""They are kind of pretty, until they jump towards me, then they just creap me out!"" Okay, that cracks me up! I spent about three minutes yesterday shooshing out a grasshopper and trying to keep three dogs from killing it accidentally with their excitement. It was kind of fun... My boyfriend asked why I didn't just pick him up and put him outside--he even offered to. Hah! My bug, my fun :) I don't think I will give up on the Mexican hat...I like it so much!! Even if it does start, I think I will bring most of the seeds to the swap as it is supposed to only go up to 7000 feet. I wonder if it matters that I am at 8240? Eh, worth a try! Yes, most definitely a lacewing. I used to get so spastic when I saw lacewing eggs and croco-lady bugs back in SF. There were so many aphids in that neighborhood that the arrival of predators made me jump for joy. I used to have (and still have if I ever find it again) a tiny hand help monocle-type magnifier and I would just stare at the little bug-eating monsters. Like aliens, they are!! Those syrphid (sp?) flies are everywhere, too, so that must mean there is something bad for them to eat. Either that or they are just hanging around and enjoying the blooms. I like those guys a lot, something about their tiny, super-fast wings and the way they hover and buzz ever so slightly. I did not get enough of a look at my dragon to see if it was one kind or another...I just got so excited...kind of the way my dogs do! "Oh, oh, look! A bug!" I AM going to try sweet peas again!! I plan on starting earlier next year and on being better informed. I am also going to try something new. I am going to bring in my petunias and their cousins when winter starts to hit and pop them in a flower box in a window. Maybe they will be happy inside and then I will be able to plop them back in the flower bed next spring? The book says they won't come back with our cold temps, but that they should come back during a milder winter. Who knows, try and learn, trial and error. Wheeeeeee!!!!!!! Oh, and an important and fun link...well, it might not be important, but it has great and many pictures and proper labeling of the scientific names of bugs and insects. If you scroll down a ways and look on the left, there is an alpha. listing of zillions of good bug pics. Here: Here is a link that might be useful: Whats that bug?

Whoa, Suero, that eggplant app sounds amazing! I have to be honest and admit that is something I am more likely to make for lunch instead of a party...more for me :-) I love apples and pears, garyfx! I'm trying to put together a menu that doesn't require a fork... Any recipes involving those fruits to share? I've also thought about using a tart pear paste with the Brie instead of fig. Holly Kay and Bumble---- like the idea of asparagus in phylo. What length of asparagus spear? Any sauce or purée or anything else in the phylo aside from Parmesan? Is it dry? Mtnrdredux: we make champagne cocktails often, usually just making them up as we go along. (When my mother tells me she's bringing a new recipe to try when she comes down to spend the weekend she's almost always referring to a new drink, preferably with champagne or grey goose :-). We have that particular cocktail at holiday parties because it has a festive look from the green lime and red cranberry and a gorgeous color from the pomegranate juice. Also it's easy to make a non alcoholic mock-tail that looks just the same. They can be made one at a time two parts champagne to one part p juice, squeeze of lime and a frozen cherry-- or if I've had time, a couple of them strung on a holiday toothpick. Or you can mix up a batch like punch and drop in the lime and cranberry as the glasses are filled. You can use prosecco for similar results and if we have lots of people I do. But we buy champagne by the case and usually use that.

Here's our friend Maria's everyday chicken mole or, as she explained to me long ago, amused by the new culinary fuss over "moles," chicken in gravy. Maria was the oldest of 10 and spent her childhood here in the U.S. babysitting and on a stool preparing meals while the adults were out in the fields. She's a fantastic cook, but this is simple home cooking, no chocolate, no "special" ingredients. I'm offering it because I never see it on recipe forums and it is delicious, definitely winter comfort food. Amounts are approximate, of course, and can be massaged as desired. Chicken broth Water and 2-3 pounds chicken parts, chicken, plus whatever you usually add, such as: 1/2 onion 2 cloves garlic 1 leafy stalk celery. 1 bay leaf 2 teaspoons thyme Salt and pepper to taste Gravy 3 tablespoons chicken fat (skimmed from chicken broth) 1/2 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic 3 tablespoons flour Cumin seed, broken up, to taste, about 1 tablespoon or more Good quality chili powder to taste, start with a tablespoon if unsure 3 cups chicken broth Simmer first group of ingredients about 20 minutes, skimming foam as they approach a low boil, then turning heat down to simmer about 20 minutes for the typical supermarket chicken. Remove and cool chicken enough to pull apart into bite-size pieces. For gravy, lightly saute onion, garlic and spices in chicken fat skimmed from the broth. Sift flour into the pan, whisking quickly, and stir over low-medium heat until flour is cooked; will be bubbly but not browned. Then stir in defatted chicken broth and simmer until thickened. Salt as desired. At this point you can add more chili powder to taste if needed and simmer a bit more. We like it a nice medium chile-red, not pale and not dark. Then add the chicken and serve over whatever you like.

I heard that at a talk given by the head gardener of the nation butterfly Association garden in the Valley . I forget the actual name of the place so I might have gotten it wrong. It sounds like an interesting place to visit during the fall migration. They have a festival with tours of nearby ranches and butterfly gardens on them. He also said that putting structures like old stools or bedsteads gives them a structure that gives a slightly shaded horizontal they can hang off of away from a vertical is a good thing.