I've recently visited my grandmother in Guangzhou China and during my visit there she introduce me to a veggie I've never had before. I believe she called it fan gua. My Chinese still needs work but I think it means sweet potato squash( or melon or gourd. I don't think there is a distinction in Chinese). Anyway it's a small squash with an oblong shape a bit like a small spaghetti squash. It's green with a bit of yellow to it and it taste a bit like sweet potato. My grandma likes to just steam it and eat it. Has anybody else heard of this? If so does it have another name? I tried to do a search on fan gua to learn more about it but the searches came up empty.

Hello, All! Hope everyone had a nice holiday season! Like Rosey, I managed to suck up all the local germs while visiting my kids and grandkids... the younger of which are walking virus factories interacting daily with all manner of other neighborhood children and schoolmates... and came home with a nasty chest cold/flu combination. The old guy and I are both sick. I'm glad for things like Vick's VapoRub and antibiotics! I'm a believer in modern pharmaceuticals, as long as I know what they contain and how they work, and whether or not there are more side effects than good effects! My grandson was full blown sick while we were there, complete with fever that makes your ears red and hot, a horrid cough from a tight chest with infection, packed sinuses, runny nose, chapped lips, the whole nine yards. It's the kind of sick that makes your skin hurt! You know you need to eat, but you can't stomach anything. We felt so bad for the poor little guy... and now that we have it, we know what a trooper he was! I'm off to a bad start with the new year... my monitor burnt up, I got sick, and to top everything off, I managed to leave my camera behind when we packed up to come home. I think I did, anyway... I can't find it. On the positive side, H. "Minerva" has kindly waited for me, and is just now starting to open her large buds! And nothing died while we were gone, meaning that my orchids hung in there with the watering I gave them before we left for Christmas. I also have a Gloriosa vine growing tall and looking to bloom, I think. I had thought the corm died in the pot, but when I gave it a small drink to moisten the medium a bit, it began to grow! It will be interesting to see if it does bloom, as it's growing in an east facing window. Nice photos, everyone! Josh, that is such a wonderful Catt! Well... trying to get caught up with reading and posting, taking my time through this cold. I sure hope no one else gets it... it's a nasty one! Talk at ya all later!

Bobby -- Just saw this thread -- This is THE BEST apple cake recipe... What makes this recipe so special is that the cinnamon isn't mixed into the batter, but instead coats the apples. The batter has some orange zest in it... So when you eat the cake you get this great cake and then these little bursts of apple and cinnamon throughout... It is just divine. Note that this makes a BIG cake -- requires a large (12 cup) bundt pan, not one of the smaller (8 cup) ones. Apple Bundt Cake Bon Appetite, Dec 1999 4 medium Golden Delicious apples (about 1 1/2pounds), peeled, cut into 1/3-inch pieces 5 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 large eggs 1 cup vegetable oil (Emily replaces with 1/2 cup oil / 1/2 cup applesauce) 1/4 cup orange juice 1 tablespoon grated orange peel 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups all purpose flour 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Powdered sugar Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Mix apple pieces, 5 tablespoons sugar and ground cinnamon in medium bowl. Combine 2 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, orange juice, orange peel and vanilla extract in large bowl; whisk to blend. Stir flour, baking powder and salt into egg mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups batter into prepared Bundt pan. Top with half of apple mixture. Cover with 1 1/2 cups batter. Top with remaining apples, then batter. Bake cake until top is brown and tester inserted near center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto rack. Cool at least 45 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

I don't have many options for diet ginger ale but I've always liked ginger ale and when I wanted to avoid sugar, I'd buy diet and I was fine with it. I'm not all that fussy when it comes to soft drinks. I did like the flavored carbonated waters but there to FAS set in and it has to have sugar and sweeteners in it. Good grief can't these people even drink WATER without sugar and salt in it??? Crystal lite has such a metallic taste that I can't drink it very often. I'll take Kool Aid over it. I do drink a lot of the green tea from Aldi which is fine for the price though I don't really need the extra stuff in there. I prefer things less sweetened than the FAS folks require these days. Trying to find unsweetened tea is difficult. I like a lot of lemon (preferably lime if there were a choice) but keep the sweeteners out of there. I usually choose what they call "diet" soft drinks when I have to drink them, and if given a choice. I used to prefer Bubble-Up to 7Up but don't see it anymore. I like Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Root Beer, well for the most part any diet drink is drinkable to me though still over-sweetened in my book. Occasionally I do savor a "real" root beer or cream soda. Not too often though. Water is still a beverage of choice around here. Spring water when I have the choice. Oh and once in a great while, even Tang! It's what the astronauts used to drink... :)