I was JUST wondering the other day about killing ants with mine! Now I know I can do it...if the mound isn't in the middle of my flower bed as it so often is. Under pots, yes! I find lots of that activity when I move pots that are sitting on the patio. Wooohooooo...from now on, I will have El Torcho ready and set on "Barbecue!" Marcia

Personally, I wouldn't make quick breads of any kind with King Arthur White Wheat Flour because it's too high in protein/gluten to get really good results - whole wheat pastry flour would be a better choice, as Terri pointed out. The increase in gluten is probably the cause of the texture changes you experienced. Making quick breads is all about keeping gluten-development to a minimum. This includes the type of flour used and the amount of mixing. When substituting whole wheat flour for all-purpose in a recipe, you may benefit from reducing (as in leaving it out completely) the amount of whole wheat flour by 1 or 2 tablespoons per cup to compensate for the higher gluten. Because the KA whole wheat flour has more gluten, as well as bran in it, both will absorb more hydration than all-purpose flour would and can alter the texture. It's easier to reduce the amount of flour, rather than increase the hydration. When using KA White Wheat Flour it would be even more important to keep mixing to a bare minimum so you don't over-develop the gluten in the flour (which is higher than all-purpose). I mill my own flour and use the same wheat (13.1% protein) as they use for King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. I purchase it from the local stone mill that mills King Arthur White Whole Wheat for this region. I normally mill SOFT white wheat (Bob's Red Mill) for quick breads because it has a much lower protein/gluten content; OR use a 3:1 mixture of hard white wheat and spelt to lower the amount of protein/gluten. I made crumb cake muffins yesterday, and as another option to reduce the gluten I used 3/4 hard white wheat and 1/4 high-maize resistant starch (to reduce the gluten, lower the glycemic impact and increase the fiber), and the muffins were very light and tender. The original recipe called for all-purpose flour. Good luck with your new trials. What a great recipe to have to "work on" (LOL)! -Grainlady

I have Norton waterstones, 1000 and 4000 grit, and use them on my Henckel's and carbon steel knives. There are numerous YouTube videos out there on technique, but I learned most of what I know about knife sharpening from the Cheftalk website, which harbors fanatics on the subject. I've never used oilstones...they seem unnecessarily messy...nor have I tried a strop. The Chef's Choice sharpens well but removes a lot metal, so I use that on my ''throw-away'' knives. We have a lakeside summer home with lots of guests, and knives are frequently abused or lost. I can't bother with expensive knives and time-consuming sharpening there. I just use a steel for ''touch-ups'', which tells me I really need to get busy and actually sharpen the knives. This all works for me, but I don't own any Japanese knives that require different sharpening angles. I know Chef's Choice now makes a sharpener with adjustable angles that some people like. I've been rethinking the practice of washing knives by hand. I've always been told, and believed, that it's evil to put knives in the DW basket because they bang around and that dulls the edges. However, I now think maybe they're safer in the slots in the plastic top cutlery rack than they are in my soapy hands over a granite sink. And DW detergents are much less noxious now than previously. So, assuming the handles are impervious to DW's, is it safe to put knives in the DW now? I don't know but would be interested to hear others' opinions.

I don't like the law. If they are banning talking on a cell phone than a multitude of other distractions should be banned also. Start with eating while driving. Nothing like a drippy burger to keep one focused on the road. Or those annoying GPS systems. Nothing makes me feel safer than being on a highway behind someone staring at a map on the screen. Snort. Personally I believe that engaging in any avoidable distractive behavior should up the liability and culpability should one cause/be involved an accident. But it should be on a case by case basis. All these laws are useless "feel good" laws/ The scofflows ignore them and the ones who would be most cautious anyway are the ones who obey them.