said, any stress can exacerbate these weird auto-immune/neurological/inflammation type of illnesses like crazy.) So then I didn't have the mental or physical energy to follow the forum at all for a while, then could only manage to read but not respond/write anything; then managed to write a bit every now and then, so long as it wasn't too complex for my challenged brain (which means anything involving multitasking, like feeling and thinking/forming words at the same time (!) ...I know, it's weird!... But, as I'm getting better at using the mindfulness to dissolve the stress, and with time and rest am definitely improving now; I actually got out of my gloomy house for a little walk the other day and saw the sparkling blue sea again! So beautiful... and have even done a bit of tidying up in the garden! Whooa! 35 minutes max per session including lots of sitting, and/or lying down to rest every time I'm on the point of fainting, heart pounding, until the blood gets back to the brain and I can see and think and stand up straight again. Just pulling off dead leaves and stems from the row of agapanthus on the raised bed and tearing them up and scattering the debris for mulch. That's all I've got growing out there I'm afraid, apart from some dying, drought-struck/borer attacked natives on the verge. And lots of overgrown rye grasses around the dead lawn! But it feels great to do something out there, no matter how minor. :-)