Liz, it's not the food, it's the toy. There is an old Act from the 30s which prohibits the embedding of foreign objects in a food item unless it has a functional value. So, a sucker stick is OK, but a toy is not. It was supposed to prevent the introduction of hazardous items into processed food and it's never been changed. Just to make things more fun, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that the small toys are a choking hazard, although the labels clearly state that the toys are not meant for children under 3. So, the government is protecting us by not allowing a popular item into the country, and spending hours and dollars confiscating them. Meanwhile GMO products are not required to be labeled, China is sending us things like the pet food that killed and something that might or might not be honey and tainted toothpaste, peanut factories aren't cited for violations that result in salmonella contamination. We're safe from chocolate, though. (sigh) Annie

That's great to hear! Control the non-native EHSs and you'll get Blue Birds, or Tree Swallows, or Chickadees, or Nuthatches, or...any of the other native cavity-nesting lovelies. Did you know EUHSs are the main culprit in the near extinction of the native BBs and Purple Martins? Thanks to good "landlords," they're slowly coming back. My friend has had a pair of BBs raise three clutches a season for the past three years in her small suburban back yard in Delaware. The poor blue birds are desperate for housing. She didn't think she'd attract even one pair. I had more confidence in her birding skills and wasn't the least bit surprised at her successful fledge rates! LOL Each year she has at least two pairs of BBs and one pair of Tree Swallows. This year she also discovered nesting robins, cardinals, and house finches on her little property! She's planted the shrubs and areas these birds love. She added fresh water that's always available and she's in the bird business. I've had "fly by" attacks of bluebirds the past four springs. They zoom by my houses (set up in "perfect" BB habitat, LOL, with water, supplelmental treats, and not an EHSs in sight, and they still haven't built a nest. This year they did actually land on the box, so I'm considering that a step in the right direction. I'll keep trying; in fact DH set up another house for me in our neighbors' empty field/yard. (With their blessings, of course!) I do have nesting tree swallows and a pair of chickadees are seriously considering one of the nest boxes in the front yard.

Strata is an Italian layered casserole. It's very similar to the Passover minas we recently discussed. There are a lot of American dishes called "breakfast strata" that are sort of halfway between a bread pudding, savory pie and a regular American style casserole, with eggy custard to bind. A normal stata is held together with egg rather than custard, though adding some dairy can be nice for breakfast. The breakfast recipes are shallower and less layery than normal strata (besides the milk), but have strata in their history. Another way to think of it is layered kugel. Below is a link to a Southern Living recipe that's in one way an extreme example of non-layeriness, but on the other, still has more stock and wine than dairy, so more like its roots than average. Most of the recipes for breakfast strata that I've seen are really just bread puddings. To truly have the name "strata" there should be layers of fillings between layers of bread. Or filling between layers of potato. Or squash. Or it can be levels, like in a 9 layer dip, rather than repeating layers like in a lasagna. Layers is the issue, not what's in it. :)

Great photo! I love hummingbird moths! The host bushes I had for hummingbird moths died, so I'm looking to replace them. The fogging is ridiculous. It only kills mosquitoes in flight, and that's IF it reaches them. I know for a fact that the fog coming out of that truck only reached about 25' from the street into the yards, so the mosquitoes living in the back yards were fine. My evidence was that any host plant within 25' of the street would kill any caterpillars that hatched. Host plants in the back yard were fine. They also warned us to not have pets, children and the elderly out during the evening on the night they sprayed.