I remember my first time in Newport - walking around in the harbor area in the evening after a romantic dinner (before Ken's time, LOL) and everybody was talking about "A Snowball In Hell" and asking have you had one? Well, after a whole bunch of different people told us "you have to have one" and wouldn't tell us what it was - just that "you have to have one" - so of course we hit that bar - well, it wasn't a drink after all (like we thought it was) - it was an incredible concoction of - freshly made to order - a martini glass, freshly and completely dipped in hot fudge to coat the entire glass, scoop of vanilla ice cream, more hot fudge to cover, and some coconut on top. OMG - still warm fudge that you just lick off your glass - maybe you need a spoon for the ice cream, I forget :)

This is not a crockpot pasta -- more a salad that could easily be served cold or room temp, which could make things even easier for you. I found the recipe on another website and I think it came from a blog where the person recommending it had found it. My apologies to the author for only getting the first name -- no site to go check for more. Anyway, the recipe is very good. We used Olive Garden's Italian Dressing because we had some open but I don't remember what I used for the seasoning (never heard of Spike). Might have just been a seasoned pepper and maybe not a tsp. I had this on the brain this weekend, wanting to make it again, so thought I'd share since it is something a little different. Whole Wheat Orecchiette Pasta Salad with Roasted Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, and Mushrooms (Makes at least 6 servings; recipe created by Kalyn.) 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces 12 oz. brown Crimini mushrooms, cut into thick half in slices 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thick strips about 1 inch long 2 T olive oil salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (for seasoning roasted vegetables) 1/2 lb. whole wheat Orecchiette pasta (or use any smallish whole wheat pasta shape) salt, for pasta cooking water 1/2 cup thickly sliced green onion 1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley 1/4 cup freshly ground Parmesan Dressing Ingredients: 6 T purchased Italian Dressing (for South Beach Diet use a dressing with less than 2 grams of sugar per serving, I used Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing) 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or use any all-purpose seasoning blend) 1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Break a piece of asparagus to see where the woody part starts, then trim all the asparagus to that size and cut into 1 inch pieces. Seed pepper and cut into strips about 1 inch long. Wash mushrooms if needed and cut into thick slices (or half-slices if the mushrooms are large.) Put the prepared vegetables into a bowl and toss with 2 T olive oil; season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Spray or brush baking sheet with olive oil or nonstick spray and arrange vegetables in a single layer. (Next time I'd use 2 pans if the vegetables look crowded.) Roast vegetables 15-20 minutes, or until they're starting to shrivel but not completely soft. While vegetables are roasting, fill a medium-sized pot with water, add about 1 tsp. of salt, and bring to a boil. Remove vegetables from the oven and cool on the baking sheet 4-5 minutes. While vegetables cool, whisk together the salad dressing, Spike Seasoning and coarse ground pepper. Chop the parsley and slice the green onions. When the roasted vegetables are partly cooled, put them in a colander placed in the sink and let them drain until any excess liquid runs off. (Don't skip this step or the salad will be watery.) After vegetables drain, return to bowl and toss with 3-4 T of the dressing mixture and let vegetables marinate. Cook pasta to barely al dente (check package cooking time.) Drain pasta into a colander placed in the sink and rinse with COLD water, and then let drain well, stirring a few times so it won't stick together. When the pasta is well-drained, add it to the marinated vegetables, mix in the rest of the dressing, chopped parsley, and sliced green onions, and gently stir to combine. Add the freshly-grated Parmesan, stir again, and serve salad slightly chilled or at room temperature. This was still quite good after it had been in the fridge overnight, although pasta salad like this is best freshly made.

How firm is the beeswax that the rest of you are using? The only Bee's Oil I could find locally was at Williams Sonoma. It is very soft, so there is no need to heat it up (tho I tried--just out of curiosity. It didn't really melt at all--just got warm). It has the texture somewhat of a shea butter cream. As soon as my hands rub it, it melts into the counter. If it were more solid, I think I might get frustrated with it, and switch to regular mineral oil. I use it as hand cream in between the SoapstoneSpaTreatment (trademarked--tho I didn't coin this term--someone else here did. Who?) My feet could really use a spa treatment. Thinking...thinking...Can't figure out how to do that without slipping and falling. We need to get some t-shirts/bumperstickers made: "Real stoners use their hands" "Have you rubbed your soapstone today?" "My parents went to Punta Gorda and all they brought me was this soapstone" "My other counter is made of soapstone too" "My soapstone is silkier than your Chipman Middle School Honor student" etc Can't wait to see more pictures! I can imagine how stressful the waiting and wondering has been (will it fit? did we template right?). Thank goodness it turned out so well! Hooray!! Francy

Thank you everyone, your complements make it worth my while to try to figure out what to do with two weeks worth of leftovers. Posted by hawk307 "------ DC: Talk about Dinners fit for a King !!! Wheeooo ! ---" Be careful Lou, behind every great king, there is a great queen who actually rules the kingdom. Posted by jasdip "----and now you have a year to plan next year's festivities.---" Yes I know, I hate to hear, "Come on dcarch! Not rib roast and duck again!" Posted by mustangs "Amazing!! How does one get on your guest list? Cathy" Marry me? LOL! Posted by jimster "It's the spectacular food we have come to expect of you, dcarch. And the photos too, are mouthwatering, even the blurred ones. ---" Thanks Jim, but truth be told, there are so many folks here cook with great panache, yet my cooking with sous vide, that requires absolutely no skills, nothing can go wrong, no overcooking or undercooking possible. Just flip a switch, "Set it, and forget it." Ann_t and FOAS, regarding Potato Latkes authenticity, what I went by was as defined by Wikipedia, under the section: Hanukkah Tradition - "Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foodways of the various places where Jews lived." And I did not invent the Mushroom Wild Rice Latkes recipe either, it was adapted from the KosherEye Web site The Wild Rice Latkes tasted very good because I didn't have Schmaltz, so I used the dripping from the roasted duck and rib roast, as it turned out, much tastier than Schmaltz, IMHO. It is always fun to engage your guests to go out of the regular food boxes a little. They really liked the purple Okinawan sweet potatoes, for instance. dcarch