You might be a compost wacko if you absent mindedly find yourself watering those new easy to pull weeds.. hey, they're green. You might be a compost wacko if later on a summer evening you make a quick run out to add kitchen scraps to the pile, and you notice when the neighbor has her bathroom light on , it shines directly onto the pile, like glorious full moon. Then you proceed to turn the pile rather than just bury the scraps as was the original intent when you picked up the pitchfork.

My 1000 sheets of 12 two inch round labels ran about $240 I recall. That including tooling and setup charges. Tooling is actually the making of the cutting die and setup is for setting up the dies in a punch press. The paper grades and types are numerous, so I opted for a medium weight removable adhesive. The glossy surface isn't as much as a photo glossy, more like a magazine type soft gloss. The label weight (thickness) was such that it would block out any printed words on the metal round lids of regular mouth quart and pint jars. It fits nicely in the circle of the lids. The source below has a 3/4 inch by 1 7/8 inch oval. Also, found 1/2 x 1 3/4 inch rectangle as a closeout at this link: http://www.planetlabel.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/10_17/products_id/125 and: http://www.onlinelabels.com/OL6025.htm And then the jelly jar types: http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?pn=PP0016 Here is a link that might be useful: Oval labels

I'm not a salmon expert but we live in Seattle and eat fresh (summer/fall) and frozen salmon (winter/spring) weekly. We only eat wild caught salmon from the Pacific. I have always been disappointment in the flavor of Atlantic salmon I've eaten. From my experience the color varies across species. For example, sockeye has the richest darkest color. King is often lighter. The color does seem to affect flavor, but I think the most important factor to my palette is freshness. The fresher the wildcaught pacific salmon is when eaten or frozen the better it tastes. We buy frozen from a local vendor that fillets and freezes on the boat so the frozen when defrosted still tastes great. The other thing is not to overcook it. I find defrosted frozen salmon takes less time to cook. If you live somewhere that does not have good access to really fresh salmon then I'd buy frozen and try and source boat processed salmon. I haven't tried Costco salmon but they are a Seattle company and I do think they source, in general, pretty good quality products. If you like it then really that's all that matters. Also, largely you get what you pay for with salmon. The exception is that if it's the first of the season it's a rip off and if it's the height of the season it's a great deal. But wild will typically cost more than farmed and Pacific probably more than Atlantic and those price differences are worth it IMHO.

That is a lot of changes. Congrats on the new kitchen. That can often be stressful. I still cook for an army even though it is just the two of us. But it is often planned since i have the 'while i'm at it' attitude. When making a lovely beef stew last weekend i made a veg stock at the same time on the back burner using the veg cuttings. I always make more of everything with plans for the freezer or for another dish later on. I'm making a fish stew tonight and is not a big production as i have a pint of fish/shrimp stock frozen, smoked corn from summer harvest, salmon and scallops, wild caught. Cod we caught. Being Sunday i will start the miropoix from scratch with a nice fresh leek. A small packet of sliced tomatoes frozen from the garden. Cherry tomatoes freeze well and stay loose in zip-locks so just a few can be taken out at a time. Nice for a fritatta. I still often buy bulk veg for the lower pricing and usually have a plan. Like red peppers. I use fresh but will roast, then freeze in a flat-pack method so i can just take out a few slices and re-seal. A whole avocado is too much for the two of us so i often also make a dressing with the other half but more than one purchased often gets over-ripe. They freeze ok if all the air is out of the zip-lock...i add lime juice. I do use the food-saver system for many garden produce. Air is the enemy in the freezer so it works great for that. I felt terribly/embarrassingly domestic when i bought it but does make a huge difference in the quality of frozen foods. No going back. String beans i like fresh. Every harvest from my garden i try blanching and freezing but we never eat them. They go in the juicer or the blender throughout the winter. As plllog mentioned, paying attention to quantity while shopping...so many things are by weight. DH does most of the shopping, (with my list). When i say 12 grapes i mean it, lol. I like the dark skinned really black big seedless. I use them for a few special salads. They freeze nice but i don't really need that big bag. He has learned to shop by weight. We eat a ton of greens. Kale, collards, chard. After cooking...even while plating for our meal, i stuff the leftovers in waiting quarter pint containers. Top with a bit of water and into the freezer for later soups. I must have 20 1/4 pints of greens and beans in stock or water in the freezer that i can pick and choose for a very quick chowder or soup. I even put my chili in the 1/4 pints to make a richer tomato/veggie soup. (most in qrt containers for immediate heating after a 1/2 in the sink to thaw just enough to get into the pot). Two appliances i appreciate for quick healthy eating is my juicer and my blender. The Blendtec blender and the Breville juicer. Clean easily and go in the dishwasher if i want a quick cleaning. Great for morning juices and blending soups. and so many other things....i juice my kale and collard stems with lemon and ginger, celery, carrots and beets...